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.