Liverpool turn down chance to sign Kabak for £8.5m

 

Liverpool have rejected the opportunity to sign Ozan Kabak from Schalke for just £8.5m, claims The Athletic.

 

Schalke are desperate to offload Kabak and his sizeable wages after they were relegated from the Bundesliga last season.

 

Liverpool took Kabak on loan for the second half of last season to ease their injury crisis at the back and had the option to make the switch permanent for £18m.

 

However, Jurgen Klopp's side instead decided to pursue RB Leipzig's Ibrahima Konate and got a £35m deal over the line earlier this summer.

 

Kabak's preference is to return to Anfield but Liverpool are not currently in the market for another centre-back despite Schalke offering him to them for a heavily discounted price.

 

 

Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk are all returning from serious injury during Liverpool's pre-season tour and they also still have January signing Ben Davies waiting to make his debut.

 

Kabak started nine league matches for Liverpool but struggled to make his presence felt at the back with a less-than-impressive aerial duel success rate of 56.5%.