Liverpool may have taken their time, and had plenty of moments to forget along the way, but eventually, they got their midfield rebuild done. If you cast your minds back, they got things underway fairly quickly, with the early arrivals of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, but Jordan Henderson and Fabinho’s exits threw a spanner in the works.
The Reds’ need for midfield reinforcements became an open secret, and their public failure to sign both Moises Caicedo – who they had reportedly agreed a deal with Brighton & Hove Albion for – and Romeo Lavia looked set to end their summer on a disastrous note. But things soon changed.
First, in came Wataru Endo to at least give Jurgen Klopp an option in defensive midfield. Then, to complete the rebuild, in came Ryan Gravenberch from Bayern Munich.
Now, the Reds have been told that they can begin talks to sign another option in the middle of the park for January, and one that they missed out on in the summer transfer window.
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Given Thiago Alcantara’s injury history, as well as Curtis Jones’ fitness woes, Liverpool may feel as though they can never have too many midfielders. And, with that, they could turn their attention back towards Andre Trindade from Fluminese.
The Premier League giants did make contact with the Brazilian club over signing the 22-year-old, but had their attempts rejected, as revealed by Fluminese president Mario Bittencourt.
On a positive note, though, Bittencourt welcomed the idea of Liverpool opening talks for his midfielder ahead of a potential January move. He said, via Paul Gorst: “LFC’s chief executive contacted me directly. I replied to him: ‘My friend, I don’t sell players now. If you want to buy now to take in January, we can start talking, or if you want to wait until December.”
With that said, it will certainly be interesting to see whether Klopp and co pursue the Brazilian once again come the winter transfer window.
Should Liverpool sign Andre Trindade?
Liverpool may have solved their midfield problem in the short term, but given that Endo is 30-years-old and yet to show he really has what it takes at the top level, the addition of Andre in January could be crucial.
The Brazilian, compared to Endo, is just 22-years-old, and has plenty of potential to become an important part of Klopp’s side. Statistically speaking, Andre has impressed at Fluminese, too.
According to FBref, the midfielder is in the top 99 percentile for pass completion rate, with 93.3%, as well as the top 93 percentile for take-ons completed, completing 1.66 per 90. Meanwhile, Andre also makes 5.57 progressive passes per 90, which is more than current Liverpool man Endo managed for Stuttgart last season.
So, it wouldn’t exactly be a bad piece of business if Liverpool did sign Andre in January. It could be argued that, with his arrival, their midfield problems would be solved once and for all.
For now, Klopp’s focus will be on ensuring that his side continue their good start to the Premier League season, having won three of their first four games.