Dortmund Plan Quick Swoop for €30m-Rated Liverpool And Tottenham Target

Borussia Dortmund lead Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in the pursuit of Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, according to reports in Germany.

Dortmund have been on the lookout for replacements for Mario Gotze, who left the club at the end of the season for bitter rivals Bayern Munich after his €37m release clause was matched.

The Champions League runners up have already signed Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but remain intent of keeping Robert Lewandowski at the club.

Tottenham and Liverpool have both shown interest in Mkhitaryan in recent weeks, though Shakhtar boss Mircea Lucescu insisted that moving to a club that can't offer Champions League nor a regular assault on the domestic league title would be a "step down".

Having won two of the last three Bundesliga titles and reached last season's Champions League final, Dortmund can seemingly fulfil Mkhitaryan's ambitions.

And Bild claims that they are now turning their attentions to Mkhitaryan, however they are yet to match Shakhtar's €30m valuation, instead offering a meagre €22m for his services.

"With money we could solve everything quickly," BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke told the paper. "But we want to continue to act in a way that also makes economic sense."

Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Liverpool remain on the lookout for more attacking players despite adding Iago Aspas to their artillery this summer but face a challenge in convincing Mkhitaryan that top tier European football can become an imminent reality at Anfield.

Tottenham will require similar persuasive skills, but Bild claim that his current preference is to go to Germany.