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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport

Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic avoids putting career on hold with FC Porto loan switch

Liverpool midfielder Marko Grujic has joined FC Porto on a season-long loan deal.

The 24-year-old looked set to stay at Anfield until January at least after failing to secure a permanent move away prior to the closure of the English and German transfer windows on Monday.

The majority of interest in the midfielder had come from Premier League and Bundesliga clubs, with Werder Bremen failing in a last-ditch attempt to secure his signature.

Once that late move had collapsed, it appeared that Grujic would be left unable to play senior football until the turn of the year.

With 18 non-homegrown players at Jurgen Klopp’s disposal - one more than the 17 permitted in Premier League and Uefa squads - Grujic looked the likeliest candidate to be left out.

However, he has now avoided putting his career on hold by securing a temporary move to the Portuguese champions that includes no option for Porto to purchase the player on a permanent deal next summer.

Grujic is undertaking his fourth consecutive loan spell away from Liverpool having previously spent time with Cardiff City and Hertha Berlin.

The Serbia international spent the last two seasons with the latter, scoring nine goals in 54 appearances.

Liverpool had hoped to secure £20million this summer for Grujic, who became Klopp’s first signing for the club in January 2016.

He has since appeared just 16 times for the Premier League champions - the latest of those outings coming in the League Cup earlier this season.

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