Inter Milan Reportedly Move for Veteran Liverpool Midfielder

Liverpool’s Brazilian midfielder and sometimes centre half Lucas Leiva has been linked with a move away from the club every transfer window for the past five years. So, one might ask, why would this January transfer window end up being any different? The answer is that it won’t be.

Over the past 24 hours, strong reports have emerged in both Italy and England suggesting that struggling Inter want Lucas in January. But they don’t want him permanently. At least not yet. What they want is a kind of try before you buy deal, a six-month loan with a purchase option.

With 18 months remaining on his contract and having fallen down the pecking order , there is a widespread belief that Lucas will depart—after years and years of rumours of such—in the summer, when the time left on his current deal hits a year. Nobody would be surprised by that.

A loan now, though, one that removes a depth player who has made 12 appearances for the club so far this season and doesn’t even guarantee a sale in the summer? A loan that removes a veteran Jürgen Klopp appears to rate in the midst of a title challenge and gets nothing in return?

That doesn’t seem likely—unless, at least, Lucas is pushing hard for the move. And that’s something that hardly seems likely given his willingness to stay at the club so far, with the chance for him to finish off his Liverpool career with silverware if he stays six more months at Anfield.

Lucas won’t be going to Inter Milan in January. At least not while it’s a loan deal with a summer purchase option that’s on the table.