Liverpool make £9.5M bid for midfielder Piotr Zielinski

Liverpool and Napoli are involved in a shoot out for the signature of 22 year old Udinese midfielder Piotr Zielinski.

The Guardian reports that Jurgen Klopp has spoken to the player by telephone after Napoli had made a bid for the player.

They report that Udinese want £12M (€15M) for the player.

With incentive-based add-ons, the Liverpool offer could be worth as much as £11M.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis was quoted as saying:

Liverpool have made a bid for him and Zielinski wants to join them but we are trying to convince the player to join us, because we have an agreement with Udinese.

Napoli will be in next season's Champions League, and Zielinski does have obvious familiarity with the Serie A.  He has also played for the current Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri during his time at Empoli - the club he has spent the last two seasons on loan with.

Zielinski was notably featured on TV last month wearing a Liverpool shirt at Empoli's training ground.

It is rumoured that the contents of the phone call from Klopp were to insist the importance of the role he would play in the Liverpool side next season.

Poland take on Northern Ireland in Group C of the European Championships today.