It was only a matter of time before reports linking Liverpool with Flamengo’s Joao Gomes started appearing, following the 21-year-old openly admitting he would like to play for the Merseysiders a few days ago. However, Fabrizio Romano is not in the habit of inventing stories, and when he makes a claim, there is usually something there.
And what the Italian transfer expert is saying is that Liverpool are monitoring developments around Gomes.
Primarily a defensive midfielder, the young Brazilian is capable of playing further up if need be as well, but at Anfield, he would likely be expected to challenge Fabinho for the spot ahead of the back four.
On the other hand, Flamengo don’t seem to happy about the prospect of Gomes leaving the club in the near future. They’ve reacted already, successfully convincing him to sign a new five-year contract on improved terms only a few days ago. Even though this development doesn’t rule anything out, Liverpool won’t have been too happy to learn that as it certainly strengthens Flamengo’s position in any potential negotiations and raises the market value of the player.
Given Liverpool’s transfer practices, Gomes probably didn’t do too wisely to sign that new deal, presuming he genuinely wants to play for Jurgen Klopp’s team. Liverpool generally don’t pay over the odds for their targets and rather move on to alternative ones, if an agreement proves too difficult to reach. The only exceptions in recent years were centre-back Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Alisson Becker, but both of them were rightly regarded as sure hits.
