True. But we don’t need to play him initially. He can have some time off and then get back to condition at Feb and then some managed playtime
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If he is signed in January, I don’t see it being necessarily to play him from day one but rather think he will be eased into the squad, with a view to him being up to speed by the summer. If he was really that important to this season we would have either made a stronger effort to bring him in the summer, or an alternative.
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If he’s available for £20m then just buy him anyway. Even if he is shit or doesn’t settle it’s not that big a loss.
I hope we’re keeping an eye. He’s a terrific player. It’d be a shame if we drop out the race for a player of André’s quality for a player of Gravenberch’s quality.
Wish I had 20 million to piss away…
But it’s a fair point nonetheless in todays market.
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I don’t see this as a huge problem. The kid could easily be rested before easing in with the squad after some training and appropriate resting.
I feel like signing Gravenberch is the more likely reason that he won’t join Liverpool this January. I’m doubtful Klopp will want to develop two young ‘developmental’ midfielders at the same time.
Interesting he got called up for this round of internationals. There arent that many opportunities for players to break through while still playing in Brazil. I think this squad only had about 4 of them
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I’d be looking more towards Endo (ability) or Baj (age/fitness), but yeah.
We clearly liked this guy, he seems to be available for a very reasonable fee and the groundwork has already been done. It appears too good an opportunity to pass up.
Even with Thiago leaving it would leave us a bit too stocked in midfield, so the other lads would probably have to cover other roles. Maybe Endo or Baj can play the Trent role, or even Andre himself?
Guess we’ll have a better idea in a couple of months after we’ve seen a bit more of our midfield if it needs another addition.
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Not sure about writing any of them off at this point.
Still, I don’t believe we would have a problem accommodating them all if we make use of loans (in a smart way) to develop some of our younger players.
With his talent and reasonable fee, I would rather buy and loan out rather than miss out.
It’s not about that.
With all things considered, he seems like a better option than some of the players we have. If we didn’t have a bias towards our own players I think we could easily admit that.
Considering his age, release clause etc, it seems like an excellent deal and one we shouldn’t miss out on due to some misplaced loyalty to the players already at the club.
P.s. Never seen him play, judging purely based on the plaudits from Brazil and what has been said/written about him online.
10 full matches!
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Rules are rules. Liverpool were very interested in signing me when I was 14 but by that point had only seen me play 8 times. It would have been against the law for them to act at that point
Quite right too. Who knows what it might have led to? Anarchy probably.
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Fluminese will play Internacional 
in the SF of Copa Libertedores on Sep 27 and Oct 4.
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