One journalist has dismissed any chance of Liverpool hijacking a fellow Premier League club’s move for a LaLiga attacker.
The Reds are believed to have contacted Barcelona in recent days over a possible swoop for Ansu Fati if Mo Salah were to leave for Saudi Arabia, but the 20-year-old is instead bound for Brighton ahead of an impending loan move (Fabrizio Romano).
There has reportedly been whispers from Spain of the Merseyside club throwing a late spanner in the works for the Seagulls, but Lewis Steele has since written off that possibility.
Speaking on The Daily Mail’s transfer deadline livestream on YouTube, he said: “In terms of [Salah] leaving them high and dry, it would certainly do that. They wouldn’t be able to find a replacement.
“There was talk in the Spanish media that they could hijack Brighton’s bid for Ansu Fati, but that is just not going to happen. They will be left without a replacement and the attack is the place that they are least light.”
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Although Fati is talented attacker, there was always a sense that he’d only been sounded out about a move to Liverpool because of the rumours circulating around Salah.
With the Reds remaining adamant that they won’t cave into the promise of riches from the Saudi Pro League for the Egyptian, there is duly no need for them to sign another forward, especially with other parts of the squad requiring more urgent attention.
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If Jurgen Klopp is to bring in another player today in addition to Ryan Gravenberch, it’s most likely to be a defender, considering how injuries in that area of the pitch have left the squad looking a bit light at the back.
Fati would’ve been a decent coup, having surpassed a century of appearances for Barcelona before his 21st birthday and accrued plenty of game-time at the highest level in European football (Transfermarkt), but with Salah seeming likely to stay, Liverpool won’t lose sleep over the 20-year-old going to Brighton.
In any case, the Reds already have a formidable attack with Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo in addition to the Egypt legend.
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