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Liverpool aren’t expected to make any major moves this January, but following the sale of Oussama Assaidi earlier in the month it’s not impossible that the club could make a minor signing before everything’s said and done. The likes of Alexandre Lacazette and Petr Cech are surely out of the question, but a youth signing or undervalued fringe player might just show up before the window shuts.
According to Bild, Leonardo Bittencourt could be that player. The diminutive 21-year-old playmaker hasn’t exactly set the Bundesliga alight with Hannover, scoring a goal and two assists in 10 starts and a further six appearances off the bench this season, but he’s a good young player with some talent and promise, and it’s not impossible to imagine a scenario where Liverpool could land him for a fee not far off £5M.
The real question, though, isn’t whether Bittencourt is a decent and promising young player who wouldn’t cost a great deal, because he’s all of those things. The question is why Liverpool would be after a 21-year-old attacking midfielder who doesn’t upgrade the position and by most accounts has less potential than Philippe Coutinho, Lazar Markovic, and Raheem Sterling, all of whom he’d be competing for minutes with.
At present, Bittencourt isn’t an upgrade on any of them. Neither is he an upgrade on the more experienced Adam Lallana. He’s a tidy young playmaker and decent prospect, but he would be lost in Liverpool’s depth chart and so would seem a waste of money, no matter how little he cost. Still, as far as class of signings goes, he is the sort of target it’s not impossible to think Liverpool could land in the next few days.
