Steve Nicol confessed he would happily take Chelsea-linked Sofyan Amrabat at his beloved Liverpool.
Speaking on ESPN, Nicol admitted he wouldn’t say no to a potential transfer of the Moroccan midfielder to Anfield in the future.
Amrabat is now being spoken about within the circles of Chelsea, Liverpool and Premier League sides alike due to his performances at the World Cup.
The 26-year-old has been one of the breakout players of the competition in Qatar, owed largely to his nation’s spellbinding run to the semi-final.
Morocco owe great amounts to their midfield enforcer for becoming the first African nation to reach the final four of the global event.
He has provided a steely blanket of cover to a defence that only conceded once ahead of their 2-0 defeat to France on Wednesday.
Didier Deschamps’ side may have pushed on to the final, but they were certainly tested by the Atlas Lions.
They were roared on by Amrabat, who was his typical combative and confident self in the middle of the park.
His crunching challenge on Kylian Mbappe summarised perfectly the type of player and character Chelsea and several others are apparently keeping an eye on.
Sofyan Amrabat announced to Chelsea
A move to the English top-flight is possibly on the horizon, with Nicol hoping Liverpool land Amrabat’s signature.
“Definitely Amrabat. Thinking of Liverpool at their best – winning the Premier League, winning the Champions League – they had three players in the middle of the park who just physically out ran, out fought, out beasted anyone that was put in front of them,” said the former Red.
“If there was a beast at the world cup, it was this guy. He caught Mbappe.”
Liverpool are one of the British clubs being linked to Amrabat, along with Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and Newcastle United.
Out of the quintet of clubs, Todd Boehly’s financial muscle might win him the race to sign the Fiorentina enforcer.
Graham Potter could do with additional depth in central-midfield.
N’Golo Kante is still side-lined, Jorginho is in the last stretch of his career, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek is recovering from injury.
It might not be the stellar signing supporters are crying out for, but Amrabat could well be a hidden gem waiting to be discovered.
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