Portuguese newspaper O Jogo has today an interesting piece on the future of Sporting fullback Nuno Mendes.
With the Lions’ impressive campaign in the Portuguese league so far, the club apparently chose a young talent to be sold and balance their finances, and that’s the 18-year-old.
Sporting know Mendes has been drawing the interest from European sides, especially because Liverpool wanted to pay €22m for him at the start of the season, and had their approach turned down.
Even though they use the word ‘offer’, they don’t make it clear if that was an official bid, as it’s just claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side were ready to spend that much on the player.
Now according to O Jogo, the Reds continue to follow him, along the likes of Juventus, Inter Milan, Milan and Real Madrid.
However, Liverpool may face a different scenario from the one they found in the summer. Because back then, Mendes was still to impress in Sporting’s unexpected campaign this season. Now the Lions recently extended the fullback’s contract, and raised his release clause from €45m to €70m.
Even though the Lisbon side know they won’t make that much money, there’s confidence from the club they can get something close to it, especially with performance bonuses included in the deal.
So the Reds show now be aware their target is becoming available, but for a lot more than they expected.
