‘Fee agreed’ as new Liverpool signing says his goodbyes
Liverpool have agreed a fee for Marcelo Pitalunga.
The transfer target has already said his goodbyes and will be a Liverpool player soon, wrote the Echo.
Sporting director Michael Edwards has agreed a fee of around £1 million for the Brazilian youngster, while the deal will be structured to include a 25% sell-on fee and could include up to £800,000 of add-ons.
Marcelo Pitalunga is a talented young goalkeeper who will go into the development squad, but is being viewed as someone who could replace Alisson Becker one day.
Rush The Kop spoke to some Brazilian Reds, who waxed lyrical about the 17-year-old and the potential he has. Alisson already knows him, having trained with Pitalunga and his brother, Muriel Becker, at Fluminense.
The deal will be formalised in the coming week, said the Echo, after the goalkeeper undergoes and passes his medical.
Liverpool have signed an interesting amount of youngsters in this position. This season along they brought in Polish starlet Fabian Mrozek and gave Spanish stopper Javi Cendon a trial during the preseason camp in Austria.
Signing 17-year-olds and bringing them through into the first team is never an exact science and there will be all sorts of challenges before we see Pitalunga in the first team, if we ever see him make a senior appearance.
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But he does have a good pedigree and has represented Brazil in the U17 World Cup, as well as being around the Fluminense squad at such a young age.
His German passport means there’ll be no work permit issues, and it could also help when the post-Brexit rules come into force.
While Liverpool are building for the future, they also need to concentrate on what’s happening now. The 4-3 win over Leeds United was brilliant entertainment, but it showed a side who isn’t fully ready for the new campaign.
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The next game is against Chelsea, who will be much tougher opponents. Four of the five defenders Klopp picked on Saturday need to up their game, with only Andy Robertson coming out of the game with his credibility intact.