Liverpool could soon be set to grant one player his wish to leave Merseyside for good, according to reports from South America.
The goalkeeping pecking order in Arne Slot’s squad sees Alisson Becker lead the way ahead of Caoimhin Kelleher and then Vitezslav Jaros, with Giorgi Mamardashvili’s arrival from Valencia later this way adding further competition for a place in the starting XI.
It’s therefore hard to envisage Marcelo Pitaluga – currently on loan at Livingston in the Scottish Championship – overtaking so many positional peers at Anfield, and it’s looking increasingly likely that he could move on without ever making a competitive first-team appearance for the Reds.
On Friday, Brazilian outlet UOL reported that Fluminense are in talks with Liverpool about bringing the 22-year-old back to his homeland on a permanent basis.
A subsequent report by O Globo noted that it was the Reds who approached the Rio de Janeiro outfit about the prospective move, with the goalkeeper having informed Anfield chiefs of his wish to return to Brazil.
The proposed switch would be a free transfer, although LFC are set to keep 40% of the player’s rights, thus entitling them to a portion of the fee if he’s to be sold on in the future.
Unfortunately for Pitaluga, it looks as though a breakthrough at Liverpool is extremely unlikely, and not just because of the already lengthy queue for the goalkeeping berth in Slot’s starting XI.
His loan spells at St Patrick’s Athletic and Livingston resulted in just nine appearances across the entirety of 2024, with his only two appearances for the latter coming in the Scottish Challenge Cup (Transfermarkt).
Despite being hailed by compatriot Alisson as a ‘dedicated’ and ‘really talented’ goalkeeper (liverpoolfc.com) and pulling off some stunning saves, the 22-year-old hasn’t been able to make any discernible headway in his career in Europe, so it comes as no great surprise that he’s seeking a fresh start back in his homeland.
It’s a shame that things haven’t worked out for Pitaluga over the past year, and if he is to leave Liverpool for Fluminense this month, we hope he can go on to thrive at the club which won the Copa Libertadores as recently as November 2023.
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