Luke Edwards lauded the transformative work that took place in the summer to rejuvenate Liverpool’s midfield, with the Reds enjoying a ‘lucky escape’ in their failure to land Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.
The Belgian had been initially thought to be close to the top of the agenda for the Merseysiders. However, a late swoop for the Ecuadorian proved catastrophic for their chances of signing either.
“They had a lucky escape with Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia,” the Telegraph journalist spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live (via BBC Sport).
“At the start of September I said Liverpool were back. The midfield was the area they needed to address in the summer. Now 10 games into the season, the table won’t lie and if it wasn’t for the defeat at Tottenham they would be very close to the top of the league and probably above Arsenal.
“I think Liverpool are back and it bodes really well. It was really smart recruitment in the end to address those problems in midfield.”
The former Brighton and Hove Albion midfielder has since struggled to replicate his impact at Stamford Bridge, whilst his fellow new signing has spent much of the season in the treatment room.
Both will turn out good, but full credit to Liverpool
We’re under no illusions about the quality of the aforementioned duo, who will surely realise their potential at some point.
That said, there can be absolutely no regrets over how we handled ourselves despite suffering such significant setbacks. Indeed, both Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo are proving astute additions beyond Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
Liverpool had one major challenge to overcome in the summer window – one hardly helped by the sudden departures of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson – and it’s fair to say that our recruitment team have more or less nailed it!
Journalists are just so dim. Moises Caicedo made it perfectly clear that he was not going to join Liverpool whatever they did or offered him, yet the club still made a £115m bid for him which was accepted by Brighton. There was nothing lucky about not signing him, it was a dance to exploit the ego of a certain Chelsea owner, it worked, it was funny as it was happening, it’s even funnier now.
I think we only bid so Chelsea would have to come in with the asking price for Brighton. And I think Lavia was a smoke screen to hide Klopp’s true intent. I believe MacAllister was bought with the number 6 role in mind and the other bids was a ploy to get Chelsea pay over the odds for two players Klopp didn’t really want. Aside from the deadline day loan deal for Arthur, I’ve never known LFC to panic during a transfer window and more often than not, players have been scouted for months and they follow a well laid out plan