Here’s the full Joyce article.
Some quotes bolded for you
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Liverpool end pursuit of Jude Bellingham and seek midfield alternatives
exclusive
Paul Joyce, Northern Football Correspondent
Tuesday April 11 2023, 8.45pm BST, The Times
Liverpool are drawing up a list of alternative targets to Jude Bellingham after
deciding that the scale of their summer rebuild precludes a move for the England midfielder.
The merits of spending far in excess of £100 million on a single player have been widely debated at Anfield as Jürgen Klopp looks to revive the fortunes of his side after an underwhelming campaign that has left them adrift of the Premier League’s top four.
Klopp has never disguised his admiration for Bellingham and talked the player up last summer, while the Borussia Dortmund star was understood to be enamoured by Liverpool’s long-standing interest in him as he considers his future.
However,
rectifying this season’s drop-off and infusing the squad with first-team talent means that committing such a huge chunk of this summer’s funds to one player is no longer regarded by the club as the best strategy. The overall package would also be swelled by wages.
Liverpool are likely to sign at least two midfielders to bolster their engine room and have been linked to numerous targets such as Chelsea duo Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher, Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Alexis Mac Allister and Moisés Caicedo, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Matheus Nunes and Leicester City’s Youri Tielemans, who is available on a free transfer.
Mount, in particular, will be the centre of attention should he look to leave Stamford Bridge, where he has one year remaining on his contract. The England international has attracted interest across Europe, including from Manchester United, and would be cheaper than normal given his contract situation. Arsenal also admire Gravenberch, 20, who has struggled for minutes since moving to Bayern from Ajax last summer.
The decision to diversify and focus the search for reinforcements away from the 19-year-old Bellingham will come as a blow to Liverpool supporters who hoped that he would end up at Anfield.
Barring an unexpected change in circumstances, it now seems unlikely that will be the case this summer at least.
Liverpool want to target new players as soon as the transfer window opens and there is a risk that the pursuit of Bellingham becomes a drawn-out saga given the level of interest in him. Bellingham also has suitors in Real Madrid and Manchester City, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, but Dortmund know the value of one of the brightest talents in the world and do not want to lose a player whose contract does not expire until 2025.
The club’s plans crystallised during the recent international break after which Klopp said there had been “positive” talks on recruitment and that Liverpool were “busy”.
He also reiterated that the owner, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), was providing significant funds and said: “We will spend in the summer — for who and how many, there is nothing to say.”
Last Friday, however,
Klopp hinted that whoever Liverpool now bring in would not appease everyone. “Whatever we do next year will never be enough from people’s point of view and your [the media’s] point of view,” he said. “But, yes, with smart recruitment we will improve, definitely. That is the plan.”
Club can expect criticism but cannot risk putting all its eggs in one basket
There have been plenty of examples in recent years of Liverpool making a stand over recruitment, even if their pragmatism proved relatively unpopular at the time.
In the summer of 2017, the club resisted the obvious temptation to buy a centre back, preferring instead to wait six months to bring in Virgil van Dijk for what was a club record £75 million fee in the new year. Southampton’s refusal to sell the Holland defender earlier, their position stemming from Liverpool’s initial conduct over the transfer, did not persuade Anfield officials to veer from their strategy.
Van Dijk had been earmarked as the best around and while there were other, cheaper, alternatives, the belief was he could solve a problem position for years to come in an instant. There was some turbulence in the short-term but Van Dijk’s belated arrival did prove transformational and he became one of the cornerstones for the Champions League and Premier League success that followed.
Similarly, the decision to sell Philippe Coutinho just as Van Dijk was coming in through the door was hardly greeted as a cause for celebration even if Barcelona’s £142 million offer — and the player’s determination to force through the move he had been denied the previous August — softened the blow. The Brazil star has not been missed.
Liverpool also refused to buckle over Georginio Wijnaldum’s contract demands in the summer of 2021 and allowed a popular player to leave on a free transfer.
Yet,
realigning transfer plans and opting not to go all in on Bellingham represents the club adopting a position that will bring more scrutiny — and criticism — than ever before.
The recruitment team, Klopp and FSG, will stand or fall by how next season now plays out. For many Liverpool supporters, the development will be hugely disappointing, such is the clamour that has developed around the Borussia Dortmund midfielder, who turns 20 in the summer.
It was early last July when the disappointment of the club’s failed quadruple bid still lingered (though few of the problems that have since been linked to it were publicly aired) that Klopp spoke about his admiration for the England midfielder.
“
He’s not on the market, so that’s the first problem with that player,” the Liverpool manager said. “Well, the only problem with that player!”
As such, Bellingham is still not available for transfer, with Dortmund eager to keep the midfielder, who has two years left on his contract, beyond this summer. Yet the lofty price tag that accompanies his talent, thought to be around £120 million, is now an issue for a club who are no longer buying from a position of strength. In many respects, Liverpool have created their own problem.
They chose not to sign a midfielder in the summer of 2022 when interest in Aurélien Tchouaméni of AS Monaco was trumped by Real Madrid, who ended up paying £68 million and committed to a further £17 million in bonuses.
Despite that disappointment, Klopp was confident he had enough depth. “The last thing that would have crossed my mind is that we have to do this [sign a midfielder],” he said nine months ago.
“I know all these things, that we don’t score enough goals from midfield, this and that, but what do we want? This ‘Golden Cow’ that is producing absolutely everything — milk as well!”
By then, the club had invested £64 million, rising to £85 million, in Benfica’s Darwin Núñez to follow on from the initial £37 million used to prise Luis Diaz from Porto. Three months ago, a further £37 million was spent on PSV Eindhoven’s Cody Gakpo to further futureproof the front line.
In the meantime, the midfield has become the issue many feared it would be and results have conspired to leave Liverpool out of the cup competitions and off the pace in the league.
Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are leaving on free transfers, injuries have reared and the drop off in form from players such as Fabinho has highlighted weaknesses.
Clearly, the club feels an overhaul is now required and signings may be sought in other areas too.
The situation is not being viewed as similar to that of Van Dijk, or even Alisson, who joined for £65 million in the summer of 2018 to solve a pressing goalkeeping conundrum. Rather, it is one that requires more ammunition than a silver bullet. Whether they are shooting themselves in the foot, only time will tell.
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