£34m PSG star tipped for Liverpool transfer after dazzling Anfield display in Champions League

Casual observers would be forgiven if they had no idea one of Liverpool’s Champions League conquerers had already tried his hand in English football.

A man who’s masterful performance at the heart of the Paris Saint-Germain midfield showed even the likes of Ryan Gravenberch – the Arne Slot favourite is ‘good enough for Real Madrid’ these days – that there are still a few rungs on the ladder separating himself from Europe’s elite ball-progressors.

To think, the closest Vitinha came to showcasing those supreme talents in the Old Gold of Wolverhampton Wanderers was an FA Cup screamer against non-league Chorley.

The Portugal international also only started five Premier League games during a forgettable 2020/21 loan spell at Molineux. Wolves turned down the chance to sign the Sporting Lisbon starlet permanently in a £17 million deal that summer.

Three years on, God only knows how much Paris Saint-Germain would demand these days for a footballer who’s dominant, dazzling, delectable display over two legs against Liverpool remains perhaps the most impressive of any midfielder in this season’s Champions League.

Photo by Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images

Vitinha was full of confidence ahead of PSG’s trip to Anfield. Confidence that, as it transpired, was certainly not misplaced.

Ousmane Dembele’s early opener cancelled out Harvey Elliott’s winner in the Parc des Princes. Vitinha, meanwhile, was one of those who scored from the spot as Darwin Nunez and Curtis Jones failed to convert from 12 yards in a tense penalty shoot-out.

Thus, setting up a quarter-final tie with Aston Villa. A 3-1 lead from the first leg in Paris – secured by mesmerising strikes from Desire Doue and Kvicha Kvaratshelia – ensures Luis Enrique’s collection of twinkle-toed talent have one foot in the semi-finals.

MORE LIVERPOOL STORIES

Though, back home in his native Portugal, the feeling among some pundits is that PSG may still be a stepping stone on Vitinha’s journey to one of the more historic of European institutions. A club who’s status is set in stone, rather than the nouveau riche, Qatar-funded faberge egg feel of Les Parisiens.

Paulo Pinto, writing in A Bola, feels Vitinha may be the ideal long-term replacement for the legendary Luka Modric at Real Madrid.

He would also relish the chance to see the former Wolves misfit pull the strings at the heart of the Liverpool midfield after an Anfield audition for the ages a couple of weeks back.

“There are not many players in modern football with [Vitinha’s] footballing quality,” Pinto argues. “PSG is a big club, but I believe that the art that Vitinha brings to the field would make him a worthy replacement for Modric.

“For Real Madrid, nothing is impossible.

At 25, Vitinha is at the peak of his career, comfortable financially and sportingly, but he is clearly a player for a bigger club. PSG does not have the status of Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona or Real Madrid.

“Vitinha continues to spread magic on pitches across Europe. He is a standout, an unparalleled thinker. And he deserves to go on to greater heights.”

Vitinha’s emergence as one of European football’s premiere talents has been a while in coming.

Yet, while performances such as the one against Liverpool earned him the belated acknowledgement of a wider audience, those who watched PSG come within touching distance of the Champions League final last term will tell you that Vitinha has long been threatening an assault on the elite.

“This guy, Vitinha, plays a different sport,” an awe-struck Thierry Henry said after PSG edged past Liverpool in the last-16. You know when you can control the tempo and rhythm of a game, that has to count for something.

“People always talk about the people who can do step overs and win the game. But Vitinha, the way he controls the game, and defends, it’s a different sport.”

Click here to read article