Rumour Mongering: Fluminense Unwilling to Sell André for Less Than £35M

Liverpool’s reported pivot to attempt to sign Fluminense 22-year-old Brazilian international holding midfielder André following Southampton’s rejection of their second bid for Roméo Lavia may have hit a snag rather quickly.

Namely, that Fluminense don’t want to sell and, at least according to reports out of Brazil following news of Liverpool’s interest, in order to sign the player this summer a club would have to meet the player’s £35M release clause.

There had been whispers that André could be had for as low as around £17.5M, or around half his release clause, but Fluminense would only be open to negotiating a transfer at the close of the 2023 season in Brazil.

That would potentially mean a January arrival for the player—or a much, much higher fee in order to get him in now. The problem for Liverpool, of course, is that the club very, very much need a player like him in right now.

Following the departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, the Reds have no players on the books with significant minutes as the defensive specialist in midfield and have most recently resorted to playing Curtis Jones there.

Heading into the season with even Lavia (with a little more than 2,000 senior minutes) or André (with no experience in Europe) would have been a major gamble—but still far better than not having a specialist for the six.