Rumour Mongering: Porto Struggle to Meet Liverpool’s Marko Grujic Valuation

Liverpool would be happy to sell Marko Grujic this summer, allowing the now 25-year-old Serbian to find himself a permanent home after a few seasons spent on loan. And FC Porto, the club that had him on loan last year, would like to buy him.

Plus, by all accounts, Grujic would like to join them permanently. There’s only one problem. Namely that Porto are too broke due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic to meet Liverpool’s £15M asking price. Or at least that’s the story out of Portugal.

It’s perhaps not an entirely surprising one. Even at the best of times, Porto are a club that look to buy young players and flip them for a healthy profit rather than signing players on the cusp of their peak years. Still, there is a desire to get a deal done.

So says Record, at least. Though how exactly Porto intend to do that if they can’t meet the asking price and Hertha Berlin are also interested in bringing Grujic back to Germany and would join the bidding should the Reds drop their ask isn’t answered.

From Liverpool’s point of view, with Grujic not appearing to have an Anfield future, selling him this summer is a priority, but the club have shown in the past that once they set their valuation of a player—for selling or buying—they do stick to it.

Whether it’s Porto or Hertha or some other continental club, then, one imagines that if they do want to bring Grujic in this summer they’ll have to find a way to scrounge up £15M no matter how difficult that may be for them in the current market.