Liverpool are all too familiar with Manchester United usurping them but the revelation that their key summer target, Crystal Palace’s Michael Olise, wants to go to their rivals instead will hurt.
It may even hurt more than their golden boy Michael Owen choosing to go to Manchester United after stints at Real Madrid and Newcastle United.
This is because the Reds have been prospecting Olise for a long time, which is easily verifiable through many media reports. This is also because Olise turned down a move to Chelsea last season even after the Blues triggered his £30 million release clause.
Liverpool believed that all was in their favour to pick Olise from Selhurst Park and make him into a new star from the 2024/25 season. They are uncertain about Mohamed Salah’s continuity, having lost Jürgen Klopp (exit confirmed for the end if the season) and are looking to rebuild a team that can rival Manchester City, who have stopped them.more times than not from clinching the Premier League title.
Now, they will face a battle to convince the French youth international to choose them instead of United, where reports claim that he is leaning towards.
United still have the major pull among both teams and Liverpool are about to be reminded of this harshly.
They still have a chance, however, because it is uncertain if United will be willing to splash £60 million on Olise in the summer. The INEOS Group are planning a clearout of their team but no reports indicate that the Crystal Palace forward is a target for them in the summer.
Meanwhile, Liverpool look to have settled on a new manager for the club after Xabi Alonso confirmed his stay at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.
Former Bayern Munich manager Niko Kovac is the man they club has chosen to take over from Klopp.
Both men have similar coaching styles and Kovac is now available after parting ways with VfL Wolfsburg at the beginning of this season.
Liverpool have not initiated any talks with him or the others who have been reported as options for Klopp’s replacement.
Kovac played a role in the development of Jamal Musiala and this is one of the reasons that he is being looked at by Liverpool. The Reds have a number of bright young talents coming through from their academy and are looking to build a future around them.
Olise also falls into this category although he is not a Liverpool academy graduate.
It remains to be seen what they will do with respect to both Olise and Kovac in the coming weeks.
