A number of Liverpool fans online were left somewhat disappointed by the club’s transfer window, despite making four senior additions to the squad, in light of a failed attempt to secure another permanent body in the middle of the park.
Interestingly, however, it seems that a bid for Aurelien Tchouameni this summer was followed by genuine offers for Jude Bellingham (not simply just an enquiry, as was initially understood) and Federico Valverde of Real Madrid – all totalling at £240m worth of bids, according to Guardian journalist Artur Petrosyan on Twitter.
Apparently, Liverpool made three significant bids for midfielders this summer: Tchouameni (£68m), Bellingham (£86m) and Valverde (£86m) in chronological order.
And all of them failed.
— Artur Petrosyan (@arturpetrosyan) September 13, 2022
As it turned out, all attempts failed to produce the desired result with the Frenchman opting for a switch to Real Madrid despite Jurgen Klopp’s best efforts to convince the ex-Monaco star otherwise.
It shows a clear sign of intent from our recruitment team to bring in a quality midfield option with all three footballers aged 24 or under.
Given how close we came to a historic quadruple haul of silverware last term, it seems somewhat remarkable that we failed to bring at least one of the three to Anfield.
That being said, it’s worth pointing out beyond Tchouameni that we were unfortunate to be moving for Bellingham in the same summer key man Erling Haaland swapped Germany for England.
A long-term contract tying Valverde up in the Spanish capital until 2027 likewise will have complicated matters somewhat for Liverpool in the window just gone.