Liverpool don’t often put a foot wrong in the transfer market. Michael Edwards has operated with deadly efficiency with his recruitment policy since taking over as sporting director. So when we are linked with players and don’t sign them, it’s interesting to examine why and wonder if we missed out. This time last year Liverpool were linked with Paulo Dybala and Matthijs de Ligt.
This time last year Liverpool were linked with Paulo Dybala and Matthijs de Ligt. (Photo credit MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images)
A year ago De Ligt was lighting up Europe with his performances in the Champions League.
The young Dutch defender was rapidly becoming one of the best defenders in the world despite being just 19-years-old.
He led Ajax to the Champions League semi finals with his commanding performances before his side were eventually dumped out by Tottenham Hotspur in dramatic circumstances.
Paulo Dybala has long been one of the most skilful and mercurial forwards in Europe.
The Argentinian’s best season in Serie A saw him net 22 goals and bag five assists in 26 starts and seven sub appearances.
What happened?
Matthijs de Ligt joined Dybala at Juventus with the Italian giants forking out £67.5m for the Dutch prodigy.
Paulo Dybala came close to joining Spurs, with Sky Italy reporting that the North London outfit agreed a fee of £64.4m for the 26-year-old.
The Dutch defender has had an ok start to life in Serie A. WhoScored have given him an average rating of 6.72.
Dybala has had a strong season in Italy, he’s banged in seven goals and picked up four assists in 17 starts this season, making seven appearances from the bench.
Did we get this one right? It appears so.
Michael Edwards never gets it wrong, we didn’t need to splash out megabucks on these players.