Sao Paulo president Julio Casares insists that Lucas Beraldo will only leave for Liverpool if the Premier League giants make an offer his current employers simply cannot refuse.
Amid speculation that Liverpool have sent a delegation to Brazil in order to discuss a potential £20 million deal for one of South America’s rising defensive stars, the Sao Paulo chief is not wasting an opportunity to remind everyone just how highly Lucas Beraldo is regarded in the minds of the Tricolor.
Julio Casares does not confirm or deny whether £20 million will be enough to secure the 19-year-old’s services.
But if the Anfield outfit plan to step up their interest ahead of the January transfer window, they should also be readying themselves to make a rather substantial investment.
Sao Paulo react to Liverpool’s Lucas Beraldo links
“Beraldo is a great player, 19 years old. (Whether we sell him) depends. If an irrefutable proposal comes to the club and the player, Sao Paulo will analyse it,” Casares says, via BolaVip.
“I just remember that we had offers for Beraldo, Pablo, Welington and Nestor, and we didn’t sell any of them.
“The time will come when there can be a way out. There is no doubt that Beraldo has a lot of quality, and we will wait to see what will be achieved objectively.”
Beraldo is the latest in a series of talented, up-and-coming left-sided centre-halves linked with Liverpool, after Rennes’ Arthur Theate and Chelsea’s Levi Colwill. The agent of £50 million-rated Bayer Leverkusen defender Piero Hincapie has also confirmed Liverpool’s interest in his Ecuador international client.
According to Brazilian reporter Jorge Nicola, however, there are no negotiations between Liverpool and Sao Paulo just yet, though that could soon change.
‘Absolutely nothing has arrived’
“I spoke with Julio Caseres, the president of Sao Paulo, and with someone from Beraldo’s staff (one of his representatives). Julio said that, so far, absolutely nothing has arrived. Neither an enquiry or an offer (from Liverpool),” Nicola explained on his YouTube channel earlier in the week
“The person from Beraldo’s staff also doesn’t believe in (reports of) such large figures (£20 million).”
“I think Beraldo will be sold in the next transfer window, at the end of our season here (in Brazil). Sao Paulo needs the money but this value seems very high to me.”
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