Liverpool Eyes Barcelona's Héctor Fort for Defensive Reinforcement

Liverpool’s defensive rebuild looked close to complete once Ronald Araújo arrived – a seasoned operator who can anchor the centre and slide across to right back when needed. It felt like the kind of signing that shuts a door. One defender in, window closed.

Not quite.

In Spain, Sport report that Barcelona right back Héctor Fort has landed on Liverpool’s radar. The 20-year-old is being linked with half of Europe – Inter Milan, Fulham, Tottenham – which says more about the churn of the rumour mill than any one club’s intent, but it does underline one thing: Fort is in play.

The strongest pull, though, is said to come from across Stanley Park.

Everton are being framed as the likeliest destination for the defender, who has spent the last decade climbing through La Masia, collecting 24 senior appearances for Barcelona. Twenty of those came in the 2024-25 season, a campaign that also included a loan spell at Elche, where he picked up the kind of first-team minutes that tend to turn a prospect into a proper professional.

Not long ago, Fort was widely tipped as the next long-term right back at the Camp Nou, the latest in a familiar line of academy full backs expected to lock down the flank for years. That storyline has shifted. Inside Barcelona, the spotlight has swung towards fellow youngster Xavi Espart as the more convincing long-term answer on the right.

When that kind of internal hierarchy changes, the market usually reacts. In Fort’s case, it has opened the door to a move that once looked unlikely: a La Masia-bred right back, still only 20, suddenly available and drawing Premier League interest.

Whether he ends up under the lights at Anfield, Goodison Park, or somewhere on the continent, the next step in his career now looks set to be written far from the Camp Nou touchline where he was once expected to grow old.