Allan Rodrigues de Souza showed enough during his summer spell at Melwood to suggest to compatriot Lucas Leiva the midfielder can make the grade at Liverpool in the future.

The Brazilian spent time with the Reds ahead of the new season, travelling with the team for a friendly in Helsinki, before completing a transfer to Merseyside at the beginning of September.

He immediately headed out on loan to Finnish side SJK, where so far the 18-year-old has made six appearances and scored two goals for the table-topping team.

“I met Allan when he came to train at Melwood a few months ago,” Lucas told the latest edition of the official Liverpool FC magazine.

“He’s been round to my house and we talked a little bit. We had him here training intensely for a couple of weeks and he is another one for the future.

“He played in my city for Gremio’s biggest rivals, Internacional, which is very famous in Brazil for producing players. In the two weeks he was here we could see that he has a great future ahead of him.

“Now he has gone away to get some experience and playing time on loan in Finland and hopefully at some point in the next few years he will be ready to make an impact for Liverpool.”