Liverpool have been served a decisive blow in their pursuit of Jan Oblak after Atletico Madrid made it clear their star goalkeeper will not leave for less than his €100m (£88m) release clause, claims The Daily Mirror.
Jurgen Klopp has made signing a new goalkeeper one of his main priorities this summer in the wake of Loris Karius’ disastrous performance in last month’s Champions League final.
It has since been revealed that Karius suffered concussion in the final prior to making two critical errors, but Liverpool are not planning for Karius to be their No.1 goalkeeper next season.
Liverpool have been heavily linked with moves for Alisson in the last 12 months but the Roma goalkeeper is now attracting interest from Chelsea and Real Madrid.
Oblak is also a target for the Merseysiders, but Atletico have no interest in losing one of the best goalkeepers in the world, unless Liverpool trigger his €100m release clause.
The Slovenia international still has three years left to run on his existing Atletico deal and Diego Simeone’s side are not in a position where they need to contemplate his future at the club.
It would require Liverpool shattering the world record fee for a goalkeeper in order to prise Oblak to Anfield and Klopp’s side are simply not willing to do that, forcing them to look elsewhere.
Oblak has kept 37 clean sheets in 67 games in the last two La Liga campaigns, at least five more than any other goalkeeper.
