But Liverpool do not regret the players who “missed the games”. Colville would have been a useful addition had he decided to leave Chelsea rather than extend his contract. But Veiga’s move to Al Ahly says it all. Kone and Thuram are good players but are unlikely to make a bigger impact at Anfield than Endo and Szoboszlai.
However, Klopp and Jörg Schmatke do not regret that the deal was not completed. Moises Caicedo ($147 million), Romeo Lavia ($74 million) The days of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia seem long ago now, but at the time it seemed like a long story. Liverpool don’t usually get involved in such transfers, but they don’t regret the recent setbacks. Caicedo has offered Chelsea little so far despite being a record signing in England. It would be fair to think that Anfield would have been better had he opted to play alongside McAllister, who impressed at Brighton, but the eight-year deal he signed is still clearly a concern behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge.
Lavia signed a contract slightly reduced to 7 years, but even that seems risky. Manchester City paid $74 million for the player a year ago, and a quarter of that amount has yet to be repaid. Liverpool have a young talent in Stefan Bajcetic who hopes to start in 2024. Signing Endo for just $20m (£16m/€18m), rather than spending $221m on a midfielder from the likes of Chelsea, was a stroke of genius.
So far, would Liverpool have been better off going for Caicedo or Lavia? Not. But more importantly, what we’ve seen so far suggests that may not be the case in the long run. Mason Mount ($70m) and Sofian Amrabat ($11m plus $27m if loan is stable) Of course, both were targeting Mason Mount, but as the price rose, Liverpool gave up and signed Szoboszlai as an alternative. Even if the Hungarian is making some progress, it couldn’t be clearer that Klopp has made a good deal. Mount spent a lot of time at Old Trafford. When he did play, he had very limited impact, which has contributed to Luton’s dominance over Manchester United this season.
Moreover, Sofyan Amrabat’s loan deal did not go well. It is unclear how much interest Liverpool actually showed, but he was floated as an option at the end of the transfer window as options narrowed, and many fans were very keen on a deal.
Liverpool transfer rumors are expected to start again soon. January is just around the corner and Jurgen Klopp has been given another opportunity to strengthen his squad. Because of this, the summer was hot. Liverpool eventually completely replaced Klopp’s midfield, signing Alexis McAllister, Dominic Soboslay, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenbirch for $187m (£147m/€169m).
However, many other links proved useless to all who came to Anfield. Among the names mentioned were Manu Kone, Khefren Thuram, Levi Colville and Gabry Veiga, three of whom eventually moved to Saudi Arabia, where they remained.
