According to reports from the Liverpool Echo this morning, Liverpool are considering a January swoop for Sporting Lisbon midfielder William Carvalho.
What’s the word?
The Liverpool Echo cite a report from Italian publication Calcio Mercato claiming Brendan Rodgers is eyeing potential January targets, one of which is Sporting Lisbon’s highly-rated midfielder William Carvalho. No stranger to the Premier League’s rumour columns, as we’ll come onto later.
The Reds reportedly came close to offloading likeminded enforcer Lucas Leiva during the summer before his impressive performance against Arsenal, seemingly leading Rodgers to realise that the tough-tackling Brazilian is in fact the only out-and-out holding midfielder in the Anfield squad.
Carvalho has essentially been mooted as a potential upgrade, with Leiva’s long-term fate on Merseyside still largely undetermined. His Anfield contract expires at the end of next season.
How good is he?
Due to his immense physicality, measuring in at 6 foot 2 and allegedly weighing over 14 stone, in combination with his vast experience, having featured at last summer’s World Cup and occasionally in the Champions League, Carvalho was the standout star during the U21 European Championship earlier this year.
Indeed, although the Portugal international missed the deciding penalty in the final against Sweden, he claimed the Player of the Tournament award after producing a series of ‘man against boys’ performances.
Now 23 years of age and already touching upon the highest levels of the game, it seems a matter of when rather than if Carvalho ends up joining one of Europe’s top clubs for a sizable fee.
If there’s one criticism, however, it’s the midfielder’s cumbersome nature; his physical dominance comes at the expensive of technical prowess, which could cause Carvalho huge problems in the Premier League – especially at Liverpool, who play a possession-based brand of football.
Who else is interested and what kind of price?
Carvalho is regularly mooted as a target of top clubs from the Premier League and yonder. Arsenal, Manchester United, Spurs and the Reds all allegedly sent scouts to watch the Portuguese during the U21 European Championship final, whilst Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona are believed to be in the mix too.
As the title alludes to, however, the Gunners seem particularly keen on the towering enforcer, perhaps due to their engine room’s lack of height and power. They saw a deadline day bid rejected for Carvalho in summer 2014 according to The Independent, whilst The Sun claim they launched an ill-fated £28.5million bid back in June.
He could certainly command a fee in that kind of price-range. Primeira Liga outfits have a knack of driving hard bargains and Carvalho’s contract includes a £37million release clause, so they won’t be settling for much less – especially with the best part of three years left on his contract.
How reliable is the story?
There’s always an inevitable doubt when rumours emerge from foreign sources, simply because whoever’s writing them can’t have the same level of insider knowledge as journalists here in England.
But this isn’t the first time Carvalho’s been mentioned as a potential Liverpool target and it’s unlikely to be the last. He’s certainly the kind of player that would interest the Reds, as a prodigious youngster just outside the of the European elite. Furthermore, the Portugal hotshot fractured his tibia in July which essentially ruled him out of a summer move away from Sporting. Perhaps that’s why he’s now being reported as a January target instead. Nothing too fishy there.
The real question is one of price. Brendan Rodgers has some history in the January window – particularly from 2013, when he signed Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho – but after spending around £78million in the summer, it seems unlikely Liverpool will splash out another £30-oddmillion on a single player just a few months later. Likewise, deciding to now sign an upgrade on Lucas Leiva after already flip-flopping once seems rather short-sighted.
Overall, however, it’s by no means an implausible scenario.
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