Liverpool will be forced to focus their sights elsewhere when it comes to landing a new left-footed centre-back with reported target Micky van de Ven set to join Tottenham this summer.
CBS Sports’ ever-reliable Ben Jacobs was there with the scoop on Twitter, confirming a fee in the region of £43.1m agreed between Spurs and Wolfsburg.
The Merseysiders had been linked with a swoop for the highly-rated Dutch centre-half, with the Daily Mail reporting in the backend of June that Jurgen Klopp’s men were mulling over making a bid.
READ MORE: Romeo Lavia may be closer to Liverpool transfer than ever before after latest development
With the club still squabbling over the prospect of meeting Southampton’s £50m price tag for Romeo Lavia, however, it admittedly shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise as to why we backed out of this deal.
It still remains unclear just how many further reinforcements to the middle of the park we plan to make amid recent links to Brazilian top-flight ace Andre. Certainly, the expectation appears to be that, if we do land the Fluminense footballer, another signing for the holding midfield role will probably be made.
Given the serious investment in time and energy into pursuing the aforementioned Belgian international, it would be perplexing to see Liverpool end the window without agreeing a transfer for the 19-year-old.
The task remains clear as ever: add quality depth to a role now sorely lacking in experience. Whether Jorg Schmadtke and Co. will be supplying a big green tick to that particular box, however, remains to be seen.
The additional concern of whether we have the funds, or a deep enough pool of talent to dip into, for a new left-sided centre-back so close to the 2023/24 campaign opener at Stamford Bridge will hardly ease fans’ transfer anxiety.
#Ep83 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones