French international Khephren Thuram is the latest midfielder to be linked with a move to Liverpool following the end of their pursuit of Jude Bellingham.
Jurgen Klopp has made additions in the middle of the park a priority this summer and he has been casting his eye over numerous targets who could potentially fit Liverpool's style. Scouts have assessed Thuram - son of France World Cup winner Lilian - and the 22-year-old is considered to be a good fit following his impressive development in Ligue 1.
Primarily a ball-carrying defensive midfielder, Thuram - who plays for Nice - also has two goals and eight assists to his name this season - impressing France boss Didier Deschamps who handed him his first cap in a 4-0 Euro 2024 qualifying game over Netherlands.
According to The Independent, the other four players rumoured to be of interest to Klopp are Chelsea pair Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher, as well as Brighton's Alexis Mac Allister and Fulham's Joao Palhinha. Bayern Munich's Ryan Gravenberch and Brighton's Moises Caicedo have also been linked.
While Thuram's contributions have largely been from a defensive midfield role this season, he has shown his versatility by also playing in a more advanced role and out on the left flank. At 6’4”, Thuram is surprisingly nimble for his height.
He has been the best-performing central or defensive midfielder in Ligue 1 over the past two seasons. Using his strength and fast footwork to his advantage, this campaign Thuram has been attempting over seven dribbles and almost four carries per 90 minutes. Defensively, the Frenchman uses his frame to his advantage to tackle and intercept, he is particularly good at recovering the ball in his own third.
At just 22, the versatility shown by Thuram has attracted a whole host of clubs across Europe including Manchester City and Real Madrid, meaning Liverpool will have to move fast. His current contract still has two years left to run.
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Liverpool are having contractual issues of their own in midfield. The Reds seem likely to lose Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on free transfers this summer, while Arthur Melo’s underwhelming loan spell will also draw to a close. James Milner is another whose contract is up this summer, but Klopp is eager to retain his services.
Thuram himself does not know where the next stage of his career will take him, but has aspirations of playing for “top clubs”.
“As a man, as a football player. I don’t know exactly where that is going to take me but I want to be the best version of myself,” Thuram told The Telegraph. “If that is to play somewhere my whole life then fine. If it is to play at one of the top clubs then I want to achieve that.”
His father was part of France's squad for the 1998 World Cup, which they won on home soil, while older brother Marcus is also a professional, currently playing as a striker for Borussia Monchengladbach.
“My dad was a defender so my [older] brother [Marcus] would be an attacker,” Thuram explained last month. "Then I had to be in the middle, in the midfield.
“So maybe that’s how me and my brother got our positions and it was really, really competitive. But they were nice moments, the three of us playing even if I finished a lot of times crying because I lost against my brother! Not that my dad ever let us win either. If he was going to win he was going to win.”
Born Italy while his father was playing for Parma, Khephren can speak fluent Italian along with his native French and, perhaps crucially, English - having been sent to an American school in Paris.
He would be the first of his family name to play in England, with the rumours coming to light following Liverpool being out-priced on Bellingham earlier this month, forcing the Reds to look further afield.
“I have nothing to say on that,” Klopp said. “We don’t speak about players we sign or do not sign, so we don’t now speak about this kind of speculation. There is nothing to say about it.
“It is not about Jude Bellingham, my answer now, but I never understood why we talk about things we theoretically cannot have. We cannot have six players in a summer, everyone for £100m. Everyone would say that is clear.
“You have to realise what you can do and then work with it. That is your job. We are not children. When you ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas and they tell you, I don’t know, a Ferrari, you wouldn’t say that’s a good idea, you would say that is too expensive and anyway you cannot drive it.
“If this kid then was really unhappy because he didn’t get a Ferrari, it would be a really sad life.
“You look what you can do, and you work with that. That is always how I worked. What we need and what we want, we try everything to try to get but there are moments where we have to accept and step aside and do different things.”
