Liverpool's director of football Damien Comolli has revealed the club are looking to tap into the talent emerging from Uruguay with two internationals from the country now at the club.
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Sebastian Coates was in the stands for Liverpool's recent victory over Bolton
Liverpool signed 20-year-old Sebastian Coates from Nacional late last month and he will link up with countryman and former Nacional player Luis Suarez, who joined in January from Ajax.
Comolli says Liverpool are now looking to establish a more formal relationship with Nacional on the back of the Coates deal.
"I've got to thank the people from Nacional, the directors and their chairman, because they have been very helpful," he told the club's official website. "They tried to help the player complete his will, which was to come here.
"They tried to find a solution for us to make it happen. We now have strong links with them because both Luis Suarez and Sebastian Coates have come from this club and been developed by their academy.
"We are talking about a partnership with them that we would like to create over the next three, four or five years, to see if there is more talent coming through. Maybe we can help them to develop their standards and in turn have the ability to bring those young players here.
"During the Copa America they had 14 players out of the 23 who had at some point played at Nacional or were developed by Nacional. That is a fantastic record for their academy."
Comolli added: "It is very interesting for us. ''We already have a strong link with South America through Lucas (Leiva), Maxi (Rodriguez) and Luis.
"Since it's been such a success with Luis - and I'm sure it will be for Sebastian - why don't we try to make it an even bigger success by bringing in other players from Nacional?"
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Pretty interesting... but to be honest, I don't see how they can benefit from us... it's more like we are tapping their talent...
