Liverpool, which had inevitably rejuvenated its midfielders since last season, acquired Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer, but the subsequent reinforcements for the defensive midfielders have been a mixed bag.
After nearly a month of attention and three offers, Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia was let go and Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo was snapped up.
However, the player requested to move to Chelsea, and as a result, he was rejected, and even the Belgian midfielder, who had been his main target, was lost to Chelsea.
Club alumnus Jamie Carragher strongly criticized Liverpool’s recent recruiting policy, including this case. He claimed that the organization has not been running well since Michael Edwards left, and seems rather dismayed.
“They put in a bid for Lavia today for £60m, even when they refused to pay £50m four or five days ago. It’s been an absolute mess. It’s a joke.”
“The biggest problem about it is that Liverpool have known they needed midfield reinforcements since about August last season, 12 months ago.”
“People think I defend FSG – I’ve got no relationship with them at all. But this is not on the owners. This is on the structure of the football club when you go back two years when Liverpool were the model for every team in Europe – not just the Premier League – to follow.”
“When Liverpool were winning the league, getting to Champions League finals, what are Liverpool doing? They’re not spending as much money as other teams, but they’re producing these players.”
“Yes, they’ve got a great manager, but they had a guy called Michael Edwards at the top of the club as the director of football, a transfer committee, whatever name you want to put on it, beneath him. It worked well.”
“He left. His number two (Julian Ward) then took over. He was in the job for six months. He then moved on. You have to ask the reasons why these people are actually moving on from the football club. I don’t know, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.”
“A guy has come in from Germany [Jorg Schmadtke], he has a relationship with Jurgen Klopp. He’s only there for the summer, that’s all he’s there for, and then he moves on. Liverpool will then get another director of football.”
“So in the space of 18 months, Liverpool have had four directors of football. They haven’t got deals done. That is your job, in that role, to get deals over the line.”
“The two players Liverpool bought had buyout clauses. There’s no negotiating, there’s no big deal to go about it, you just meet the buyout clause.”
“Liverpool have not got deals over the line, and it’s been embarrassing. You start with Lavia, don’t pay a certain amount, then you go for Caicedo, get something agreed. That’s why I will not be critical of the owners, they were willing to pay £110m and break the transfer record.”
“But to go with him, when he’s been talking to Chelsea for three months. Now go back to Lavia. It’s an absolute mess.”
Monday Night Football