Jack Hallows believes that Liverpool should put their name in the hat to sign Dortmund forward Christian Pulisic but not until next summer.
Liverpool’s transfer business so far this summer has been fantastic.
The goalkeeping issue has been addressed with the signing of Alisson Becker, attacking depth has been added through the Xherdan Shaqiri deal and Klopp has bolstered his midfield significantly through the arrival of Naby Keïta and signing of Fabinho.
The culling of ‘deadwood’ also seems to be just as ruthless with Danny Ward having moved to Leicester for £12m and the likes of Origi, Markovic, Ings, Ojo and Mignolet all on the supposed transfer list.
However, fans are still wanting more, more, more!
Of course, the botched deal for Nabil Fekir has something to do with that as fans have taken to social media to plead constantly with the club to go back in for the French attacker, while potential alternatives have also been thrown around.
One such alternative is Borussia Dortmund’s impressive young talent Christian Pulisic – a name further brought forward after his performance against the Reds in a pre-season fixture just days ago.
The young American scored twice and was heavily involved in the third as Klopp’s old side overturned a 1-0 deficit to emerge 3-1 victors and the German made no secret of his admiration for the forward.
“He’s a fantastic skilled boy, and it’s not a surprise to see. He’s a smart player!” Klopp said post-match of the teenager who he signed back in 2015 just before leaving the German club.
You can see why the links to Liverpool and a number of other top clubs are persistently present.
Even at just 19 years of age, Pulisic does look a real talent.
He’s an exceptional dribbler, has pace to burn and is capable of playing anywhere across the attack, featuring on the left, right and as a number 10 for Dortmund last season. He’s even played up front for his national side on occasion.
While of course his end product is still raw, he does show incredible composure in front of goal at times – especially when creating for his teammates – and has managed 7 goals and 11 assists from 42 starts over his last two Bundesliga campaigns, directly contributing to a goal every 212 minutes.
On even that evidence alone there’s enough there to show that with the right care taken in his development, Pulisic could go on to be a real class attacker.
Who do we know that’s brilliant at developing young players – especially attackers – into world-class talents? Our own Jürgen Klopp of course!
With that said, Pulisic’s best position does appear to be out wide so for now, signing the American just wouldn’t make huge amounts of sense – especially with Xherdan Shaqiri having just joined the club.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah will be the first-choice wide pairing this season and having just brought Shaqiri to the club for £13m, you would expect the Swiss international to feature heavily as Klopp’s first attacking option from the bench or when rotating.
At 26 years of age Shaqiri is an already proven talent and has just come off a season that saw him contribute eight Premier League goals and seven assists, while also creating 75 chances.
There are improvements that can be made to his game still but he’s not going to need anywhere near as much time and care taken towards his development at Liverpool so really, having him as your first option when one of that deadly pairing needs a rest makes perfect sense.
Unless played in one of those advanced eight positions – where Fekir was likely to have been stationed had the move gone through – there simply wouldn’t be room for Pulisic in the match-day squad just yet. For the fee that he’d command, it would be a waste when other areas of the squad could more imminently do with strengthening.
Say what you want about the recent declined state that Dortmund have found themselves in, it’s still a great club for the development of young players and Pulisic has a real chance to push on heavily this season – especially given the injury record of Marco Reus.
If Liverpool are interested in the player – and I’d be surprised if they aren’t keeping tabs on him given the qualities he possesses – they’d be far better off waiting until next summer.
The American attacker has just two years left on his contract in Dortmund and German publication Kicker have confirmed that he won’t be looking to extend that.
Liverpool would be far better off allowing him a further season at Dortmund to not only continue his development but also simply to eat up more of his current contract.
The Reds could then potentially benefit financially from starting a charm offensive early next year in a bid to try and sign him next summer for a cut-price fee – especially if Dortmund’s suggested asking price for a move to be sanctioned any earlier will sit around the €70m mark.
I really like Christian Pulisic as a player but personally, I do think Liverpool should steer clear of targeting him this summer. He wouldn’t be given anywhere near enough game time to properly develop on Merseyside and €70m for a player still very much one for the future is a steep ask, even in today’s market.
Next summer however, may well be very interesting.
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