The timing of Liverpool’s decision to pull out of the Jude Bellingham chase was revealing, it coming two full months before the transfer window opens and with hundreds of twists and turns still to play out before a club secures the young midfielder’s signature.
The reason widely propagated was that the expected fee north of £100m was considered far too much for the Reds, who are in urgent need of at least two new players to inhabit their centre-circle, and while there is a large dose of truth to this another factor surely contributed to their public surrender.
Without Champions League football next season, Liverpool didn’t have a cat in hell’s chance of signing the Borussia Dortmund superstar anyway.
It was therefore a leaked announcement partly designed to save face, an act of politicking we can expect to see more of in the coming weeks with the club so distantly priced in the Premier League top four odds.
Indeed, should the Merseyside giants miss out on Champions League qualification for next term they face a long, awkward summer navigating two related quandaries.
The first of these is that Liverpool are a proud club of substantial standing who are expected to compete for the best players to further bolster an elite squad. Moreover, their fans will demand this, settling for nothing else.
That explains why Liverpool are more than happy to let it known they hold a supposed interest in Declan Rice despite the fact that Rice falls into the same category as Bellingham, valued at an absolute premium, with the player having no intention of joining a club outside of the top four.
The reality that contradicts this interest is that Liverpool will be looking much further down their shopping list if they ultimately fail to claw back what is presently a nine-point deficit.
There will be compromises made. Players bought to replace the older members of their squad but not necessarily hugely improving on them.
This problem of course can be resolved at a stroke, by the club paying over the odds to bring in superior talent, the higher wages reflecting the player’s sacrifice in forgoing Champions League football for a minimum of a year.
This was an approach Manchester United took twice-over during their decade-long decline, playing top dollar for Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku.
Only here we come to their second quandary in that Liverpool cannot afford to do this. Conversely, they were hoping the allure of joining a successful outfit, coached by Jurgen Klopp, would have enticed signings to the North-West at an affordable price.
🗣️ “I cannot give you a number, I don’t want to give you a number. It’s about doing the right things. It’s not about how much. It’s an interesting period. We always try to be smart in the transfer market.”
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 17, 2023
Jürgen Klopp on Liverpool’s summer transfer strategy. 💰 pic.twitter.com/32GcXT4POv
All of which leaves the recent league champions greatly fearing a fifth place finish or worse. Because no matter what occurred this season this was always going to be a summer that necessitated a significant overhaul of personnel, an expensive one to boot.
Now, with the latest Liverpool betting tips not exactly forecasting a stand-out campaign, it increasingly looks like Klopp will have to focus only on cut-price deals, found in the bargain basement. And if he gets that wrong, the effects could be felt for several seasons to come.
