Liverpool are continuing to chase Fabio Carvalho.
The 19-year-old Fulham winger, who has been a revelation for the top-of-the-table Cottagers in the Championship this season, has been the subject of a £5m bid from Liverpool.
It remains to be seen how the situation will play out today, with suggestions Fulham are holding firm on the Portuguese starlet, wanting more money as well as loaning him back for the remainder of the campaign.
Adding Carvalho before the January transfer window closes this evening would represent a fine few days business for the Reds, who landed a summer target early when they swooped for Porto winger Luis Diaz on Sunday for a fee that could rise as high as £49m.
Diaz was Porto's star and the best player plying his trade in Portugal's Primeira Liga this season, with the 25-year-old Colombian winger having been courted by a number of clubs.
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Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur to the punch in getting his signature after Spurs move an initial move last week.
In losing Diaz, Porto are significantly weakened. A club that currently leads the division and that is chasing Champions League football are in need of finding the next talismanic figure to aid them next season.
One player who could fit that bill is Carvalho himself, with Porto believed to have been keeping tabs on the player who is out of contract this summer.
Pascoal Sousa, a journalist with Portuguese news outlet 'A Bola' told the ECHO: "He's a player that Porto wants.
"They are looking at the summer. They are very interested in him.
"If Liverpool buys him then who knows, he could head to Porto. It is something that could happen."
Compensation would have to be paid for Carvalho if he did leave Craven Cottage in the summer, with English clubs liable to pay more than the £5m that Liverpool have already offered due to the tribunal rules in English football going further than those in the rest of Europe by virtue of the the Professional Football Compensation Committee (PFCC), designed to protect the interests of English football clubs who produce talent through their own systems.
Clubs from other European leagues such as Portugal would be able to take him for far less, with a nominal fee only having to be paid for training compensation as per FIFA rules.
Liverpool are hoping to avoid such issues by signing Carvalho before the window closes and loaning him back to Fulham.
If they were to pull that off, then it indicates they likely see the 19-year-old a long-term project and would potentially seek to find him some further game time out on loan.
It is conceivable that could be back in Portugal, the country of Carvalho's birth - and possibly with Diaz's former club.
In Porto they already have the option, it seems, to place the youngster at a high level and give him a taste of Champions League football.
That kind of experience could work for all parties.
Carvalho is now an England youth international, but was born in Lisbon and was a junior with Benfica before moving to the UK in 2013.
Liverpool and Porto have a strong relationship through deals struck with the likes of Diaz and Marko Grujic.
And should the Carvalho move play out today, more business may be on the cards on the near future.
