Liverpool FC Transfer News: Transfer Talk Makes Lucas Happy

Paris Saint-Germain attacker Lucas Moura has been linked with a Premier League move in recent weeks, with Arsenal and Liverpool leading the list of rumoured suitors. Normally, it’s the sort of background noise a player will try to play down. Normally, there will be easy soundbites about being happy where he is but not knowing what the future might bring.

Not so for Moura, who is reportedly unhappy having seen his minutes in the French capital cut following the summer arrival of Angel di Maria. The 23-year-old Brazil international arrived from Sao Paulo in 2013. For a time, it was entirely reasonable to ask whether he or fellow Brazilian Neymar was the most promising attacking talent of his generation. At Paris, he’s been good, but he’s fallen short of great.

"It’s clear the Premier League is very strong," he told France’s Sport TV when asked about rumoured interest and the possibility of a January move. "If an opportunity comes and I no longer have the desire to play here, I would have to make a choice and I would play for another club. I’m happy to generate interest from major European clubs. If interest exists, it shows people trust me and would count on me."

PSG paid over £40M for Moura in 2013, and there have been rumours that he might be had for a little more than half of that as a result of his desire to leave and that the club no longer see him as part of its best eleven. If true—and certainly it appears the player isn’t interested in doing anything to stop the rumours—he would be a difficult player to pass up for clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool.

Even if he may never hit the heights of Neymar, he remains an exceptional attacking player, and one with true world class potential. If he’s happy to move on to a club that would count on him more than PSG seem to now that they have di Maria, and if PSG are willing to sell for a fee closer to £20M than to £40M, his signing is a possibility that would have to at least be explored.