Rafael Camacho was happy to leave Liverpool this summer.
Virgil van Dijk believes that former Liverpool prospect Rafael Camacho can be a success despite leaving Anfield.
The Reds sold the 19-year-old midfielder back to Sporting Lisbon this summer.
Liverpool wanted to keep Camacho on Merseyside but the Portuguese starlet was desperate for first-team football and rejected a number of contract extensions that were put in front of him.
He joined Jurgen Klopp’s side from Sporting in 2016, and the big Dutch defender is hopeful that the teenager ‘returning home’ can be a positive step for him.
Van Dijk told O Jogo: “He is still young, has a lot to learn. He has been in Sporting’s youth set-up and probably feels like returning home. I am happy for him and I hope he is happy.
“He has quality and he knows what he has to do, because we all know that there are many players who have quality, but then they lack the rest.”
Liverpool sold him for an initial £7 million, but that isn’t the best part.
The European champions’ transfer guru Michael Edwards included a 20 percent sell-on clause [ESPN], meaning that if Camacho develops into a world-class star and seals a £100 million exit away from Portugal, then the Reds get £20 million.
He might never secure a fee of that magnitude, but it’s a savvy piece of Edwards nonetheless. It ensures that whatever happens, Liverpool, who had little choice but to sell him, are covered to some extent.
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