Liverpool have pulled off a few exciting transfer coups for some of the most exciting teenage talents in British football in recent years, and now they could be set to spread their wings far wider.
The Reds have snapped up the likes of Harvey Elliott, Ben Doak and Rio Ngumoha from academies around the UK, with the former already closing in on 150 senior appearances for the Merseyside giants, and both Arne Slot and Jurgen Klopp have shown a willingness to trust in youth at first-team level.
Anfield chiefs now appear to have their eyes trained on South America for one of the standout talents on the other side of the Atlantic.
Liverpool could rival Chelsea for Franco Mastantuono
According to CaughtOffside, Liverpool could vie with the likes of Chelsea and Real Madrid in the transfer race for Franco Mastantuono, a 17-year-old winger who’s already making waves in the first team at River Plate.
The Argentine teenager has a release clause of €45m (£38.3m) in his contract, and his club are adamant that they won’t part with him for anything less than that, which could be a deal-breaker for other suitors such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
Mastantuono is South America’s answer to Lamine Yamal
The 17-year-old is the youngest goalscorer in the history of the esteemed Buenos Aires outfit, and while he’s previously cited Neymar, Julian Alvarez and Phil Foden as role models whose playing styles he tries to emulate, he might also be regarded as South America’s answer to a certain Lamine Yamal.
Just like the outrageously talented Barcelona starlet, Mastantuono plays on the right flank and has established himself in the first team at one of the continent’s biggest clubs while still a minor.
He mightn’t have made quite as explosive an impact as the Spanish wonderkid, but racking up 55 senior games for River Plate at his age still takes some doing.
Coaches and directors who’ve watched his progress through the youth ranks with the Buenos Aires giants have praised his ‘direct’ style of play, his prowess in winning duels, his variety of finishes and his leadership skills to drive standards among his teammates (Infobae).
Liverpool don’t tend to sign South American players directly from clubs in the continent, typically waiting to see how they perform in Europe first before investing in them, but such is Mastantuono’s precociousness that they might just be prepared to make an exception in his case.
If the Reds manage to see off Chelsea and Real Madrid for the 17-year-old’s signature, the likelihood is that they’d loan him out for a couple of seasons to other European staging posts before integrating him fully into the first-team fold at Anfield.
