If Liverpool’s recruitment team were already patting themselves on the back after snapping up Alexis Mac Allister for a fee believed to be around £35m, the Reds can be even more satisfied with such business now.
Since signing the World Cup winner from Brighton, Jude Bellingham has joined Real Madrid in a deal worth up to a potential £115m, Arsenal saw West Ham United snub their £90m opening offer for Declan Rice, and Manchester United had their opening bid of £40m rejected for Mason Mount.
Meanwhile, Brighton are believed to want at least £100m for Moises Caicedo, while Newcastle United are in talks to sign Nicola Barella from Inter Milan with a fee upwards of £50m mooted. It’s safe to say that Liverpool, in comparison, sniffed out a bargain.
Granted, the Reds were aided by a release clause of sorts in Mac Allister’s contract, signed back in October ahead of a summer 2023 contract expiry. The fact he won the World Cup with Argentina before helping Brighton qualify for Europe for the first time in their history in the months that followed made the 24-year-old appear even more of a bargain.
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Liverpool had found themselves linked with the aforementioned quintet to a varying extent, who look set to be the most high-profile midfield transfers of the summer. Yet after deciding on Mac Allister, the Reds’ attentions have since moved elsewhere for the next step of their long-awaited engine-room overhaul.
Aiming to bring in at least one more midfielder, if not two, Liverpool are now looking for a younger profile to complement Mac Allister with Khephren Thuram, Manu Kone, Ryan Gravenberch, Gabri Veiga, and Romeo Lavia - who, the injured Lavia apart, are all set to represent their respective countries at this summer’s UEFA Under-21 European Championships - among the players on the shortlist.
While the Reds’ rivals are set to spend what would be club-record fees at Anfield, Liverpool’s own approach is more modest. Admittedly, some supporters will bemoan such a stance and put it down to FSG ‘penny-pinching’.
Yet the Reds aren’t able to rely on Champions League riches this season, with such a threat contributing to their decision to withdraw from the race for Bellingham back in April. Club bosses also acknowledged that Jurgen Klopp’s squad needed quality across the board rather than one marquee arrival, having seen their midfield completely collapse in 2022/23.
As a result, they couldn’t focus on one big-money signing, unlike the arrival of Darwin Nunez last summer when revamping the attack. Although, the England international’s own comments at his Real Madrid unveiling perhaps suggest that Liverpool were always fighting a losing battle for his signature.
Mount had long been among the players Liverpool were looking at as he became embroiled in a contract impasse with Chelsea ahead of his deal expiring in 2024. Yet with the Reds having started looking elsewhere due to Chelsea's exorbitant price tag and the player's desire for Champions League football, Manchester United are now favourites to land the England international.
While Mac Allister's fee is undisclosed, it is believed to have be in the region of £35m. Chelsea have already rejected a £40m bid from United for Mount, and want nearer to £70m despite the player having only a year left on his contract.
Once the Reds’ race for Mount was run, onlookers inevitably encouraged Liverpool to look for a Rice or Caicedo instead. Yet, with £100m asking-prices, it’s clear such moves are non-starters at Anfield. If they had to withdraw from the race to sign Bellingham, be it because of restricted funds and the need for multiple quality arrivals, they will hardly blow their budget on players who hadn’t previously been touted as very much their first-choice target.
Which brings us to Barella, with Reds ears pricked at the sound of £50m transfer negotiations for a player of which Klopp is well-publicised admirer. Yet the latest reports suggest Inter Milan will demand closer to £70m, despite Newcastle United’s ambitious hope for a cheaper deal. Either way, he is a 26-year-old who has never before played in the Premier League. In Mac Allister, Liverpool got more for less money, bringing in a younger, more versatile star going from strength to strength in the English top-flight.
Whether the Reds are tempted to enter the race for the Italy international once a final transfer fee is set, akin to how they poached Luis Diaz from under Tottenham Hotspur’s nose in January 2022, only time will tell.
Regardless, Liverpool bosses will continue to monitor the market, sounding out asking prices and wage demands as they weigh up their next midfield move. They might be absent from the hunts for the biggest names at the highest fees this summer, but that isn’t necessarily a negative.
“The way this club is led is by not splashing the money and having a look at if it works out or not,” Klopp said back in February. “Our transfers always have to be on point. So that makes it really tricky where we cannot make four transfers before we know who will leave the club...
“It’s obviously different to other clubs, that’s how it is. But it worked out so far and we have to see if it will work still or if we have to adapt.”
In Mac Allister, they have already brought in one bargain, with their rivals' own potential business only increasing the Argentine’s value for money without even kicking a ball. And as Liverpool continue to search out their next ‘bargain’, only time will tell if their first signing of the summer ultimately proves to be ‘on point’, and justifies the Reds’ summer decisions once and for all.
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