Official: Liverpool Sell Rafa Camacho to Sporting Lisbon in £7M Deal

Rafa Camacho began his career with Sporting Lisbon, joining their academy when he was eight years old and spending the next five seasons there before heading to England, first joining Manchester and then signing his first professional contract with Liverpool.

Having spent the past three seasons with the Reds, including a promising pre-season in the summer of 2018 and two senior first team appearances this past season, the future looked bright at Anfield for the Portuguese youth international of Angolan descent.

Unfortunately, a conflict with Liverpool’s coaches over the player’s preferred role—the club saw young Camacho as a fullback prospect while the player envisages himself as a winger—led to a stalled contract negotiation and left the club no option but to sell him on.

He will now return to Portugal and Sporting Lisbon, a base £5M fee agreed with achievable add-ons that will be expected to push it to £7M. While not the £10M Liverpool had wanted, the Reds got the protection of both a buyback and 20% sell-on clause in the deal.

Schalke and Wolves were also rumoured to be interested in Camacho, but the player’s preference was to return to Portugal, where he believes that with Sporting he will have his best chance at first team minutes in the more attacking role he prefers.