Liverpool reject £25m bid by Crystal Palace for Mamadou Sakho

Liverpool have rejected a £25m bid from Crystal Palace for Mamadou Sakho as they hold out for £30m for the exiled defender.
Palace’s offer, submitted by the chairman Steve Parish on Tuesday, was £22m plus £3m in add-ons for a defender who has been frozen out of Jürgen Klopp’s plans and enjoyed a successful loan spell at Selhurst Park last season. The bid was Palace’s third for the 27-year-old this summer and was rejected by Liverpool who, with Leicester City and West Bromwich Albion also interested in Sakho, are confident of obtaining their £30m asking price before the transfer deadline on Thursday.
Liverpool will accept a structured deal to receive £30m and Palace remains Sakho’s most likely destination with the former Paris Saint-Germain captain favouring a move to London. But Palace will need to improve their terms to prevent a Premier League rival beating them to the player’s signature.
Anfield officials hope to be very busy before the transfer window closes with the club ready to spend in the region of £150m to land Thomas Lemar from Monaco and Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk, although the players’ respective employers remain reluctant to let them leave.
Liverpool have had several inquiries for the France international Lemar dismissed by Monaco who, despite agreeing a deal for the Lazio winger Keita Baldé Diao, maintain the 21-year-old will not be leaving in this transfer window. That will not deter Liverpool’s attempts to strike a deal before the deadline.
Divock Origi would be allowed to move on loan in the opposite direction as a makeweight in a Lemar transfer, although Liverpool insist reports of an €80m(£74m)-plus Origi bid for the versatile forward are premature. The club remain adamant that Philippe Coutinho will not be sold to Barcelona despite their interest in Lemar.
Southampton are also standing firm in their refusal to sell Van Dijk to Liverpool. The Dutch international would prefer a move to Anfield over Chelsea or Arsenal and Klopp is ready to make him the game’s most expensive defender at about £70m. However, Southampton have not yet bowed to the 26-year-old’s attempts to force an exit. Relations between the clubs are also strained following allegations earlier in the summer from Southampton that their team captain had been tapped-up by Liverpool.
Klopp also retains an interest in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain despite the England international appearing destined for Chelsea. Arsenal have been so far unwilling to deal with Liverpool, who could sell Lazar Markovic to Watford this week.
Guardian.com