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Coronavirus could stop a deal like Werner to Liverpool getting done according to the ex-Red and Sky pundit.
For some, transfer season can be as exciting as watching the games actually being played, but with football on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic we could be set to miss out on silly season whenever the actual season is eventually played out.
That’s because clubs around Europe, even the richest ones, may be feeling the financial pinch. And more than that, they may be worried about the future, with a high likelihood the 2020-21 season will also be impacted or curtailed in some way.
For Liverpool, that could mean no big summer signings—and no Timo Werner. That’s according to ex-Red and current Sky pundit Jamie Carragher, who has downgraded Werner-to-Liverpool from “nailed on” to “maybe” due to larger world events.
“It almost looked nailed on before the situation we’re in now, [but] that might affect transfers this summer,” was Carragher’s take on the matter on Instagram. “Maybe that’ll be put on the back-burner, and something will happen next summer.”
Previously, reports were that Werner’s £50M release clause actually expired before the scheduled end of the current season—perhaps as early as at the end of this month. And given the current situation, that could definitely be a stumbling block.
No matter how rich the Reds are relative many, if there is in fact a hard deadline then it’s hard to imagine spending £50M up front to trigger a release clause when there’s no football and what the game will look like when it does return is uncertain.
Most fans will of course hope that isn’t the case, but realistically, Carragher’s signal of caution over the future of any big money transfers—and Werner-to-Liverpool in particular—seems prudent and reasonable.
