Rumour Mongering: Lucas in Advanced Negotiations with Trabzonspor

For the time being, at least, it appears Lucas Leiva would be Liverpool’s third choice as a holding midfielder and, with Joe Gomez likely to be loaned to Brighton for the coming season, fighting with Ragar Klavan for third choice at centre half. With the club still targeting Virgil van Dijk, though, that’s likely to change.

And while Jürgen Klopp would be happy to have the veteran Brazilian stay at the club for the final year of his contract as a squad option and because he’s seen as a positive influence on younger members of the squad, most believe the player has reached a stage in his career where he’s more likely to move on for playing time.

Queue reports of advanced interest out of Turkey today, with HaberTurk claiming that Trabzonspor are at an advanced stage in their negotiations with the player. However, the two sides appear to have reached an impasse over wages, with Lucas wanting 40% more than the Super Lig club are currently willing to offer.

A wage of €2.5M per season—or about £42k per week in Premier League terms—has been offered, but Lucas wants €3.5M—or about £60k—in order to both leave Liverpool and abandon any thoughts of returning to Brazil for the coming season. Currently, the midfielder is on a £65k weekly wage at Liverpool.

If true, it shows Lucas is willing to take a small pay cut for playing time—but it also speaks to Trabzonspor hardly being an appealing destination given they finished sixth in Turkey last season and are not even in the Europa League for 2017-18. That, more than anything, makes it difficult to imagine a deal getting done.

For a club with more prestige, and one currently in Europe, it’s possible to imagine a compromise being made on wages. Given Lucas’ stated desire to eventually return to Gremio, though, it’s difficult to imagine such a compromise to move to Trabzonspor for the coming season.