After a month dominated by international football, the attention of fans around the world will turn towards the start of the new season. Anticipation is especially high on Merseyside, with new Liverpool boss Arne Slot set to begin his reign with a tour of the USA.
The Reds have had a quiet summer in the transfer window so far, with no incomings. Veterans Joël Matip, Thiago and Adrián have all departed after their contracts expired.
In Arne Slot’s first press conference, sporting director Richard Hughes spoke of the club’s desire to make ‘opportunistic’ signings. Unfortunately for Hughes and fans alike, one such opportunity appears to have passed, with highly-rated Lille youngster Leny Yoro joining arch-rivals Manchester United.
The 18-year-old has agreed a £52 million move to Old Trafford, signing a five-year deal on well over £100,000 per week. Real Madrid were seen as favourites to land the France U21 international, but it appears that the persistence of new United CEO Omar Berrada has paid off.
On the latest episode of our Journo Insight show, we asked the Liverpool Echo’s LFC correspondent Paul Gorst for his thoughts on the Yoro transfer.
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Paul said:
“In terms of it being an opportunistic one, I think that was where the initial interest came from because he was in the last year of his contract.
“Liverpool thought at the level of quality, the age, the experience level at that type of age and the contact situation made him stand out as a target, independent of any wider centre-back search.
“I don’t know what happened on the Real Madrid end. Were they looking to perhaps just wait it out and see if they could get him next summer when he’s more polished as a player, and he’s obviously not as costly as well, because he’s a free agent?
“It seems to be a lot of money for such an inexperienced player. Liverpool tends to target first-team stars who’ve played somewhere between maybe 120 to 150 senior appearances at the age of 22 to 24.
“If that report is accurate then it wouldn’t be necessarily near the top end of Liverpool’s earners, but he wouldn’t be near the bottom end either – which you’d imagine an 18-year-old coming into the club should be really.
“I genuinely can see both sides of this one. I wrote last week that we’re about to see how serious Liverpool are about this player. Lo and behold, I guess they feel that he’s one that they’re quite content to slip through the net. We’ll see in time whether that’s the right decision.
“I guess time will tell whether it’s been the right decision for Liverpool, but I do believe that they do need a centre-back. If this guy was the one that they had earmarked as a star of the future, then I am surprised that they haven’t continued their interest.”
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Redmen Reacts
There has been understandable criticism of the new LFC transfer committee over the missed opportunity to sign Leny Yoro – who was described as ‘not normal’ by Lille teammate Angel Gomes – especially given that the 18-year-old is joining arch-rivals Manchester United. Liverpool looked set to pounce on any breakdown in negotiations between Lille and Real Madrid, but it appears as if the potential fee is somewhat north of what the club were prepared to pay. It was perhaps unrealistic to expect a slew of signings before Arne Slot has even had a chance to train with his full first-team squad, but the pressure is now on the transfer committee to make some quality signings before the window ends. A high-level centre-back with a few more years’ experience than Yoro would go some way towards placating the fanbase.