Remember when Alexandre Pato stormed past the Barcelona defence after 20 seconds to put AC Milan in front at the Nou Camp in 2012? It was a brief glimpse of what might have been. It was one of the few moments near the latter end of his European dalliance where it looked like things might come good for a player whom Milan had expected to carry them into the Champions League for quite a few years.
Not long after that game, the Brazilian sustained another injury and Milan felt it was time to cut their loses. A player with enormous potential that simply didn't work out. Throw him on the heap with the likes of Keirrison and move on. Unfortunately for Milan, moving on has meant moving down and the giants of European football find themselves in a constant state of rebuilding with Pato a distant memory.
Corinthians paid somewhere in the region of €15 million to take him back to Brazil before shipping him out on loan to Sao Paolo in 2014. He's been okay but the truth of the matter is that Pato's time has come and gone. He's only 26 but his loan deal with Sao Paolo has come to an end and the truth is that Corinthians want to get rid of him. In June, Corinthians' president rather gave the game away when he said of Pato;
I regret buying him. But the failure is his own fault. At the time no-one was against it. Everyone knows that we’re praying day and night, praying to sell him.
His agent might fancy a lucrative move back to Europe but it's simply not happening. Which makes the constant links to Liverpool particularly infuriating.
Pato had a massive offer on the table from the Chinese second divison side Tianjin Quanjian, who just so happen to have former Real Madrid manager Wanderlei Luxemburgo in charge. It seems he's chosen to reject that in the hope of playing in a more competitive league which is where Jurgen Klopp comes in.
The links to Liverpool have been incessant. Every couple of weeks a Brazilian agent or journalist will 'reveal' that an offer of €15 million has been accepted for Pato. He's off to England to resurrect his career. The tabloids aren't great in Germany but we'd suggest that Klopp is starting to get pissed off with the nonsense he's being presented with. Yesterday, the Pato links were put to him and he initially declined to put his thought son record.
I could say the truth but no. Because I don't want to answer all of the questions about [possible targets], I would like to say that we don't talk about things like this before we sign contracts.
However, the Pato case in particular obviously piqued his interest and he decided to give the assembled journalists some advice.
My private advice to you is don't follow the Pato path any longer.
Corinthians will do anything to get rid of Pato, they've said that and yet Liverpool are planning on taking him back to Europe and pinning their goalscoring hopes on him for the considerable sum of €15 million. We can only hope the nonsense that is the transfer window is over as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Liverpool have managed to rush through a move for Stephen Caulker with the central defender being registered in time to face Arsenal in the Premier League tomorrow night.
#LFC have completed the signing of Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers until the end of the season. pic.twitter.com/jacWOhBsMN
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) January 12, 2016
Such is life and such is the January transfer window.
