Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are facing a race against time to meet the €40m release clause option for the signature of Porto’s in-demand star Otavio in this summer’s transfer window.
The Blood Red podcast claims that the Reds could be forced to fork up to €20 million in excess of the release clause fee should they fail to trigger the option in the next couple of days.
Matt Addison says that Liverpool are being challenged by the player’s agent to throw their hat into the ring for the signature of the Porto star first-teamer who has been linked with an exit from the Liga NOS giants ahead of the start of the next season.
“So as I understand it, the story in Portugal is that there is this €40m release clause, but this release clause expires in two days’ time.
“So if Liverpool are going to use this release clause, it has to be, according to Portuguese outlets, done in the next couple of days. So I think, again, could this be the work of an agent who knows that this release clause is going to increase? I think it goes up to €60m after this.
“If that is true, could it be a case of an agent trying to put Liverpool into the mix to try and get one or two other clubs to come to the table? So, time will tell whether that is one that Liverpool are interested in.”
Liverpool have been tipped to use Marko Grujic as a makeweight in their offer for Otavio with the former seen as surplus to requirements by Klopp at Anfield.
The Serbian international midfielder, however, remains a top target for Porto where he had spent the past season on loan away from Liverpool and had enjoyed a decent run of form.
