Some Liverpool supporters may have been confused by their club’s decision not to push harder to sign Anthony Gordon, who has completed a move to Barcelona this week.
According to The Times, the Reds did make ‘strong contact’ with Gordon‘s camp in recent weeks, but were told that the Scouser preferred a move to Barcelona.
As journalist Ben Jacobs has now explained, though, Liverpool were also decidedly unwilling to spend such a lot of money on a new left-sided forward, preferring to invest in a right-sider instead.
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Liverpool to focus on right-sided additions
Given Liverpool’s need for a pacy, versatile wide forward and also their current requirement to bolster their homegrown players, signing Gordon made a whole lot of sense to a lot of people.
Nevertheless, as Jacobs told fan podcast Born N’ Red, Liverpool did not necessarily agree, and are more on the lookout for a natural right forward who can better replace Mohamed Salah.
“We’ve heard a lot of noise around Gordon in the past few weeks,” the journalist said.
“But my info is that Liverpool always knew he was going to join Bayern or Barcelona and there was never really a drive to go and get a marquee player to the tune of 70 or even 80 million pounds if you include the add-ons on that left-hand side.”
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“Gordon is really a left winger or forward and likes playing centrally, whereas Liverpool want to put the bulk of their budget and put their immediate focus on that Salah replacement on the right, and if they can switch sides it’s a bonus.”
Jacobs went on to say that Liverpool see Yan Diomande as a right forward, and all the current signs are that the Ivorian is the Reds’ top attacking target.
Meanwhile, it now feels likely that Gordon’s will-he-won’t-he drama with Liverpool is at an end.
If the former Everton man flops in Catalonia, the rumours of a Premier League return will flourish, and the Reds are likely to be at the centre of that. But given he will turn 26 in the new season, and Liverpool will have some flashy new wingers of their own, an Anfield arrival would seem unlikely.
Gordon surprised everyone by speaking fluently in Spanish at his unveiling in Barcelona, and though it was a shock to some Liverpool fans that they passed up the chance to bring a new Scouser into the team, the club themselves clearly have a plan and are sticking to it.
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