Braga coach Carlos Carvalhal has claimed David Carmo had 'one foot in Liverpool' on transfer deadline day last month.
The Reds endured a frantic few final days of the window following Joel Matip’s injury against Tottenham Hotspur on January 28.
Matip was substituted at half-time of the Reds’ 3-1 victory, with Jurgen Klopp admitting after the game that the issue looked to be a serious one.
The injury to the former Cameroon international came following injuries to fellow centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez earlier in the campaign.
Van Dijk underwent surgery at the end of October on anterior cruciate ligament damage sustained after a challenge by Jordan Pickford in the Merseyside derby earlier that month.
While Gomez also went under the knife in November after suffering his own serious knee injury away on international duty with England.
The Reds eventually signed Ben Davies from Preston North and Ozan Kabak from Schalke, while Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car is also believed to have been on the club’s list of targets.
But now according to Carvalhal, there was a feeling among the Portuguese club that the 21-year-old was destined to be heading to Anfield.
“David Carmo had one foot in Liverpool“, the former Sheffield Wednesday boss told Portuguese television channel RTP.
“On the day the market closed before 4pm, I was looking for alternatives because I was convinced that David Carmo would go to Liverpool.“
Unfortunately for Carmo, he suffered an ankle injury a few days after the window closed and has not featured for Braga since, while Matip was ruled for the remainder of the season on deadline day with an ankle ligament injury.
