Expect the club to bide their time in the market again this summer.
Given the quickness with which Liverpool moved to secure the services of Ibrahima Konaté at the end of last season, fans could be forgiven for interpreting the Reds’ inactivity in the market this summer as confirmation the club are unlikely to make many more moves this transfer window.
Links to wide attackers and central midfielders have been plentiful, but vague and largely unsubstantiated, and — despite the Gini Wijnaldum-shaped hole in midfield — have come to nothing yet. According to everybody’s favourite transfer soothsayer, that could continue to be the case until the end of the window.
“What I’ve been told is that the strategy for Liverpool is not immediately going for a midfielder, but I think they want to wait. Their priority is to go for some wingers,” said Fabrizio Romano when discussing the prospect of the Reds approaching Lille’s Renato Sanches.
“Then at the end of the market maybe some opportunity may be open for some midfielder. We need to wait a bit on this deal, but they have always been appreciating Renato and he would love to go back to the Premier League.”
While Jürgen Klopp would undoubtedly prefer to have his squad settled as early in pre-season as possible, it is not entirely unlike Michael Edwards and his transfer team to bide their time in the market — Diogo Jota and Thiago were both signed towards the end of September in last year’s extended window — and given the peculiarities of the market this summer, and the effect potential outgoing transfers could have on the club’s financial situation, it is not an indefensible strategy. This is, after all, the same team — minus Wijnaldum, but plus Konaté, Jota and Thiago — that won four titles in the span of 13 months a year ago.
In other words, there is unlikely to be closure on this matter until the window forces it, so best to stock up on some of that ol’ patience for the next seven weeks or so.
