Liverpool want to use Bruno Fernandes talks to bag themselves Goncalo Inacio

Liverpool hope to take advantage of Bruno Fernandes’s contract talks to land themselves a £38m defender in Goncalo Inacio.

O Jogo reports that Liverpool are pushing to sign Goncalo Inacio from Sporting and hope to take advantage of Manchester United's contract talks with Bruno Fernandes. The playmaker just signed a new deal at Old Trafford.

The link there is that Fernandes shares an agent with Inacio, meaning he's currently in England. Liverpool will use that to talk about Inacio, who could still leave Sporting this summer.

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O Jogo explains how Inacio's contract has a £55m release clause in it - but Sporting won't hold clubs to it. Instead, they'll accept something closer to £38m, which was the player's release clause a year ago before he signed a new deal.

Liverpool have been consistently linked with Inacio all year. Those reports were at their strongest back when Ruben Amorim appeared destined to be the new boss at Anfield, however, and died down quite a bit once Arne Slot was confirmed.

They may now have their chance to land him, especially with the club yet to decide on their centre-back options.

Liverpool to sign Inacio?

Liverpool haven't properly replaced Joel Matip after the centre-back left this summer, but you can easily argue that Jarell Quansah replaced him halfway through last season. It's therefore pretty debatable whether the Reds need to sign a centre-back or not.

One thing feels certain, though - signing one almost certainly doesn't happen before Sepp van den Berg leaves the club. As things stand, the Dutch defender remains in the squad and would be yet another centre-back option.

No one appears sure whether Van den Berg will actually leave, however. There's little movement towards a transfer, certainly, and he could be at Liverpool this season.

That would make signing Inacio for £38m utterly pointless. While talks with his agent may happen, there's still a way to go before this one makes sense.