According to sources, Liverpool “have not forgotten” their interest in Fluminense midfielder Andre, and a January transfer is possible.
Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Wataru Endo were the three midfielders the Reds bought in the summer, but recent events indicate they should have added another.
Due to Jurgen Klopp’s hesitation to start Endo in important matches, Mac Allister has continued to play at No. 6, despite doubts about his suitability for the position.
That might be a result of Andre’s comeback plans, the 22-year-old international from Brazil who drew interest from Anfield during the transfer window.
The decision of Fluminense to forgo any advance in their pursuit of Copa Libertadores greatness has paid off as they have advanced to the championship game, where they will face Boca Juniors on November 4.
The Reds, however, “have not forgotten” about Andre, and Ian Doyle of the Liverpool Echo claims that they “haven’t parked their interest.”
The possibility of a chase restarting in January is not explicitly stated by Doyle, but he does say that the club would not be “overly worried the chance has now gone.”
At the conclusion of Fluminense’s season, which in Brazil actually lasts from January to December, Andre is virtually certainly going to leave the team.
Mario Bittencourt, the club’s president, almost explicitly stated such would be the case while speaking about Liverpool’s approach in September.
“The executive director of Liverpool got in touch with me. And I told him, ‘My friend, I don’t sell players anymore and I don’t deliver now,'” Bittencourt said to ESPN.
“I said to him, ‘If you want to buy him now to take him in January, we can start talking, or if you want to wait until December, we’ll talk,'”
With 12 more Serie A games to play before the Copa Libertadores final, Fluminense’s season is still not ended. At that point, Andre might have made more than 60 appearances in 2023.
That would imply that the midfielder would need time to relax and heal if Liverpool were to complete a transfer in January before any adjustments could be made on the field.
It might be a long-term endeavor, but the request for his availability and the need for him in the squad give the impression that this is the intention.
