Liverpool competes with Real Madrid and Juventus for the €40 million ‘new Sergio Ramos’.

Liverpool is one of the Premier League clubs interested in Italy’s Riccardo Calafiori.

The 22-year-old made his competitive debut for the Azzurri in the first game of their European Championship campaign against Albania on Saturday night.

He received glowing praises, with former Madrid and England manager Fabio Capello comparing him to Real Madrid legend – and Liverpool adversary – Sergio Ramos.

“If I had to compare the Bologna defender to a player from the past, my first thought would be a young Sergio Ramos,” Capello wrote in La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“In 2006/07, during my second term on the Real Madrid bench, I managed the Spaniard, who had joined from Sevilla the previous season.

“Calafiori, like Ramos, progressed from full-back to centre-back. And I can promise you that Sergio Ramos, as he is now, did not become that way overnight.”

Former Bologna head coach Thiago Motta converted Calafiori from a left back to a centre back, and the defender appeared changed during the club’s 2023/24 Serie A campaign, which ended in a Champions League berth for the club and his first Italian call-up.

Calafiori, a Roma academy graduate, was sold to Basel in the summer of 2022 for about €3 million, with the Swiss club including a 50% sell-on clause in his contract.

He returned to Serie A with Bologna last summer and might be on the move again, with Europe’s biggest clubs lining up to sign the left-sider.

CALAFIORI WANTS TO REUNITE WITH THIAGO MOTTA

According to the Athletic, Premier League suitors include Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle, Brighton, and West Ham, although Juventus and Real Madrid pose the greatest threat to the Reds’ prospects of signing Calafiori.

Calafiori’s favourite destination is supposedly Juventus; Thiago Motta has been appointed as new head coach, and if the defender leaves Bologna, he wants to join his mentor in Turin.

However, Juventus may be priced out of a transfer, with Bologna seeking a bidding war and a price tag of around €40 million now being mooted.

Juve, for their part, are said to be willing to spend only €25 million for Calafiori, despite him being regarded as the top defensive target.

According to Calciomercato, Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid side sees him as an alternative to the more expensive Leny Yoro, whose future with Lille is unknown.

Calafiori has a contract with Bologna until 2027, and the Rossoblu are not under any pressure to sell given their plans to cash in on Arsenal and Manchester United target Joshua Zirkzee.

The Reds center-back options

He appears to be a good fit for Liverpool’s new transfer squad, led by Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes, as a left-sided defender who can play both left back and centre back.

Furthermore, he is tactically versatile, capable of switching from a back four to a back three.

Other defenders linked to the position include Lloyd Kelly, Goncalo Inacio, and Levi Colwill.