Liverpool had a successful end to their pre-season campaign last night, defeating German side SV Darmstadt 3-1 in Preston. Their free-scoring front three were in fine form, with Diogo Jota, Luis Díaz and Mo Salah all netting.
Alexis Mac Allister was the latest player to feature in the deep-lying midfield role. The Argentinian performed well and looks to be competing with Curtis Jones for the number six slot against Chelsea on Sunday.
Earlier on in the day, a third bid for Southampton’s Roméo Lavia was rejected, with the south coast club standing firm on their valuation of £50million. With the 2023/24 season now only days away, Jürgen Klopp and his management team are in a race against time to make quality additions to the squad before the transfer windows slams shut.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, we spoke to experienced LFC journalist Neil Jones for his thoughts on the Reds’ summer transfer window.
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Neil said:
“If they were to buy two midfielders and a defender – whoever they are – I would feel like the club have done what they could this window, or at least give me hope that they’ve tried to address everything.
“If it’s anything less – certainly if it’s only a midfielder – I’d be thinking that’s tantamount to negligence.
“If it was one of each, I’d think, ‘OK, I can sort of get on board with it.’ If it was two midfielders, same.
“Liverpool tends to do their business early. It’s very rare that you get Liverpool spinning all kinds of plates late in the transfer window. It does feel like a lot. It does feel a bit ‘un-Liverpool-y’.
[On Roméo Lavia]
“He didn’t play Friday for Southampton. I refuse to believe that was a footballing decision.
“What we’re seeing – I think credit to them and good luck to them – Southampton aren’t budging. They’re not caving the way a lot of people maybe expected a relegated club to do. Southampton are staying firm on it. Fifty million is what they want.
[On Aurélien Tchouaméni and Ryan Gravenberch]
“There is a situation where you push the button and give Southampton £50million for Lavia, then all of a sudden Real Madrid are trying to get rid of Tchouaméni.
“I think if there was any chance of getting Tchouaméni, surely Liverpool would have been already well across it.
“Gravenberch – I don’t know if he’s such a game-changer for that number six position, I’m not entirely sure. I think Tchouaméni probably is.”
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Redmen Reacts
Patience is running thin from Liverpool fans who are worried about a repeat of last summer’s window. The Reds added loan signing Arthur Melo following an injury crisis and were made to pay for a lack of business in the midfield. New sporting director Jörg Schmadtke has also come in for criticism from fans who are not used to long-running public transfer sagas and bids for players being publicly rejected. Southampton have stuck to their valuation for Roméo Lavia, knowing that Liverpool’s coffers have recently been boosted by the sales of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson.
All is not lost at this stage, however. There are still over three weeks until the end of the transfer window, so a judgement should only be made at that point. There may be further outgoings and players at other clubs completing moves which could change the picture. It would have been ideal to complete all business early, but the season should not be written off as a failure before a ball is kicked.
TO HEAR MORE FROM NEIL ON LAVIA, PRE-SEASON AND MORE, CLICK HERE
