Liverpool reportedly made a late enquiry about potentially signing Joao Pedro from Fluminese in 2019 and with the young Brazilian now establishing himself in the Championship with Watford, it seems that the Reds may have made a mistake in not signing him.

According to the Metro, the Merseyside club enquired about signing him when he was 17-years-old despite him having already agreed to join the Hornets a year earlier.

The young forward was eventually granted a work permit in October 2019 but would have to wait until January 2020 to join up with the squad (per BBC Sport).

Since then, Pedro has featured 20 times for the Hertfordshire side, in which he has contributed five goals and one assist.

All of those five goals have come in the Championship this season for Vladimir Ivić’s side and he looks to have established himself as a regular for Watford, having appeared in 14 out of 15 of their league fixtures thus far (per Transfermarkt).

This is an impressive return for a 19-year-old who is still finding his feet, and when you consider the quality of some of his goals, with his effort against Derby County earlier this season a stand-out finish, it seems as if Liverpool may well regret not pushing harder to try and sign him back in 2019.

This particular goal clearly impressed teammate Tom Cleverly, who suggested after the game that:

“It was a brilliant strike. He’s hungry, he’s another one who works hard. He’s put about 7kg of muscle on since he arrived in the country, he knows what he wants to do and it’s nice to see.” (per Watford Observer)

Former Watford man Jobi McAnuff was full of praise for the Brazilian after he scored in Watford’s 3-1 win against Blackburn Rovers earlier in the season, saying:

“They made a good start to the game and it was a great finish from Joao Pedro who’s had a [really] good start to the season.

“He made only three substitute appearances last year, but he’s started every game for them this season and he’s going to be a big player for them and he has a bright future.” (per Hertfordshire Mercury)

Therefore, he is clearly impressing with his performances in the Championship this season and looks to be a potential future star, so it could definitely be argued that the Reds may well have missed out on him when they tried to sign him in 2018.

And, in other news… Exclusive: Carlton Palmer claims one LFC key man is “clearly frustrated”….