Ozan Kabak has expressed his desire to remain at Liverpool in an interview with The Times.
Kabak’s loan spell from Bundesliga outfit Schalke, who have been relegated to the second tier, is about to come to an end.
And he’ll play no further part for the Reds this season, having missed their last three matches with a muscle injury.
Liverpool have an £18million option to buy the centre-back, but the Reds have a ‘strong interest’ in RB Leipzig’s Ibrahima Konate, another promising young centre-half.
It’s unclear if Konate is viewed as an alternative to Kabak, or whether the Reds may look to move forward with both.
Kabak has made nine Premier League starts in red, and also helped Liverpool beat RB Leipzig to progress to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
The 21-year-old averaged 2.9 successful aerial duels, 2.1 tackles, 1.3 interceptions and three clearances per 90 minutes in the league (via WhoScored).
Fan feed LFC Transfer Room relayed his desire to stay put, and here’s how fans reacted.
Fans split on Kabak after message to Liverpool
“He’s so young that if we let him go now we’ll probably sign him for 50M later in his career, if we don’t, he’s not gonna get game time at this level. Gutted, great guy, would love to have him at Liverpool. Gives his all for the team, true representation of our team.”
Credit: @TheskersRevenge
“Would prefer it if he stays as he is better than Nat and Rhys plus the lad has more to give i.e. bags of potential and with VVD coming back, it would be better for him. IMO”
Credit: @IbrarAli86
“It’s a shame he got injured because he really had to impress to make sure he gets signed. I still think we should sign him though.”
Credit: @Moessi81
“Please do. I want us to buy this lad even if it’s to loan him for a season or 2”
Credit: @notsodim
“I don’t want you”
Credit: @vlfc22
“Like him, feel for him but I just don’t think he’s good enough sadly.”
Credit: @weetabix07
“Please stop, Nat is ahead of him”
Credit: @bistro700
“Sad”
Credit: @_Liverpudlian11
In other news, fans fumed at this pre-Crystal Palace update.