# Liverpool Beat Europe's Giants to a £750k Colombian — and He Won't Even Arrive Until 2027

**By Hank Morrow**  \nPublished July 27, 2026  \nUpdated July 27, 2026

> On a Friday afternoon in late May, three trusted transfer voices — Matteo Moretto, Pipe Sierra and Fabrizio Romano — broke the story within ninety minutes of each other: Liverpool had agreed a £750,000 deal for a 17-year-old Colombian who won't actually pull on a red shirt until 2027. The price tag is small. The signal is not.

By the time Arne Slot walked into his pre-match press conference on the morning of 22 May 2026, the documents were already being polished. Within a span of ninety minutes that afternoon, three of European football's most trusted transfer voices — Matteo Moretto at 2pm, Pipe Sierra at 1:56pm, and Fabrizio Romano at 2:52pm — turned a long-rumoured Colombian chase into the most concrete piece of Liverpool's transfer business of the summer.

The headline figure was almost quaint by modern standards. *The deal will be closed for around one million euros*, Moretto wrote, *and the Colombian club reserves % of a future sale*. In pounds, that is roughly £750,000, a sum that would barely raise eyebrows in a Premier League negotiation for a backup full-back, let alone a teenage attacking midfielder who had just captained Colombia through a CONMEBOL Under-17 triumph. By 2:52pm, Romano delivered his trademark confirmation: *Liverpool agree deal to sign Samuel Martínez from Atletico Nacional, here we go!*

## The Context That Made the Timing Strange

It is worth remembering where Liverpool were that Friday. Two days earlier, Aston Villa had thumped the reigning champions 4-2 at Villa Park. With one game to go, Liverpool sat fifth in the Premier League — clinging to the final Champions League qualification berth — and Slot was being asked to dignify an Instagram post from Mohamed Salah questioning the club's playing style under him.

Slot's response was pointed in its focus. I don't know if it had impact on the group. But what I've seen is that the team trained really well this week. Asked about the bigger picture, he said: What we want, what he wants, what I want is the club to be as successful as we were last season. That is where my main focus is on now, because the game on Sunday could give us a really good base going into next season.

Yet while Slot talked about the present, his recruitment department — and FSG above him — were finalising a transfer for 2027.

## The Race Liverpool Actually Won

Moretto's report listed Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund as the clubs Liverpool had outbid. Romano, writing ninety minutes later, sharpened the picture: Liverpool had *anticipated* Borussia Dortmund, with Sierra's earlier reports naming Arsenal among the interested parties. GiveMeSport, citing Sierra, settled on Dortmund as the runner-up, while OneFootball widened the field considerably — Chelsea, Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich, Benfica and Arsenal had all scouted the player, according to that outlet.

None of them matched what Liverpool were prepared to offer: a five-year contract, the dignity of letting Martínez finish his development at Atlético Nacional until his 18th birthday, and a structure — the sell-on clause — that keeps the Colombian club financially tied to whatever comes next. The exact percentage retained by Atlético Nacional has not been disclosed in any reporting so far.

## What the £750,000 Is Actually Buying

Martínez is not a household name outside Medellín, and the reporting on his game is still closer to scouting notes than folklore. GiveMeSport's profile of the player — generated with assistance from ChatGPT, with the caveat clearly stated by the outlet — paints him as a long-striding, 1.92m playmaker who carries the ball through central areas with elegant dribbling. *Strong ball-carrying midfielder/No.10 with long strides and elegant dribbling through central areas.* Technically mature, he is praised for vision and composure between the lines, and presses aggressively for his age. The weaknesses are equally familiar in teenage talents: *end product still inconsistent, especially finishing and long passing. Needs added strength, sharper decision-making and more explosiveness over short distances.*

The CONMEBOL Under-17 Championship in Paraguay last month offered the clearest evidence yet. Colombia beat Argentina 4-0 in the final, with Martínez starting five of six matches and registering three assists across the tournament. He assisted in the 3-0 semi-final win over Brazil, supplied another in the 2-0 group-stage victory against hosts Paraguay that kicked off his consecutive-assist run, and completed it in the final. Martínez has six caps for Colombia Under-17s but has yet to score at that level.

He is still awaiting his senior debut for an Atlético Nacional first team that, according to football-talk.co.uk, currently leads the Categoría Primera A. Liverpool's expectation, per the same reporting, is that he will arrive on Merseyside and likely be loaned out while he adjusts to European football.

## A Pipeline, Not a Panic Buy

The Martínez deal is the latest move in a recruitment pattern that has become increasingly visible at Anfield. Last summer, Liverpool signed centre-back Giovanni Leoni from Parma. This summer, Jeremy Jacquet will join from Rennes. Teenagers Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe — the latter from FK Austria Wien — are already in the system, as is Noah Adekoya.

The internal benchmark for what that pathway can produce is Rio Ngumoha, who arrived from Chelsea in 2024 and has since made 28 senior appearances this season. That was enough for England manager Thomas Tuchel to invite him, alongside Josh King and Alex Scott, to the Three Lions' World Cup preparation camp in Florida.

Martínez is a different profile — bigger, more of a No.10, less of a touchline winger — but the logic is identical: secure the player, integrate slowly, trust the academy structure.

## The Summer Slot Has to Navigate

The Martínez agreement, meanwhile, is the easy part of Liverpool's window. The harder questions are gathering around the first team. Salah's social-media post and the wider sense that his cycle at Anfield is closing — GiveMeSport reported he is on the way out — leave Slot needing a right-winger as the obvious priority. Federico Chiesa's future is described as a big question mark by the same outlet.

Reports elsewhere in the pack link Liverpool to PSG's Bradley Barcola and, separately, to a French international described as phenomenal. Whether any of those pursuits reach a Romano here we go remains to be seen. For now, the one deal that is actually done is the one that won't arrive on Merseyside for another eighteen months — and the timing of it tells you exactly how Liverpool's owners are thinking: win back the Champions League place this weekend, then quietly build for the season after the next one.

## Sources

- [Subhankar Mondal](https://www.football365.com/news/samuel-martinez-liverpool-atletico-nacional) — original
- [Isaac Seelochan](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-transfer-news-samuel-martinez-37193761) — original
- [onefootball.com](https://onefootball.com/en/news/atletico-nacional-teenager-samuel-martinez-edging-closer-to-liverpool-deal-42906882) — original
- [Alani Adefunmiloye](https://sportsview.co.uk/2026/05/atletico-nacional-teenager-samuel-martinez-edging-closer-to-liverpool-deal) — original
- [Daniel Feliciano](https://www.givemesport.com/breaking-liverpool-samuel-martinez-transfer/) — original
- [Max Akpan](https://football-talk.co.uk/233004/liverpool-reach-agreement-to-sign-colombian-starlet-samuel-martinez/) — original
- [Subhankar Mondal](https://www.teamtalk.com/liverpool/samuel-martinez-joining-liverpool-from-atletico-nacional) — original