According to reports from Portugal, Liverpool are due to meet with the representative of a long-time transfer target in an apparent attempt to complete one standout piece of business in the final fortnight of the window.
The print version of O Jogo on Thursday has claimed (via Sport Witness) that the Reds are set to ‘confirm their interest’ in Goncalo Inacio in the form of a meeting with his agent Miguel Pinho ‘in the coming days’.
The latter also represents Bruno Fernandes, who’s just penned a new contract at Manchester United, and his presence in the northwest of England could provide Anfield chiefs the perfect opportunity to meet for face-to-face discussions regarding the Sporting Lisbon defender.
Liverpool are ‘expected to present’ a proposal for the centre-back, who has a €60m (£51.4m) release clause at the Estadio Jose Alvalade but might plausibly be sold for €45m (£38.5m) by his current club.
Inacio is one of those names who seems to constantly hover just underneath the surface when it comes to Liverpool transfer rumours, without ever being an agenda-dominating target like Martin Zubimendi and Giorgi Mamardashvili have been of late.
Having been linked with the Reds for a number of months without anything concrete ever developing, we’d understand if supporters treated these latest reports with a degree of scepticism.
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As it stands, Arne Slot’s squad is well-stocked for centre-back options, although the possible departure of Sepp van den Berg may alter the complexion in that regard, while some pundits have argued that LFC still need to strengthen in that department.
The 6 foot 1 Inacio could be a good fit for the new Liverpool boss, with his distribution statistics among the best in Europe last season. As per FBref, he ranked among the top 1% of positional peers for progressive passes per game (8.23) and the top 10% for pass completion with a success rate of 89.2%.
Despite the apparent opportunism from Pinto’s presence in England at the moment, we don’t envisage a late-window deal being negotiated for the Sporting defender, although past transfer windows have taught us not to completely rule out such swoops.
Will this finally be the moment that the long-standing links with the 22-year-old come to fruition?
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