Hamburg winger Eljero Elia is attracting the attentions of Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson according to talkSport. The 23-year-old Holland international is widely regarded as one of the finest young players on the continent and in the past has earned covetous glances from a host of Premier League suitors most notably Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.
The former FC Twente prodigy and the Eredivisie’s 2009 ‘Football talent of the Year’ was part of Bert van Marwijk’s World Cup squad and according to talkSport, Hodgson has earmarked the gifted winger, who is capable of playing on either flank, as a potential replacement for the thus far underwhelming Ryan Babel, should he fail to impress before the January window.
In June of this year, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was strongly linked with the player having tracked the player of Surinamese descent as a teenager, while the Gunners’ North London rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, are believed to have enquired about Elia in August.
Having only moved to Hamburg last summer in a €8.9 million deal, any of the aforementioned Premier League suitors are likely to have pay in excess of £15 million, but Hodgson may offer players in part exchange for the increasingly impressive winger.
Should Liverpool formally register an interest in the Hamburg star, Arsene Wenger and Harry Redknapp may be tempted to follow suit, not least because the winger would be able to play in both the Champions League and the Europa League, due to the Bundesliga side’s non-participation. Elia has also been coveted by Juventus and Inter Milan.