Liverpool goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga, who is currently on loan at Livingston, could return to Brazil to sign for former club Fluminense in January, according to reports in his homeland.

Now 22, Pitaluga has also spent time on loan at Macclesfield and St Patrick’s Athletic. He was a part of the Liverpool first team tour to the US under Arne Slot in the summer but is a long way down the goalkeeping pecking order. The Brazilian outlet UOL says talks are underway about him going back to South America.

Alisson Becker, whose brother Muriel was a key part in helping Liverpool identify Pitaluga originally, is the undisputed number one. Caoimhin Kelleher and Vitezslav Jaros have both backed him up this season, while Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to arrive at Anfield from Valencia in the summer.

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"It is about being ready," Pitaluga told Liverpool.com in November. "Football can change really quick and you never know when you might be needed — Vite is a good example. When Ali was injured and Caoihm was ill, he got to play. That’s what the loans give you.

"Vite has gone on loan a few times and he did really well on the last one. Then you build confidence and experience to be ready for these things. Be ready and it doesn’t matter where you end up."

Since moving to Scotland, Pitaluga has only played two cup matches and is yet to play a minute in the league.

On training with Alisson, he added: "The standards are really high. It always takes your maximum and that is how you improve. And watching [Alisson] and trying to do the same, talking about situations and the best position, it is not just about the work but just being there and watching and then talking as well.

"When you talk goalkeepers — and sometimes people who are not goalkeepers don’t have these eyes that we have when we talk about the technique — by a country mile, Alisson's ability to not only deliver big saves in big moments but also to make the hard things looks easy with his decision-making.

"His positioning and his technique is maybe the most impressive thing for me. You never see him jumping when he didn’t need to jump or rolling on the ground. He tries to make everything as simple as possible."

Liverpool.com says: Pitaluga is a talented goalkeeper but there are lots of players to get above in the pecking order at Liverpool at the moment. A move elsewhere might make sense for his career.