Liverpool are ready to commit massive funds to take on
Manchester United in the race to land the next Brazilian superstar.
Centre-half Dede has been identified as the man the Samba
nation will build their team on for the World Cup they are hosting in 2014.
And his club, Vasco da Gama, have confirmed this week he
WILL be sold in the summer.
The club from Rio have hit massive financial problems after
being pursued by federal tax authorities for unpaid debts, and they have
admitted they will be forced to sell to the highest bidder to stave off the
threat of liquidation.
That means attempting to get an auction going to realise an
asking price of around £15million, with the likes of Liverpool, United,
Juventus and Benfica all making enquiries about the 24-year-old.
The Anfield club believe they have stolen a march on their
rivals after targeting the 6ft 3in stopper over the past 12 months, and
establishing a relationship with the private investment group that owns 55 per
cent of the player.
Dede - full name Anderson Vital da Silva - fits the
Liverpool profile perfectly, given he is a young international who promises
much for the future.
And with boss Brendan Rodgers keen to land at least TWO
centre-halves in the summer, they will commit big money to fighting off
champions-elect United.
Speaking this week, Vasco director general Cristiano Koehler
confirmed a decision has been taken to allow Dede to leave, given the debts the
club must address to avoid the threat of bankruptcy.
"We can't mislead the fans, we will find it very
difficult to hold on to Dede because the club needs the resources, and at some
point it will happen - by the middle of the year," the official explained.
"The desire of all is that he stays, but we have to
prioritise the payment of wages, taxes and federal agreements, so it is
inevitable we will have to sell - so it is possible, in the middle of the year
when the sale goes through, we can use the money to restructure the club and
make it safe.
"The player is ambitious and he also wants to
experience better opportunities with better pay, and the partners in his
ownership want to make the agreement now to develop their investment.
"We have a balance sheet we must meet, and we can't
hide the fact."
Dede, part of the Brazil squad that will play Italy in a
friendly on Friday night and Russia next week, has been described as the future
of the national side after emerging with Vasco in the past two years.
The defender has won six caps in the past few months, and
has been courted by most of Brazil's top clubs, with his own domestic side
struggling to pay their players' wages as well as that tax bill.
A deal to sell him to Corinthians fell through in January,
and another interested club is Fluminese, whose coach Abel Braga admitted an
approach for a player he said is "absurdly talented and will certainly be
one of Brazil's stars at the 2014 World Cup".
But with Vasco facing such daunting debts, they would prefer
to sell the defender on the international market, in an attempt to tease the
price as high as £15m - a fee none of their domestic rivals would pay.
The situation is complicated by the fact that, like many
South American internationals, Dede is part owed by an investment group who
bought a stake in him as a youngster.
Vasco only hold 45 per cent of the player's registration,
with another 45 per cent held by the DIS Group - a subsidiary of a Brazilian
supermarket chain - and 10 per cent held by the Ability investment group.
Liverpool have made in-roads in their relationship with his
investors after watching Dede over the past year.
They also have another card to play, in that they already
have two Brazilians in the squad in Lucas Leiva and Philippe Coutinho.
United, of course, have the Da Silva brothers, Rafael and
Fabio - who hail from the same area of Rio de Janeiro as Dede - but the player
may decide he will have a more immediate first-team opportunity at Liverpool,
given the looming retirement of Jamie Carragher.
Source http://www.mirror.co.uk
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