Genk Signs Kevin Amaro: Next Full-Back Gem from Uruguay

Genk have dipped back into a familiar market – and they think they’ve found their next full-back gem.

The Belgian Pro League club have confirmed the signing of 22-year-old right-back Kevin Amaro from Liverpool Montevideo, handing the Uruguayan international a five-year deal. It’s a move that fits a clear pattern: young, hungry, Latin American full-backs brought in, polished, and pushed on to bigger stages.

Daniel Muñoz is the reference point. Genk picked him up from Colombia, developed him, and watched him go on to win European trophies with Crystal Palace. Amaro now walks into that shadow, with the expectation that he can carve out a similar path of his own.

This is not a raw teenager plucked from obscurity. Amaro made his Liverpool debut in 2022, but his real breakthrough came in the 2024 campaign. He played 42 games that year, scoring once, then followed it up with 34 appearances and another goal in 2025. Before leaving Montevideo this season, he had already featured 17 times.

Those numbers tell you he’s been trusted. His profile explains why. Amaro is nominally a right-back, but he can operate anywhere down that flank, offering energy and flexibility on the right-hand side. That versatility has already earned him a handful of caps for Uruguay, underlining the belief in his potential back home.

Genk need that kind of injection. They’ve opened their league season with one win and one defeat, a start that leaves as many questions as answers about where they truly stand in the title picture. Amaro arrives not just as a signing for the future, but as a player expected to compete immediately, to bring bite and drive to a key area of the pitch.

The club’s track record suggests they know exactly what they’re doing in this market. Now the question is simple: can Kevin Amaro be the next South American full-back to turn Genk into a launchpad for a major European career?