The Portuguese newspaper Record lately published an article which stated that Liverpool are willing to pay 18 million euro for Nicolas Gaitan.
Many might consider Gaitan as an unrealistic option for Liverpool, but he’s not.
Benfica are actually in a difficult economical situation. As a result, they are keen on selling one or two players to balance the books.
Ideally, Benfica would like to offload the massively overrated goalscorer Oscar Cardozo. He has been on the market for years, however no club – except for Russian clubs – have been prepared to pay big money for him. Unfortunately for Benfica, Cardozo has not been keen on the idea of moving to the Russian Premier League.
However, let’s get back to Gaitan. The 24-year old was initially one of the hottest players in Europe before the summer transfer window opened.
Benfica and Manchester United were in long, deep and intense negotiations regarding a transfer, but they failed to agree on the transfer fee. The current situation is very different as much has changed since the negotiations between Benfica and Manchester United…
– Manchester United have signed Shinji Kagawa and are extremely keen to sign Lucas Moura.
– Chelsea have signed Eden Hazard, Marko Marin and Oscar.
– Arsenal are about to officially reveal Santi Cazorla as a new signing.
– Manchester City are targeting other positions than Gaitan’s.
The circumstances above means Gaitan is far less attractive than he used to be. While that’s very unfortunate from Benfica’s point of view, it might be Liverpool’s lucky day.
Liverpool should have a fairly good chance to sign Gaitan if they are indeed keen to do so. The Argentina is a creative, versatile player who could easily play as an offensive midfielder or wing forward in Brendan Rodgers’ preferred 4-3-3-system.
Considering the circumstances, this is the time when Liverpool should go for Gaitan. They might be able to get him for a transfer fee around £20-25 million, which he’d be worth, as his qualities would be the ideal fit for what Liverpool need to strengthen their squad.