Liverpool Plan £15m Bid for Andriy Yarmolenko Amid Salah Fears - Report

Liverpool have shifted their attention to Dinamo Kiev winger Andriy Yarmolenko after stumbling in their pursuit of Basel winger Mohamed Salah, according to the Daily Mail.

The Ukrainian has given a good account of himself in the World Cup playoffs against France and Liverpool are on his trail to spruce their attacking options up front.

The winger is expected to be available for a fee in the range of £15m and has been in red hot form for Kiev, scoring eight goals in only 16 appearances this season. Salah is still under Liverpool's radar but Brendan Rodgers is not taking any chances as they look to keep their challenge up for a place in the top four.

The Reds are currently fourth in the league, six points behind Arsenal at the top of the table. However Manchester United, Newcastle and Everton are breathing on their necks and they need to strengthen in January if they have to keep their position amongst the elite. The Merseyside club will travel to Stoke on Saturday, a test which will elaborate on their top four credentials.

Meanwhile, Philippe Coutinho has ushered praise on Steven Gerrard and Daniel Sturridge who are both expected to feature this weekend after a long lay-off.

"Daniel is a fantastic player and it is always a pleasure to play alongside him, because he is always on the move trying to score goals. I believe he is back in training and I hope he gets back as quickly as possible because it will be better for us all," Coutinho told Liverpoolfc.com.

"He is making the difference and is scoring a lot of goals, creating loads of assists, and I hope he continues like that until the end of the season. As I said before, it is an honour to play with such a great player. Not only to play with him, but also with Gerrard, Lucas and all the other fantastic players that we have at our club. Gerrard this year has been exceptional," he added.