Jonathan Johnson's Mercato Magazine - Liverpool may have ideal Bellingham alternative, Martial's Man United future, Lloris' time at Spurs coming to an end, and more

Our French football expert with the low down on this week's big stories.

Liverpool have a possible alternative to Jude Bellingham and why they failed to sign Aurelien Tchouameni last summer…

This week’s big story came from The Athletic’s reliable David Ornstein, who reported that Liverpool are ‘unlikely’ to sign top target Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund with Real Madrid and Manchester City both ahead in the race for the Englishman’s signature.

Even though a lot of fans have their hopes pinned on Liverpool signing Bellingham, all hope of the club making a good signing is not lost and that is because the next player that I can see a number of European giants turning their attention towards is Monaco's Youssouf Fofana.

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Fofana is still only 24 years old and is already one of Monaco’s most highly-rated midfielders. He also has an attractive contract situation which is set to expire next summer or the following year if Monaco decides to trigger his one-year extension clause.