Liverpool have reportedly made a decision on their pursuit of Jurrien Timber after seeing a Premier League rival’s bid for the defender turned down.
As per Football Insider, Arsenal are currently in talks with Ajax over a move for the Netherlands international, for whom the Gunners had an initial £30m offer rejected, with the Amsterdam club believed to be looking for a fee in the region of £51m.
Following that failed approach by the north Londoners, it’s claimed that the Reds have opted not to try and usurp Mikel Arteta’s side for the 22-year-old, with Jorg Schmadtke and co expected to look elsewhere for possible defensive additions this summer.
The report added that midfield recruitment is set to remain the immediate priority for the Liverpool transfer team before then turning their attention towards bolstering the defence.
While Timber is one of the most composed defenders around – he ranks among the top 1% of positional peers for pass completion with a 91.6% success rate over the past year (FBref) – it’s understandable why the Anfield hierarchy have apparently decided not to pursue him.
His market value according to Football Transfers is €38.3m (£32.9m), which is just under two-thirds of Ajax’s lofty reported asking price, so the Reds may feel that they’d be able to acquire better value with other defensive targets.
Also, the 22-year-old is predominantly right-footed and therefore may not be the best candidate to fill the glaring left-footed centre-back niche in Liverpool’s first-team squad.
We don’t dispute that Timber is a fine player, but in this particular transfer window, there are gaps in Jurgen Klopp’s side which need greater attention than what the Dutchman could bring to the table, and spending more than £50m on him in that context wouldn’t seem to be the wisest use of the summer budget.
We can therefore understand why the Anfield powerbrokers feel their efforts would be best focused elsewhere.