Report: Liverpool interested in Porto midfielder Otavio Monteiro

[TLW]

Liverpool have reportedly identified Porto attacking midfielder Otavio Monteiro as a option to fill the gap left by Gini Wijnaldum.

 

The Reds have been linked with a few candidates for the role since the season concluded, most notably Florian Neuhaus from Borussia Monchengladbach and Leicester City star Youri Tielemans.

 

Portuguese publication A Bola (per the Mirror) say that Klopp is a big fan of the 26 year-old Brazilian and has reportedly put in a ‘request ’ to the Reds' transfer chiefs, in the hope of striking a deal.

 

The Portuguese giants are accepting of the fact that Otavio will depart in the near future with the two clubs having a good working relationship as Marco Grujic is currently on loan there, although a swap deal is seemingly not on the agenda.

 

He has a release clause of a reported £34 Million, but if a bid does not come by the end of the week that fee increases to £51 Million.

 

Otavio who is yet to win a senior cap for his country, came through the ranks at Santa Cruz before joining Sport Club Internacional. 

 

 

In 2014 he joined Porto as a free agent firstly playing for Porto B, before being loaned to Vitoria Guimaraes where he made 35 appearances over a season and a half.

 

His senior Porto career began at the start of the 2016/7 campaign and in that time he has made 123 appearances scoring 11 goals and winning five trophies in the process including two league titles.

 

During the past season, he arguably played his best football of his career scoring five goals and contributing eight assists in all competitions.

 

The midfielder had a passing success rate of 79%, successful tackle rate of 57%, and averaged 1.36 shots per game throughout the season.

 

While his end product on goal is lacking at this point in time, the fact that he has a eye for a defence splitting pass is something that would interest most suitors.

 

The Reds have a pretty good record when it comes to signing players from the Football mad nation, so this could well be another.

[cloggypop]

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, cloggypop said:

We're signing Rod Hull? 

[sir roger]

I've never knowingly watched this lad but those stats in the Portuguese league and the fact he has never been capped for Portugal at 25 suggests he would need to upgrade himself very significantly and very quickly to be of use to us.

[John102]

3 minutes ago, sir roger said:

I've never knowingly watched this lad but those stats in the Portuguese league and the fact he has never been capped for Portugal at 25 suggests he would need to upgrade himself very significantly and very quickly to be of use to us.

He is Brazilian, no?

[Josef Svejk]

18 minutes ago, John102 said:

He is Brazilian, no?

He's just qualified to play for Portugal, I think. 

[Bjornebye]

If there is any truth whatsoever in the Goretzka rumours then we should jib this fella and focus on our Leon. 

[El Dangerous]

Goretzka in this team would be incredible. He’ll have signed a new contract at Bayern by the time this post has been posted. 

[dockers_strike]

Ive no idea but, since Jurgen's been here, the transfer record has been excellent. Only Keita of the big money buys has flopped so Im pretty sure if we are interested in this lad, the scouts and sports department have been all over him.

 

What's the story with Goretzka? Is he after a new big deal at Bayern or fallen down the pecking order? If he's wanting big money and Bayern want a big fee, save yourself the bother as I cant see us going for it.

[Manny]

Goretzka's contract is up at the end of June 2022, so he's just about into his last 12 months. Talk seems to be of internal problems at Bayern - which was a slight contributory factor to Thiago's exit and a big factor in Hansi Flick's exit - and they've had trouble nailing him down. He seems to want to stay though, and all clubs that are linked seem to just be 2+2 jobs, so I'd probably take it with a pinch of salt.

 

Be great if it was true, though. He'd be fucking perfect for us - a silky footballer in a massive unit with a goal threat.

[Strontium]

He'll always be Doctor Octopus to me.

[m0e]