You know the summer has started when transfer talks intensify ten-fold, and Fabio Carvalho is at the centre of it for Liverpool, having already received one bid.
The 20-year-old is expected to be playing his football next season away from Liverpool, with both the club and the player prepared to listen to offers.
Liverpool have already rejected one, with reports on Monday revealing a “big-money bid” was received from a Champions League club for a permanent transfer.
The club remained unnamed, but it appears that the Times‘ Paul Joyce has the scoop having reported RB Leipzig tabled an offer for Carvalho, but it was “dismissed as derisory.”
This is at odds with the ‘big-money’ offer that hit headlines on Monday, but Leipzig are a Champions League club having finished third in the Bundesliga.
It would not be a stretch to say Leipzig were the mystery club, but they are not the only interested suitors with several Premier League clubs keeping tabs on the 20-year-old.
After conflicting reports over the club’s stance, the ever-reliable Joyce has joined those stating that the club “will resist permanent offers” but “will listen to loan proposals.”
Liverpool see him “as a future starter” and will take a “hardline stance,” though it is said that Jurgen Klopp “will listen” to Carvalho as he assesses what comes next.
One can only hope it does not follow a similar path to those who Liverpool have rejected offers for previously, only to keep them on the sidelines or send them on various loan spells and stagnate their development.
Carvalho’s talent is obvious but he was a square peg trying to fit in a round hole for Liverpool this season, and if his not-so-subtle comments on Instagram are to go by, he is eager for opportunity elsewhere.
Now back in Lisbon following the conclusion of the season, Carvalho will have time to assess his options before new sporting director Jorg Schmadtke sets about finding a suitable move for all.
