Rodrygo Goes is making waves at Real Madrid but could have been shining at Liverpool were it not for his former Santos coach Elano.
Madrid paid out a reported €45million to seal Rodrygo's signature in June 2018, by which time he had only made 13 appearances in the Campeonato Brasileiro, though he remained at Santos for another year.
The 18-year-old has made a quick impact at the Santiago Bernabeu, with his hat-trick in the 6-0 Champions League thrashing of Galatasaray on Wednesday moving him onto five goals in six appearances for Los Blancos.
Premier League giant Liverpool held an interest in Rodrygo before Madrid made a formal approach, but Elano felt its bid was insufficient.
"There was a time when there was very strong interest from Liverpool for him to leave when he was still in the youth team," Elano told ESPN.com.b r.
"The values were very low, but they wanted to go. Real's offer afterwards was around €30million more.
"I had a conversation with the staff and said the boy was worth the risk and we should promote him because I wanted to work with him. Thank God everything worked out.
"He already had good decision-making at the professional level at you age. Different players have it early on. When they can control it, they get better and better.
"Despite his young age, he has already formed a maturity and game personality. He has technical ability and very precise control of his movements. It did not take long for him to adapt to the senior level. It was very fast.
"I believe so much in his personality and his football. He still has room to grow."
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