Liverpool’s gamble to take a chance on a young Brazilian talent by the name of Philippe Coutinho paid off handsomely back in 2013.
The Reds did not – and still don’t – tend to be in the business of giving too many chances to talents from South America at an early age.
Granted, Coutinho was not coming straight out of Brazil at the time, but his career in Europe had failed to take off with Inter Milan following a transfer from Vasco da Gama.
At a slightly low ebb themselves at the time, Liverpool saw an opportunity and spent just over £8m to sign Coutinho. Five years and 54 goals later, the Reds made a £134m profit as they sold him to Barcelona.
The experience of betting on a relatively unknown Brazilian gem paid off in a big way for Liverpool, but they have been reluctant to follow the same path ever since.
With Coutinho now plying his trade back home with Vasco, though, the ‘little magician’ may have just given Liverpool the vote of confidence they need to go out and sign young teammate Rayan Vitor.
Philippe Coutinho lets Rayan take crucial penalty
Liverpool were linked with a move for Rayan late last week, with reports claiming that a £34m move could be activated in January.
Whether that will pan out remains to be seen, but what can be said for certain is that Rayan is in fine form in Brazil.
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That continued on Sunday evening, when the 19-year-old hit two goals in an important 4-3 win for Vasco over Vitoria.
Having gone ahead early, Fernando Diniz’s team soon fell behind before half-time. Rayan brought them level early in the second-half, before a penalty was awarded with 22 minutes left to play.
Former Liverpool hero Coutinho is Diniz’s usual penalty taker, however, as Rayan told Globo after the game, the 33-year-old was happy to let his much younger teammate assume responsibility.
“Coutinho and I always talk,” the teenager said of the penalty. “Coutinho is the official scorer, but I was confident, and he trusted me. It worked out.”
Vasco went on to win 4-3, with Coutinho’s trust in Rayan perfectly justified.
Liverpool scouts would have been impressed by Rayan
There is clearly a reason why Liverpool have been tracking Rayan. The Brazil U20 star has been in the Vasco senior team since he was 16.
And if Reds scouts were indeed in attendance at the Sao Januario on Sunday evening, they will have had even more reason to be impressed by Rayan. His penalty was taken expertly as he ran around the ball to dispatch it with aplomb into the top corner.
Rayan’s earlier finish was a more simple one, as he fired home a good ball across from inside the six-yard box.
But no matter how easy the finish, Rayan showed great maturity and belief in himself to put his team on his shoulders in a difficult moment and drag them to an important win.
It’s easy to see why Diniz has called Rayan a ‘rare talent‘ of Brazilian football. If he’s good enough for Coutinho, he’ll do for us.
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