According to Gremio’s president, Liverpool haven’t agreed on a deal for Olympic gold medalist Luan despite recent reports.
Although reports in recent days indicated that Liverpool had agreed on a £23 million fee for Brazilian forward, Gremio president has rubbished these claims.
On Sunday, Brazilian journalist Luis Felipe Amorin claimed that Gremio had agreed to Liverpool’s £23 million bid, which had been submitted on May 6th.
It was reported on Sunday that the Reds were set to finalise the signing of the talented 24-year-old, who has one year left on his current contract.
Following that, The Mirror reported it the fee as being £26 million, writing that, “the English club are said to be increasingly confident of landing the player.”
Yet, in spite of these reports, Gremio president Romildo Bolzan Jr denied that any such agreement had been made after the Brazilian club’s 2-0 victory over Botafogo on Sunday.
“We have no information, no official proposal,” he said. “We have absolutely no concrete proposal.”
Liverpool signed Lucas Leiva from Gremio in 2005 for £5 million and also have Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino on the books, not to mention Allan Rodrigues de Souza out on loan. As This is Anfield’s Jack Lusby pointed out, linking Luan with Liverpool could be the product of poor journalism and using Liverpool’s abundance of Brazilians as “an easy solution for lazy speculation.“
Jürgen Klopp is on the lookout for attacking talent ahead of an important summer for Liverpool and Luan is one of a host of players linked with the Reds.
Douglas Costa, Mohamed Salah and Lucas Moura are three of the many players that have been linked with Liverpool. What do they have all in common? They’re all more talented and have more experience of European football.
I base my knowledge of Luan from limited viewings during the Olympics but Liverpool could sign a more talented winger for around £30 million with knowledge of the Premier League or the Champions League.
At 24 years of age, Luan is the same age as Salah and Lucas Moura and two years younger than Douglas Costa. Yet, you get the feeling that going with the safer and more experienced option could pay dividends for Liverpool in ways that it might not with Luan.
Before Liverpool’s 4-0 domination of West Ham, Klopp hinted that Coutinho could play as a number eight for the Reds next season. Sure enough, against the Hammers, our little Brazilian took up a creative midfield role in a more fluid 4-4-2 diamond formation.
By playing Coutinho in midfield, Klopp opens up the opportunity for a new winger to come in next season and the likes of Salah, Lucas and Costa are all players that could make a difference for Liverpool with plenty of time left in their respective careers.
Luan, on the other hand, seems far too much like a gamble that Brendan Rodgers would make. Although I was excited by it a few days ago (irrational excitement), it would be unwise to gamble on Luan when there are experienced options available in Europe.