Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been urged not to prioritise a move for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham or Leicester City's Youri Tielemans as a "better fit" is available.
Both players have been on the Reds' radar for some time and continue to be linked with a switch to Anfield, as has Real Madrid starlet Eduardo Camavinga.
Klopp is known to be a big fan of England ace Bellingham, who is still only 18, but getting him out of Dortmund could prove an expensive task.
The teenager is valued at around £100million by his club, who have tied him down to a contract which runs until 2025.
Making an approach for Foxes' star Tielemans would be a more affordable option for Liverpool, with his contract due to expire in 2023 and boss Brendan Rodgers resigned to losing him in the near future - possibly as early as this summer.
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However, former Liverpool legend John Barnes believes Klopp should overlook both players and instead go for Brighton and Hove Albion's Yves Bissouma.
The 25-year-old has been attracting interest from numerous Premier League clubs, including Manchester United and Arsenal, and it is thought he could be prised from the Amex Stadium for a fee of around £40m.
Tielemans could potentially be signed for a lower fee in the summer as he will only have 12 months remaining on his deal at the King Power Stadium, but Barnes feels Bissouma would be a more suitable choice.
Speaking to BonusCodeBets, Barnes said: "Youri Tielemans is a brilliant player, but he’s a completely different type of footballer to Yves Bissouma.
“Tielemans is a very good hardworking midfielder, but if you look at the nature of what Liverpool midfielders do, in terms of their physicality and the ability to get up and down the field, that isn’t necessarily what Tielemans does.
“Youri is excellent in possession and is perhaps maybe more Manchester City ’s style of player. Yves Bissouma would suit the Liverpool style more than Tielemans would. The same as he would with Jude Bellingham."
Liverpool could do with some reinforcements in midfield with the futures of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita uncertain, while veteran James Milner has recently turned 36.
Thiago Alcantara has also been dogged by injury problems since arriving, and Klopp is believed to be in the market for a new addition in the middle of the park.
Barnes did add that: "All three are excellent players though, Liverpool wouldn’t be doing wrong by signing any of them.”
It is unlikely Dortmund will be letting Bellingham go anytime soon, after Jadon Sancho's departure last summer and the expected exit of star man Erling Haaland at the end of the season.
Should Liverpool look to sign Bissouma, they would have an advantage in their favour that his contract with the Seagulls also expires in 2023.
Brighton boss Graham Potter was confident the club could ward off any potential suitors in the January window, but conceded the time may come soon for Bissouma to fly the nest to a bigger club.
"We want to keep all our players but I also understand the way the market is and the way football is," Potter said earlier this month.
"We understand where we are in the football football pyramid."
