Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia snubbed Liverpool in favour of moves to Chelsea in the last window. Apart from the duo, Fluminense’s André also rejected the opportunity to join Merseyside club in the same window.
The Reds showed keen interest in the Brazil international but his club weren’t willing to let him leave until the end of this year, in their efforts to win the Copa Libertadores.
Fluminense’s decision to reject Liverpool’s offer for the 22-year-old has paid off as they have made it to the Copa Libertadores final, where they will face Boca Juniors.
Ahead of the big clash, Globo Esporte had a chat with André, where he revealed that he didn’t expect Jürgen Klopp’s side to make an offer for him in the summer.
At the start of this year, André accepted Fluminense manager Fernando Diniz’s request to stay at the club until the end of the year and his loyalty towards his current employer was why he didn’t move to Liverpool.
“I’ve never talked about it, the first time I’ll talk about will be now. It really was an irrefutable proposal for the club that it was, for the big league. I think every player one day dreams of playing for a big club in Europe, in a big league,” he said.
“But I decided to keep my word because, when the January window closed, Diniz arrived and told me that he wanted me here until the end of the year. We didn’t know that a proposal of this value would arrive.
“I told him that, regardless of what happened, I would be there until the end of the year. It ended up passing and, reaching the middle of the year, we were still in the round of 16 of the Libertadores. It was a very difficult decision to make.”
Globo say the Premier League side offered €30m to Fluminense, and the South American has revealed he didn’t push to leave for Liverpool.
“I think if I had accepted this proposal, I don’t know if I would feel 100% comfortable, because I had already agreed with Diniz,” André explained.
“He really values words, honesty, and always tells me that when we do the right things, good things always happen. In January, he told me that without a doubt if he stayed, I would play, my value would increase. Our team could be eliminated in the round of 16. I think you have to make the decision.
“Coming to the final, everyone will say now that I made the right decision. I think it was a very faithful gesture on my part to stay, try to get this title and try to help as much as possible. So today, regardless of whether our team made it to the quarterfinals, semis and finals or not, I was sure I made the right choice.”
Liverpool seem to be still chasing the Brazilian as Gazeta Esportiva reported earlier this month that they would prepare to negotiate a deal with Fluminense for André in January.
