Liverpool ‘preparing’ Matheus Nunes offer

Liverpool are ‘preparing’ a bid to sign Sporting CP midfielder Matheus Nunes this summer, according to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manha.

The lowdown: Familiar name

The future of Nunes has become one of the major talking points of the entire transfer window having previously been linked to Wolves, Manchester City, Newcastle and Manchester United.

Despite the strong interest, the 23-year-old Portugal international has remained in situ in Lisbon and played 90 minutes in the 3-3 Primeira Liga opener against Braga over the weekend, his 100th appearance for the club, a period that’s yielded 16 direct goal contributions.

The Reds have also been linked with Nunes and it appears as though an offer could be forthcoming from Merseyside after losing Thiago to a hamstring injury for a number of weeks…

The latest: ‘Preparing a proposal’

As per Correio da Manha, Liverpool are believed to be ‘preparing a proposal’ to sign the eight-cap star.

It’s claimed that the Anfield club ‘already know the price’ which is set at €45million (£38million), with Jurgen Klopp now seeking midfield reinforcements as a ‘replacement’ for Thiago.

The report also states that it ‘remains only to convince the player’ – who was branded an ‘absolute monster’ by football commentator Маnuel Oyola – that a move to the Reds would be a smart one.

The verdict: Fingers crossed

Whilst the options at Klopp’s disposal were more than sufficient on paper, early season issues for Alex-Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita, Curtis Jones and now Thiago have brought into question the reliability of the midfield department at Anfield.

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Operating as a box-to-box and defensive midfielder during 2021/22, Nunes scored four goals and provided five assists in a mammoth 50 appearances across all competitions last season, proof of excellent and invaluable durability.

In addition to the face value figures, the cultured Brazil-born ace earned a stellar 6.95 Sofascore rating whilst winning 6.5 duels, completing 36.5 accurate passes and successfully carrying out 2.5 dribbles per game – higher than Mohamed Salah’s 1.5 per match when it comes to the latter metric.

Holding an estimated market value of £31.5million and under contract until 2026 (Transfermarkt), signing Nunes for the mooted asking price would be a superb piece of business should FSG and Julian Ward pull it off.