Spanish newspaper Marca believe Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are one of the clubs battling Atletico Madrid to sign Juan Manuel Sanabria. The 16 year old is currently registered to Uruguay’s Club Nacional, who Liverpool signed Sebastian Coates from in 2011.
Marca say Liverpool have maintained a great relationship with Nacional since the Coates transfer, and they say Sanabria has already travelled to train with Liverpool, being at Melwood for a period of 10 days in 2015.
It’s claimed that like Liverpool, Barcelona are also interested, but Marca believe Atletico hold the edge. It’s stated there’s some kind of outline agreement for a transfer between Nacional and Atletico, but that hasn’t been clarified yet, and so there’s still chance for Liverpool and others to swoop.
Liverpool have continued to look to youth recruitment under Jurgen Klopp so it’s no surprise they’ve again been linked with the young left midfielder.
What could be a problem for Liverpool is that Sanabria doesn’t have an EU passport, but the club will have surely known that before he was invited to Melwood.
As well as their good relationship with Nacional, what Liverpool also have on their side is Atletico’s transfer ban. The club can’t sign players in the January transfer window and are yet to know if they’ll still be banned next summer.
