Liverpool & Man City 'still interested' in Leeds target Adama Traore
By Mitch Wilks
Liverpool and Manchester City have again 'expressed their interest' in signing Adama Traore, who is yet to sign a new deal with Wolves despite agreeing on improved terms.
90min exclusively revealed in November that Traore had been stalling on signing a new deal with the club that saw his wages doubled, which led to genuine interest from Leeds United ahead of the January transfer window. 90min also reported of City and Liverpool's initial interest in the player, though his valuation at the time was closer to £70m.
A new report from Spanish outlet Sport now claims that Liverpool and City are both interested again in pursuing a deal for the winger, as well as Leeds.
Leeds' interest was recently dismissed as 'pure fantasy', but the funding would have been linked to an increase in investment from the owners of NFL's San Francisco 49ers - who entered into a collaborative partnership with Leeds in 2018 for their initial stake and have been looking to increase it since. 90min first exclusively reported their interest in July 2020.
The Yorkshire club have long held genuine interest in Traore, who was signed for Middlesbrough in 2016 by Leeds' current director of football Victor Orta, but any pursuit of a deal would have been influenced by an increase in investment from the owners of NFL's San Francisco 49ers - who entered into a collaborative partnership with Leeds in 2018.
They have been looking to increase their stake in recent years, with 90min first exclusively reporting their interest in a takeover in July 2020. Any deal to increase stake it yet to be completed.
Sport report that Wolves value Traore at around £35.5m, which is a lot of money considering the financial restraints of the pandemic, but both Liverpool and City have been linked before.
The Reds have held a likening to the Spaniard for some time, although 90min understands Traore is eager to play first-team football in order to break into the national team, which creates concern about moving to Merseyside.
Traore has been underwhelming as an attacking outlet this season and has managed just one assist in the Premier League so far, disappointing in a Wolves side that has been below par all round and sits in the bottom half of the table.
While his side are becoming increasingly annoyed over the failure to sign a new contract, Wolves are already short of attacking options. They sold Diogo Jota to Liverpool last summer and have lost talisman Raul Jimenez to a fractured skull, though they are close to signing Willian Jose from Real Sociedad.