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This article is part of Football FanCast's In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets...

According to Portuguese outlet Record, Liverpool are interested in signing Sporting midfielder Idrissa Doumbia after being impressed with the midfielder in a pre-season friendly against the Liga NOS side.

The Independent also report that a deal is unlikely to be concluded this summer, although the Reds are now tracking Doumbia's progress with a view to making a move in the next window.

At just 21 years of age, the Ivory Coast star could well have a bright future ahead of him if he continues in this vein, seeing as he did enough in what was just a friendly to impress the Champions League winners.

Additionally, he would also be a wise player to recruit given the current ages of some of Liverpool's midfield options.

As you can see, the youngster looks to be a fairly tidy passer of the ball and a decent reader of the play despite his young age with 1.1 interceptions per game.

As aforesaid, he would be a good option to target given the current midfield situation.

As things stand, Jurgen Klopp's midfield options are bloated and no new faces should be added anytime soon.

The German has Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Gini Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Fabinho all at his disposal right now - a whopping seven players.

However, Henderson will be 30 next summer. Wijnaldum is 28 and it won't be long until he's also 30. Milner turns 34 in January, and Lallana's next birthday will be his 32nd - it is fine for now, but Liverpool should definitely have one eye on freshening up some of these options.

At just 21, Doumbia would struggle to get much game time ahead of the established players above, but he should definitely be considered as a potential signing for next summer or the following windows after that given the advancing years of some of Liverpool's stars.

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