Often a player can sign for a club and it just isn’t a good fit. It can be evident from the get-go, when club and player mesh like oil and water. For others, it can take time before both sides realise that the best thing to do for all concerned us to end the relationship and move on.
The latter is certainly the case for Brazil international and possible Liverpool target Lucas Paquetá and his spell at Milan. Paquetá signed for the Italian giants to great fanfare in January 2019. He cost Milan a transfer fee of around £30m, and the pressure of playing for one of Europe’s grandest clubs didn’t seem to faze him at first, but eventually the pressure and expectation that comes from playing for Milan eventually became too much for the then 22-year-old.
After a bright start, one which saw him go straight into the Milan starting XI under Gennaro Gattuso, Paquetá then went through a difficult run of form as Gattuso left in the summer of 2019. His successor, Marco Giampaolo, didn’t fancy Paquetá, and neither did his replacement Stefano Pioli.
By the summer of 2020, Paquetá was surplus to requirements, and sold to Lyon for £18m, nearly half of what Milan had paid for him 18 months prior.
The player himself cited ‘pressure and a lack of friends’ as the reason why he failed to keep hold of his place at Milan, and while the move didn’t necessarily work out for either him or the club, the same cannot be said for his time in Lyon.
Paquetá has since rebounded strongly in France and has muscled his way into the starting XI for Brazil, taking full advantage of former Liverpool man Philippe Coutinho’s injury problems over the last 12 months. Paquetá scored twice for Brazil in last summer’s Copa America, including winners in the quarter-and-semi-finals to guide the Seleção into the showpiece final against Argentina.
Such has been his form for Lyon, with Paquetá forming a good midfield with Bruno Guimarães and Houssem Aouar, that there’s now speculation of a move to a bigger club, with Newcastle supposedly interested — alongside his compatriot and rival for a slot in the national team, Coutinho. The 24-year-old's transfer value has firmly rebounded, with Transfermarkt estimating his worth at a little over £31m.
Should Liverpool keep an eye on Paquetá?
A different player to Coutinho, he can operate comfortably in a midfield three, as evidenced from his spells in Milan and Lyon (albeit more successful in the latter than the former). Moreover, his dynamism and directness is in tune with the style Jürgen Klopp likes to implement.
Lyon are also in financial trouble, and so Liverpool could sign Paquetá on a relatively low-cost transfer deal. However, it remains to be seen if he could handle the burden that comes with playing for a club of Liverpool’s stature, as demonstrated from his time at Milan. But by the same token, perhaps Paquetá has grown as a player in his time in Ligue 1, and is now better equipped to handle that pressure.
On a tactical level he would fit in, but it remains to be seen if he would be good enough to play in the starting XI. He would likely make for a good squad player, but if Liverpool were going to go shopping in the east of France, they should make a move for his £38m-rated Brazilian compatriot, Guimarães, who has more in his arsenal. A £69m move for the duo is perhaps not likely to be on the cards, but at least one of the two would make sense.
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January 06, 2022 at 12:00PM
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Liverpool must consider £69m transfer for lively duo rivalling Philippe Coutinho for Brazil spot - Liverpool.com
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