I wouldn’t want to be a Manchester United fan…or manager…or director…or player to be honest. Man United have in recent years been an incredibly porous membrane. There are constantly leaks surrounding everything from transfer policy to training ground bust ups. Liverpool on the other hand, have moved in relative silence for the last few seasons. The media are more often than not in the blind about what the Reds are up to in the transfer market. The less we know the better, the lack of Liverpool leaks is great news for the club.
Naby Keita’s move was aided by a lack of Liverpool leaks. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Virgil van Dijk is arguably the only recent exception to the Liverpool rule of a media blackout in the run up to a big signing. The summer of 2017 was an exciting one for Reds fans, the move for Naby Keita was a bolt from the blue in comparison to other teams’ dealings. The following year a deal for Fabinho took us all by surprise.
With Liverpool able to keep their cards so close to their chest in the transfer market, they can avoid a lot of unnecessary attention around transfers. This is the kind of attention that draws a move out into a “transfer saga”, luring in rival bidders and driving up prices. The Reds have managed to keep a lid on their dealings and as such regularly underpay for the stars, according to CIES, we underpaid for Fabinho by £22m – as reported by The Telegraph.
If we keep this up we will continue to have dominant transfer windows. With no big summer signings this season and no rumblings about arrivals, we can only assume something big is planned.