Prior to the upcoming season, the Reds are allegedly interested in signing the center defender.
Liverpool announced the permanent arrival of Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig on Sunday, completing their second acquisition of the summer transfer season.
This comes after the team already reached an agreement to sign international Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton & Hove Albion of the Premier League.
They are also looking to bolster their team with a center defender. Goncalo Inacio, a Sporting enforcer, is reportedly a target for the Reds as they look for a replacement for players like Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, according to a recent report from the Spanish newspaper AS.
The report stated that the Portuguese side are demanding a fee in the region of €45m (£39m) for the 21-year-old battler, although it remains to be seen if Liverpool are prepared to match that figure.
Where would Goncalo Inacio fit in at Liverpool?
Inacio would come in to provide competition for Jurgen Klopp at the back alongside van Dijk, Konate, Joel Matip, Nat Phillips and Joe Gomez.
Journalist Ryan Taylor told GIVEMESPORT in May that the club could be “open” to cashing in on Gomez this summer and the signing of another player in his position may allow the manager to ruthlessly ditch the English dud.
The £95k-per-week defender averaged a Sofascore rating of 6.90 across 21 Premier League appearances last season as he won 56% of his duels and made two errors leading to either a goal or a penalty being awarded.
It was hardly a surprise, therefore, to see Reds influencer Graeme Kelly describe him as “finished”, as he only started 15 times in the league.
Such an average level of performance surely means that Inacio could come in as an upgrade on him.
The Sporting star averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.01 over 33 league outings last term – a higher score than Gomez, Matip, and Konate managed in England. He came out on top in 59% of his individual battles and did not make a single mistake leading to a penalty or goal against his side.
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Inacio also averaged an impressive rating of 7.15 across 28 Liga Portugal matches in the 2021/22 campaign, which would place him joint-second with Mo Salah – behind Trent Alexander-Arnold – for Liverpool last season
Alongside his superior average performance level, the Portugal international could offer more than Gomez in possession. Over the last 365 days, the left-footed stopper has averaged 10.94 progressive passes and progressive carries per 90, in comparison to the Reds defender’s 7.4
These statistics suggest that Inacio, who was dubbed “underrated” by journalist Zach Lowy, would provide more quality in bringing the ball out from the back to start attacks, whilst also being able to perform to a higher level week-in-week-out.
Therefore, Klopp would be able to brutally jettison Gomez from the squad by signing the £39m-rated colossus before the deadline passes at the end of the summer.
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