Fabrizio Romano disclosed that another European powerhouse had entered the race to sign the Brazilian midfielder Andre, which seems to be putting Liverpool and Fulham behind in the transfer window.
During the summer, the Reds made significant investments to restructure their midfield, spending £145.2 million to sign Waturu Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, and Alexis Mac Allister. And although the first three have rapidly established themselves as Jurgen Klopp’s first choices, Japan’s Endo seems to be little more than a temporary solution and squad member at Liverpool.
As a result, Klopp is reportedly intensifying his efforts to sign Fluminense midfielder Andre in January, and the Merseysiders are still actively searching for midfield reinforcements.
The Reds made an attempt to sign the 22-year-old during the summer, but the Brazilian team swiftly brushed them off.
In fact, they refused to sell Andre while he was still competing in the Copa Libertadores; this decision has since paid off handsomely, as the Brazilian team lifted the trophy and won the South American championship on Saturday thanks to a 2-1 victory over Boca Juniors.
However, the club’s president has now acknowledged that they are willing to sell the midfield player and that they are anticipating a “stratospheric proposal” to entice them to make a deal when the January transfer window opens.
“We have to wait. As of right now, Fluminense president Mario Bittencourt told Globo Esporte, “There isn’t a solid proposal for Andre.” However, we have no doubt that a stratospheric proposal will come after the [Club] World Cup, which he will participate in.
“It might be the club’s largest sale ever.” Although we are putting a lot of effort into finding a replacement, we could lose both [Andre and Nottingham Forest target Nino].
Sadly for Liverpool, they appear to have faded quite rapidly from the picture Andre transfer picture. That’s after reports on Tuesday afternoon stated Fulham had leapt into the picture and were pushing forwards with a plan to sign him in a £26m (€30m) agreement.
The Cottagers are in the market for a new defensive midfielder with Bayern Munich expected to step up their pursuit for Joao Palhinha, having narrowly failed to beat the deadline to sign the Portugal star in the summer.
As such, Marco Silva and Co reportedly see Andre as a ready-made replacement for the tigerish former Sporting Lisbon man.
However, both Premier League sides could be beaten to the punch after it emerged that Napoli were also looking to gatecrash the prospective deal.
And they appear willing to go as high as €35m (£30m) to beat the Reds and Fulham to the signing of the one-times capped Brazil midfielder.
Giovanni Scotto, an Italian journalist, claims that Napoli is actively pursuing Andre, despite some uncertainty surrounding the potential fee.
“Napoli will be active in the January transfer window; they are pursuing Fluminense’s recently-championed Brazilian midfielder, Andre.”
“He’s a playmaker and midfielder who can also be a tackler; he was born in 2001 and costs about €15 million.” It might serve as a useful reminder,” he said.
Nevertheless, rival reports state Fluminense is prepared to take home a club-record fee in exchange for Napoli’s willingness to spend up to €35 million for Andre.
Fabrizio Romano provides update on Liverpool transfer interest
That comes after Fabrizio Romano also suggested Liverpool were fading from the Andre transfer pursuit when providing an update on the protracted transfer chase in his Transfer Debrief podcast.
“He remains on Liverpool’s list,” the transfer expert confirmed. “However, it sounds like other clubs are also right in the mix, too.
“But from what I’m hearing, it’s not only Liverpool. There are more clubs from Europe trying to understand the conditions of the deal and what Fluminense would be open to accepting in January.
“I think in the next few weeks, the situation could be more clear because discussions can then take place to understand the final price, the intention of the player. But Liverpool are still interested. Let’s see if they’ll spend money because I think it’ll be €35 to €40m [£30-35m]. But he remains appreciated by those at Liverpool.”
Andre himself admitted in the build up to the Copa Libatadores final that he has been the subject of an approach from Liverpool, though remains open-minded over his future
He said: “In this past window I didn’t talk about it, the first time I’m going to talk in more depth will be now. It really was an irrefutable proposal from the club that plays in a big league.
“I think every player one day dreams of playing for a big club in Europe, in a big league. But I decided to keep my word because when the January window closed, [Fluminense manager, Fernando] Diniz arrived and told me that he wanted me here until the end of the year.
“We didn’t know that a proposal of that amount would arrive and I told him that, regardless of what happened, I would be there until the end of the season.
“It ended up passing and arriving in the middle of the year, we were still in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. It was a very difficult decision to make.”
Andre Trindade hints at future transfer
As for a future transfer, Andre continued: “At the end of the year, I don’t know what will happen, many things could happen.
“I’m sure that just having arrived here, knowing that it worked, was something that helped me a lot as a person and also helped me in my career.
“I think that as Diniz said, when we make the right choice, when we are faithful and when we act honestly, good things always happen ahead.”
Andre has been with Fluminense since his youth, making his debut in 2020 and going to appear in 160 games for the club, scoring seven times and is rated as one of Brazilian foootball’s elite defensive midfielders and heir to Casemiro’s throne.
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