William Carvalho being linked with Premier League clubs seem to be something of a transfer window tradition. With Liverpool’s season taking a wrong turn after a bright start, it’s no surprise they are labelled as favourites to secure the defensive midfielder.

Portuguese newspaper A Bola (via Sportwitness) have been keeping every Liverpool fans on their toes with series of reports that Carvalho could be heading to the Merseyside club. While the club’s representatives exchanged words with Sporting to sort out the future of Lazar Markovic, they also monitored the situation of the 24-year-old.

On Tuesday, it’s said that Sporting have stamped a minimum of €30 million price-tag but on their next day edition, a meteoric rise of €10 million got football fans in open-mouthed wonder. Such increase in a day does put the situation under a cloud. Perhaps, it’s relatable to Goncalo Guedes.

The Portuguese side’s arch-rivals Benfica offloaded Guedes to Paris Saint-Germain for a fee in the region of €30 million and Sporting club president Bruno De Carvalho clearly expects a little bit more for a player considered to be more reputable.

On the other hand, the same source highlights that Sporting are in need to fill up their coffer, which could make the tale favouring Liverpool, who will be tempted to haggle for a lower fee. Carvalho is certainly a fan favourite and letting him go for small money will upset everyone at his current club. With presidential elections not far away, Bruno De Carvalho will need to stay firm on his intention, for the good of himself and the club.

Jurgen Klopp did mention that he is running short of right options in the winter window yet day by day the outcry for a signing is intensifying at the red half of Merseyside. Emre Can has been quite a shadow of his previous best and the Angolan-born midfielder could be the ideal contender for the anchor role. At 6’2”, his imposing figure is tailor-made for the Premier League. He may not be the quickest but nullifies the need of speed with good positional play and pinpoint range of passing ability that set the tone for attackers.

If the signing does take place, it’s quite debatable if Carvalho is the silver bullet for the Reds. Klopp’s men are running out of ideas and options in attack after Sadio Mane joined Senegal for the Africa Cup of Nations. Nevertheless, their defensive line is toying between inconsistency and injuries. The Sporting Lisbon academy graduate settles as a chief organiser between both halves but it all depends on the manager to sort out a blueprint to make the most of any signing.

Nothing concrete is reported yet but things can change in the blink of an eye in football, especially on the transfer deadline day.