These must be very difficult days for Liverpool supporters who live for transfers.
The Reds have yet to make a signing for new head coach Arne Slot, though there have been rumors of interest aplenty. The man charged with the challenge of replacing Jurgen Klopp has at least given his first press conference. He was accompanied for the media duty by Liverpool’s new sporting director, Richard Hughes. The Scot made a very interesting comment regarding the club’s transfer strategy.
“It’s been great to work with Arne. It was a difficult position at first because we both had jobs to finish,” he said. “Since then we’ve been in communication daily on many things, logistics, organization, and of course preparing the transfer window. It’s a very talented squad. We need to improve, and with the window open, we will always be opportunistic.”
That final word felt like an apt description of the Reds’ pursuit of Newcastle winger Anthony Gordon.
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With the Magpies needing to raise funds with the spectre of Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules looming overhead, Liverpool opened discussions regarding a potential deal for Gordon. With Newcastle in need of a right-sided center-back, it requested that Jarell Quansah be a pawn in the deal, but the Reds wisely declined to lose the talented youngster.
As Liverpool is well-stocked for wide forwards, with Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez all capable of playing in Gordon’s position, it would’ve been foolish to chase the 23-year-old at all costs. An ‘opportunistic’ approach made perfect sense though.
It would be fascinating to know exactly what the Newcastle man made of the possibility of returning to his hometown. One person who will know his view is Trent Alexander-Arnold. This was recently revealed in a story from the Liverpool Echo, which claimed Gordon started speaking about the possibility of playing for the Reds with Alexander-Arnold while on England duty.
The duo will have had certainly had ample time to chat about their futures, with Gordon playing just one minute (plus stoppage time) at Euro 2024. Despite being two of the more talented players in the squad, Gareth Southgate opted not to use either of them in the extra time slog against Slovakia. Maybe the pair spoke about Gordon’s next career step on the bench with precious little else to do?
Liverpool.com says: With everything Gordon has said about Liverpool in the past – admiring Mohamed Salah and the Anfield atmosphere, for starters – it would be natural for him to be at least a little bit interested. He could get the inside track on Liverpool life from Alexander-Arnold. It would be good to know if Trent fed back what he heard from his fellow scouser to Hughes though.