Liverpool have been linked with Nuno Mendes.
Portuguese publication A Bola, referenced by teamTalk, reported that Liverpool are interested in signing Sporting CP’s left-back.
However, the club have caught wind of Jurgen Klopp’s interest and swiftly negotiated a new contracted with Nuno Mendes, which pushes his release clause up to €45 million.
The news is interesting because Mendes would be able to provide cover to Andy Robertson and left-back is the one position Liverpool lack decent back-up in.
It’s doubtful that Liverpool would stump up that sort of money for a 17-year-old, no matter how talented. He has already made his debut for Sporting, but has spent the majority of his time in the U23 side.
The report quoted a fee of €20 million plus a healthy sell-on percentage from the Reds, but even that may be out of sporting director Michael Edwards’ price range.
Klopp has been troubled by the left-back problem for some time now. When Alberto Moreno was in the squad it was less of an issue, but since the Spaniard left on a free he’s had to make do with James Milner as cover.
Milner won’t be able to do that much longer. While he’s still among the fittest in the team, he is getting older and the role Liverpool require from their full-backs is incredibly taxing.
Joe Gomez is someone else who can play there, but he’s concentrated his time centrally and it wouldn’t make sense to pull Gomez away from that.
Yasser Larouci has been given the chance to show he’s the man to take over Robertson’s crown, but as a converted winger Larouci can sometimes be careless with his positioning and isn’t a natural defender.
It seems that Liverpool may need to turn to the transfer market after all, but is an expensive 17-year-old from Portugal the answer?
Despite Liverpool’s lack of spending power, they have continuously been linked with expensive deals. Wolves man Ruben Neves is on their shortlist, said this report, while Klopp is still thinking about bringing in Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli.