With only four days left before the transfer deadline on Friday, Liverpool may yet make a last-minute move in the market.
Despite adding Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Alexis Mac Allister to their roster, the Reds have been keeping an eye on a number of midfielders this summer. Additionally, the need for a center-back may now take precedence after Jurgen Klopp’s options were limited by the dismissal of Virgil van Dijk against Newcastle and the injury to Ibrahima Konate.
The manager of Liverpool has made no secret of his desire to purchase a left-sided center-back, but Jorg Schmadtke and his recruiting staff have spent the most of their time thus far focusing on midfield.
Beto celebrates his goal against AC Milan for Udinese.
Beto’s transfer to Everton is still in progress and won’t be finalized this week.
In fact, there was a day in early June when several Liverpool employees became especially irritated with the speed of transfer rumors.
As the heap of rumors grew, one frank answer was, “Peak bull**** day!” However, a representative of the recruitment department was more subdued, merely maintaining, “We get linked to a lot of players.” Yes, it was an understatement.
Even though Liverpool has now spent more than £110 million, the links to players from other teams have continued for more than two months. At Anfield, this summer’s spending is officially the most since 2018.
Just three of the players currently mentioned in the rumors are Aston Villa’s Douglas Luiz and Boubavar Kamara, Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch, and Crystal Palace defender Cheick Doucoure. Fulham’s Portugal international Joao Palhinha is another midfielder whose abilities have occasionally been discussed. Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone, a team from France’s Under-21 team, are two other players who were taken into consideration earlier in the window.
Despite the fact that Liverpool’s summer activity has thus far been focused primarily on the reconstruction of the engine room, there is and has always been a lengthy list of central midfielders. Additionally, while supporters frequently find solace in the notion that the Reds’ approach to goals is always the result of a larger, longer-term scheme,
With the recruitment staff currently scouring the market for the ideal blend of incomings, the Japan captain’s admission that he first learned of the club’s interest “three or four days ago” made clear just how quick-thinking they must be. Those who feel that additional troops are required before the deadline of September 1 are encouraged by how quickly the entire transaction was completed.
Many will feel more confident for the remainder of this month after Liverpool’s £111 million bid for Moises Caicedo. The general consensus is that the Reds still have a sizable money to work with as they continue to make trades over the playing trading months, even after accounting for Endo’s slightly over £16 million price tag from Stuttgart.
However, Jurgen Klopp downplayed reports of a pot with about £100 million, which is somewhat understandable considering how selling clubs will now try to exert pressure during any future discussions.
When it was mentioned that supporters could ask where the money from the Caicedo bid has gone, Klopp responded, “It is not, from my experience, meaning that you take the fee paid from the money not spent and the gap between that is the money available.
“I don’t believe that to be the case, and there is no issue. We’ll take a look once the relevant players are present. Without a doubt, we are still keeping an eye on the market to see what is happening and what we can do.
The 21-year-old Caicedo, one of the best midfielders in the Premier League last season at Brighton, was thought to fit the bill, but after Chelsea snatched him up, the big question is where they will turn next in the hotly contested revitalization of the midfield, especially now that Romeo Lavia has also chosen the Londoners as a result of the lengthy deliberations at Anfield over the summer.
The 19-year-old Lavia, who played 29 times for Southampton in his first full season in the Premier League, was not considered to be worth anywhere close to the £50 million the Saints initially valued him at, according to many inside the club, including the influential figures whose opinions carry the greatest weight. And despite the readiness to stake the entire estate on Caicedo with a proposal,And even though Caicedo was willing to accept a bid that was more than twice as high, the AXA Training Center regarded Chelsea’s eventual payment of £58 million for Belgian international Lavia as being far too high.
Endo, the captain of Japan but also a rather unknown 30-year-old from Stuttgart, made a left-field pivot as a result of those circumstances. The broad consensus should have been more favorable if the new No. 3 had
have been a more positive consensus if the group had joined earlier in the window.
However, the initial skepticism in certain quarters was brought on by the fact that Endo was signed after the season had already begun after missing out on two younger, more well-known targets. That, however, does not intend to diminish the defensive-minded traits of the new addition.
