Liverpool have held talks with talented Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic, but the 19-year-old is determined to snub any advances during the January transfer window and see out the season with the Serbian outfit.  

Grujic has been one of the driving forces behind Red Star’s superb start to the season, and he is being followed by a host of top clubs from around the continent, including the Reds, Inter Milan, AS Roma and Chelsea.

As reported by the Liverpool Echo‘s James Pearce, Liverpool watched him closely during his team’s 7-2 win over Cukaricki, and they were granted permission to speak to Grujic after the match about a potential £5 million move.

Grujic confirmed the talks but immediately expressed his desire to stay in Serbia for now:

I’ll try to respect the club, the fans and the general public, but again I think that for myself I have to choose the best environment where I get the chance to play and where I work with good coaches in good conditions.

It is certain that I remain here until the end of qualifying for the Champions League. I had a talk with Liverpool but I did not receive yet any agreement. I’m still a Red Star player.

According to Pearce, Grujic has already scored five goals this season and has played a large part in Red Star’s dominant title challenge. The team currently leads Serbia’s top division by a whopping 19 points.

The central midfielder is an excellent passer of the ball and displays tremendous burst and vision. He has the versatility to move into a more advanced role, and given his attacking instincts, a future as a pure attacking midfielder may be in store.

Here’s a look at what he’s been up to in Serbia:

Grujic made his senior debut at the age of 17 and plays with a ton of confidence. He wants to be on the ball all the time and looks comfortable running Belgrade’s midfield, despite his young age.

He seems to be most comfortable playing in space, where he can use his athleticism and has the time to pick out his passes. If he does decide to move to the Premier League, he will have to get used to tighter marking and will need to speed up his thinking process.

A transfer is becoming ever more likely. As explained by Sports Witness, it’s no coincidence his name keeps popping up in rumours and transfer reports:

There are certainly agents working on the future of Grujic, the constant reports about transfers underline that. It’s unclear how much of the Liverpool claims are true, but Grujic has also been linked with several other Premier League clubs.

When players move from Serbian and Croatian football it can often be very complicated and begin with lots of claims of serious interest. The same happened before Lazar Markovic moved to Benfica, Andrej Kramaric to Leicester and Alen Halilović to Barcelona. 

We now know the Liverpool claims are in fact true, as the player himself confirmed the talks, and he sounded quite optimistic a deal will get done, saying nothing has been agreed yet. That doesn’t mean he’ll actually end up at Anfield, but it does seem like Grujic will be leaving Serbia in 2016.

If he’s so determined to finish the season with Red Star, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a club like Liverpool made Red Star an offer slightly lower than the proposed £5 million and loaned him back to his current club for the rest of the campaign.

It would be a minor investment into a player who shows plenty of promise, although one has to wonder exactly where he would fit in with Liverpool. Between Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva, James Milner and Joe Allen, the Reds aren’t exactly short on quality central midfielders.

Grujic would be another young prospect who would need time to develop and adapt to the Premier League, and Liverpool’s main focus should be on impact players who immediately make the squad better. That shouldn’t stop the Reds from going after Grujic, but more established signings are needed as well.

 

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