Liverpool’s pursuit of Francisco Trincão is being presented in Portugal as something bigger than a manager’s preference.
Liverpool are preparing for a new era. Salah’s nine-year spell at Anfield has come to an end. Arne Slot is on his way out, and Andoni Iraola is expected to take charge.
Yet according to the Portuguese report, one transfer target has stayed exactly where he was before all that uncertainty.
The Sporting star has beenlinked with a move to Anfield for weeks. Now Correio da Manhã claim that even Liverpool’s upcoming managerial change has done nothing to cool interest in the Portuguese international.
In fact, the newspaper says Trincão remains at the very top of the club’s shortlist to replace Mohamed Salah.
Liverpool’s plan survives the managerial change
Portuguese press Liverpool’s admiration for the 26-year-old runs deeper than the preferences of one coach.
The feeling coming out of Portugal is that Trincão has become a club target rather than a manager target. And it is easy to see why.
He was Sporting’s most-used player this season, racking up more than 4,600 minutes in 54 appearances. This season, he recorded 13 goals and 15 assists. Additionally, he operated in several different roles.
He started out on the wing, spent much of the season as a creator behind the striker and even filled in at right-back when Sporting needed him.
Portuguese reports have also spent a lot of time recently highlighting something Liverpool may find particularly attractive: availability. Trincão almost never gets injured.
As we already covered, if Liverpool’s concern after Salah is finding someone who can stay on the pitch week after week, Trincão looks like a pretty obvious solution.
PSG helping Trincão’s chances
The other development concerns Yan Diomande. The RB Leipzig attacker has regularly been mentioned alongside Trincão in Liverpool discussions. However, Correio da Manhã believe that path is becoming much harder.
According to the report, PSG have entered the race and Leipzig are demanding €100m (£84m) to sell the Ivory Coast international.
Portuguese media now present him as the more attainable option. Sporting’s €60m (£50.5m) release clause is already significantly lower than Leipzig’s reported demands. Correio da Manhã go a step further.
The newspaper claims club president Frederico Varandas is prepared to discuss a sale below the release clause. That possibility has surfaced before in Portugal, but this is one of the clearest claims yet that Sporting could negotiate.
There is a catch, though. As we covered earlier this week, the Portuguese club do not want to discuss any deal until after the World Cup.
Trincão is expected to be part of Portugal’s squad. Sporting know a strong tournament could increase both his value and the number of clubs chasing him.
But Liverpool remain the club most strongly linked, and even a change of manager appears unlikely to change that.