Richard Hughes given green light to sign £39m defender

Liverpool only just scraped Champions League qualification this season.

The Anfield outfit were expected to put up a decent fight to retain their Premier League title but, in reality, this was far from the case.

Whether that was because of the poor management from Arne Slot, the number of injuries the club suffered or the lack of cohesion among their players, nothing went right for the Anfield outfit.

This has resulted in the rumour mill going into overdrive and fans getting excited over the slightest links.

However, for one of their many targets, Richard Hughes has just been given a green light to sign them during the summer transfer window.

Marco Palestra is interested in joining Liverpool

One of Liverpool's main problem areas in the 2025-26 season was their right-back.

Even though they started the campaign with Conor Bradley and Jeremie Frimpong as their main options, injuries ruled them both out of a lot of games and, when Frimpong was fit, he was rarely played at right-back anyway.

This resulted in Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones sharing the role which is obviously far from ideal.

So, it's unsurprising to see that the Reds are getting linked with multiple right-backs this summer.

Several defenders have already been linked with an Anfield switch but, according to a fresh update from La Gazzetta Dello Sport, Marco Palestra has named Liverpool as one of the few clubs he'd be interested in joining.

"Palestra isn't just interested in Inter, but also in England's top clubs (Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City) and Real Madrid in Spain," they wrote.

"Therefore, despite not needing to raise funds, Atalanta understands the dynamics of the transfer market. Given a suitable offer, they would be open to selling him. At the same time, they would already have a replacement ready.

Marco Palestra is exactly what Liverpool need this summer

There are several positions among Liverpool's ranks that could do with an upgrade this summer.

The Anfield outfit struggled this season and, without some new faces bolstering their ranks, it's hard to see how Andoni Iraola will do any better than Slot.

Palestra is only 21 years old and has emerged as one of Caligari's most important players this term.

While on loan from Atalanta, the Italy international played 37 games for the Serie A outfit an contributed to five goals.

His one-on-one defending is a sight to behold and, with how injury prone Bradley is and how unlikely Liverpool are to use Frimpong at right-back next term, he'd probably become the Reds' first-choice right-back.

He'd only cost Liverpool around £39 million which is a similar price to what they paid for Milos Kerkez.

Of course, competition for his transfer will be high but, since there's a clear path into Liverpool's starting XI for the youngster, he'd be silly to go elsewhere and, now a transfer for Denzel Dumfries is off the table, the Anfield outfit don't have many more options to choose from.

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