Liverpool and Chelsea may have drawn 1-1 in their season opener, but the Blues are likely to take two significant victories over their Premier League rivals in the transfer market.
Chelsea has already confirmed the signing of Moises Caicedo from Liverpool for a rumored British transfer record cost of up to £115 million ($A225 million).
Despite Liverpool agreeing to a £110 million ($A215 million) agreement with Brighton last week, sources at the time suggested Caicedo favoured a move to Chelsea.
Caicedo achieved his wish, and now it appears that Romeo Lavia, despite Liverpool agreeing to a £60 million ($A117 million) deal for the Southampton midfielder, may also wind up at Stamford Bridge.
There is currently no offer from Chelsea that Southampton has accepted, but the interest is hardly ideal for Liverpool given what happened with Caicedo last week.
With that in mind, and the club’s present lack of midfielders, Jamie Carragher, a former Liverpool player and now Sky Sports analyst, unleashed on his old club.
Carragher blasted Liverpool’s summer as “an absolute mess, a joke, and embarrassing” on Monday Night Football.
“They made a bid for Lavia today for £60 million after refusing to pay £50 million four or five days ago.” “It’s a shambles and a joke,” he said.
“The biggest issue is that Liverpool has known they need midfield reinforcements since August of last season, a year ago.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said ahead of the game against Chelsea that the club was looking for a holding midfielder, but he added that there is roster flexibility to fill the position.
“It’s clear, and it would be great if we could do something, but for the time being, we can do a lot.”
“We can also play a double six or double pivot, and Stefan [Bajcetic] is returning.” He performed admirably at that position, so we have possibilities. We have Curtis [Jones], we can adjust the system, and we have options. But, yes, it would be fantastic if we could.”
Meanwhile, Virgil van Dijk has stated his confidence in the team’s decision-makers in the midst of the commotion surrounding Liverpool’s pursuit of Caicedo and Lavia.
“We’ve all agreed that we want quality signings, and that’s what we’ve done so far.” As a result, we have faith in the club. “I have complete faith in the club,” he told GOAL.
“They did quite well in the previous [few] years, so why not now?”
“If you follow social media, all the names can make you dizzy.” In my opinion, it’s speculative, and they’re trying to guess names to add gasoline to the fire, since that’s how the internet works. Just wait and see if we’re linked to practically every midfielder in the world.
“The most important thing is that we have professionals working on it.” We trust the club, we play for the club, and we trust the club to do the right thing, as I previously stated. We’ll see what occurs in the coming weeks.”
Carragher, on the other hand, does not appear to have much faith in the team’s decision-making given the frequent changes in the sporting director.
“What were Liverpool doing when they were winning the Premier League and reaching the Champions League finals?” They didn’t spend as much money as the other teams, but they produced good players,” he explained.
“Yes, they have a great manager, but they had Michael Edwards as director of football at the top of the club and a transfer committee beneath them.” It was successful. He walked away.
“His number two then took over and stayed for six months before leaving.” You should inquire as to why they are leaving the football team. I’m not sure what’s going on behind the scenes.
“[Jorg] Schmadtke has arrived and has a relationship with Jurgen Klopp – but he’s only staying for the summer.” He’s only there for that and then he’s gone.
“They haven’t closed any deals – that is your job in that role, to close deals.” The two players they purchased have buy-out provisions; there is no need for a negotiation or a major deal; simply satisfy the buy-out clause. So Liverpool hasn’t closed any major transactions, which has been embarrassing.
“That’s why I’m not going to criticize the owners – they were willing to pay £111 million and break the transfer record.” It’s an incredible disaster, a joke, and embarrassing to start with Lavia, not pay a specific amount, then go to Caicedo, and then return to Lavia.”
Meanwhile, Gary Neville believes it would be “absolutely stunning” if Chelsea beat Liverpool to the signings of Caicedo and Lavia.
“They let Milner, Henderson, and Fabinho depart before bringing in someone… “I thought Liverpool did a good job of bringing people in before they exposed themselves,” Neville remarked on Monday Night Football.
“Of course, Milner left, and they received two fees for those two.” They have a major problem now, and they will be worrying during the transfer window for the next three weeks.
“Under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool do not do that.” They’ve been very efficient and smooth in the transfer market. I’m not sure how that happened; certainly, it has something to do with personnel.”
