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IT comes around so fast, but we are already getting to that time of year when the transfer rumours start up, and Liverpool FC are seemingly linked with every player under the age of 30.

In amongst the gossip and the half-truths, though, there are some very interesting names cropping up. Christian Eriksen is one of those.

I take a special interest in Eriksen, of course, being a Dane who is forging his career at Ajax.

And if suggestions that he might be ready to make the same move I did all those years ago, and join Liverpool, are true, then I think the Reds would be getting a very good player.

Eriksen, at 21, is at the stage now where he needs to take the next step. Ajax is a great club for developing young players - the most prolific in Europe according to a new study - but you can’t stay there too long.

Eriksen’s development has been sharp, and he is growing with every game he plays. Now, he needs to step up a level and test himself further.

Whether that is at Liverpool remains to be seen. I know Marc Overmars, Ajax’s technical director, admitted recently that scouts have been over to watch him regularly, but I’m sure a lot of clubs are monitoring the situation.

What I would say is that Christian needs to play regularly. Maybe that would count in Liverpool’s favour slightly, that they can offer him, you would think, regular first-team football.

He’s a classy player. An old-fashioned number 10 in many ways. He has two great feet, he sees passes and has added goals to his game in recent weeks. He has all of the tools in his locker to be a real top class player.

I’d love to see him at Liverpool, and he is exactly the type of player Liverpool should be looking at, but there will be some serious competition I am sure.

Whatever happens, it promises to be an interesting summer. And Liverpool simply have to get their recruitment right.