Fabrizio Romano has advised Liverpool fans to ‘keep a close eye’ on one Premier League player ahead of the summer transfer window.
The Reds are facing into a period of significant change, with the sporting director position vacant at Anfield and Jurgen Klopp departing as manager at the end of this season.
In his Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside on Thursday morning, the Italian hinted that those two major roles would need to be filled before a clear transfer strategy would emerge, but that hasn’t stopped him from potentially whetting the appetite of supporters over Pedro Neto.
Arsenal and Tottenham were also mentioned as interested parties in the 23-year-old Wolves winger, with Romano stating: “I would also keep a close eye on Liverpool – let’s see who’s going to be their manager, let’s see who’s going to be their director and what kind of strategy they will have. But Pedro Neto has also been scouted by Liverpool in recent months and years.”
Neto has contributed three goals and 11 assists in 21 games for Wolves so far this season (Transfermarkt), which marks him out as an excellent creator but not the most potent in terms of scoring for himself.
The £50,000-per-week attacker (Capology) can play anywhere across the frontline, a quality shared by all of Liverpool’s senior forwards, although he’s predominantly a right winger (Transfermarkt).
That could see him earmarked as an initial replacement for – and potential long-term successor to – Mo Salah, but the 23-year-old would need to vastly increase his goal output if he’s to come anywhere close to replicating the Egyptian’s levels.
As Romano has frequently stated, Anfield chiefs would need to appoint a sporting director and a new manager first before the club can start thinking seriously about possible signings for the summer.
Nonetheless, Liverpool scouts could well be dispatched for further missions on Neto over the remainder of the season, with a view to Klopp’s successor being handed all the information they need regarding the Wolves attacker, and duly deciding whether or not to pursue him thereafter.