Diego Simeone included Juan Manuel Sanabria in Atlético Madrid’s squad to face Celta Vigo on Saturday.
AS claims the Uruguayan has become the third non-EU player to be included in the squad following the departures of Santiago Arias and Nehuén Pérez.
The newspaper also gives a background about Liverpool’s past interest in the 20-year-old and why the Reds failed to sign the midfielder.
Andrea Berta, the La Liga side’s sporting director ‘fell in love’ with the youngster in 2016 and made three trips to South America to watch Sanabria and seal his transfer in 2018.
The Merseyside club even invited him to the club and Sanabria trained with Liverpool’s youth team. According to the report, the Premier League winners ‘came close to stealing’ the player.
However, the Uruguay U23 international was ‘clear’ that he wanted to join the Spanish side, which is why he ‘chose Atlético over Liverpool’.
Sanabria has represented Atlético at various youth levels and was regular for their B team last season.
