When the name Luis Alberto Romero was tweeted by Sky Sports' Spanish journalist, Guillem Balague, as being a target for Liverpool this summer transfer window, it led to an internet scurry as this was a Barcelona player many Liverpool fans had never heard of.
In fact, Luis Alberto (as he is more commonly known) does not actually even belong to Barcelona. The Sevilla starlet was sent on a year's loan to Barcelona's B team where Barcelona were given the option to buy Luis Alberto at the end of the loan for an agreed fee of €5m if they so wished. With the deadline for any such deal nearing and no sign of Barcelona looking to offer Sevilla €5m, Luis Alberto will return to his parent club very shortly.
The 20-year-old has had a fine season in the Spanish Second Division where he played 38 games scoring 11 goals and notching up 17 assists for Barcelona B.
Prior to the season just gone, Luis Alberto had actually appeared for Sevilla's first team where he made seven appearances for the club in the 2011-2012 season. This was after he scored 25 goals for Sevilla's B team in 77 games over three seasons (although this was in the Spanish Third Division).
Luis Alberto is most definitely a forward player although there still remains question marks as to just what his best position is. Last season, he was mainly deployed as the left-sided attacker in a 3-man strike force but occasionally played as the central striker when the team changed tactics. However, Luis Alberto himself sees his best position as a false number 9. Personally, I hate this phrase which first came to the fore when Cesc Fabregas played the said role for Spain at Euro 2012.
Effectively, it is the trequartista role that Diego Maradona played throughout the 1980s and early 1990s; a false striker whom is neither the classic number 9 nor attacking midfielder but actually something in between. Last season, Michu of Swansea played a similar position where he would effectively hover in the gap between the opposition defence and midfield with no out-and-out striker in front of him.
The role is an extremely difficult one to play as you effectively have to play in the space just in front of the defence and use your strength to either hold up the ball as your team mates overlap and run into space in front of you or decide to go it alone as you run with the ball and try and get a shot on goal. It is all about making the correct decision.
Having seen a number of clips of Luis Alberto from last season, he can most definitely play the false number 9 role but, with Liverpool preferring a more fluid 4-3-3 tactic, should he move to Anfield, he will more than likely be deployed as the left-sided attacker or in the number 10 role which Philippe Coutinho has made his own last season. However, with Luis Suarez's Liverpool future looking far from certain, there is also the chance that he could play second fiddle to Daniel Sturridge as the central striker in Liverpool's preferred 3-man strike force.
As a player, Luis Alberto stands almost 6ft tall and although slight in physique, he has fantastic upper body strength as opponents find it extremely difficult to knock him off the ball. He is someone who likes to run with the ball and although he is not blessed with immense pace or the greatest of dribbling skills, he is a powerful runner - very much in the Kaka mould.
In front of goal, Luis Alberto is clinical and has great composure for someone so young. He rarely panics when he gets into the box and seems to always make the correct decision whether he shoots himself or passes to a team mate in a more inviting position. He rarely makes the wrong decision and his 11 goals and 17 assists is testament to his decision making ability.
Luis Alberto is also a fantastic set-ball specialist as he can pinpoint a ball from a dead ball position with unnerving precision. A number of his assists have come from dead ball situations whether that be from a deep free kick or corner kick. Over the past few seasons, Liverpool have had a knack of getting a huge number of corners in a number of their matches. However, they rarely lead to direct goals as the deliveries vary between average and awful at times. With someone like Luis Alberto charged to take them, there is a good chance that Liverpool will score more goals from set pieces than they have achieved over the past few seasons.
So what of Barcelona's interest. Although Luis Alberto has had a wonderful season, Barcelona are heavily loaded in the attacking third and Gerard Deulofeu is seen as Barcelona's next great hope and he just so happens to play in the same attacking positions as Luis Alberto. And then there are the likes of long-serving Rafinha and Sergi Roberto who would be competing with Luis Alberto for the trequartista roles.
Sevilla, of course, have the option of keeping hold of Luis Alberto themselves. However, the cash-strapped club have just offloaded Jesus Navas to Manchester City and are more likely to sell some of their younger starlets in order to keep the senior players at the club.
So that brings us to Liverpool's interest. Julian Ward, who jointed Liverpool's scouting network in September 2012, has extensively scouted Luis Alberto since October 2012 and has been following his progress with glowing reports. With Barcelona all but out of the picture, Liverpool will very likely make a move for the young starlet although Sevilla have now placed a revised figure of €9m on his head. However, with the financial struggles that Sevilla are currently going through, Liverpool will look to reach a compromise and could tie up a deal for €7m. If Liverpool can agree such a deal, they will have snapped up a player with huge potential and someone who could be a member of the first team next season.
