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Allan Rodrigues de Souza, the 22-year-old midfielder Liverpool signed from Internacional for £500k in 2015 but whom they were unable to secure a European work permit for after a series of loans, will be stying in Brazil permanently.
That’s the word out of Brazil today, with multiple reports claiming a deal has been done that will see him join Atletico Mineiro, with the Belo Horizonte club paying £2.5M to secure 80% of the player’s right and the Reds retaining 20%.
It’s a deal that amounts to Liverpool securing a 20% sell-on fee for the player in addition to the £2.5M that Atletico will pay up front to bring Allan into the fold following a season spent on loan with fellow Brazilian Serie A side Fluminense.
In Allan, Liverpool believed they had landed a future star on the cheap—but getting him enough playing time in Europe to secure a work permit was always going to be a struggle. In the end, it was a struggle they could not overcome.
Allan spent time with SJK Seinajoki, Sint-Truiden, Hertha Berling, Apollon Limassol, and Eintracht Frankfurt in Europe before heading back home to Brazil with Fluminense last summer. At that point, a permanent departure seemed certain.
The only question was where, when, and for how much—and those questions now appear to have been answered with Atletico Mineiro, imminently, and for £2.5M and with the Reds retaining 20% of the player’s rights.