Pedro Chirivella is officially leaving Liverpool to join Nantes, despite a reported five-year contract offer from the Reds.
The official club site confirmed the news on Friday. Chirivella will join Nantes once his contract expires on June 30th, leaving Liverpool after seven years.
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
“Chirivella will begin a new chapter by linking up with Nantes, who were 13th in Ligue 1 when its current season was curtailed, once his Reds contract expires at the end of June,” the club says.
“Everybody at Liverpool FC thanks Pedro for his contribution to the club and wishes him the best of luck in his future career.”
Liverpool did reportedly offer him a new contract, however. The Liverpool Echo claims they put a five-year deal on the table but Chirivella rejected it.
He cites first-team football as the reason, they say – something he’s far more likely to have in Nantes.
What RTK has to say
Chirivella is a good player and one who is younger than he seems, in all truth. Yes, he’s 22 – which seems like a veteran compared to Harvey Elliott et al – but for a holding midfielder, that’s still quite young.
But he’s been at the club for seven years now and played one Premier League game. We can completely understand his decision to move on, then, even with an offer from Liverpool.
Photo by ANTHONY DEVLIN/AFP via Getty Images
In some ways, he’s an unfortunate casualty of Liverpool’s success. He may have forced his way into the team in previous years but this Liverpool squad is just too packed.
The timing of his development just happened to be wrong, then. He’s now far more likely to get what he needs away from Liverpool and we all wish him the best of luck.