Liverpool were in contact with Sofyan Amrabat last week, before opting to sign Wataru Endo.
The Reds shocked the football world by making an out of the blue move to bring Endo to Anfield on Wednesday evening.
Prior to that, there had been some strong suggestions that Liverpool were poised to get Amrabat. In the end, that didn’t materialise. But according to journalist Fabrizio Romano on his Daily Briefing, the Reds were interested.
“Kalvin Phillips has been attracting links with Liverpool again, but I’m not aware of anything concrete or advanced,” explained the journalist.
“Liverpool can sign another midfielder but only if they find the right opportunity in terms of price, conditions and more. They made calls last week for 4-5 midfielders – Sofyan Amrabat was another one of those – but just to be informed on conditions of the deals, nothing concrete after they signed Wataru Endo.”
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Liverpool opt to leave Amarabat
From the timings of what happened last week, this seems fairly clean cut.
Having explored deals for several midfielders – Amrabat included – Liverpool decided that Endo was the one they wanted.
On price point and player reputation, this wouldn’t have perhaps been the obvious choice. Not between these two players, anyway.
There have been reports that Amrabat may cost around £21m for anyone trying to get him out of Fiorentina this summer [Calciomercato]. Given that Endo reportedly ended up being £16m [BBC Sport], there isn’t loads and loads between them.
Amrabat is three-and-a-half years younger than the Japan captain and has also proven himself on a bigger stage. On paper, you’d have probably backed Liverpool to choose the Moroccan.
But, famously, football isn’t played on paper. It seems likely that in the absence of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho, Jurgen Klopp weighted Endo’s leadership qualities heavily in this debate.
Now it’s up Liverpool’s new No.3 to prove that they made the right decision. As for Amrabat, this should see the links come to an end. It’s been a ride.