Dutch journalist Marco Timmer has detailed how PSV Eindhoven were able to beat Liverpool to the signing of youngster Mauro Júnior, despite the player doing an internship at Anfield.
22-year-old Júnior is currently establishing himself in the PSV first-team after joining the Dutch side from Desportivo U20 in July 2017.
He’s spent the five years since working his way up the PSV youth ranks, moving up to the first team in 2018 before going out on loan to Heracles Almelo in 2019.
He return in 2020 and has been a regular since that point, making 28 appearances in total in the 2020/21 season.
Things could have been very different for the youngster, though, who spent a portion of his youth on an internship with Liverpool.
They were ultimately beaten to his permanent signing by PSV, though, with Timmer explaining how the Dutch side managed to pull off something of a coup.
“It’s a wonderful story of that boy,” he told Voetbal International.
“PSV had a scout in Brazil, and he immediately called Marcel Brands: ‘I have now seen something at a youth tournament, a great footballer. We have to act fast; otherwise, he will go to big clubs. We must ensure that he goes to PSV’.
“PSV entered into a process to bring him to PSV every year for internships. Because he was not allowed to sign a contract yet. That way, he gets a feeling for PSV and for the players with whom he is in the team in youth.
“In that way, PSV tried to outdo the big clubs, because he also did an internship at Liverpool. This pathway made him sign with PSV, but it was preceded by a lot of years.”
