Liverpool could repeat their capture of Luis Diaz by raiding Porto for another one of their best players in Vitinha, who is keenly admired by Jurgen Klopp’s right-hand man Pep Lijnders, according to reports. The Reds snapped up Diaz in the January transfer window to pip Tottenham to his signature and put an end to several months of speculation over the 25-year-old’s long-term future.
Diaz has already turned plenty of heads with a number of impressive performances for Liverpool during his relatively short time on Merseyside. The Colombian winger has chipped in with two goals in six Premier League appearances and has often been selected to start ahead of the likes of Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino since making the switch to Anfield just two months ago.
It seems as though Liverpool may have been encouraged by Diaz’s fruitful start to life on Merseyside, with the Reds now looking to raid his old club in order to land one of his former team-mates. Club chiefs are weighing up the possibility of launching a summer move for Vitinha, who is attracting no shortage of interest from Europe’s best sides ahead of the upcoming transfer window, according to O Jogo.
The report claims that Liverpool are one of several clubs keeping tabs on Vitinha’s progress at Porto, with Bayern Munich and Lazio also said to be keen on securing the 22-year-old’s services over the coming months. The six-time European champions are tracking the player via Ljinders, who is believed to have a special interest in bringing him to Anfield at the end of the season.
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However, Liverpool could be set to face a tricky battle in convincing Porto to part ways with their prized asset. The Portuguese heavyweights are said to be reluctant to let Vitinha leave for anything less than the value of his release clause, which is said to be in the region of £33million.
The situation means that Liverpool will likely be forced to shell out a transfer fee just shy of the £40m they paid for Diaz in order to bring Vitinha to the club in time for the start of next season. There is currently no indication that a formal bid is in the works at Anfield, but their interest is said to be genuine and it remains to be seen whether or not a successful move can be engineered over the coming months.
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Liverpool have cultivated a hugely effective transfer policy since Klopp was appointed to replace Brendan Rodgers as the club’s manager back in 2015. They are no strangers to launching moves for young, exciting players, with the German coach admitting that he is likely to take a similar approach to his summer recruitment drive when quizzed on the matter last month.
“That’s what we do, building a team for now and tomorrow,” explained Klopp. “We are happy. This is the way the club is doing it, pretty much before I even arrived and I am absolutely used to it but that’s the way it is.”
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