Fabrizio Romano reports that Liverpool are no longer interested in Fluminense midfielder Andre despite claims they are the best placed to sign him.

Liverpool have been strongly linked with the Brazilian along with Manchester United, Arsenal, Fulham, Juventus and Barcelona.

Jurgen Klopp needs a replacement for Fabinho following his move to the Saudi Pro League in the summer.

However, despite SPORT claiming last week that Liverpool are “the best placed to close” a deal with Fluminense, Fabrizio Romano reports the Reds are not interested anymore.

While live on his Kick Streaming channel, the Italian journalist claimed Liverpool are no longer exploring ways to sign him.

“For Liverpool, he remains a player who is appreciated,” Romano began. “But he’s not a priority.

“At the moment Liverpool are not negotiating or pushing.

“He’s a player Liverpool know very well because they wanted to sign him in August

“But it’s not something that’s happening right now and there are other clubs in the race for Andre.”

Fabrizio Romano is not the first to report Liverpool have moved on from hopes of signing Andre. This is Anfield reported at the start of the month that sources close to the club were “baffled” at continued links to Andre.

The Liverpool Echo suggested Liverpool ending their interest in the Brazil international has to do with Fabio Carvalho and not wanting to limit his opportunities in the first team.

But since then, there have also been plenty of reports from Brazil and Spain suggesting Liverpool are not only still interested but are leading the race to sign Andre.

After SPORT reported on Jurgen Klopp’s side being the best positioned to announce his transfer in January, Football Insider reported that Fluminense are ready to accept bids worth £30 million.

 

Don’t forget, Emmanuel Luiz said that this slow, frustrating approach to negotiating is how Liverpool do business.

When asked to confirm if Liverpool had ended interest in Andre on 11 November, Luiz said: “Not true at all. That’s the way Liverpool negotiate.”

It’s a risky game to play given Manchester United sent representatives to Brazil for talks with Fluminense. Luiz even reported they could bid for Andre.

Only time will tell if Liverpool will spring into action for Andre, move onto other targets or forego signing a new defensive midfielder altogether.

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In the second part of his weekly column, John Aldridge previews Liverpool’s upcoming Premier League meeting away at Manchester City.

It doesn’t matter when Liverpool go to the Etihad Stadium as most times they will be going to there to face a team that has won 20-odd games on the bounce.

I know a lot of Manchester City fans and the one thing they always worry about is Liverpool. Whilst they’ve dictated, it has only been Liverpool that have laid a glove on them so they’re not really scared of anyone else.

Having said that, our form there has just not been good at all in recent seasons, and that’s a worry.

You can’t go there – and I’m not questioning anyone at the club or Jurgen Klopp, I wouldn’t do that – but you can’t go there and play an attacking philosophy in my opinion.

The new midfield might be full of energy, granted. Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister can hurt them, but they’ll need a deep-lying midfield player too. I think Wataru Endo is the only one available at the moment so he’ll need to watch his tackles.

We’ll wait and see who he picks but for me you have to go there with the mindset of what we did at Newcastle or almost did at Tottenham when you go down to 10 or nine men – all dig in and defend. That’s the only way to beat Man City – frustrate them.

Liverpool on the break are devastating, one of the best in the business at it, so if we can get back behind the ball, defend like we did at St. James Park and Tottenham in particular, and then unleash the three strikers then we can win the game.

I don’t know the last time they didn’t score at home so you’ve just got to go about it the right way and outscore them. If you try to go head-to-head with them like we have done on a few occasions, you’re going to come unstuck 90 percent of the time. It would be a tough afternoon.

To do this job I’d be happy with Joel Matip, then I’d say Joe Gomez over Kostas Tsimikas as he’s a better defender. That’s the way I’d go but you’ve got to trust the manager, be able to defend there and not get caught out.

Tsimikas sometimes has those lapses in concentration that you can’t afford to have against Man City – you’ve got to be 100 percent on it, ready to defend.