Napoli have bid rejected for Liverpool fullback

Napoli have apparently made an effort to sign Alberto Moreno from Liverpool, with a reported €12.5 million bid being rejected by the English club over the weekend. News of the bid is interesting for Napoli for a lot of reasons, not least because Moreno himself would make for an interesting reclamation project.

Moreno, 24, has had a rough spell with Liverpool. Since joining them in 2014, the Spanish left back has had more downs than ups, struggling with the pace of the Premier League and with a frequently-shuffling set of tactics under Brendan Rodgers, then never really being in consistent favor with Jurgen Klopp. But with his age and skillset, he still has some upside that a team like Napoli could easily want to take a try at unlocking.

Where the real intrigue comes in, though, is all the stuff that’s around Moreno in this deal. Napoli already have a pair of talented left backs in Faouzi Ghoulam and Ivan Strinic, but so far this summer it has seemed like at least one of them — most likely Ghoulam — will be sold before the season. Napoli have also been linked to Mario Rui, suggesting that they’re actively looking to replace one of those two, and if they do so, they could do a whole lot worse than rolling the dice on a player like Moreno.

The other thing that can play into this story is that Liverpool have been chasing after Kalidou Koulibaly, who Liverpool would have to spend a big pile of money on — unless, say, they had a player that Napoli wanted who could lower that price just a smidgen in a rare player exchange move. The Anfield club also have another pair of castoffs in Mamadou Sakho and Lazar Markovic who could be of interest for Napoli, though deals for them heading to the San Paolo seem less likely.

Suffice it to say, interesting things are afoot for Napoli. Stories between Napoli and Liverpool will bear close watching over the coming weeks as we see what winds up shaking out.