Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Target João Gomes

Liverpool’s long-term need for midfield reinforcements has made it to Brazil with the local transfer chatter this week suggesting the Reds could be plotting a mid-season move for Flamengo’s highly rated 21-year-old midfielder João Gomes.

Gomes, whose signing could wind up confusing for fans and commentators were he ever to take the pitch alongside current Liverpool centre half Joe Gomez, shades to the defensive side of the game and has established himself as one of Flamengo’s most important players over the past 12 months.

His current deal runs through summer of 2025, but his success on the pitch—where he’s made 50 first team appearances and relegated Arturo Vidal to rotation option—is said to have Flamengo scrambling to get him on a new deal with a massive buyout before he’s scooped up by a European side.

Gomes has been linked with Manchester United and Atletico Madrid in the past, and reports in Brazil had Flamengo rejecting an approach from West Ham for him over the summer, but Liverpool are cast as having a better chance than his previous rumoured suitors.

It’s also entirely possible, of course, that given talk of Flamengo seeking to get him on a new contract, any talk of European interest is being driven by the player’s agent in an effort to get him bigger wages. Still, Gomes looks a top prospect and it would hardly be a shock to see him change continents.