JimmyRiceWriter Jimmy Rice #LFC are close to agreeing a formal relationship with Nacional, the club that developed Suarez and Coates. JimmyRiceWriter Jimmy Rice 14 of the 23 players who helped Uruguay win the Copa America came through or have played for Nacional. #LFC link superb news. Commolli on the offal talking about it also.
From Offal Damien Comolli has revealed that Liverpool are in talks to develop a partnership that could see them recruit the next Luis Suarez. The Reds secured the signature of their second Uruguayan last week when Sebastian Coates put pen to paper on a long-term deal. The negotiations further strengthened the club's links with Nacional and our Director of Football admits we are now close to establishing a formal relationship. Comolli told Liverpoolfc.tv: "I've got to thank the people from Nacional, the directors and their chairman, because they have been very helpful. They tried to help the player (Coates) complete his will, which was to come here. "They tried to find a solution for us to make it happen. We now have strong links with them because both Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates have come from this club and been developed by their academy. "We are talking about a partnership with them that we would like to create over the next three, four or five years, to see if there is more talent coming through. Maybe we can help them to develop their standards and in turn have the ability to bring those young players here. "During the Copa America they had 14 players out of the 23 who had at some point played at Nacional or were developed by Nacional. That is a fantastic record for their academy. "So it is very interesting for us. We already have a strong link with South America through Lucas, Maxi and Luis. "Since it's been such a success with Luis - and I'm sure it will be for Sebastian - why don't we try to make it an even bigger success by bringing in other players from Nacional?"
Ãlvaro Recoba Suarez Diego GodÃn Have supplied a lot of top talent besides the impressive 14 at the Copa
Do we have any links with other south american clubs? I know we had footie schools in Brazil but can't think of any links with teams. Anyway it's a step in the right direction.
Find this deal very very interesting considering the talent they have produced and how we will make it work with Visa/work permits issues ? Buy and loan out to the like of Spain and Portugal ?
I was thinking the same. It would be nice though to get them in and get them acclimatized to the English game though.
I was thinking something similar myself. It is more good news though. As an aside does anyone whether Liverpool have still a link up with MTK of Hungary?
Was asked there about linking with Brazilian clubs or Argentinian ones. Uruguay mustnt have the same "problems" with 3rd party ownership as the aforementioned. Seems to be the norm in Brazil and other south american countries that any talented player at all is signed to an agreement with a "talent agency" that pretty much guarantees the agency a big split if a youngster does go on to make it and get a move to Europe. His parent club has a part of his registration and the agency has the rest. England obviously disallows this 3rd party "owning" - hence the troubles with the Tevez and Mascherano deals to West Ham a few years back. I'd imagine that DC looked at the fact that even getting deals in place with clubs in those countries would be pretty much meaningless as you still have those agencies in the background, so to get any player in from there you'd have to literally buy him twice, and you can be sure the agencies arent going to go quietly, if they agree to go at all given the money their clients can make them in Europe. Hopefully this deal will go through, as Uruguay seem to produce players like nobodies business. There was a piece on NewsTalk there a week or two back about the football culture in Uruguay and why they've been so successful over the years. Was very interesting listening. Their national take on football is very much the same as the Liverpool one. More of a religion than a sport. The reporter was saying that from the age they can kick a ball they're taught that being able to have pride in their football is the most important thing there is...period. If Coates turns out to be as good as we expect, and obviously Luis is already causing us to drool, having a deal in place in Nacional to take the next hot property cant but be good business.
Delighted with this news. Great business and Uruguay & Mexico seems to be major footballing hotbeds at the moment. It's all good.
I hope this deal goes through ... and that it's the first of many. The better the connections LFC has, the better it will do in terms of sourcing future players and in terms of worldwide support, brand recognition and obviously profits (some of which will hopefully fund new players, stadium development etc).
Good Bit of news if it goes through.Would love to see us break into Brazil and Argentina too as there is bags of potential in those leagues too.