Liverpool blow as ‘top target’ agrees ‘new deal’ with European club; fresh ‘release clause’ revealed

According to reports, ‘top Liverpool target’ Goncalo Inacio has come to an ‘agreement’ with Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon over a new contract.
Liverpool have been focused on signing new midfielders this summer and it was revealed on Wednesday night that VfB Stuttgart’s Wataru Endo is set to join Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in moving to Anfield.
But it has been claimed throughout this summer that the Reds are also looking to sign a young centre-back who can compete with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate.
The Premier League giants have been linked with Perr Schurrs, Micky van de Ven and Marc Guehi this summer but it has recently been reported by Football Insider that Sporting Lisbon’s Inacio is their ‘top target’.
Their report added: ‘Liverpool have not abandoned plans to sign a defender before the transfer window shuts despite prioritising the capture of a midfield anchorman.
‘The Merseysiders are assessing potential defender signing options and, should an opportunity arise, they are expected to make a late move to bring in reinforcements.’
The 21-year-old has played 120 times for Sporting Lisbon since the start of the 2020/21 campaign and he recently made his senior debut for Portugal. His current contract is not due to expire until 2026 and it includes a £39m release clause.
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But transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has now revealed that “Inacio is set to sign a new deal at Sporting” as an “agreement has been reached in the recent hours”.
Romano added: “Portuguese CB linked with PL move will sign a new long-term contract with a new release clause. Understand new exit clause will be worth €60m [£51m].”
Van Dijk recently indicated that he “trusts” Liverpool to sign the right players before the summer transfer window closes.
“The thing is, whether we need to sign a player for a particular position, yes or no, any top club at the moment would love to improve their squad. So why wouldn’t we as players either,” Van Dijk said.
“We all want quality signings and that’s what we’ve done so far. So we trust the club. I definitely trust the club. They did quite good business over the last years, so why not now as well?
“If you follow social media, you get dizzy with all the names. In my opinion, it’s speculation and they try to guess names to put fuel on the fire and stuff and that’s how the internet works.
“You’ll see us linked with almost every midfielder in the world, so just wait and see. We have professionals working on it and that’s the most important thing.
“Like I said before, we trust the club, we play for the club, and we trust the club to do the right thing. We’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks.”
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