Liverpool are targeting Manchester City defender Wayne Bridge as the solution to their acute left-back problem, Goal.com UK understands.
Manager Roy Hodgson, having sold Emiliano Insua to Fiorentina and allowed Fabio Aurelio to leave, is ready to pay around £6 million for the former England international.
Bridge has three years remaining on the contract with Manchester City that he signed in January 2009 after a £10m move from Chelsea. However, with the imminent arrival of Aleksandar Kolarov from Lazio for a fee of £17m and the fact that another of Manchester City’s summer signings, Jerome Boateng, played left-back for Germany in this summer’s World Cup, he is unlikely to be given many first-team opportunities at Eastlands - and according to sources close to the player would see Liverpool as a practical alternative.
Since his arrival in Switzerland to take charge of the club’s pre-season preparations, Hodgson has maintained that left-back is a priority position to fill, and he has been linked with Sampdoria’s Reto Ziegler.
“We are short in that area and we do need to find a replacement for Emiliano and Fabio as quickly as possible,” he said before last night’s goalless draw with Grasshoppers Zurich, when he also confirmed that Albert Riera would be allowed to leave for Olympiakos with Philipp Degen likely to go to Stuttgart for a fee of £1.5m.
Last season, Bridge was dogged by a knee injury and poor form that saw him feature in just over half of City’s Premier League games, although he was given strong support from manager Roberto Mancini during the John Terry affair that prompted his international retirement.
This is not the first time that Bridge has contemplated a move to Anfield – he was the subject of a £6m offer from Rafael Benitez in 2008.
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