Liverpool made contact with the representatives of Brazilian wonderkid Vitor Roque on their recent trip to England.
Vitor is the latest potential superstar to emerge from South America. A right-footed centre forward for Athletico Paranaense, the 18-year-old has reportedly been attracting admiring glances from Europe’s elite.
According to Brazilian outlet Globo, the most interested club has so far been Barcelona. The Spanish giants are even said to have invited Roque to visit the club over the last week.
Ahead of his trip to Catalonia though, the teenager and his agents are said to have stopped off in England. It’s there that Liverpool reportedly made contact with Roque’s staff. They weren’t the only ones to do so, though. Six more Premier League teams including Chelsea and Manchester United are also claimed to have been in touch.
As of yet, Globo report that these contacts have not led to an official proposal for Roque. However, they claim that Barcelona and two Premier League clubs have promised to submit bids. Roque’s club will reportedly not accept anything less than £37m to let their wonderkid leave.
Liverpool looking to cut out the middle man
Barring something remarkable, we don’t think there’s any chance of Liverpool getting this one over the line. When either Barcelona or Real Madrid come in for a South American youngster, they usually get the job done.
We saw that recently with the Madrid-bound Endrick. Liverpool were reportedly extremely interested in the Palmeiras prospect, but he had eyes only for Real.
Going further back, the Reds were also supposedly very keen to sign Vinicius Jnr before he left Brazil. Once again Madrid beat them to the punch though. These youngster’s are never a sure thing, but in Vinicius’ case, it has proven to be a costly fumble from Liverpool.
Whether Roque will go on to hit similar heights is perhaps unlikely. But there is clearly some great potential there. He was described as being a ‘revelation’ at the recent South American U20 Championships by former Brazil international Neto [Os Dondas Da Bola]. Roque has also even compared himself to former Liverpool hero Luis Suarez [Sport].
£37m is a lot to pay though. And although it’ll probably end up being cheaper than that, it won’t be at the kind of lowly price Liverpool would prefer to pay.
No, the Reds tend to prefer to pay that kind of fee on a player already proven in Europe. That’s not a bad position to take, but as seen by Vinicius and plenty of others since, sometimes it’s a good idea to cut out the middle man. We don’t think Liverpool will do that here, but it’s encouraging to hear that they’re at least entertaining the thought.
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