When it emerged that Liverpool had available £21million for Fluminense midfielder Andre, there was a collective murmuring among quite a few Kopites: ‘who?’
This has not arrive out of nowhere. Mail Sport described in July that Liverpool were being amongst a host of European golf equipment fascinated in him.
All the exact same, he is a relative unidentified, and he was no superior-profile target until eventually current times.
With Jordan Henderson finishing his move to Al-Ettifaq for £12million, Fabinho becoming a member of Al-Ittihad for £40m, and Southampton rejecting Liverpool’s second bid of £41m for Romeo Lavia all in the final week, this is not a time for studious tolerance.
Liverpool require a new defensive midfielder incredibly before long. Most likely 1, most likely more. With Brazilian solution Andre coming into the fray, it can be value answering the burning queries: who is he, and what could he convey?
Liverpool have submitted a £21million bid for Fluminense midfielder Andre. But who is he?
Overview
Andre Trindade is only 22 but he has previously acquired a potent amount of money of working experience.
He first appeared on Fluminense’s radar at the age of 12, when he was participating in as a striker in a youth tournament. 7 plans in eight game titles was ample to convince the scouts to pluck him from his residence and carry him close to 1,000km absent to the Brazilian cash.
It wasn’t an simple start out for him, in accordance to Breaking The Traces. Owning no relations in Rio built the transition difficult for the youngster and he was not extremely delighted when he was moved into midfield.
Rapidly ahead quite a few yrs, and the defensive midfielder is just not wanting again. With 145 appearances under his belt for one particular of South America’s most prestigious golf equipment, playing in entrance of an adoring Maracana group, he has presently realized a reasonable sum of achievement.
In 2022 and 2023, he won successive Taca Guanabara and two Campeonato Carioca titles with Fluminense – regional championships in the state of Rio de Janeiro – accolades which maintain some excess weight in Brazil.
His performances last period bagged him a place in the Brazilian league’s team of the calendar year. With 61 appearances throughout 2022, he also proved his endurance and is applied to balancing domestic fixtures with continental clashes.
The Fluminense midfielder was in the Brazilian Serie A’s team of the period previous year
In June, he received his 1st cap for Brazil, coming on as a substitute in a 4-2 helpful defeat to Senegal.
Fluminense are desperate to hang on to him. According to A Bola, the Portuguese outlet who have been masking Sporting CP’s pursuit of the youngster, Tricolor Flu Fluzão do not want to let him go right up until at minimum January, immediately after the present Brazilian league season is in excess of.
With Fulham, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Spurs, and West Ham all reportedly interested, there could be a scuffle for his signature.
A further look
The danger with examining any participant in a much less common league is that it is uncomplicated to overhype or undervalue them. Information sources are generally unreliable.
A fast scan of clickbait-titled YouTube highlights reels only reveals so considerably. 1 10-moment movie on Andre, tantalisingly subtitled ‘Insane Targets, Skills & Assists’, proceeds to exhibit no ambitions and no assists.
That claimed, as opposed against his friends in Brazil’s top flight, he has the requisite qualities to perform a wide variety of midfield roles, notably for his passing and ball-carrying traits.
The 22-calendar year-previous enjoys throwing himself into challenges but is a lot more employed to intercepting
Having been with Fluminense because the age of 12, Andre (ideal) has been by means of plenty of highs
Some of his statistics are extraordinary. In accordance to stats web page Fbref, no player in Brazil’s Serie A has concluded extra passes this period. No participant has accomplished a greater share of their passes tried.
Just 4 players have had more touches of the ball, and only 5 have carried it further. He is only dispossessed all-around when each individual three video games, inspite of being in the top 2% for the variety of times he receives the ball.
The caveat to that is that Fluminense have had more possession than anyone – 59.6% – and are a really ranked team. So naturally you would hope a male in the heartbeat of that staff to see additional of the ball and do more with it.
Defensively, he is solid in the Brazilian league. Only a person midfielder has produced a lot more interceptions. He ranks in the bottom 50 percent of his friends for attempted tackles, but most of people attempts are effective.
Collectively, he makes additional tackles in Fluminense’s defensive 3rd than the other two thirds of the pitch place with each other, indicating that he commonly intervenes in opposition attacks at very a late phase. This may contrast with what he would be envisioned to do at Liverpool, as Klopp likes to acquire the ball back again rapidly large up the pitch, and it would be attention-grabbing to see if he could make that transition
His heat map locations him in a standard No 6 posture: right powering the centre circle. But his movement is more eclectic than that, observing him crop up frequently on the left facet of the opponent’s fifty percent, suggesting he would match into an expansive and fluid technique.
At Fluminense he is actively playing between footballing royalty in the type of Marcelo and, to a lesser extent of regality, Felipe Melo – aged sages who he can master from.
Amid all these positives, it is value clarifying what Andre is not. Dependent off recent proof, the 22-calendar year-outdated is not your regular playmaker. Whilst he may perhaps total most of his passes, only a handful of all those are progressive passes. Most of his obligations require buying a safer option and going the ball on to a much more inventive participant.
In 2022, he performed 61 online games. The youngster has performed in the Copa Libertadores and for Brazil
Liverpool are looking for to substitute Henderson and Fabinho just after their moves to Saudi Arabia
There is certainly nothing incorrect with that – in point, that was one particular of Fabinho’s strengths – but it is really worth bearing in brain that he does not contribute much on the attacking entrance. A file of 3 objectives and 3 assists in his full profession could be significantly enhanced, even for a defensive midfielder Fabinho managed to chip in with 8 targets in 2021/22.
There is only so considerably stats can say, while. Not only is their gathering susceptible to human mistake, but they fail to account for so quite a few things. A superior number of interceptions, for instance, could be spelled out by a crew-mate making use of pressure to opposition gamers and producing them to mess up passes.
And so one particular finds those people YouTube clips all the far more tempting, allured by the romance of striving to decode a participant with one’s personal eye, to come up theories about what he could be able of.
He is absolutely outstanding to look at. What stands out to the naked eye is his willpower to dive into the deal with, to struggle by means of the men around him, to get initial to a stray move. There is also an class to the way he sprays his passes and how he drifts as a result of the midfield with the ball.
The dilemma is that any skilled footballer can do that at the right degree for them. It can be not rocket science. Evidently Andre Trindade stands out in Brazil, and he has acquired the chance to establish himself in Europe.
No matter if he can translate remaining dominant in his homeland to controlling the midfield of an elite European club is a further query that only time will solution. Should really Liverpool admirers make it possible for themselves a glimmer of pleasure, however? Absolutely.