A stone-faced Jurgen Klopp sat in front of a smattering of journalists on the eve of a flight out to Thailand last July, bristling at the mere suggestion that his Liverpool squad needed another midfielder.
The Reds boss was thorough in his dismissal of that particular school of thought, outlining the qualities he believed already existed within a department that were all fit, present and ready for the pre-season trip to the Far East the following day.
"I don’t understand," Klopp said. "I do not understand. People told me about this discussion, but the last thing that would have crossed my mind is that we have to do this [sign a midfielder]. I know all these things, that we don’t score enough goals from midfield, this and that, but what do we want? This ‘Golden Cow’ that is producing absolutely everything, milk as well!"
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"We can go through it," he continued. "Where do you want to start? So, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Milner, Keita, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho, Oxlade-Chamberlain. Now you tell me what kind of player are we missing? One who is offensive, 1.95m and arrives into the box to head balls in? OK, apart from that!
"We have three players in the squad who can easily play as a No.6 - Fabinho, of course, but Hendo and Milly played it fine. Creativity? If we bring in a player just for that, we immediately make it more difficult for Harvey, Curtis and Fabio.
"They can all play different positions as well of course, Curtis can play a line higher and Harvey and Fabio can play there too. Fine. We can play a different system as well, where we might only need two midfielders, but then all these guys can play as a No.10 in the new system. So where is the need for a midfielder? The day when somebody comes to me and tells me why exactly."
It was a strong riposte to those who believed that a new central midfielder was imperative at the time and the manager doubled down on that assertion in Thailand, adding: "I know that people think we should have signed a midfielder but actually we have in Harvey Elliott. People forgot that he started the first four games of last season. If they all stay fit, we have an incredible amount but also quality and everything that you need: creativity; hard working; box to box. It is all in, we just have to use it in the right way."
Despite missing out on Aurelien Tchouameni after the France international had chosen Real Madrid, Klopp's insistence that he didn't need another midfielder was firm. The fact that Tchouameni was a target to begin with betrayed the overall message, but having watched the Monaco man move to the Spanish capital over a month earlier, there was little point in saying anything other than a reiteration of his trust in the squad of players who had just taken the club to within a whisker of quadruple immortality just a few weeks earlier.
That another midfielder was not targeted between Liverpool finding out that Tchouameni only had eyes for Madrid, which came as early as mid-April, led to suggestions that the club would bide their time, remain patient and move for Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham in 2023.
And for a long time, that was indeed the plan. Under Klopp, Liverpool have become famed for their patience in waiting for the right player they believe will immeasurably improve them. "Slam dunk" signings is how Klopp has previously referred to them; players like Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, who turned the Reds from pretenders, to contenders, to a club that stood as English, European and world champions for a brief period in 2020.
At the age of 19 and having already established himself as one of finest midfielders on the continent during his time with Dortmund, Bellingham very much fits that same profile. A midfielder who is capable of getting Liverpool back to the level they enjoyed between 2019-2022 when they lifted every top-level trophy available to them.
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But while the wait went on and the conversations were no doubt held in private, Liverpool's entire midfield began to crumble. From a position of power, suddenly the centre of the Anfield pitch became inhabited by too many at the wrong end of their respective football journeys, while those few deemed to be at the right age have had their talents dimmed significantly by injuries.
With Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner set to leave this summer on a free transfer, Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara in the autumn of their careers and long-term questions hanging over Fabinho's form, Liverpool's engine room finds itself in a mess.
It has now been decreed, perhaps with those in the corridors of power in possession of the knowledge that a top-four finish is beyond them, that Bellingham alone cannot fix the yawning problem that exists in the centre of the park.
The cost of any potential deal with Dortmund has led to the club accepting defeat in their pursuit. Other targets are now being actively assessed ahead of a huge summer window that will have lasting ramifications for Klopp's final years as manager.
Anfield insiders have spoken of how Bellingham's price tag stood at around the £80m prior to the World Cup, but the former Birmingham starlet's successful campaign in Qatar saw his value skyrocket. Chelsea's British record £106m move for Enzo Fernandez from Benfica in January only heightened the belief that the Three Lions international was worth around £130m.
With the Champions League riches almost certain not to be flowing into the Anfield coffers next season, it has been accepted - surely through the most gritted of teeth - that Bellingham alone is beyond Liverpool's capabilities.
Some have used previous deals for the likes of Alisson, Van Dijk and Keita as proof for why this particular move for Bellingham may not be dead in the water. It remains to be seen if circumstances shift again, as has been the case in the past. Were Bellingham to stay put this summer, perhaps that would change the picture.
But the specific situations around each of those previous Liverpool deals were markedly different.
Liverpool were forced to essentially cease and desist from their pursuit of Van Dijk in June 2017 after Southampton threatened to complain a tapping up. It took months for bridges to be rebuilt and fences to be mended behind the scenes before he eventually became a Reds player in January 2018 for a bigger premium than had initially been hoped at £75m.
Roma dropped their price tag by around £25m for Alisson in July 2018 after Liverpool walked away in February of that year, while it took four bids, an unusual structuring and a near 12-month wait for Keita to arrive from RB Leipzig for a £52m sum.
Club sources insist the ending of the Bellingham pursuit is driven by the fact that Liverpool, quite literally, cannot afford to enter in a lengthy bidding war both from a financial and a sporting perspective given how much else needs to be addressed during this critical upcoming transfer window.
Ironically, it was an unwillingness to add to the squad last summer that has since become a key factor behind the decision for Liverpool to turn their attention away from just Bellingham. It is understood the thought process within the recruitment department now is to spread the budget - whatever that figure may be - across a handful of other, less costly options rather than dedicate the lion's share to the pursuit of Bellingham.
Liverpool may not have needed such major surgery on their midfield ranks this summer had they pursued another player in between learning of Tchouameni's desire for Real Madrid in April and signing Arthur Melo as a short-term stop-gap on August's transfer deadline day. That no other player was deemed suitable enough to try and bring in has proven to be a fatal mistake, with hindsight.
Instead, the Reds have found that their one, world-class transfer target must now be forsesaken for an unspecified number of other players whose quality or ceiling is not as high as their initial No.1 priority. It is almost a dictionary definition of poor management of the squad.
For all the disappointment and the frustration - feelings that will only swell if Bellingham joins another club later this summer - those behind the scenes at Liverpool are insistent that there is a strategy in place to get them back to where they stood not 12 months ago in world football.
At a time when a new sporting director is needed, the search for external investors is ongoing and the club looks set to miss out on the Champions League, however, it requires a blind leap of faith to trust that process implicitly.
Plenty of fans are understandably irritated having seen the speculation rage for the best part of 18 months and while those at the club have never shied away from making the unpopular calls where recruitment is concerned, the feeling that supporters are owed a major summer on the back of an awful campaign continues to grow.
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