Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has been speaking about Liverpool’s transfer business on on the The Hard Truth podcast.
MacAnthony, who is a Liverpool fan, claims that The Reds should have invested the Luis Diaz transfer fee into English talent instead.
“I’m happy for Liverpool to spend €52 million on a Portuguese guy. Obviously he’s not Portuguese but from a Portuguese club,” said MacAnthony.
“But I’d loved them to have spent £28 million on a player in the Championship and then that player’s sell on will go to the club before. There’s not enough of that, for me, that goes on.”
Overseas deals hurting the pyramid
The Irishman explained that foreign deals aren’t helping the English football pyramid. He wants to see more Premier League clubs investing in home-grown talent from the lower divisions.
He went on to say that despite a misconception of English players being expensive, clubs can actually find better value for money in the Championship.
“People always say English players are too expensive. Well, with all due respect I would say that the Championship is as good as the Portuguese league,” said MacAnthony.
He then suggested that Liverpool would have found better value in signing Nottingham Forest winger Brennan Johnson instead.
“That player [Diaz] has scored, I don’t know, 15 goals and 10 assists. Well I could show you a couple of players, the boy at Bournemouth (Nottingham Forest), Brennan Johnson, will probably be just as good as that player down the line in the future,” he claimed.
“He won’t get sold for €52 million, it’ll be more like £20 million quid. No one bought him, Nottingham Forest wanted to sell.”
Does he have a point
In short, yes. The Championship is a gold-mine of talent that Premier League clubs often overlook.
There are countless examples of players who made the jump from the lower leagues to the top division look easy. Dele Alli is a good example from years gone by.
Another one is reported Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen. The West Ham United forward started his career playing non-league football for Hereford United before making a name for himself in the Championship with Hull City.
Had Liverpool signed him from Hull, they would have saved a bundle of cash and would have been able to develop the player from a young age.
MacAnthony’s pick, 20-year-old Johnson, impressed on loan at League One Lincoln City last season. He has since cemented a place in promotion-chasing Forest’s first team where he has seven goals and six assists this season. He is also a full Welsh international.
Liverpool’s pursuit of Fabio Carvalho shows that they are aware of talent in the Championship. Who knows, maybe Johnson is a player already on their radar.
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