Since the start of 2022 Liverpool have committed as much as £148m on transfers, with £134m of that on players from the Portuguese market.
Luis Diaz's arrival in January for a fee that could rise as high as £49m happened ahead of schedule, with Tottenham Hotspur's interest late in the same window prompting Reds owners Fenway Sports Group to allow the loosening of the purse strings to acquire the Colombian six months early from Porto.
Diaz not only hit the ground running at Anfield but went at it with the speed of an Olympic 100m final, settling into life in the Premier League as if it were the easiest thing in the world, with any suggestions of him needing time to transition from Portugal's Primeira Liga quickly dismissed. His arrival was the shot in the arm Liverpool needed at that time and gave rise to renewed optimism as the season headed into the final straight, his signing sparking excitement at what was to come further down the line for the 25-year-old.
Earlier this month the Reds went back to Portugal's top flight with their wallet open once more, this time to land Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, 22, from Benfica for a fee that could rise as high as £85m. Their return to the Portuguese market wasn't something that was coincidental, more a return to a place where FSG and Liverpool feel they can get value for money, one where they feel more emboldened to spend and not require another European club to act as a middle man to prove to them they can hack it in the elite European leagues.
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Liverpool's Portuguese roots were well established before the signing of Diaz, with Reds sporting director Julian Ward fluent in Portuguese and having spent time as head of analysis and technical scouting for the Portuguese Football Federation from 2008 to 2010. Add to that Liverpool taking now assistant to Jurgen Klopp, Pep Lijnders, from Porto in 2014, with his replacement at Porto, Vito Matos, also heading to Liverpool in 2019 as elite development coach.
Liverpool have insight into Portuguese football already in the building, but it isn't just that which makes their recent flurry of activity in the Portuguese market understandable.
In European football there is an established hierarchy when it comes to the size of leagues; the Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, after those five comes Portugal's Primeira Liga. But to sign players from the top five leagues means clubs paying a premium in both transfer fees and wages, something that becomes more expensive with each big league clubs sign from, hence why buying directly from another Premier League side can be so cost prohibitive and deemed to be hard to find value for money in, with Jack Grealish's £100m move to Manchester City from Aston Villa last summer an example. Grealish, according to market value insights from analysts at Football Benchmark, would have a value of around £40m less than that in the current market based upon form and profile over the past season.
Value for money is something that FSG have long sought during their tenure at Liverpool, and it is one of the reasons why the Reds have been focusing their energy on the Portuguese market of late.
"If you think about how many times Porto and Benfica got to the quarter-finals or last 16 over the last few years, say they got to the last eight, out of those eight clubs remaining in the Champions League you are going to get the cheapest players from them," journalist and Portuguese football expert Aaron Barton, who runs the Proxima Jornada football website, told the ECHO.
"Players of that calibre who are still competing at the same level as those other clubs, but usually they will come at a far cheaper price. The Portuguese league has been seen as sort of a stepping stone, and for someone like FSG who aren't fixated on buying the finished article, they are getting in there first.
"What used to happen historically with the likes of James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho was that they would move from wherever, a Portuguese academy or South America, would establish themselves in the first team and then move on to someone like Monaco, someone not in the same calibre as the likes of Liverpool etc. That has now changed, clubs are buying directly from Portugal and are skipping that stepping stone.
"You can get more bang for your buck. The only exception is really Benfica who have a reputation for getting what they seek for players, sometimes more, with Darwin Nunez an example of that. They got €125m for Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid, they got what could be €100m for Darwin. Porto on the other hand are widely criticised in Portugal and beyond for never really getting the best deal, especially recently with Luis Diaz, they didn't get close to what he was worth. Vitinha is reportedly going to Paris Saint-Germain for €40m, he is worth a lot more than that. Fabio Vieira to Arsenal is another one.
"Liverpool are a smart club and will be looking to Portugal to see what sort of gems that they can unearth and not miss out on. They have a heavy Portuguese influence at the club and Pep Lijnders, a large part of his education arrived at Porto. When Lijnders became right-hand man to Klopp and Liverpool needed to fill his old role they went back to Porto again and hired the person doing the exact same job Lijnders was doing in Vito Matos."
More elite clubs are now looking to Portugal and bypassing the need for targets to spend a season in a larger European league. The additions or Diaz and Nunez at Liverpool, Ruben Dias at Manchester City and Joao Felix at Atletico Madrid are a testament to that.
Liverpool were erroneously linked with Porto winger Otavio this week, with the rumours said to have emanated from Portugal, potentially from agents looking to generate interest and hike up the value of their clients. Agents will know that there is more confidence from major European sides to spend their money directly in Portugal, and that presents opportunity.
"I think there is more confidence in what you are getting now," explained Barton.
"It is not ideal that you are buying from a team in a league that sits outside the big five, but these clubs aren't buying from Braga, Vitoria Guimaraes or Tondela, they are buying from Benfica, Porto and Sporting, clubs who are competing in Europe and showing themselves to have the development to match the five-star academies of Europe."
Another positive factor for buying clubs in England is that players from South America have been able to build up their GBE (Governing Body Endorsement), where a certain amount of points are required to make a move from abroad. Such things as international appearances, first team appearances and appearances in European competition are all factors that are considered, and with the best players in the Portuguese league usually having ticked most of these boxes it removes any GBE concerns for buying clubs.
"There is an acknowledgement in the football world that the standard of Portuguese football is improving and, as a result, the players are getting better and this is now the place to shop," concluded Barton.
"There are less reservations and clubs are looking to what other clubs have done and asking 'has this player hit the ground running?'. Diaz is a perfect example of that. It is a very interesting time for the Portuguese market."
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