Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Target Second Fluminense Star

Photo by Etsuo Hara/Getty Images

With links to André Trindade having faded, the rumour mongers have a new Fluminense player to link: centre half Nino.

Over the past six months or so, Liverpool have been regularly linked with Fluminense deep lying playmaker André, but having failed to sign the young midfielder over the summer, all reputable signs point to the Reds having moved on.

For some in the land of rumour mongering, though, that’s a chance to link Liverpool with another Fluminense player, with reports out of Italy this week casting the Reds as a rival to Roma for 26-year-old centre half Marcilio Florencio Mota Filho, aka Nino.

Nino, Fluminense’s veteran captain, doesn’t fit the usual profile of player to be targeted out of Brazil, but according to reports out of Italy from the likes of Il Messaggero and Alfredo Pedulla he could be heading to Europe in January.

In addition to the supposed Roma interest—which makes sense given it’s Italian outlets pushing the story—and the looming threat to that interest posed by Liverpool, Feyenoord and Fulham are also being linked as potential landing spots for Nino.

From a Liverpool perspective, we have our doubts. After all, manager Jürgen Klopp has never made any secret of not wanting to make short-term signings in January and has said he only wants new players if they’re long-term targets.

It’s always possible, perhaps, that Nino is such a long-term target, but we have our doubts that he’d be anything but a stop-gap solution for an injury-hit Liverpool defence. Still, with a reported release clause of just €7M, anything could be possible.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com