Sunderland have been told how much they will have to pay to sign Luciano Rodriguez in January.
The Copa Club’s Nathan Joyes has claimed Liverpool Montevideo could demand up to £3.5 million for the forward.
Sunderland have been credited with having interest in signing Luciano Rodriguez in the January transfer window, as they continue their search for Ross Stewart’s replacement.
The Championship club raked in around £10m for the Scot as he joined Southampton on transfer deadline day, while they also coughed up around £3.3m to bring in Nazariy Rusyn, Eliezer Mayenda, Luis Hemir Semedo and Mason Burstow (loan).
However, the four new forwards are yet to score a single goal between them and it is thought that Sunderland could now turn to Rodriguez.
The 20-year-old has scored seven goals in the Uruguayan Primera Division this season, while also netted five goals in nine games as Uruguay U20 reached the final of the South American Championship. He later netted the winner as the same national youth team lifted the U20 World Cup in the summer.
Rodriguez is very highly-rated in South America and it is believed that Sunderland could be prepared to use some of the Stewart fee to bring him to Wearside.
The ‘intelligent’ forward won’t be cheap though, with Nathan Joyes comparing the move to that of Fabricio Diaz in the summer.
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, he said: “In terms of cost, Fabricio Diaz moved from Liverpool to Al -Gharafa in the summer for around 6-8million euros, and he was the U20 Uruguay captain and had the likes of Barcelona and Brighton interested. I’d guess Rodriguez’s fee would be close to half that amount.”
Should Sunderland take the risk and sign Luciano Rodriguez?
Luciano Rodriguez is clearly a huge talent, with Fichajes reporting last month that even Real Madrid have been monitoring him closely.
While we should realistically have the money to bring him to the Stadium of Light, it would be yet another inexperienced young striker that are adding to our ranks.
All fans have wanted is a proven Championship goalscorer, so does it really make any sense to add a fifth forward that is exactly the opposite?
It would be a huge risk for Sunderland and could go one of two ways. If Rodriguez was able to show why Real Madrid were interested, then we would be thanking the club dearly. But if he was to join the other attackers without a goal, then it would be a complete waste of money.