Liverpool are eyeing a summer deal for on loan Bayer Leverkusen defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos as Brendan Rodgers look to reshape his defence for next season.
Schalke signed the highly-rated young defender from Olympiacos in the summer of 2010 and he quickly established himself as one of the mainstays of the Bundesliga outfit.
However, Papadopoulos suffered a serious knee injury in November 2012 which kept him out of action for more than a year. On his return in December 2013, he suffered another shoulder injury which forced him to go under the knife again. The new injury also caused him to miss the World Cup in Brazil last year.
He joined Leverkusen last summer, but injuries followed him from Schalke to the BayArena too and he again missed a chunk of the season.
However, the Greek defender has been a regular since his return and despite the injuries many feel he still has a bright future in football.
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And according to German daily Bild, Liverpool are ready to take gamble on the player at the end of the season. Rodgers is looking to add depth to his defence and feels the 23-year-old has the potential to become a top class defender.
The Reds are ready to part with a transfer fee of around €7m in the summer to convince Schalke to sanction the highly-rated young defender’s sale.
It remains to be seen whether Schalke believe that Papadopoulos still has it in him to succeed at the club or are they looking to cash in on a defender whose injury record might stop him from fulfilling his true potential.
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