Liverpool lead Chelsea and Barcelona in race to sign Brazilian wonderkid

James Shearman

• 14 Nov 2023 04:39 CST
• 3 min read

Liverpool are seemingly putting themselves firmly in the driving seat over a deal for Gabriel Moscardo and only look like they need to fend off the attentions of Chelsea after Fabrizio Romano explained why Barcelona were being forced to drop from the race.

Teenage wonderkid Moscardo is earning rave reviews in his homeland having made 23 appearances so far during what has been a breakthrough season at Corinthians. His form this year appears to have attracted a glut of top clubs all looking to land a star already considered the best young defensive midfielder in the world game.

To that end, Chelsea saw an approach to Corinthians rejected over the summer, with their proposal worth £21.5m (€25m) falling well short of their valuation.

In addition, it was reported that the Brazilian Serie A side were not in the mood to sell their prized young asset midway through the season and with the club still active at the time in the Copa Libertadores.

Ultimately, their push to get out of Group E fell short, with Independiente and Argentinos Juniors progressing ahead of them.

But despite that failure, the 18-year-old has continued to impress with several more sides taking note of his talents.

To that end, we exclusively revealed last week that Liverpool had ended their interest in signing Fluminense star Andre, having instead made the capture of Moscardo their new, No 1 focus.

And we understand that, while Chelsea remain keen, the Blues are instead prioritising the additions of a top-quality striker and a new defender in the January window as their most urgent needs.

That stance has seemingly left the door ajar for Liverpool to arrow in on Moscardo’s signing.

Interest in Moscardo is not just limited to the Premier League, however.

Indeed, Barcelona and Real Madrid have also been predictably linked with the star with the LaLiga giants often beating down a path to the best young stars emerging in Brazil in recent years.

To that end, Barcelona already have a deal in place to sign Athletico Paranaense striker Vitor Roque, while their capture back in 2013 of Neymar from Santos is heralded as one of the club’s greatest ever deals, particularly in light of the world-record €222m fee they were to sell him to PSG for some four seasons later.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, are also no strangers to signing elite Brazilian stars with Vini Jnr, Rodrygo and, perhaps most successfully of all, Marcelo, all being plucked from the country as relative unknowns at the time.

You can see the complete and ranked list of every Brazilian to play for Real Madrid right here.

However, while Barcelona boss Xavi remains desperate to bring in Moscardo, Fabrizio Romano has revealed that their financial plight is likely to rule them out the race.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, trusted transfer journalist Romano has explained why a move to Camp Nou looks extremely difficut for Barca to pull off.

“Keep an eye on Gabriel Moscardo, talented midfielder playing for Corinthians, born in 2005, very good player,” Romano began.

“Chelsea had a verbal proposal rejected at the end of August for him.

“Now from what I’m hearing, despite many rumours about Barcelona, because of financial fair play they’re not in a position to pay €25m [£22m], €25m plus add-ons to Corinthians for Moscardo. It’s too much and that’s why it’s a complicated deal.”

Romano continued: “He’s highly appreciated by Barca but they are not prepared to invest that money in January.

“I say January because from what I’m hearing, the idea is for Moscardo to transfer in the January window, not in the summer. To leave Corinthians in January, with big Premier League clubs keen on signing him.

“Keep an eye on Premier League for this boy. For Barca it’s difficult, but for English clubs it could be a very big opportunity.”

As Romano has touched upon, a move to the Premier League in January now looks a likely outcome for the teenager.

And per reports, Liverpool are prepared to go as high as €35m (£30.6m) to win the race for the teenager.

That will likely see the Reds pay Corinthians a guaranteed €25m (£21.8m) up front, with a further €10m (£8.7m) in achievable add-ons and bonuses.

Corinthians are also reportedly keen to negotiate a sell-on fee with Liverpool to safeguard what they hope will be another windfall on the player in the years to come.

The 18-year-old has already represented Brazil’s Under-23s side and is contracted to the Sao Paulo club until 2027.