Liverpool line up Alex Witsel and bid farewell to Lucas
• Runners up confident of deadline day deal
• Rogers keen for back up to Gerrard
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Brendan Rogers is reportedly close to completing his tenth acquisition of the summer with a deadline day swoop for FC Zenit St Petersburg and Belgium midfielder Alex Witsel. Manchester United and Arsenal have also been alerted to Witsel's availability but are said to be prioritizing a new centre-half and striker respectively. Rogers has adequate funds to meet Zenit's asking price of 18m but is said to be keen to offload Lucas Leiva before allowing another midfielder to join his growing squad. Up until last week this made any move for Witsel unlikely until the January transfer window. However in recent days, and in particular with the departure of Daniel Agger to Brondby, Lucas has resigned himself to the inevitability of his departure and has agreed personal terms with two Spanish clubs and one Italian club. Real Sociedad is now his likely destination after Liverpool ruled out a loan move that would have re-united Lucas with former boss and mentor Rafa Benitez at Napoli.
The arrival of the Witsel at Anfield is likely to cause a further increase in competition for places in Liverpool's starting eleven with the player himself favouring a role in front of the back four, where Steven Gerrard has excelled over the past year. It's thought that Rogers has concerns about Gerrard's ability to withstand a long European campaign in addition to a serious push for domestic silverware across all fronts this year. The signing of Witsel is intended to provide a top level replacement for Gerrard at key points in the season especially where there is fixture congestion and fatigue in the final months of the season.
Witsel brings extensive European and international experience but at 25 is considered young enough to be worthy of the investment by Liverpool's American owners and I just made all of that up.