Liverpool have struggled to maintain their high expectations this season and now a new update has emerged from a reliable source on a potential summer transfer target.

What's the latest on Liverpool's interest in Micky van de Ven?

According to BILD's head of football Christian Falk (via Caught Offside), Liverpool are one of the many European clubs interested in signing VfL Wolfsburg centre-back Micky van de Ven.

As per the report, the Reds are joined by Manchester City, Arsenal, AC Milan, Juventus and Barcelona in their interest in the Bundesliga ace with Wolfsburg expecting offers of around €30m (£26.5m) in the summer.

Could Van de Ven be Van Dijk's rightful heir?

There is no doubt that a refresh is desperately needed at Anfield as the once-successful squad has started to turn stale with several players reaching the latter stages of their careers.

Jordan Henderson, Mohammed Salah, James Milner, Joel Matip, Thiago Alcantara and Virgil van Dijk are all well into their 30s at this point and are not likely to be part of the long-term future at Anfield.

As a result, the signing of Van de Ven could be a great opportunity to bring in a left-sided centre-back who can become the natural successor to his fellow Dutchman.

Over 25 Bundesliga appearances, the 21-year-old "giant" – who journalist Ronan Murphy claimed is "flourishing" – has excelled offensively and defensively.

Indeed, the youngster has scored one goal, delivered one assist and successfully completed 68% of his dribbles, proving himself to be a forward-thinking centre-back.

Furthermore, he has registered 3.4 clearances, 1.4 tackles and won 3.5 duels per game.

With the Netherlands U21's ace in the back line, it is no wonder that Wolfsburg have the fourth-best defensive record in the German top-flight with only seven league games lost and ten clean sheets so far when the youngster has featured.

Not only that, Van de Ven has outperformed the Liverpool titan, van Dijk, in several attributes this season including tackles and interceptions (54 v 39), clearances (90 v 87), blocks (8 v 6), ball recoveries (139 v 114), shot-creating actions per 90 (0.72 v 0.60) and dribblers tackled (74.2% v 50%), proving that he could be a valuable asset and great prospect for the future.

With that being said, the signing of Van de Ven could be a great opportunity for Klopp to add quality depth to the defence in his squad and ultimately develop a worthy successor to one of his most important players in the squad.