Liverpool ready to bag new homegrown star with clever last-minute deal

Liverpool are reportedly ready to trigger a release clause. It's one that would land them a new homegrown star.

Liverpool have a serious homegrown problem and it's exacerbated after Curtis Jones left the club. The Reds are up against their quota of foreign-born players, limiting what they can do in the transfer market.

One solution is to sign homegrown players. That's very, very difficult as they cost an absolute fortune and (nearly) all play for English clubs, who also need homegrown players.

The other option? Buy young. Pick up an 18-year-old prospect and they won't need registering right away and become homegrown down the line.

Three years of football after signing at 18 is enough. Liverpool went down this route with Giovanni Leoni, who will eventually qualify as homegrown and the squad will be much stronger for it.

And it seems Liverpool have a similar idea in midfield. They may replace Jones with 18-year-old Colombian star Matias Orozco, who has burst onto the scene with Deportivo Cali.

Reports in Colombia suggest Liverpool, along with Brentford, are the most-likely teams to trigger his €6m release clause. Doing so this summer would mean he'd eventually be a homegrown player - repeating the Leoni trick, essentially.

And perhaps that's the smart thing to do. Liverpool want to spend an awful lot of money on a new winger, likely Bradley Barcola, and may not have the money to also sign an adequate midfielder.

But a youngster who can become a star? It might simply be the smart move, even if it's not a particularly exciting one.