2 months ago
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Deadline Day Eve brings with it plenty of Alan Varela chatter but sources with ties to the club are downplaying any potential interest.
It’s Deadline Day Eve and Arne Slot’s Reds might still be in the market for another signing or two. Or at least that’s what the fans are telling themselves after the Reds moved swiftly this week to sign Federico Chiesa from Juventus for a bargain £10M transfer fee.
Following his arrival, speculation turned to defensive midfield and centre half, and those desperate for a signing soon spotted a private jet—one believed to have been sent to pick up Martin Zubimendi before that transfer fell apart—heading from Liverpool to Porto, home of previously rumoured target Alan Varela.
The 23-year-old Porto and Argentina defensive midfielder has been at least tenuously linked this summer, and Portuguese journalists added to the jet-fuelled fire by saying that the Reds are—or perhaps were—interested but that Porto weren’t willing to sell for less than his £75M (€90M) release clause.
Only others were claiming his release clause is a somewhat more reasonable £55M (€65M), and that’s before getting to The Athletic’s James Pearce insisting that his sources at the club are telling him that they aren’t currently trying to sign Varela, full stop.
What you choose to make of all of this will likely depend on how highly you rate Varela and how desperate you are for the Reds to make a deadline day signing to fill the void at the six that the club have been trying and failing to sign a long-term solution for for at least the past three summers.
On balance, we’re skeptical—even at £55M the price would seem steep for the player, and if the Reds rated Varela that highly they wouldn’t have left it for a deadline day scramble—but regardless we’ll see how it all unfolds over the next 24 hours.
