With the benefit of hindsight, it might appear as though Liverpool's cooled interest in Jude Bellingham had in fact been hiding in plain sight for quite some time.
It became apparent on Tuesday evening that the Reds had finally decided that spending between £115-130m on one player at a time when significantly more additions are needed in the midfield area was a counter-productive strategy for the long term.
Despite being linked to Bellingham for the best part of 18 months, Liverpool have taken the decision to look elsewhere as they now weigh up what might be possible for a transfer budget that is almost certain to be impacted by a lack of Champions League football next season.
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With a three-game week against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal - one which was widely referred to as "season-defining" in their top-four pursuit - yielding just two points, there is surely a reluctant acceptance now that those hopes have finally been extinguished.
A 12-point gap now sits between Liverpool and Manchester United in fourth with just 27 left to play for and while few around the AXA Centre will concede as much publicly, it is perhaps being privately acknowledged that the riches of Europe's premier competition will not be available to them for the following campaign.
For a club who are bound strictly by the self-sufficient model imposed by Fenway Sports Group, failure to grasp the Champions League bounty will hit hard, even if Liverpool have extracted almost maximum value from what can be earned in the European Cup over the last five years.
So with Bellingham now on the backburner, for this summer at least, attention turns to who might be making up the numbers for a midfield in desperate need of quality reinforcements before next term kicks off.
After all, Bellingham always likely to take up a major chunk of the transfer budget and with the need for extensive rebuilding to be done in the engine room, those at Liverpool will argue that it was always unrealistic to expect a clutch of other players to be signed if Bellingham was snared from Dortmund. Such a stance, however, has seemingly cut little ice with supporters desperate to see both the England star sign and for a few others to join him.
The phrase 'spinning plates' has been regularly uttered by those with knowledge of the situation in recent months. Put simply, Liverpool's ordinary campaign, to be kind, meant they have been unable to realistically factor in the European funds as usual. Instead, they have had to wait to see how their season pans out before having a fuller picture of what they can work with financially. That now appears to be less than had been initially hoped for as they face up to the very real prospect of at least one term away from Europe's top table.
Chelsea duo Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher are two who are of interest. The former is stalling over a new deal at Stamford Bridge and about to enter the last 12 months of his current terms, while the latter has never truly established himself in west London after coming to prominence in the Premier League thanks to a loan spell with Crystal Palace last season.
It's been reported that the Londoners are holding out for around £70m for Mount but with the England international about to enter the last year of his deal, that figure will surely be forced to come down as Liverpool watch on.
Wolverhampton Wanderers' Matheus Nunes was someone who had his admirers last summer while at Sporting in Portugal but after interest was flagged up once more in January, it became apparent that any deal for the midfielder would be made to wait until this summer given he could not turn out for three teams in the same season.
It's since been reported that Liverpool are not as keen on the Brazil-born Portugal international as they have been previously after a £50m buyout clause was removed from his contract at Molineux. Nunes has not enjoyed a great campaign at Wolves and the Reds may feel there is better value elsewhere.
Liverpool have been credited with an interest in Brighton duo Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo after their superb campaigns on the south coast. Caicedo was a target for both Chelsea and Arsenal in January and took the decision to publicly plead to be allowed to move before signing a new contract at the Amex Stadium.
"I am proud to be able to bring in a record transfer fee for Brighton which would allow them to reinvest it and help the club continue to be successful," Caicdeo posted on social media in January. "The fans have taken me into their hearts and they will always be in my heart so I hope they can understand why I want to take up this magnificent opportunity."
Arsenal's interest is unlikely to have abated but Chelsea's £106m deal for Enzo Fernandez, among others in January, might mean they are no longer at the table for Caicedo. At the age of 21, the Ecuador international looks to be a star in the making in the Premier League and could be an interesting proposition for a Liverpool team now assessing the wider market.
Bayern Munich's Ryan Gravenberch and Inter Milan's Italy international Nicolo Barella are two others who have been linked. The former shares a good relationship with both Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo, forged during their time together in the Netherlands national team. The former Ajax star has not had a stellar season in the Bundesliga but retains admirers in the recruitment team.
Barella is one who Klopp has previously showered with praise. "He is a really good player, a really good player," the Reds manager said before a first-leg Champions League meeting with Inter in February 2022. "I like him a lot. He has all the things you want from a midfield player. He’s aggressive, he’s technically [good], he can run for ages and all these kinds of things. So he’s a top-class player."
Youri Tielemans of Leicester City is available on a free transfer but doubts persist over the classy Belgium international's ability to thrive in a midfield system that demands energy as one of its primary components.
James Maddison is another at Leicester who is said to be under consideration but there are some at the club who believe his best position is as a No.10, which is one Klopp does not use as part of his tactical blueprint. A home-grown player whose contract expires next summer, Maddison, at the age of 26, still ticks plenty of boxes.
Red Bull Salzburg's Luka Sucic is reportedly on the radar. The 20-year-old has already been a part of the senior setup in Austria for the past two years and continues to learn his trade at a club who have been instrumental in the rise of players like Sadio Mane, Naby Keita and Takumi Minamino. In more recent years, Salzburg have polished the talents of Dortmund's Karim Adeyemi, RB Leipzig's Dominik Szoboszlai and, of course, Manchester City superstar Erling Haaland.
Liverpool enjoy a good relationship with the Red Bull stable and have worked with them on a number of deals in recent years including Keita, Minamino and Ibrahima Konate. Sucic is said to be well liked, but at 20, he might need more time to iron out the kinks in his game before a move to a Premier League giant transpires.
“Whatever we do next year will never be enough from people’s point of view and your [the media’s] point of view,” Klopp said at his Friday press conference last week. “But, yes, with smart recruitment we will improve, definitely. That is the plan."
'The plan' with regards to Bellingham specifically has certainly changed, but having largely proven themselves as one of the smartest recruitment departments around in recent years, those inside the AXA Centre will have to do so again in a major way.
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