Darwin Nunez's arrival at Anfield has put a spring in the step of Liverpool fans going into the summer.
Nunez spent much of Monday undergoing his medical ahead of completing a deal to move to the Reds from Benfica that could cost up to £85m should individual and team add-ons be triggered during the life of his contract.
With the arrival of Luis Diaz from Portuguese side Benfica in a deal that could end up being worth £49m, one that had initially been slated to take place this summer, Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group have committed to a potential transfer outlay of £134m to bolster Jurgen Klopp's front line.
One of the criticisms that has been levelled at FSG down the years is their lack of investing at the right time in the Reds' first team. But while the money being spent on Nunez, and the money that has already been spent on Diaz, may suggest a step change, the deals themselves allow Liverpool to remain within FSG's defined structure, one where they do what they can to make sure that wage liabilities both in the short and long term don't get out of control.
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For an ownership group notoriously risk averse, the move to spend what could end up being £85m has been presented as risky in some quarters for a player who has just one breakout season to his name. But having been on the radar for some time, Nunez's attributes have been thoroughly assesses to try and remove as much risk as possible.
For FSG, it is a deal that makes enough sense for them to give it the green light.
"It is all about risk," football finance expert and 'Price of Football' author Kieran Maguire told the ECHO.
"FSG are risk averse, probably one of the most risk averse ownership groups in the Premier League. When they are spending large amounts of money you can be sure that a lot of thought has gone into it.
"Firstly, the way the Nunez deal looks to be structured is that Liverpool will pay a guaranteed sum, reported to be in the region of £64m. Then there are £20m-plus in in add-ons for things from appearances to team success. That is a lot in add-ons but for someone like FSG, risk averse, it is something that protects them to an extent if the deal goes bad for whatever reason and doesn't work out as hoped. It also allows them to spread that cost over different accounting periods.
"Secondly, there is the issue of cash flow. FSG don't want to be committing to ongoing cash flow, they don't want to be overdrawn at the bank to be financing deals. They micro-manage that side of the business and they like to match their revenues to their costs. In the case of Nunez, his transfer will likely be largely covered from additional revenues, whether that be money arriving from the Champions League or money arriving from player sales and any cost savings that may appear in the wage bill.
"Then there is how the deal itself will show in the club accounts. Let's work on it being a five-year deal for Nunez, it is only the guaranteed sum that would be amortised in the annual accounts. So £64m, the fee that is guaranteed to be received by Benfica, regardless of how it is paid, will be amortised in the accounts over that five years, so Liverpool will be shown to be paying £12.8m over the life of the contract. Add-ons and things like that would arrive in the future as and when they are triggered."
Liverpool's approach to the Nunez deal has likely been emboldened by the expected departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich, with the Reds having been holding out for £40m plus for the talismanic Senegalese forward who has been key to the Reds' success in recent seasons. Liverpool had been looking to extend Mane's deal, but with Bayern reportedly offering terms in excess of £350,000 per year they are figures that the Reds would not have pushed to, especially with the Mohamed Salah contract still rumbling in the background.
Nunez's wage demands will be significantly less than what Mane's would have been, meaning that the Reds will already see themselves as having made a potential saving in that respect. The fee received for Mane, should he end his time at Anfield as expected, will be the kind of offsetting of cost that FSG have used as a basis to work from during their time at Liverpool, a model where success on the field is based upon success off it, and vice versa.
