Jurgen Klopp has explained why Liverpool missed out on three of their most strongly-linked midfield targets in 2023.
The Reds’ long-running pursuit of Jude Bellingham ended in disappointment as the England superstar opted for a move to Real Madrid instead (talkSPORT), with that blow exacerbated by the subsequent abrupt departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
In August, LFC had actually agreed a fee with Brighton for Moises Caicedo, only for Chelsea to hijack that move with a £115m deal of their own, along with the Ecuadorian preferring to join the Blues (The Guardian).
Mauricio Pochettino’s side also beat Liverpool to the signing of Romeo Lavia, who was reportedly displeased at feeling like the Reds’ ‘second choice’ in their pursuit of a defensive midfielder and instead agreed a move to Stamford Bridge (The Guardian).
Thankfully, we managed to strengthen our midfield ranks with four summer signings who’ve all made a positive impact at Anfield, and Klopp was circumspect when reflecting on the trio on whom the club missed out.
The 56-year-old said (via CaughtOffside): “We were interested in Bellingham, then realised it would not happen as we’d have no money for anything else. Then all of a sudden the whole market for number sixes went up. We had our situation with two sixes left the club. The market heated up.
“Then we thought maybe we could do Caicedo. We’d already done [Alexis] Mac Allister [from Brighton] before, so we went in, but he had an emotional agreement already with Chelsea and Pochettino. All fine, so that’s it. Then Lavia had his own reasons, and we were there.”
Neither Caicedo (£115m) nor Lavia (£58m) has made much of an impact at Chelsea thus far, albeit with the latter suffering horrendous luck with injuries ever since he joined from Southampton.
The only one of the trio mentioned by Klopp who’s left a lingering sense of ‘what if’ is Bellingham, whose 18-goal tally from midfield for Real Madrid matches Mo Salah’s tally this season, and in one game fewer than Liverpool’s top scorer (Transfermarkt).
The initial £88.5m that Los Blancos paid for the Englishman already looks like money very well spent (BBC Sport), although the trade-off from the Reds’ point of view is that they wouldn’t have been able to replenish their midfield so extensively had they spent that amount on the 20-year-old.
Anfield chiefs may feel that, given the top-heavy volume of injuries that we’ve had to navigate this term, spending a reasonable outlay on four new midfielders – rather than going large on one player and leaving little left over for further additions – was a justifiable stance.
To be fair to Liverpool, it wasn’t as if they didn’t try to land Bellingham, Caicedo or Lavia; and if the preference of all three was a move elsewhere, it seems there’s little more the Merseysiders could’ve done in pursuit of that trio.
Looking back at it now, we’ve every reason to feel satisfied over how last summer’s transfer window turned out, even if it would’ve been glorious to have signed the England international.