Liverpool: always planning for the future…
The club signs plenty of players to its Academy and U23 teams, but never for a price quite this extravagant!
According to Jacob Steinberg in the Guardian, the club is “leading the race” for FC Porto defender Diogo Leite and have “made their interest in him clear”.
While the side we beat in the Champions League Last 16 wants to keep their teenage defender, he has a £13.1m release-clause, which if activated by Liverpool, would mean we only have to negotiate terms with the player and not his club.
The report says that Liverpool would loan Leite out next season so that he gets first-team football.
At the moment he’s putting in a stellar season for Porto’s B side, who play in the second tier in Portugal. His stellar performances have earned him interest from not only ourselves, but Arsenal and Manchester City, too.
The potential deal reminds us a little of Tiago Ilori’s infamous transfer – so if it comes off – we hope Leite is more successful than our last prodigal Portuguese central defender!
Ilori was on our books for four years, but never made a Premier League appearance after various failed loan spells.
Many fans would like Jurgen Klopp to purchase an elite centre-back to partner Virgil van Dijk, but with Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip already on the books, we’d be surprised if it happened.