Liverpool transfers: Arda Guler scouted during opening Euro 2024 group game

Liverpool are reported to have been among the teams watching Arda Guler during Turkey’s opening Euro 2024 group stage game against Georgia on Tuesday. 

Guler, 19, scored a sensational goal for Vincenzo Montella’s side during the 3-1 victory, curling a wonderful left-footed effort past the Georgia goalkeeper to give his side the lead after half time. 

It was the highlight of Guler’s performance, an outing which earned him the player of the match award on his tournament debut. 

The Real Madrid prodigy is beginning to deliver on his promise following last summer’s transfer from Fenerbahce. 

The record European champions beat off competition from some of the biggest sides on the continent to secure Guler’s signature with Liverpool among the teams reported to have called off negotiations despite establishing contact with the player’s father. 

Transfer journalist Rudy Galetti claimed last summer that Liverpool - along with Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan, Napoli, Barcelona and Arsenal - had been in touch with the player’s father over a deal.

But owing to concerns over the structure of the deal and potential sell-on clauses, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and Liverpool opted to walk away from a deal, according to ESPN. 

Real Madrid ended up sealing a deal for an initial €20 million, a relatively small sum for a player of such immense promise. 

Guler's first Madrid season didn't go to plan

While Guler can claim to be the first Turkish player to win the Champions League, his first season at the Bernabeu hasn’t gone exactly to plan. 

He first required surgery on a torn meniscus, ruling him out of the autumn campaign, before suffering a muscle tear which meant he did not set foot on the field for Carlo Ancelotti’s side until the new year. 

Guler was spotted throwing his substitute’s bib to the ground back in January when he realised he wouldn’t be coming on in a LaLiga game, and, after he was sat back down in another league game, he sulked on the bench rather than celebrate a late winning goal for his side. 

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He did make the breakthrough to the first team towards the end of the league season with the title largely wrapped up and Madrid’s focus on the Champions League. 

The playmaker scored five goals in his last five LaLiga games of the season, heading into the European Championship on great form. 

There were suggestions earlier in 2024 that Guler could be sent out on loan this summer to garner meaningful first-team minutes. 

Liverpool seeking attackers

Caught Offside is now reporting that Liverpool were one team making a check on Guler’s progress during the Georgia game with Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG and Milan also running the rule over the young attacker. 

With a contract until 2029 and with a sterling reputation, it’s unlikely that Guler will be moving on a permanent deal any time soon. 

Nonetheless Guler could fit the bill for new transfer chiefs Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes, who are considering a left-footed right winger for the squad this summer amid doubts over the long-term future of Mohamed Salah. 

Mohammed Kudus, Dario Osorio, Bryan Mbeumo and Brajan Gruda are reportedly some of the other names under consideration by the Reds’ top brass.