There is a long and rather interesting story in the Eastern Daily Press that slams Liverpool for our conduct during the Jamal Lewis chase.
Journalist Paddy Davitt has branded the Premier League champions ‘disrespectful’ and has claimed the relationship between ourselves and Norwich has been damaged following the Jamal Lewis mini-saga.
To be honest, we’re baffled by his opinion. Liverpool had a valuation for Lewis of around £10-12m. Norwich wanted at least double that.
When the offer was submitted and immediately rejected, Liverpool signed a left-back for £11m in Kostas Tsimikas who was valued at what we wanted to spend on him.
Davitt’s argument that Liverpool have now potentially unsettled Lewis is a little silly. It’s the summer transfer window. Clubs make bids for players they want the entire time. Liverpool did not pursue the deal for months, only to pull out at the last minute and leave Lewis despondent, but almost immediately after they realised the valuations were too far apart.
It’s fair business. That’s how it works. We didn’t force Lewis into handing in a transfer request, or publicly laud him in the media until his head was spun entirely.
It was fair, legal behaviour. The idea that our bid being less than what Norwich has left a ‘sour taste’ in the mouths of the Canaries is really quite precious. They rejected it and still have their player.