Red Herring Rumours: Ángel Correa

Liverpool’s remaining transfer objectives have been clear all summer — get Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keïta in at any cost — and as such, any rumours connecting players beyond those two to the club need to be strongly sourced by reporters with ties to club in order to be taken seriously. The Reds’ reported interest in Ángel Correa is not that.

Still on his original £20k per week deal and with only two years left, Atletico Madrid’s 22-year old attacker is a prime candidate for a new contract. Following his performances for the rojoblanco — 9 goals and 12 assists in La Liga, averaging a goal involvement every 103 minutes — Correa and his associates feel he should be compensated roughly four times as well as he currently is. As such, interest — genuine or not — from the continent is a useful bargaining tool.

Sadly, that is all they are, as these suspiciously detailed reports — a fee of €28m is also involved — have emanated from French outlet Foot Mercato and, after three days, have yet to garner any sort of corroboration from outlets connected to either club. The Argentinian connection with coach Diego Simeone, who has confirmed he’ll be staying at the Vicente Calderón, further diminishes any chance of Correa leaving the club.

It is a shame, too, because the former San Lorenzo prodigy would be an outstanding acquisition for the Reds. Genuinely two-footed, the talented attacker possesses excellent close control and vision, a potent combination of straight line speed, acceleration and balance, and an archetypal Argentinian mentality that sees him mercilessly charge at and challenge defenders when on the ball, and harry and harass them when off it. The game intelligence to wait for the right pass or shot to maximise the chance of scoring completes the package, culminating in a young attacker that is among the brightest prospects in European football.

So, it’d be super awesome if it happened. But it won’t. Which is a little sad. Do check in for tomorrow’s inevitable update on the Naby Keïta saga though.