Shakhtar Donetsk chief: Liverpool’s final Alex

If Liverpool’s chances of signing Shakhtar Donetsk attacker Alex Teixeira didn’t already look grim, the Ukrainian outfit have continued to pile dirt on the deal with chief executive Sergei Palkin telling the Reds that they can forget signing the Brazilian this January – unless they want to stump up €70mil for him.

Whether this is mere posturing from Palki, as Shakhtar look for closer to their reported valuation of £38 million, remains to be seen.

“We obviously refused to accept it. This is the last number that was announced”. I do not want to sell Alex today.

“We need to have some good results in the Europa League and the Ukraine championship”.

The Blues legend has yet to sign a new contract with his existing deal expiring at the end of the season. Target it if you want it now.

“Palkin confirmed that Liverpool had made just one official bid of “€32 million ($34.7 million) and a €4 million ($4.3 million) bonus”.

Palkin also said that Liverpool boss Klopp was angling for a personal sit-down with Teixeira as he hopes to improve the attacking options available to him at Anfield.

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre had flown all the way down to Florida to initiate negotiations with Shakhtar, but to no avail, as the Ukranian club stuck to their decision to hold on to Teixeira until at least the end of the summer.

Per Marc Williams in the Daily Star, Gladbach sporting director Max Eberl has ruled out an imminent move for the 23-year-old Swiss: “Granit Xhaka won’t be leaving the club during the winter break-that’s for sure”.

The Reds have been heavily linked with a big-money swoop for the Brazilian as Jurgen Klopp considers bolstering his squad ahead of the last 15 games of the Premier League season.