Emre Can Future Takes Potentially Decisive Turn as Italian Report Names Minimum Liverpool Price Tag

The future of Liverpool midfielder Emre Can may have become a little bit clearer this week after claims from Italy that an offer of just €10m could prompt the Reds to open negotiations with Juventus over a possible January deal.

Can is currently due to be out of contract at Liverpool at the end of the season and Juve have long been linked with a move for the German international.

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With Can seemingly intent on running his Reds contract to expiry, Juve could potentially acquire the player on a free transfer on 1st July. But the reigning Italian champions have been tipped to act sooner to avoid running into competition in a fierce summer market.

According to Italian outlet CalcioMercato, Can is a priority target for Juve. It is also claimed that while Liverpool do not want to sell in January, a tentative offer of €10m (£8.8m) might be enough to at least get the Premier League to sit down and start talking.

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It remains to be seen just how likely a sale would be in January. A fee of €10m appears to be merely be a starting point and would represent a loss for Liverpool after paying around €12m to buy the player from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer of 2014.

But in the context of today's transfer market and super wealthy Premier League, it is also not an amount that Liverpool would particularly miss and it therefore may be in their better interest to make use of Can for the second half of the season and allow him to leave for free in summer.

Liverpool will be fighting on three fronts after Christmas, with Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup games coming. Losing Can at such a critical point of the campaign would require the club to quickly source a replacement, which would be a big gamble.

Should Can stay until the end of the season, Liverpool have already secured a deal to sign Naby Keita from RB Leipzig and the transition would likely be much smoother.