As the lengthy pursuit of Romeo Lavia seemingly hit another bump in the road yesterday, reports began to emerge of Liverpool potentially shifting their focus elsewhere.
The Reds were initially said to have made ‘contact’ with Fluminense regarding a move for 22-year-old André by Melissa Reddy before numerous other reports citing similar.
This all came after in mid-July Brazilian-based football reporter Emmanuel Luiz took to Twitter to claim that Liverpool were interested in the one-cap Brazil ace.
We spoke to Emmanuel to get the latest take on the situation as suggestions of release clauses and possible winter moves surfaced.
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He said: “I think they will close the deal in this window, even if it’s for December.
“My personal opinion, because I am looking at him, I’m in this negotiation, I know people who are doing this negotiation. Before I spoke to you I spoke with people that said to me really clearly ‘André wants Liverpool – that’s done’.
“Sporting Lisbon offered €30m to Fluminense and he said ‘I’m going to Liverpool’ – there is only Liverpool in André’s mind.”
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Emmanuel also discussed the likelihood of Fluminense sanctioning a move this summer and said whilst it would be the Brazilian club’s preference to keep hold of the midfielder who he later hailed as being similar to N’Golo Kante, there are opportunities to bring the deal forward in this window, particularly if The Reds miss out on Lavia.
Redmen Reacts
Albeit a relative unknown to most, you only need to watch a few highlight compilations and check some stats to see that André would be a wholly viable option to replace Fabinho and bolster Jurgen Klopp’s midfield options.
Sharing similar stylistic traits to the highly coveted Manuel Ugarte and with 145 senior appearances already under his belt, this would be a transfer that makes an abundance of sense and hopefully, one the Anfield hierarchy can fast-track to now as Klopp is currently in desperate need of a genuine number six.
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