It’s been a while since Liverpool started being linked to Brazilian starlet Luan. Most of the rumours started during the Olympics, where the forward won a gold medal, and he’s been proving himself to be a real deal since then.
Luan was Grêmio’s main player in the Brazilian Cup winning campaign last year, and now has led the club to the Copa Libertadores final, which will be played against Argentine side Lanús later this month.
In the past few days, British outlet The Sun wrote two stories about Liverpool’s interest. They first claimed that the player has chosen to stay in Brazil, and they had an update on Thursday to say he has signed a new contract.
This new deal would stop the attempt from the Reds, since they would be interested in a £26m purchase, but Luan would be valued at £30m.
However, this is not what has been said in Brazil. Because as reported by Globo Esporte, UOL and other reliable outlets, Luan’s new release clause is smaller than €20m.
In order not to lose the player for free next summer, Grêmio had to accept a few conditions in the new deal. So although the idea was to give him a contract until 2021 with a €25m release clause, all they could get was the commitment until 2020 and a €18m clause.
Grêmio also gave 10% of the player’s shares to his representatives, so the club really made a sacrifice to keep him for a longer time.
Liverpool fans may be excited by this news, but the truth is that at least in Brazil, the interest hasn’t been mentioned. The only clubs who reportedly made contacts for Luan were Inter Milan, Spartak Moscow and Valencia.
Sport Witness spoke to sources from the club when the Liverpool rumours started in May, and we were told that this interest was ‘just smoke’.
But with such a low release clause now, maybe the smoke could turn into fire.
