Rumour Mongering: Badé Romance?

Yesterday at 05:27 PM

Despite a sudden flurry of rumours, the Reds probably aren't looking at the Frenchman as van Dijk's successor.

Real football is just days away and the Reds are looking at a phenomenally challenging run of games so if everybody could please keep cool for just a couple more sleeps that would be grand.

A late surge of rumours tonight suggested that not only have Liverpool found their Virgil van Dijk successor, but he will be arriving in January and he'll be signed on the cheap. Now if that sounds like three counts of too good to be true to you, you have a more discerning ear than the majority of rumour monger outlets, who picked up the story sight unseen.

Loïc Badé is a fine player. He is tall and athletic and despite being only 24 years of age is currently on his fourth straight season as a starter at the centre-back position in a top five league. He is a French U21 international and featured in the team that lost to Spain in the final at the Olympics this summer. He is a front-foot defender who likes to get involved and make tackles and interceptions high up the pitch. He is quite handsome.

He is also historically middling in the air (63%), a terribly inconsistent long and progressive passer despite possessing a thunderous right leg, predominantly a right-sided centre-back, and, perhaps most crucially in this context, signed a new five-year deal with a €60m release clause just over six weeks ago. Sevilla are reportedly in financial trouble — again — but it feels highly unlikely they would let one of their most important players go for less than half of his box fresh release clause.

There is of course always a chance the Reds' recruitment team are seeing something beyond the numbers, or that their very consistent centre-back profile has changed with the arrival of their new manager, but in all probability, this is not a move that is likely to materialise this winter.