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David James believes Liverpool should be targeting a move for Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli ahead of Leeds United’s Raphinha.
The Brazilian winger has been heavily linked with a switch to Anfield at the end of the season, although Jurgen Klopp’s side are set to face strong competition from Barcelona.
Martinelli, meanwhile, has been praised by Klopp on two occasions this season for his impressive performances against Liverpool.
And former Liverpool goalkeeper James believes Martinelli would be a better signing than Raphinha.
‘I like Raphinha. He’s on nine goals this season,’ James told GGRecon.
‘The one thing that sort of concerns me about him already being linked to Liverpool is that usually you don’t know who Liverpool are going to sign until they sign.
‘That Liverpool front four or five, whatever you want to call it, is he the same, is he better? Under Jurgen Klopp and in that environment, would he get better? Possibly. If it is true, I think the price would be the key indicator on that one.
‘I like him but again, when you look at Luis Diaz, who is a sensational signing, is Raphinha as good as him? I don’t think so at the moment.
‘It’s whether he can be better than that. I think with Diaz you already had a superstar who came in and continued to be a superstar. Raphinha is a slightly different model I would argue.
‘Gabriel Martinelli is one player who I get excited by. If it was a choice between Martinelli and Raphinha, I would go for Martinelli.
‘He’s young and he’s got everything you need. It’s almost like a slightly rawer Diaz, and the beauty of Diaz is that he can play basically anywhere. Martinelli obviously occupies the left a lot more.
‘I always think that with a good environment and age, you can manipulate a player into something else, and I think Martinelli fits that criteria. He’s young and more than capable.
‘And I can imagine him in a Liverpool kit, doing what he does with Arsenal, if not better, and just fitting in seamlessly.
‘If you look at Liverpool’s recruitment, the age of the players they’re buying – they’re young: they’re kind of like, ‘we’ve already got the team now, but what’s it going to look like in the future?’, and they’re bringing in those players to fill in those spaces where if [Roberto] Firmino, [Sadio] Mane, Salah drop out, they’ll be ready to go and replace them.’
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