Rumour Mongering: Kvaratskhelia on the Move?

With rumours about Luis Díaz’s Liverpool future gathering steam in recent days — despite the player undoubtedly having more than enough on his plate with Copa America kicking off in about 24 hours — the natural next step is to look at who the Reds would look to bring in as a replacement should the Colombian acquiesce to his father’s wishes and make the move to Barcelona — and should the Catalonians stump up the requisite cash.

Left-sided inverted attackers abound in Europe, and one of the most obvious names is also one of the most difficult to spell right, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia immediately popping up at the top of the speculative shortlists.

The Georgian has allegedly been on the Reds radar in the past, with links being reported during his Rubin Kazan days three years ago, and the Georgian has gone from strength to strength in the interim, taking the Serie A by storm and winning both a Scudetto with Napoli and a Player of the Year award in his first season at the top level.

Arguably the only player on the Napoli squad to replicate his form from last season as they stumbled to 10th place this year, Kvaratskhelia has been subject of incessant transfer rumours in the past six months, as it is speculated his father and agent wants to get the player away from Naples.

A two-footed ball carrying and creative menace, the 23-year old Georgian superstar has scored and assisted 46 goals in the past two years, and Napoli would demand substantial compensation, although if the player pushes for a move, it is not unlikely a deal could be struck for a fee similar to the €75m reported around the rumoured Díaz transfer.

Kvaratskhelia appears to have all the tools necessary to translate his game to the Premier League, but unless the Luis Díaz deal becomes reality, don’t expect this to develop into more than a rumour.