Liverpool are hoping to convince young forward Sergi Canos to follow in the footsteps of Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas by rejecting a new contract at Barcelona in favour of a move to England.

Spanish newspaper Sport has reported that Liverpool have already been in contact with representatives of the young attacker in order to try and convince him to reject an offer from Barcelona.

Sergi Canos
Sergi Canos in action for the Barcelona youth team. [Reuters]

While Barcelona have one of the most revered academies in professional football, due to Spanish law they cannot offer professional contracts to players until they turn 18, while in England the age is 17.

Arsenal have previously managed to take advantage of this situation with the likes of Fabregas, Fran Merida, Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral all leaving the Catalan club in order to make the move to north London.

It is believed that Barcelona would be prepared to offer the talented attacker around £15,500 a season, but the Express reports that Liverpool would double that offer in the hope of securing his signature.

Canos is viewed as one of the best prospects in his age group at the La Masia academy and Barcelona would certainly not want to lose him, but the decision rests in the hands of the teenager and his advisors.

Under Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool have shown that they are prepared to hand first team opportunities to players from their academy. The likes of Raheem Sterling, Suso, Andre Wisdom and Jack Robinson have all made the step up this season, while Jerome Sinclair was handed his first team debut at just 16 years of age.

Liverpool have previously recruited from the Spanish side when they were able to convince Dani Pacheco to leave the Barcelona academy in order to continue his development at Melwood.

Sport believe that while Barcelona have stayed in contact with Canos's parents and representatives they are worried that the financial lure of moving to Liverpool may persuade the forward to leave.

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