Additional eyes and ears will be fixated on the AXA Training Centre come 9:45am on Friday morning when Jurgen Klopp addresses the media ahead of Liverpool's game against Leeds United on Monday night.
While injury updates surrounding Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita have dominated the agenda in recent weeks, it will be the name of a non-Reds star that is expected to monopolise the majority, if not all, of the German's media appearance.
That name is, of course, Jude Bellingham, who has made the national headlines this week with the news emerging from Anfield that Liverpool have paused their pursuit of the 19-year-old star in favour of a more rounded approach to their widely-publicised midfield rebuild this summer.
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The ECHO understands that Borussia Dortmund's current valuation of Bellingham stands in the region of £135m, which has led Anfield officials to hold a considerable re-think to their approach of replacing the departing Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and other members of the Reds' engine room who have failed to produce across the Premier League and Champions League this term.
When speaking to reporters earlier this month, Klopp confirmed Liverpool will splash the cash on Merseyside this summer as he is tasked with building a second, great Anfield dynasty and one that is likely to start in parallel circumstances to the first: Looking from the outside in on the Champions League as the Reds currently sit a lousy 12 points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester United.
"The club will spend in the summer, definitely," said Klopp ahead of the trip to Manchester City earlier this month. "For who and how many and stuff like this, there is nothing to say about, really."
It means that when the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group, are summoned to sign off the chequebooks for additions to the playing staff later this summer, Liverpool must use their funds shrewdly. Not only because of the American owners' self-sustaining model suggesting Klopp, as usual, will not have bottomless financial reserves at his disposal, but a lack of top-tier European football at Anfield has the potential to inhibit the Reds' finances by roughly £80m - given that is the lowest payment they received from their runs to the final in 2018, 2019 and 2022.
Names such as Brighton duo Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo, Matheus Nunes and James Maddison have all been mentioned as possible collective alternatives to Bellingham this summer. The ECHO also understands Liverpool are keeping tabs on Conor Gallagher and Mason Mount, too.
Additionally, as reported in January, Liverpool's recruitment staff have informally drawn up two lists of targets for the upcoming window, with the dire performances that have become a staple of the Reds' season, most notably away from Anfield, leaving the club unable to plan in such savvy fashion as had been the case under the guidance of former sporting director Michael Edwards at the peak of the club's recent success.
As a result, it will only be when the final whistle is blown at St Mary's on May 28 and the curtain is drawn on a below-par Premier League campaign that will Liverpool will finally know how attractive a proposition Anfield stands for potential arrivals in the following weeks and months.
That, in itself, is a dangerous game to play given that the first ruling of the club's summer transfer strategy has been briefed in recent days. It indicates to potential selling clubs, including Financial Fair Play-stricken Chelsea, that Liverpool's incapability to plan as meticulously as usual and draw up a comprehensive list of definite targets could allow them to play hardball with their prices.
While that hasn't been the case for many a year on Merseyside, with Liverpool, led by the slickness of Edwards, usually the envy of every European institution due to their hushed and decisive approach to conducting transfers, it was a position they encountered in late January 2011 as they looked to pursue a late deal for Fernando Torres' replacement.
The Spaniard would depart Anfield on the final day of the transfer window as a long-stand off with Chelsea resulted in the West Londoners eventually bowing to Liverpool's hefty £50m valuation. In doing so, it meant despite being £50m richer, director of football Damien Comolli was forced to frantically search for a replacement for the Reds' prolific No.9.
Newcastle United's Andy Carroll would eventually be sounded out as the Spaniard's heir, but not without former Magpies owner Mike Ashley looking to milk the Anfield coffers for all of that he could.
"The night before deadline day, I had a call from someone who had nothing to do with transfers saying I've heard from Newcastle's chairman who will entertain the sale of Andy Carroll," said Comoll in 2020, recalling the events of a frantic January deadline day. "We were stuck at the time because Fernando was going and we didn't know who to replace him with.
"I kind of agreed a deal with Newcastle that night, and the next day they read in the paper how much we were getting for Torres so they changed the deal and increased it by £5 million which absolutely drove me crazy.
"We decided to do it, and I'm waiting for the owners to wake up in America. At one point, I remember going into Kenny's office and for about an hour and a half thinking do we do the Carroll transfer?
"I e-mailed the owners and said I need a conference call for you. The owners, Kenny [Dalglish], the chief executive himself, and I said this is the deal and this is the risk."
Comolli added: "We voted and we knew we paying over the odds for Andy but he was young, he was English and at the time I told them if it doesn't work out, we'll sell him for £20 million to West Ham, back to Newcastle, Aston Villa.
"The scenario I had in my mind at the time was either he's a massive hit and success, or he was not but there was some money still to be made. We knew we were overpaying but we were also getting incredible money for Torres and Chelsea were grossly overpaying as well."
After an underwhelming, injury-hit two-and-a-half-year stint on Merseyside, the then England international would finally leave Anfield and sign for West Ham United in a deal worth £20m, following an impressive 2012-13 loan spell at Upton Park.
Once the Englishman's departure had been sanctioned on Merseyside, the Reds were left to rue a costly and timely mistake that stemmed from a failure to plan for the obvious exit of Torres.
And while Liverpool are currently a far cry away from the sleeping giant that they had become under Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish throughout the 2010-11 season, a failure to draft up a concrete strategy between now and the end of the season would leave Klopp's side ruing a rare transfer blunder.
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