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Hertha Berlin eager for Liverpool's Allan to extend loan stay

Hertha Berlin sporting executive Michael Preetz has said the club hope to keep Liverpool midfielder Allan for another season, although his parent side are keen for the player to be competing in the Europa League.

Having joined Liverpool from Porto Alegre in 2015, Allan has to yet appear for the Premier League club.

He spent time with SJK in Finland and Sint-Truiden in Belgium before joining Bundesliga club Hertha for the current campaign.

But with Hertha's failure to reach Europa League through the qualifiers last summer, and Allan's participation in the South American Under-20 Championship in early 2017, the midfielder played in only 15 matches in all competitions and failed to meet the requirements for a work permit in England.

Since Allan will not be able to finally make his debut for Liverpool, Hertha BSC hope to keep the 20-year-old at the Olympiastadion for another season.

"We've lodged our wish to loan Allan for another year with Liverpool," Preetz told kicker.

"Principally, the English are up for it, but they would like us to be a guaranteed starter in the group stages of Europa League."

At the weekend, Allan started in Hertha's 2-0 win at relegated Darmstadt, their first away in 2017. The three points meant that the capital club returned to fifth in the Bundesliga standings.

With only one match remaining in the 2017-18 season, a draw against Bayer Leverkusen next Saturday would be enough to secure automatic qualification for the Europa League group stages if Freiburg fail to beat champions Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.