One transfer journalist has voiced his excitement over a potential ‘unbelievable squad upgrade’ that Liverpool could execute over the summer.
The Reds’ midfield is set for an extensive overhaul, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and James Milner all departing at the end of their contracts.
Alexis Mac Allister looks likely to be the first signing of the off-season at Anfield, with Fabrizio Romano reporting of a ‘full agreement’ being struck and an impending medical for the Brighton star, who could cost less than £45m according to the Italian.
Liverpool are also reportedly in pursuit of several options from across Europe, such as Khephren Thuram, Manu Kone and Ryan Gravenberch, and Jones reckons Jurgen Klopp would have a much stronger midfield at his disposal if three of those targets are acquired in the summer.
He told GIVEMESPORT: “Imagine we get to a situation where Liverpool strike a good deal for Mac Allister at such value they can follow it up with two more like Khephren Thuram and Ryan Gravenberch.
“It would be an unbelievable squad upgrade on the back of losing Oxlade-Chamberlain, Keita and Milner. This is such a key area of their rebuild.”
Firstly, we want to emphasise how grateful we are to Oxlade-Chamberlain, Keita and Milner for their contributions at Liverpool, with all three featuring in the teams which won the Champions League and Premier League, among other trophies.
They’ve all played their part in the most successful periods of Klopp’s reign at Anfield and depart with the best wishes of every Reds supporter.
However, we can also very much understand where Jones is coming from, with the trio (all 28 or older) potentially being replaced by the triumvirate of Mac Allister, Thuram and Gravenberch, each of whom is 24 or younger.
Securing all three could leave Liverpool with the backbone of their midfield for pretty much the rest of the decade, should they come to Merseyside and prove successful at the club.
Even signing two of them to join up with the incumbent hybrid of experience (Fabinho, Thiago, Jordan Henderson) and youthful promise (Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Stefan Bajcetic) would bring a refreshing demographic balance to the Reds’ options in the middle of the park.
If Mac Allister is signed for a fee in the region of £45m-£50m, as Romano has suggested, that could still leave plenty of the transfer budget left over for Thuram (£34.5m, L’Equipe) and Gravenberch (£44.8m valuation from Football Transfers) to be recruited as well.
That amounts to potential investment in the region of £130m to radically overhaul Liverpool’s midfield and potentially set it in stone for the rest of the 2020s, so it’s easy to see why Jones is so excited over this proposed triple swoop.