When the likes of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe are mentioned in the same breath as Liverpool, there can be no doubts about the warm feelings such speculation inspires, even when juxtaposed against the rumours around Mo Salah.
You’d be hard-pressed (particularly in consideration of the former’s current season with Dortmund) to find any who would willingly pass up on the opportunity to bring either into their team.
John Barnes was correct to say that we shouldn’t presume outright that either Haaland or Mbappe will want to make the switch to the famous Reds.
Equally, however, neither could be begrudged a potential desire to join Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, given our renewed status in world football.
In seasons past – not an awfully long time ago – Liverpool would have (and most certainly have had) struggled to hold onto their star players.
Looking back over the last decade, one can only wince at the sheer quality of talent lost to La Liga alone, with the likes Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho all trading Anfield for the Camp Nou.
We lived in a state of almost perpetual fear at developing world class talent, suspicious of them being tempted by our European rivals, if there wasn’t a bond to the core of the club as strong of the likes of Steven Gerrard’s.
To be in the discussion about potentially nabbing a star player from the likes of PSG and Dortmund does demonstrate that much has changed.
Nonetheless, if we truly want to illustrate how far we’ve come, then we have to be focusing on who we keep rather than who we bring in.
Given that some have come to the understanding that the purchase of either Haaland or Mbappe would be largely contingent on one of the current front three leaving, we should not, on that basis, consider such a transfer as progress.
Therefore, the true test for us will likely come in the Summer, at the earliest, if Barcelona or Real Madrid have amassed the funds required to tempt Salah, or another, over to the sunny shores of Spain.
The true barometer of status in world football will always be measured by who you keep – arguably more so than by who you bring in – as Liverpool fans will be more than keenly aware.