Liverpool could be free to swoop for Andre Trindade in the January transfer window, following comments made by Fluminense’s president.
The Reds had been in talks with the Brazilian club during the summer regarding a potential move for the midfielder, only to be knocked back as the Rio de Janeiro outfit didn’t want to lose such an important player at a critical juncture of their season, which runs on a calendar year basis.
However, speaking to ESPN (via O Globo and Liverpool Echo), Mario Bittencourt dropped a strong hint that his side would be open to selling the 22-year-old in the winter.
The Fluminense chief said: “There is an agreement between us, with the player and representative, that he would stay until the end of the year and they comply fully and with the utmost tranquility.
“We chose not to sell him because we believed that we would reach the final stages of the Libertadores. It was a decision sporting criteria.
“In the case of Liverpool, I go even further. Liverpool’s executive director contacted me directly. And I replied to him, ‘My friend, I don’t sell players now and I don’t deliver now. If you want to buy now to take in January we can start talking, or if you want to wait until December and we talk in December’.”
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Fluminense will feel justified in their stance on not selling Andre in the recently concluded transfer window, with the 22-year-old helping them to progress to the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores, which take place later this month and in early October.
However, Bittencourt has very much left the door open for Liverpool to make their move prior to January, when the Brazilian outfit will be out of season and given the player their blessing to leave, having committed to them for a crucial period of a potentially glorious campaign.
A radical summer overhaul has left Jurgen Klopp with a plethora of midfield options as new names such as Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch join the likes of Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott at Anfield.
Adding a composed number 6 such as Andre will give the Reds an enviable array of riches in the middle of the park, with the 22-year-old one of the most reliable operators on the ball of any midfielder in the world.
As per FBref, he ranks in the top 1% of what the website deems ‘Men’s Next 8 Competitions’ over the past year for pass completion with 93.3%, while he’s among the top 2% of positional peers when it comes to passes per game (77.18).
Liverpool’s need for him now isn’t as great at what it had been at the start of August, but the picture could be drastically different again by the time January rolls around, so the Anfield hierarchy will take great pleasure from Bittencourt’s latest remarks.
Ep89 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️