Fluminense president Mario Bittencourt has revealed that the club turned a €30m (£25m) bid for the services of star midfielder Andre during the summer transfer window.
The Brazil international has been consistently linked with a move to Europe over the last number of months thanks to his form in South America. Andre earned plaudits for his starring performances throughout Fluminense’s incredible Copa Libertadores triumph – the first in the club’s long history.
Liverpool have long held an interest in the midfielder, with Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham all also keeping an eye on his progress.
Speaking to Globo Esporte, the president has confirmed just how keen Liverpool were on Andre’s services during the summer, revealing what the Brazilian side turned down to keep the player.
We had an offer for Andre of €30m from Liverpool and we said ‘no’ because we had agreed with the player that we wouldn’t sell him because we wanted to win the Libertadores,” Bittencourt explained.
“Since then, we’ve had a second offer, from an English club, for well under €30m, which we turned down because we felt it was below what Fluminense expects for the player.
“The situation doesn’t worry us because the relationship with Andre and Carlos Leite [the player’s agent] is very good. They both agreed to stay and both understood that he has to go somewhere he wants to go.”
Despite their bid for Andre being turned down, Liverpool were incredibly active in the midfielder market of the summer, signing Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo, Dominik Soboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch instead.
Andre had been expected to leave Fluminense during the January transfer window, however with the hours ticking down toward the deadline, it appears he is set to stay put despite some reported heavy interest from Fulham
