£90m star is FINALLY ready to join Liverpool | OneFootball

Why Rodrygo is now ready to join Liverpool

Back in 2017, while Michael Edwards was the club's sporting director, Liverpool made an ambitious move to sign Rodrygo from Santos.

At the time, Rodrygo was regarded as one of the most exciting young players in world football. In typical Edwards fashion, he was close to agreeing a remarkable €3m transfer.

The only reason the move fell through according to Rodrygo himself is because he wasn't ready to make the move.

"We didn’t close the deal because I didn’t want to," Rodrygo told The Guardian retrospectively back in 2024.

"I wanted to stay at Santos even though the offer was very good. The pathway they promised me would also have been very good for my career. I was going to finish my studies in England to prepare for European football," he said.

“It had always been my dream to play in Europe.

"Everything was very good, but my desire spoke louder. I wanted to stay at Santos and make a bit of history at the club. And that’s what happened: I was able to fulfil my dream of playing for Santos. But it’s true, I almost went to Liverpool.”

© IMAGO - Rodrygo Liverpool

Eight years ago, Rodrygo was only 16-years-old. The fact that he felt like he wasn't necessarily ready to move away from Santos, and test himself in the Premier League is understandable.

But eight years later, his situation is now completely different. He's established himself as one of the best wingers in football. Football Transfers values him at €107m roughly £90m.

He's a lot more mature now at 24-years-old and it looks like he's entering a stage in his career in which he's ready to begin a new chapter.

Rodrygo missed Real Madrid's El Clasico fixture against Barcelona last weekend and now Marca has revealed that he wants to leave the club and his desire is to never play for the Spanish side again.

So the Brazilian is now seemingly ready to leave the club and potentially even join the Reds but are Liverpool ready to make a move for him?

According to TBR Football, both Arsenal and Liverpool are both now getting 'excited' about the prospect of landing Rodrygo. So, if that report is to be believed the answer is certainly 'yes.'

Liverpool have wanted to bring in another winger ever since Richard Hughes was appointed as the club's sporting director.

Last summer the club pursued a move for Anthony Gordon. Meanwhile, in the January window Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was under consideration by Liverpool.

Neither move worked out in the end, but Rodrygo could be third time lucky.

His the right profile, someone who can play both on the left and the right flank. If you look at his FBref profile, one of the top five most similar players to him in style is Kvaratskhelia.

He's a different player in comparison to what Liverpool have right now. Rodrygo is someone likes to play deeper, who is also a very progressive winger and he doesn't just look to beat his opponents but also makes line-breaking passes.

In the Trent Alexander-Arnold void, he'd be an ideal addition to mitigate the loss of the Real Madrid bound right-back.

This season, Rodrygo has averaged 2.29 key passes per 90 minutes - around the same as Salah (2.37 per 90) who is close to breaking the all time Premier League assist record.

Rodryo also averages over five progressive passes per 90 and close to five shot-creating-actions - more than any Liverpool winger has averaged this season.

It's this creative ability that makes him such an attractive prospect.