All you need to know about Mantilla, ‘beast’ tipped to be future of Reds defence

Liverpool are closely monitoring highly-rated Colombian starlet Kevin Mantilla.

The 20-year-old centre-back, who plays for Talleres, is being scouted by Jurgen Klopp’s Reds following his rise to prominence in 2023.

We’ve compiled everything you need to know about the rising star, who looks set to make a headline-making move to Europe in the coming years.

Mantilla was born in 2003 in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and grew up playing football in the parks of the Torremolinos district.

As a youth, Mantilla played as an attacker but transitioned into a centre-back after joining Independiente Santa Fe’s academy.

He soon rose through the ranks to progress to first-team contention, making his Sante Fe debut as an 18-year-old in 2022.

The youngster quickly became an important first-team regular and notched up 26 appearances during that debut campaign; one in which they finished fourth in the final aggregate table and qualified for the Copa Sudamericana, South America’s Europa League equivalent.

His stock would rise further in 2023, particularly on the international stage. Mantilla is yet to make his senior debut for Colombia but featured prominently as their Under-20s finished third in the South American U-20 Championship last January – it was there that Liverpool’s scouts reportedly first noticed him.

He then featured as Los Cafeteros made it to the quarter-finals of the Under-20 World Cup in Argentina, and a short while later transferred to Argentinian club Talleres for a €1.8million fee.

Mantilla played eight times for Talleres as they finished runners-up to River Plate in the 2023 Argentine Primera Division, qualifying for the Copa Libertadores in the process.

Given he’s only been at Talleres for six months, you’d imagine that