Liverpool transfer news: Reds at forefront for Kenan Yildiz

Liverpool are in the race for Kenan Yildiz and Juventus are having to take action to keep their wonderkid. It won't be an easy transfer for anyone to make.

Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Liverpool 'can't be ruled out' in the race for Kenan Yildiz. The youngster's future is going to dominate 2024 for Juventus, who will do whatever they can to hold onto the player.

They've already made one move, agreeing a new contract with Yildiz until 2027. But the suggestion here is that they'll offer him another one at the end of the season as a reward.

On top of that, Juventus will attempt to sell Mathias Soulé to a Premier League side in order to secure enough funds that selling Yildiz isn't near a necessity. If all comes together, they'll hope to hang on to the player long-term.

Not that it will be easy. Liverpool are there in the mix, while RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund both want Yildiz, too. The German teams are known for signing players and selling for enormous profits - something that naturally tempts talented young players.

Liverpool, though, aren't in that business. They hope to sign players for their first team, with no intention of selling. That could make this transfer a difficult one, then.

Yildiz is still only 18 and extremely unproven at the top level. He'd need to explode over the second half of the season to justify Liverpool signing him and the idea of signing him and loaning him out isn't going to appeal.

So instead, this might be another example of Liverpool waiting to see if Yildiz fulfils his potential and then paying a premium to sign a sure thing. That feels more likely that the Reds prying him away from Juventus in 2024.

It's a strategy they've used before, notably for Dominik Szoboszlai. They were initially linked before his move to RB Leipzig but held off, instead paying over £60m to sign him once he'd proven himself beyond doubt.

Will we see the same for Yildiz? First, it depends on how serious Liverpool are on a move in 2024.