Fabrizio Romano says that there are currently no advanced talks with any club to sign Renato Sanches while Barcelona have rejected the chance to sign him.
On Monday, we covered comments from Paul Gorst of the Liverpool Echo, who said that Sanches’ wage demands would be too high given his likely squad role at Anfield.
It was claimed by Portuguese reporter Paulo Almeida at the start of the month that Liverpool had sealed a deal to sign Sanches from Lille worth €35m.
STRASBOURG, FRANCE – OCTOBER 04: Renato Sanches of Lille walks in the field during the Ligue 1 match between RC Strasbourg and Lille OSC at Stade de la Meinau on October 4, 2020 in Strasbourg, France. (Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
These claims were evidently wide of the mark as they never came to fruition and, at the time, they sparked excitement from supporters.
He had previously been very reliable and now Fabrizio Romano claims that not only are Liverpool not in talks to sign the Portugal international, neither is any other club.
As he often does, the Italian journalist replied to a fan on Twitter asking for news about the 23-year-old.
He said: “Every day, different rumours. One day – rumours as done to Liverpool. One day – Arsenal.
STRASBOURG, FRANCE – OCTOBER 04: Renato Sanches of Lille (L) plays against Mehdi Chahiri of Racing Strasbourg (R) during the Ligue 1 match between RC Strasbourg and Lille OSC at Stade de la Meinau on October 4, 2020 in Strasbourg, France. (Photo by Marcio Machado/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
“One day – another club. No, there’s nothing advanced yet! When something concrete/advanced will go on, I’ll do my best to tell you here as always.”
Meanwhile, Barcelona are not considering signing the former Bayern Munich star despite the player being offered to Ronald Koeman.
This comes from Fernando Polo, via well respected Barcelona news aggregator and reporter, Reshad Rahman.
Liverpool’s plan remains to sign a central midfielder despite some suggestions in the British press that Jurgen Klopp does not see it as a priority.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – MAY 23: Jurgen Klopp, Manager of Liverpool interacts with Georginio Wijnaldum of Liverpool as he is substituted during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Crystal Palace at Anfield on May 23, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Paul Ellis – Pool/Getty Images)
The Athletic reported yesterday morning that had if the call had been left to him regarding the finances and the length of Georginio Wijnaldum’s contract extension, Klopp would have given the Dutchman what he was asking for.
So to suggest that Klopp would go from wanting to keep one of his fittest, most experienced and most talented midfielders to not wanting to replace him is a ludicrous suggestion.
Whether Liverpool sign Saul, Sanches, Yves Bissouma, Florian Neuhaus or another of the hundreds of names linked with the Reds, one thing is clear: they will sign a midfielder at some point this summer.
