Liverpool FC Transfer News: Reds Return for Barcelona Speedster

Liverpool have been linked with Barcelona winger Cristian Tello since the La Masia graduate was a 21-year-old trying to crack the first team. He's 24 now, and over the years Liverpool have repeatedly been linked to him as a permanent transfer target. And they've repeatedly been rumoured to be interested in taking him on loan.

A two-year loan agreement that shipped him out to Porto seemed likely to end the rumours, but they didn't. There was talk last summer of Barcelona cutting the loan short so they could sell him to Liverpool. Now, three months into year two of the loan, there is talk that they will recall him in January. Or failing that they'll sell him to Liverpool in the summer.

Previously it was the transfer committee reportedly interested in the promising winger, but the latest rumours claim Klopp is a fan. They also claim that if he doesn't end up at Anfield, he could still end up on Merseyside with Everton. If that all seems a bit of a lazy rehash of old rumours, that's because it is. Either that or Tello's people trying to drum up interest.

Despite Tello's age and pedigree, he has failed to lock down a first team role for Porto. He's played less than half their league minutes this season and has just a single assist to show for it. In all competitions since he arrived there in the summer of 2014, Tello has made 46 appearances and scored nine goals. It's not a terrible return, but it's hardly exceptional.

Certainly it's not the return of the player Tello was supposed to turn into when Liverpool first found themselves being linked to him. For the right price, of course, he might still be worth the gamble—the talent that made him such a highly rated talent at Barcelona might still see him turn into a top player. But he's not a player Liverpool are likely to prioritize.

At the very least, a dramatic January recall to Barcelona so that they can sell him on to Liverpool for a sizeable fee seems exceptionally unlikely and makes Tello's a name that can be put on the back burner until it's April or May and the rumour mongers need another name to lazily link with a Liverpool move.