Brazilian club Gremio are keen to sign Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva and take him back to his home club this summer.
The 30-year old will be out of contract at Liverpool at the end of the current season and could ignite interest from a host of clubs across Europe as the Reds have not begun any talks over a new contract for the midfielder.
Leiva has joined Liverpool from Gremio in a £8.5million deal back in 2007 and have been playing for the Reds over the past decade.
However, Gremio chief Romildo Bolzan Junior has revealed that they have made an approach for the Brazilian but has insisted that the deal will be very tough to pull off.
“Lucas Leiva is a player who is in the fans’ imagination,” he told Brazilian outlet UOL.
“He is a player that would be important to bring, we made an approach, but at the moment he is out of the possibilities.
“I’m not going to feed false expectations.
“It’s very difficult for Lucas Leiva to come to Gremio, we made an approach and the conditions are very difficult.”
Jurgen Klopp has hardly used Lucas Leiva this season as he has been constantly linked with a move away from Anfield. However, he has featured as a centre back in their recent Premier League games against Hull City and Tottenham.
Despite Klopp looking to extend his stay where he can be a huge squad player, Leiva could leave Anfield for free in search of valuable playing time. He is one of the longest serving Liverpool players in the current squad and it remains to be seen if Liverpool can strike a deal with the midfielder.