According to
BBC Sport, Liverpool have made Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan their main transfer target this summer. The 24-year-old has been linked with top European sides including Juventus and Borussia Dortmund but Brendan Rodgers is clear he wants to secure the midfielder. Mkhitaryan reportedly has a release clause of £20 million, a fee that Liverpool are happy to match. If Liverpool were to activate the midfielder's release clause, Shakhtar would have received a total of £50 million from just two departures, with
Manchester City having secured the signing of Fernandinho for a fee of £30 million last week. The Armenia intentional has been in superb form having scored
25 times in 29 Premier Liga games leading Shakhtar to the their fourth consecutive title. Mkhitaryan was the top goalscorer in the league and has proven his ability throughout the season. Whilst it looks like the player is happy at the club, Liverpool are confident that they can persuade him to move to Merseyside and take part in a new challenge. With Liverpool likely to lose striker
Luis Suarez this summer after he admitted he was unhappy in the Premier League and would like to play for Real Madrid, any money the club make of Suarez will mean they can fund the deal for Mkhitaryan and will have money left over to find a new striker. Liverpool have already signed Manchester City defender Kolo Toure on a free and are close to completing a deal for Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas. There are also ongoing discussions regarding Sunderland keeper Simon Mignolet after he admitted
he didn't want to be in another relegation battle.