Rumour Mongering: Harvey Barnes of Interest?

He ticks a lot of boxes, but we’re not sure about this one.

Liverpool have, I don’t want to say completely blown this season, but basically, it hasn’t gone as planned. Man City are walking to the title, and it’s basically a tough slog to see if top four is still doable.

So, in the online journalism world, that means it’s time to talk about transfer rumours. Sometimes they’re exciting, sometimes they’re boring, sometimes they’re reasonable, sometimes they’re totally off the wall.

This time, Tom Hopkinson of The Mirror has suggested the Reds are interested in Leicester’s Harvey Barnes. The English winger is an interesting player, someone with a good eye for goal who can offer a consistent threat in behind. It’s not that hard to compare him to Sadio Mané at Southampton.

“Manchester United and Liverpool have both had the midfielder watched, and Leicester want to nip speculation over his future in the bud by tying him down long term to the King Power Stadium”, explains Hopkinson.

That’s the thing, though, when you can always tell what’s happening. Leicester are trying to negotiate a new contract for him. It’s in the interest of Barnes’ agent to put information out there suggesting other sides are interested to attract more money from the Foxes.

The usual source of rumours is from agents, and that’s why we have to be careful. There are always going to be those who want to throw Liverpool’s name in the hat to get a better deal for their client.

As for Barnes? Well, as I said, he’s interesting, but it doesn’t feel quite right for Liverpool. Diogo Jota was just signed last summer, and Barnes offers a very similar skillset to the Portugal international.

For now, it seems that the only winger named Barnes we acknowledge is John.