Sky Sports News claimed today that Liverpool are one of three clubs who have been permission by Chelsea to talk to Damien Duff.
Duff’s unhappiness at Chelsea was because of his lack of as many first-team opportunities as he’d have liked. With Mark Gonzalez and Harry Kewell also left wingers it does seem it would be overkill for Rafa to sign another left-winger. Especially as he’s still not managed to sign a much-needed right-winger.
However Rafa has spoken previously of using Mark Gonzalez in a more central role, and of course Harry Kewell did sometimes play as a central striker for Leeds during his time in Yorkshire.
The Sky Sports story mentions that Tottenham and Newcastle are also talking to the Irish international, a player Liverpool did consider signing during Gerard Houllier’s reign.
The fee isn’t revealed, but the report says that Tottenham had a £5m bid turned down recently, and that Chelsea boss Mourinho has already said Duff can leave if the right bid comes in. Rafa is someone with an eye for a bargain, and he may well consider that Duff would be a bargain at a price of around £6m.