With Liverpool’s summer transfer business having appeared complete for quite some time, it’s interesting to see which rumours continue to surface. There seems to be something of a theme uniting many of them, in that the Reds are said to be interested in young players who have burst onto the scene in the last couple of years.
Perhaps this was inevitable. When the oldest of the three signings a club made in a transfer window only turned 23 shortly after joining and the other two are teenagers, the trend appears clear.
Jude Bellingham will remain of interest to Liverpool for the foreseeable future, and the 19-year-old has been joined in the club’s rumour mill by Brazilian striker Marcos Leonardo, who is the same age. Another player from their school year is Yeremy Pino, and it’s his turn to be connected with a move to Anfield.
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It has been reported by Fichajes that Liverpool are one of a group of clubs who are interested in signing the young Spaniard from Villarreal. However, as he has a release clause which is believed to be €80million (£67m) and is under contract until 2027, we can rest assured he won’t be signing for the Reds this summer.
If the fee seems high for a teenager with barely 3,600 first team minutes and 14 goals to his name, Pino has at least ticked off some pretty impressive achievements in his in his young career. He began Villarreal’s Europa League final victory over Manchester United – which will immediately endear him to Kopites – becoming the youngest Spaniard to ever start in a European final.
Pino has also earned four caps for Spain already, delivering a goal and an assist across a pair of friendlies in March. His progress through international football has been swift. It was only in March 2021 that he made his debut for the Under-21s, recording his first start last September. The two goals and two assists he registered that evening hinted at his abilities.
If that was a hint, what happened against Espanyol in February was basically a ‘come and get me’ plea yelled directly into the face of football immortality. At just 19 years and 130 days old, Pino scored four goals in the opening 53 minutes.
His first was a back post header thanks to a cross from the left. For his second, he stabbed the ball home in a scramble following a corner. Wrapping up his hat-trick in first half stoppage time, the young winger tapped the ball in after an Etienne Capoue shot had been saved. After the break, the Villarreal number 21 was put clean through. He lifted the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper’s leg and passed it into an empty net. A good variety of goals to mark an incredible feat.
Scoring four times in a match in a top European league is rare. Pino was the only player to do so in La Liga last season and nobody managed it in France. Gio Simeone and Patrik Schick got four in a game in Italy and Germany respectively, while Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus did so in a Premier League match. Instances of a teenager achieving this must be few and far between.
In light of this, Liverpool were probably not disappointed that he was unavailable for their Champions League semi-final with Villarreal, as an ankle injury curtailed his season in April. Then again, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders might have enjoyed seeing their supposed transfer target up close.
While the Espanyol match was so positive it skewed his stats somewhat, it did display two of Pino’s main strengths. Last season he was fourth in Europe’s top five leagues for non-penalty expected goals per shot (with a 0.24 average) and fifth for shot accuracy, with 57.7 percent of his efforts testing opposition goalkeepers. The youngster knows how to sniff out high value opportunities and can put them on target when they come along.
With Statsbomb’s data saying Pino is similar to supposed Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen, he could be an alternate option there too. But the way he is going, it may be the West Ham man who will soon be cheaper to acquire.
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