Former Liverpool target Andre is expected to make an ‘imminent’ exit from Fluminense beyond the Club World Cup.
Lucas Sposito, writing for Sport Witness relayed the expectation, with the Brazilian likely set to depart from the Brazilian top-flight in January.
This comes amid serious interest from the Premier League, with Marco Silva’s Fulham understood to be in the lead for the player’s services.
Liverpool need something better
Neil Jones noted that a somewhat superior option – with all due respect to the holding midfielder – would now be the aim for our recruitment team following Alexis Mac Allister’s start to the campaign.
“If Liverpool are going to go and sign a new holding midfielder, it will have to be someone better than Andre judging by Alexis Mac Allister’s start to the season, it’s clear!” the Covering Liverpool reporter wrote in his exclusive column with Empire of the Kop.
“They’ve signed two midfielders since they were linked with Andre, bringing in Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch.
“For me, they don’t sign Endo if they’re going to sign Andre, as Endo’s 30. Andre’s less proven in terms of top-level football, so it doesn’t make sense. Liverpool don’t even play Endo, they’re playing Mac Allister!
“So it would have to be someone who’s absolutely nailed on to improve Liverpool’s team straight away if they’re going to sign a holding midfielder. Or someone who’s potential is so elite you can’t ignore it.
“As such, I’m not surprised at the Andre situation. We’ll see whether injuries change the course a bit in the next month or so, which can easily happen.“
It’s a position we’re increasingly coming to terms with given the quality of our No.10’s performances in the No.6 role.
Passing the Manchester City test with flying colours, the former Brighton man has laid down a marker for the season.
Whoever comes in to challenge him needs to be not only be reliable in possession (and potentially brilliant on the half-turn) but also offer a considerable degree more in defensive metrics.
We’d have to imagine that’s a particularly shallow pool of players – even more so in the middle of the season.