Liverpool's only other Brazilian wonderkid as €35m deal reportedly pursued for a new one

Liverpool have signed a Brazilian wonderkid in the past. Now they could be on the brink of another one.

Liverpool are apparently leading the race to sign Allan from Palmeiras. The Brazilian is up for grabs after the club signed his replacement earlier this month - though, no deal likely goes through until after the World Cup.

But local outlets like 'The Football' maintain that Liverpool are the preferred buyer here. Palmeiras want to open a dialogue with another elite European club. One who could potentially sign their players for massive fees going forward.

This one would supposedly cost around €35m. The Reds are keen and it appears they're willing to out-bid other suitors, bagging themselves, with any luck, the future of their right wing.

It's been a long time since Liverpool bagged one of the wonderkids coming out of Brazil. That's not for a lack of trying - they've just failed to meet the massive prices other clubs have put up.

In fact, it's only really happened once before.

Liverpool and Lucas Leiva

Liverpool paid around £6m to sign Lucas Leiva back in 2007. He was one of the very best young players in Brazil and linked with some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

The Reds, though, convinced Lucas to head there. He wasn’t immediately helped by Rafa Benitez, however.

The Liverpool boss welcomed the signing by talking about the Brazilian’s all-around game. Including how he’d be scoring goals.

"He can play as a holding midfielder but he can also play box to box and score goals," said Benítez, per the Guardian. "He's won the golden boot in Brazil last season and he will feature in the Under-20 world championships, so he's a fantastic midfielder, a complete player and will be good for our present and our future."

Now, that generated a lot of hype around fans. Here comes a goalscoring Brazilian midfielder who can break forward and make things happen. The Brazilian Steven Gerrard? Fingers crossed.

The problem is that it wasn’t true. Lucas didn’t win the Golden Boot - he won the Golden Ball. He was named the best player in Brazil’s top flight, not the top scorer.

It meant he arrived with a profile he simply didn’t boast. Lucas had only scored four top-flight goals the previous season and was definitely a defensive midfielder.

An elite one, too. As we say, he won the award for the best player in Brazil’s Serie A. The four previous winners of the award had been Kaka, Alex (who had subsequently gone to Fenerbahce and thrived), Robinho and Carlos Tevez.

Lucas, though, struggled to deliver on the hype. Part of that was because he couldn’t do the things fans expected of him, and part of it was because he’d joined arguably the best group of midfielders in world football at the time.

It’s difficult for a young player to get past Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso and Gerrard. Momo Sissoko was enjoying incredible form at the time, too.

And so Lucas wasn’t able to catch the eye. Especially as he really just wanted to sit at the back of midfield and develop games from there. Instead, he was often paired with Mascherano, creating a duo where neither was particularly good at creating with the ball.

That became exacerbated when Alonso left and Benitez had to play the pair. Lucas became a symbol of Liverpool’s decline post-2009 and caught flak for it from the fans.

It was only when Kenny Dalglish took over in 2011 that things changed. It’s difficult to get across just how much better Lucas was once Dalglish used him as an out-and-out defensive midfielder.

He suddenly looked like a world-class player, bossing even the best midfields and looking completely at home. Then came a brutally unfortunate knee injury that ruled Lucas out long-term.

The Brazilian never fully recovered from that injury and wouldn’t hold down a first-XI place again. Becoming a useful squad player, Lucas did find a role at Liverpool and a solid one.

Here’s a player who arrived as one thing, was labelled another, and then when he finally proved himself, injury took it away. Nothing really shows that better than the fact Lucas scored one Premier League goal in 10 years at Liverpool - but sits 6th all-time for Premier League tackles.

That latter statistic demonstrates just how good he was, too. Michael Carrick, the player in 7th, had 19 Premier League seasons. The only midfielders above him are Gareth Barry (20 seasons), James Milner (20 seasons) and Scott Parker (14 seasons).

Lucas was a phenomenal talent, just one who suffered incredible misfortune. Allan, should he join, can hopefully be a bit luckier.

🔴 Shop the LFC 2025/26 adidas home range

👉🏻 Liverpool get GREEN light to sign Nico Schlotterbeck

👉🏻 Centre-back confirms he's ready to join Liverpool

👉🏻 Fabrizio Romano CONFIRMS belief £52m Liverpool target will agree move