• Jürgen Klopp has spoken to 22-year-old Udinese midfielder via telephone • Napoli president admits player wants to go to Anfield, but has not ended chase

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Liverpool have made a £9.5m bid for the Udinese midfielder Piotr Zielinski but face competition from Napoli for the Polish international.

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Liverpool made the bid on Saturday with Jürgen Klopp also speaking to the 22-year-old midfielder on the phone to reassure the player he would have an important role to play at Anfield next season and beyond.

Udinese want £12m for the player, who has spent the past two seasons out on loan at Empoli. Napoli have offered £8.7m plus add-ons with the club’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, saying on Sunday: “Liverpool have made a bid for him and Zielinski wants to join them but we are trying to convince the player to join us, because we have an agreement with Udinese.”

Zielinski played for the incumbent Napoli manager, Maurizio Sarri, at Empoli and the latter is keen to work with the player again. The Polish midfielder had struggled in Italy before Sarri took over at Empoli and transformed the young player into a complete box-to-box midfielder.

The Polish international would become Klopp’s fourth summer signing after the arrivals of the Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic, the Cameroonian defender Joël Matip and the German goalkeeper Loris Karius.