Even though we’re less than a handful of matches into his first season, on-loan Atletico Madrid fullback Javier Manquillo has already spoken of his desire to stay at Anfield after his two year loan spell comes to an end.
The 20-year old has turned some heads since arriving from the La Liga champions over the summer and initial impressions of him are good — a feeling that’s mutual. “I’m very happy to stay here. There’s some things I miss about home – the weather is the main one! – but I’m getting accustomed to things here more and more every day” said the defender. “I get on very well with the manager. He helps us with everything he can, which is great. He also speaks Spanish fluently too, so it’s really easy for us to communicate.”
Manquillo has a bit of an atypical loan deal with his parent club with his stint on Merseyside pencilled in for two years instead of the regular one, but that’s not where it ends. The Reds will have the option to make the deal permanent for a fee believed to be in the region of £5mil at the end of his stint, but in another bit of oddness, the La Liga outfit will be able to recall the youngster next summer, but will have to pay Liverpool a penalty to do it.
Two seasons is a long time to make a decision, but for the time being, the Spaniard is happy not only at Anfield, but with the players around him. “I have some fellow Spanish team-mates with me over here too – Alberto Moreno, Suso and Jose Enrique are all here and there are some others in the squad who speak Spanish too, it’s been really easy for me to adapt.”
We’ll see how many of those players are around next summer…
