Khvicha Kvaratskhelia has already made his feelings clear over which club he dreams of playing for amid links to Liverpool. This week, the Athletic claimed the Reds could make a move for the Napoli winger.

The lack of movement relating to a fresh deal in Italy has put clubs on red alert. Liverpool have been long-term admirers of Kvaratskhelia, who has gone on to establish himself as one of the top attackers in Europe. The ECHO understands that the Reds are yet to make contact with Napoli over a potential transfer this month despite their long-standing interest in him.

He was one of the standout performers when the Reds fell to a 4-1 defeat to Napoli in the Champions League back in September 2022. Besides Liverpool, Chelsea are also in the mix but it's thought that Paris Saint-Germain are emerging as the leading contenders.

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Amid uncertainty over his imminent future, Kvaratskhelia has already named the club he dreams of joining. "Real Madrid. Since I was a kid I’m a Real Madrid fan," he previously said. "With my brothers, we were always watching their games. Real Madrid was my favourite team in my childhood."

Meanwhile his father, Badri previously told GOAL: "For Khvicha, playing against Real Madrid was special. He has always dreamed and I am convinced that he still dreams of playing for Real Madrid.

"In my family, everyone is a fan of Los Blancos - except for me. For this reason, it was a very special match."

Speaking to Georgian outlet Imedi in June, Kvaratskhelia's agent, Mamuka Jugeli, said: "I don’t want people to think that Kvara wants to stay at Napoli. We want to leave, but we are waiting for the end of the Euros so as not to disturb Khvicha. The priority is to join a team that plays in the Champions League."

Despite appreciation for the player, it's been suggested that any transfer this move is unlikely. Arne Slot, who addressed the speculation, said in his press-conference: "When you said yourself 'linked with', I was thinking: 'Which club is he going to say now?' But you mean as a club we are linked with Kvaratskhelia.

"What I make of that is that this is January and I think I said it after the West Ham United game [to journalists], please don't disappoint me, please come up with all these players and all these clubs that are in the interest of us. Or the ones that don't play a lot for us are going to go somewhere else.

"That [speculation] is what is happening now. And nine out of 10 times or 99 out of 100 times, at the end of the window it's been clear that almost all of these stories weren't true. So what can I comment about it? The rumours keep going for it but no comment from my side."