With Porto’s Alan Varela, Liverpool’s summer midfield augmentation efforts have produced new results.
Prior to the 2023–24 season, the Reds, led by new head coach Arne Slot, signed Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, and Alexis Mac Allister. It seems that the team is looking for a more defensive-minded midfield player to compete with Wataru Endo.
Talk of a £40 million summer bid for Ederson of Atalanta has already been quashed, but the Reds will need to spend an additional £20 million to sign Varela during the transfer season since the midfield player supposedly has a £60 million release clause in his Porto contract.
Football Insider claims that internal negotiations over a deal have taken place between Liverpool and Porto. The Reds, guided by Michael Edwards’ data-driven scouting system, are reportedly eager to return to the Portuguese market after closing deals for Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz in recent years.
Varela played 43 games for Porto in all competitions during the 2023–2024 season, including eight in the Champions League, where they lost to Arsenal on penalties in the round of 16. Despite this, the midfield player performed admirably, winning 0.8 tackles and producing 1.3 clearances every ninety minutes.
The 22-year-old’s growth over the past 12 months is evident in the rumors of a move to Liverpool after just one season in a top European league, while Porto stands to gain significantly from their £6.8 million summer acquisition of Varela from Boca Juniors.
“THE NEXT JAVIER MASCHERANO,” VARELA
Varela started to draw parallels to former Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano during the season, and Porto manager Sergio Conceicao’s remarks did draw attention to some of the similarities.
Conceicao stated to O Jogo in February, “I wanted a player who would occupy the same space as [Matheus] Uribe.” A central defender coming out in coverage caught my eye as a potential fit for the defensive line. Although Varela didn’t move forward much, I believe it was tactically necessary because he establishes himself early, passes well beyond midfield, and has a decent long pass and shoot.
“There has been a fascinating development. to show up more regularly. We expect the midfielders to do that.”