With Liverpool struggling to find the right players in this summer’s transfer window, the club will have learned that they may need to cut out the “stepping stone club” in future.
Yet with pre-season well underway, there is little sign of movement.
Ibrahima Konate has signed, but the club still has two gaping holes in the squad.
They are hoping to move on some fringe players before they can afford to bring more signings in.
We do believe that the signings will be made, but in an ideal world, they would be made already.
A club as big as Liverpool should not have to sell to buy. They should have funds available to buy the top talent.
Yet we know how FSG wants to run the club. They have been successful so far, so we cannot complain too much just yet.
However, there is one strategy that we would recommend going forward.
In our opinion, Liverpool must learn to sign young talent on the cheap before they move to a so-called “stepping stone club” and increase their value.
We know how good Liverpool’s transfer committee is at spotting talent.
Almost every single signing since Jurgen Klopp and Michael Edwards teamed up back in 2015 has been a roaring success.
Who would have thought that the likes of Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane would have been as successful as they have been?
There is no issue with recruiting the right players.
The problem is that they should be able to identify these players earlier, before they cost as much as Liverpool have had to pay.
Liverpool should use their might to outbid stepping stone sides for talent
The thing is, Liverpool are willing to spend money when they are certain that they have the right target.
Look and Virgil van Dijk and Alisson. Diogo Jota cost a reported £45m last summer (The Athletic), which many could have seen as overpriced.
Yet, again, they could only afford these players due to money made from player sales.
This summer, the Reds have been linked to numerous players that play for what we would consider to be smart clubs around Europe.
Renato Sanches at Lille, Donyell Malen at PSV and Florian Neuhaus of Borussia Monchengladbach among them.
These sides are some of the most intelligent in Europe. The likes of RB Leipzig, where Liverpool signed Konate from, Ajax and Nice join them.
They are experts at finding cheap, young players that are a few years away from exploding. Basically, their scouting departments are among the best in the world.
And these are the type of clubs that Liverpool buy from.
In terms of the European football pyramid, the Reds are a top tier club. All of these are second-, third- or even fourth-tier sides.
The issue is that by the time they are ready to leave these “smaller” clubs, they are considered top players. Their value is at a maximum.
So why can’t Liverpool take some cheaper gambles before they move to these sides?
If Liverpool hear that a Leipzig or a Rennes are close to signing an exciting youngster, they should move for them themselves.
So who do we suggest that Liverpool move for?
For example, they could have signed a Brian Brobbey from Ajax for free this summer before he moved to Leipzig.
We back the German side’s eye for talent and ability to develop it, so we are going to estimate that Brobbey is sold on for millions and millions to a top club in a few years time.
Calvin Stengs (AZ to Nice), Kristoffer Ajer (Celtic to Brentford), Mohamed Simakan (Strasbourg to Leipzig), Myron Boadu (AZ to Monaco) and Kamaldeen Sulemana (Nordsjælland to Rennes) are other examples of players that have moved for relatively cheap fees this summer that will undoubtedly be worth much more in years to come.
Before these came the likes of Erling Haaland, Sven Botman, Dominik Szoboszlai and Dani Olmo.
The teams that signed these players use a similar stats-based transfer strategy to Liverpool.
Simply put, if these clubs wanted these players, then Liverpool should too. Just look at their success rate with previous deals.
There is still time to make this type of deal this summer.
Go and get and Adam Hlozek before he is worth a fortune in two years time.
Jeremy Doku could yet take another step before he joins an elite side – don’t let him.
Sign Malen and Noni Madueke before they go to Germany and become superstars.
Christos Tzolis, Thiago Almada, Talles Magno, Karim Adeyemi. The list of cheap young players with great potential playing at smaller sides is endless.
All of these players would be well able to make an impact off the bench this season.
Crucially, though, they are all capable of becoming truly elite players in years to come.
We saw some of it with Harvey Elliott and Sepp van den Berg.
Now, we want more.
Sign these cheap youngsters. Loan them out if you don’t want to use them just yet. If it doesn’t work out, you will still probably sell for a profit.
Yes, Liverpool should sign world-class players. But signing youngsters with world-class potential is just as important.
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