Liverpool ready to poach £55m star from Premier League rivals

Liverpool still have a lot of changes to make to their first-team squad before the 2026-27 season gets fully underway.

Their fifth-place finish last season was massively disappointing with Arne Slot even being relieved of his duties due to the underperformance of his players.

Andoni Iraola is now the man in charge and, despite there still being a lot of work for him to do at Anfield, hiring the Spaniard already feels like a step in the right direction and the start of Liverpool returning to the 'heavy metal football' they're known for.

Admittedly, Slot tried something new by deploying a new style of football but, not playing to the strengths of Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah was clearly a massive mistake.

This has led to many new players being linked with an Anfield switch but, it isn't just Liverpool's attacking line that needs upgrading this summer.

Liverpool could poach Chelsea's deal for Maxence Lacroix

Now that Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson have both exited, it could be argued that Liverpool need to upgrade their defence more urgently than their attack.

However, with nobody knowing the exact return date of Hugo Ekitike and nobody knowing how well Victor Munoz will perform in the Premier League, it's hard to say what Liverpool's priority should be.

But, the fact that the club are being linked with so many different players every other day makes it clear that change is just around the corner.

A lot of the Reds' transfer targets have already been taken off the market by other clubs but, for one of their long-term targets, Iraola and Hughes could be about to prepare the hijack of the window.

"My understanding after conversations with well-connected figures in the agents industry, is that Lacroix is keen on the move to Chelsea, and they’ve made him their top defensive target.

"However, the issue seems to be at Crystal Palace’s end, as they’ve now ramped up the France international’s asking price from around €55m to more like €65-70m.

"My suspicion here is that Palace would prefer a bidding war for Lacroix, so it’s in their interests to drag this out a bit, and see if they can get more money for the player after his participation at the World Cup 2026.

"'Chelsea have made Lacroix their priority and efforts are still ongoing to get a deal done,' one source said. 'Palace won’t make it easy, though, and their initial asking price of €55m has risen now quite substantially.

"'Palace are aware of other clubs circling. Arsenal have been monitoring his situation and they’re now stepping up their interest in a new centre-back following William Saliba’s injury. Look out for Liverpool, Manchester United, and Manchester City as well.'"

Maxence Lacroix would be a perfect signing for Liverpool

Many different asking prices have been shared for Lacroix this summer.

Before the 2026 World Cup, a fee worth around €40 million was all that Crystal Palace were asking for but now, it seems like that number has jumped up to £55 million.

Lacroix's move to Chelsea has also felt like a done deal for the last couple of weeks but, since no movement has been made after the Blues were named the favourites to sign him, it feels like the race has opened back up.

The Frenchman has had a fairly decent World Cup for France this summer and, since he is now 26 years old and has a couple of years worth of Premier League experience under his belt, he could easily become Virgil van Dijk's next partner.

Indeed, Joe Gomez, Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet will all feel like it should be them but, since the former of the three is injury-prone and the other two have never played in the Premier League, it would be a huge risk for Liverpool to put all of their trust into the four centre-backs they have.

There's obviously no knowing what transfer plans Liverpool have lined up but, if Lacroix isn't at least in their thinking, some serious questions need to be asked.