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According to Marca, Real Madrid are set to lose their top right back target, Porto’s 23-year-old Brazilian Danilo, to Liverpool this summer. If there’s any truth to the rumour, it’s a potential deal that would make all the sense in the world for Liverpool. Of course, even if it’s Marca, Madrid’s paper of record, doing the rumour mongering, it’s a stretch to give it a great deal of credit.
That’s all down to the part about Liverpool beating Real Madrid to their top target, particularly when that target is a rising star from South America who is currently plying his trade in Iberia. Still, the versatile Danilo is exactly the sort of player Liverpool will need to be in for with Glen Johnson’s contract set to expire at the end of the current season, and he would walk into any Liverpool starting eleven.
One of Danilo’s key selling points, particularly for Brendan Rodgers, would be his positional flexibility. He’s a player who can play anywhere on the right flank as well as fill in in midfield in a pinch, and he has the talent to contribute at both ends of the pitch. The easy comparison from a Liverpool standpoint would be Albero Moreno on the left, though Danilo is a few years further along in his development.
The downside to all of that talent and potential would be price-tag, with the player expected to fetch a fee upwards of £25M. With Liverpool likely to enter into the summer looking for a splashy midfield signing first to replace the departing Steven Gerrard, that might be too steep an ask to improve a fullback position that should at least have Jon Flanagan and Javi Manquillo at it heading into next season.
Then, of course, there’s the inescapable part where Marca believe Danilo is Madrid’s top fullback target. That could always change—Moreno, too, was once reported to be at or near the top of Madrid’s lists—but for the time being, Liverpool fans probably shouldn’t get their hopes up too much.
