Liverpool are continuing their midfield rebuild this summer with a number of targets still being looked at ahead of next season, and now a reliable source has revealed another potential incoming.
What's the latest on Liverpool's interest in Florentino Luis?
According to Sky Sports senior reporter Melissa Reddy, Benfica midfielder Florentino Luis is one of many targets the Merseysiders have identified to replace Fabinho this summer.
Reddy revealed on Twitter: "Liverpool had been assessing longer-term candidates to replace Fabinho. Profile might shift as they'll require an immediate starter. Among the names mooted have been Sofyan Amrabat, Ryan Gravenberch, Kalvin Phillips and Romeo Lavia…
"Lavia and Gravenberch have long been considered by LFC (regardless of current situation), with their reps spoken to. Other players they've looked at: Nicolo Barella, Khephren Thuram, Florentino Luis, Joao Palhinha, Teun Koopmeiners… They do love a surprise, stealth signing."
Who is Florentino Luis?
The Reds are seeking out more new additions for the centre of the pitch after it was confirmed this weekend that Fabinho is expected to make a £40m move to the Saudi Pro League to join Al-Ittihad.
Whilst it won't be easy to replace the Brazilian mainstay's impact at Anfield, it presents an opportunity for Jurgen Klopp to complete a full rebuild of the midfield personnel with Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai already acquired for the next generation of success.
As a result, the signing of Luis could be a great piece of business for Liverpool and the German coach could repeat his Darwin Nunez masterclass by snapping up another youthful prospect from Portugal.
The 23-year-old is already showing glimpses of his strength and dominance in the deep-lying midfield role, ranking in the top 15% of his positional peers across the Men's Next Eight Leagues for aerial duels won, interceptions, tackles, progressive passes and pass completion, as per FBref.
Not only that, when comparing the talented midfielder's output with Fabinho's last season, Luis comfortably outperformed his Liverpool counterpart in several key defensive attributes including pass completion (89.7% v 88.3%), percentage of dribblers tackled (69.7% v 38.7%), successful take-ons (59.1% v 46.7%) and aerial duels won (61% v 58.8%).
The Portugal youth international has been the recipient of high praise over his career so far, with his former coach Joao Tralhao comparing Luis to Manchester United's Casemiro:
"[He has] an exceptional talent and physical qualities totally in line with his footballing qualities. [He] has a very similar profile to Casemiro. From very early on, we realised that Florentino was on his way to becoming an elite player."
Luis has a reported release clause of €120m (£103m), but Liverpool will be hoping that their relationship with Benfica will help to agree a deal much less than the contractual obligation, after working with the Portuguese giants recently to secure their record-breaking deal for Nunez last summer.
The latter man's debut campaign in England was arguably not plain-sailing – as he started just 19 league games and missed 20 big chances in the top flight – although the Uruguayan hotshot did still showcase his undoubted talent, having scored 15 times in all competitions to finish behind only Mo Salah in the scoring charts.
The 24-year-old – who had scored 34 goals the year prior in Portugal – will be hoping to truly catch fire next season, although if his stunning, instinctive flick against Real Madrid is anything to go by, then Klopp certainly has a real player on his hands.
With that being said, if the Reds can seal the deal for Luis there is no doubt that he would be a worthy successor to Fabinho at Anfield next season, while he could also follow in Nunez's footsteps by being another exciting talent to have flourished after leaving Lisbon for Liverpool.
