Talented 18-year-old Sporting Lisbon starlet Nuno Mendes has delayed signing a new contract at the club amid interest from Liverpool.
Mendes has impressed this season and was previously linked with Leicester and Newcastle.
The left-back is also a target for the Reds, according to A Bola, who report that he does not want to deter them by increasing his release clause in a new deal, which already stands at £40m.
They claim that Liverpool would 'back out' of signing him if the release clause is made higher.
Mendes already has a long-term contract with the Portuguese side, who have produced an array of talent over they years, including Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is the latest crop of talented youngsters to make the grade at first team level this season and his current deal runs until 2025.
Sporting have made improving his terms a 'priority issue' and want to increase his £12,000-a-week contract.
But his agent Miguel Pinho has not sat down at the table with the club yet and they are said to be 'behind schedule'.
A number of teams, including Liverpool, are likely to be monitoring the situation with Mendes ahead of the January transfer window and uncertainty over the transfer market, hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, makes his decision all the more important.
Mendes has said he is 'looking forward to renewing' but the teenager and his agent will no doubt weigh up serious interest from elsewhere before putting pen to paper.
The Reds signed left-back Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos in the summer as cover for Andy Robertson, which would appear to reduce the chances of bringing in Mendes.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com