Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Liverpool’s ‘priority for the summer’ will include a new centre-half on top of the ongoing search for new midfielders.
Despite contract talks having broken down between the club and the Brazilian international, it appears that the Reds’ general priorities won’t shift to a significant degree.
“There were talks between Roberto Firmino and Liverpool over a one or two year deal but then he decided together with his family that he wanted to try a new challenge, new experience, and probably a new country,” the Italian wrote for CaughtOffside.
“For sure clubs are monitoring him but there is nothing advanced yet.
“Liverpool’s priority for the summer will be new midfielders and then a centre-back. Signing a striker will depend on the opportunities.”
It’s worth noting, of course, that our recruitment policy can be flexible dependent on when the right opportunity arises, as was demonstrated with the January acquisition of Cody Gakpo despite the obvious need for midfield reinforcements.
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As things stand, it’s unclear how far our summer purse will stretch, even with recent reports suggesting that FSG will back the manager in the next window.
The American group do appear to be actively searching for solutions in that regard, with Liberty Media pursued as a potential investor.
With Jude Bellingham likely to set us back in the region of £130m – potentially more if the Englishman continues to keep up the quality of his performances in the Bundesliga and Europe – and player exits highly unlikely to make a serious dent in that figure, Fenway will need to dig into their pockets.
Certainly, that’s an unavoidable fact given the scale of difficulties experienced and the increased level of investment being poured into our well-financed rivals.
Failure to do so could leave John Henry and Co. with a quickly depreciating asset should we also fail to qualify for Champions League football next term.