Real Madrid pair Arda Guler and Endrick
Liverpool were hoping to sign a Real Madrid attacker during the summer, Fabrizio Romano has confirmed, while we can provide the latest on Rio Ngumoha’s contract talks.
Madrid have been Liverpool’s enemy in the transfer market in recent years, beating them to the signing of Aurelien Tchouameni before snaring Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate. Alexander-Arnold’s switch to the Bernabeu was particularly painful for Liverpool fans as he grew up supporting the club and had publicly spoken about his dream of captaining the Reds.
It seems Liverpool tried to get revenge in the summer by bringing a Madrid ace to the Premier League…
Liverpool interest confirmed
We revealed on August 28 that Liverpool and Arsenal looked into signing Endrick amid uncertainty over his future in the Spanish capital.
The Brazilian striker has top-class potential but has so far struggled to get into Madrid’s starting eleven ahead of elite stars such as Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior.
On his YouTube channel, Romano revealed Aston Villa were among several clubs to make enquiries for Endrick in the summer, before adding: “Then there was also interest from Liverpool. Liverpool were keen on Endrick, but that’s it – they never presented any sort of proposal.
“Liverpool were thinking of Endrick, even to buy Endrick at some point. But Real Madrid closed the doors to loan and permanent transfer approaches. For Real Madrid, it was not possible to touch the player.”
We reported on October 5 that Endrick is growing increasingly frustrated with his lack of game time, having only featured for four minutes this term.
Rio Ngumoha contract update
Our sources state that Liverpool are working on the final details of Ngumoha’s new contract.
Arsenal and Bayern Munich have both expressed interest in the exciting winger, prompting Liverpool to work hard to lock him down.
The process has been delayed slightly by Liverpool losing sporting director Richard Hughes and replacing him with Julian Ward.
But our sources insist there are no issues in talks between Ngumoha and Liverpool officials.
The 18-year-old has fallen down the pecking order slightly, but that is not concerning for a player of his age. Liverpool still see Ngumoha as a player who can go on to become one of the best wingers in the Premier League.
Owen reacts to Barcola, Wirtz struggles
Bradley Barcola and Florian Wirtz were outshone by Victor Munoz and Lewis Koumas against Manchester City, to the surprise of many.
Michael Owen has said in a new interview: “I know Barcola’s only been there for five games, but even that signing you’re thinking that the problem is you need to be hitting Mo Salah numbers to be able to justify a fee of that size.
“If you’re a club, you’re thinking, ‘right, spending this, we need those types of numbers to justify it’. And obviously, nobody’s going to get near to those numbers of Mo Salah. So it is a problem.
“I refuse to believe he’s [Wirtz] not good enough. We’ve seen it in different leagues. We’ve seen it on international duty. But there is no question that he’s underperforming in a Liverpool shirt and has been for over a season.
“And it’s an issue. It’s an issue that Liverpool need to find a way of getting the best out of him because it’s not even a doubt that it’s in there. But getting it out is a huge doubt because it’s been over a year now.”