Whenever top clubs in Europe want to sign young players to support their project for the present and the future, one of the most prospective avenues to turn to if you are not Barcelona (who often dig into the never-ending well within), most clubs go shopping in Portugal.
Although Ajax had a phase where they were producing a golden generation of players who have since had varied success in the top-5 in Europe but no other country has done this as frequently as Portugal have in recent years.
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The Primeira Liga have the tendency to not just spot elite talent at such a young age but also give them the ideal platform to perform and develop into better players for the future. Now, it seems like Liverpool could go shopping in Benfica.
As per Jornal de Noticias, Liverpool have asked for the conditions to sign Benfica defensive duo Tomas Araujo and Alvaro Carreras. The Portugal club have rejected the Reds’ advances now but they are expected to return in the summer.
The report mentions that Araujo has a release clause of around €80m and Alvaro Carreras has a release clause of around €50m. Both of them won’t come cheap if Liverpool want to sign them but they would improve the Reds’ squad massively.
A defensive overhaul?
For quite some time now, Liverpool have needed to sign a central defender. The Reds have not reinforced the defense for a couple of summers now and with Virgil van Dijk’s contract set to expire in the summer, signing someone for the future is imperative.
Similarly, the left-back is a region that needs reinforcement with Andy Robertson not having the same kind of attacking returns that he used to during his prime and Kostas Tsimikas not doing enough to be trusted as the starter.
One concern with Alvaro Carreras though is that he has a Manchester United past, which might not go down well with the Anfield faithful but the Spaniard did not really succeed at Old Trafford or to put it in a better way – wasn’t really given a chance to succeed in Manchester.
Tomas Araujo has the potential to become a solid center-back and signing him along with Spanish teammate, Carreras, would be an excellent coup for Liverpool.
The Portuguese, who made his debut for the senior national side in November last year, has so far started 18 games in the Liga Nos and helped the Eagles keep 9 clean sheets.
Let’s wait and see how things play out with regards to this transfer saga in the time to come.
