Rumour Mongering: Everyone Wants Renato Sanches to Liverpool to Be a Thing

Liverpool are expected to sign a midfielder this summer, with the Reds needing to look outside the club to find cover for at least some of the departed Gini Wijnaldum’s minutes along with wanting to get younger at the position due to their aging core.

They’ve been linked with any number of possibilities in recent months, and over the weekend L’Equipe sought to solidify rumours of Renato Sanches interest, casting Liverpool as one of the favourites to sign the Portuguese international from Lille.

Now, whether because there’s some truth to it or simply for clicks and clout, everyone is jumping on. On the Portuguese end, after claiming Sanches to Liverpool was happening in January for €18M, journalist Pedro Almeida says a €35M deal is in place.

In France, meanwhile, local Lille outlet La Voix des Sports are said to be lining up behind L’Equipe, suggesting Liverpool are one of the favourites—with Arsenal the competition—and that Lille don’t expect the 23-year-old to still be at the Ligue 1 this season.

La Voix des Sports, though, have yet to run a publicly available story on Sanches this week—but there might, if you’re desperate to believe, be something behind a paywall about him and Liverpool that kicked this latest round of rumour mongering off.

Which leaves us in an odd place, with half the Liverpool internet utterly convinced that Renato Sanches is on the verge of being a done deal while not actually being able to point back any kind of original source to justify why they think it’s done.

Which isn’t to say it might not be. The L’Equipe chatter exists. There might be something from La Voix des Sports. Portuguese sources might be right this time around. But it all feels rather hopeful—the work of a fanbase desperate for a signing.