Liverpool face the prospect of paying a substantial premium to solve their pressing number six issue after being snubbed by both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.
The Reds are returning to a list of defensive midfielders that includes Crystal Palace’s Cheick Doucoure and Fulham’s Joao Palhinha, but will be well aware that market conditions mean that a perfect deal for a midfielder will now almost certainly elude them.
Besides that they also have to wrestle with selling clubs know that they have money – £110m was found to broker a deal for Caicedo on Friday – and are in desperate need of someone to play at the base of a remodelled midfield that is pivotal to their hopes of regaining the Premier League pre-eminence lost last season.
“It is not an envious position to be in and not one that we’re used to Liverpool being in,” one Premier League executive told i.
It will stress test the Fenway Sports Group structure to the limit, and may ultimately decide whether the Jorg Schmadtke era lasts longer than a few short summer months.
Once the byword for recruitment excellence, executing slick deals for players who were long-term targets identified to fit into Jurgen Klopp’s system, they have mainly been buffeted by the winds of change emanating from Saudi Arabia.
While the club could hardly turn down the fees on offer for ageing Jordan Henderson and the waning Fabinho – trading efficiently, after all, is a central tenet of the Fenway Sports Group model – it has left them with a dilemma they did not anticipate. So far their response has been found wanting.
In the case of Caicedo, the club privately accept it was always a high risk, high reward play. While it now looks like they were pursuing a forlorn hope for a player whose heart was always set on Chelsea, they are understood to have received sufficient encouragement from the Ecuadorian’s camp to make the approach to Brighton.
With Lavia, Chelsea appear to have offered better personal terms for the 19-year-old but the club’s approach of making incremental offers for the Southampton midfielder looks perplexing.
A return to the drawing board on Tuesday morning also gave them food for thought. Lavia represented potential, Caicedo an immediate upgrade who could slot straight in. There are few players who tick both boxes but Liverpool walked away from a move for a player who could do both – Jude Bellingham – on grounds of finance before the transfer window got underway.
Whatever happens from here, there are wider questions about transfer strategy at Anfield, along with the breadth and scope of influence of Schmadtke, the sporting director appointed in May who describes himself as a “service provider” and “assistant” for Klopp.
i understands the Reds also held extensive talks with Roma sporting director Tiago Pinto, going as far as discussing prospective transfer strategies with the Portuguese, before opting for a figure who would shore up Klopp’s power base at the club.
On Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher said that the German’s appointment was only temporary and he would leave at the end of the transfer window but that’s not understood to be correct.
A gentleman’s agreement over a possible break clause in the deal agreed earlier in the summer does exist but there’s no certainty it will be exercised.
Schmadtke himself clarified the situation a fortnight ago, telling German reporters: “We agreed to work together for a year and to see what will happen after three months.
“Both sides are so confident and serious that the question can be asked: ‘Does it make sense to continue or not?’ It could be that we shake hands and part ways.”
You suspect that the answer to that will depend on what happens in the next three weeks of the transfer window.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/ku0w2Gn
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