There’s only a couple of months to go before the January transfer window opens for business and everyone gets to see how well their team does their mid-season business.
Indeed, a good winter window can often be the difference between a good season and a great season.
Clubs that weren’t perhaps in the title conversation before Christmas can gatecrash the party with a handful of brilliant signings.
Similarly, those struggling down the bottom of the table can haul themselves clear with some clever manoeuvring in the transfer market.
It’s a skill in itself but is an essential part of the modern game.
Although Liverpool were left disappointed during the summer window at a failure to land a few of their targets, the Reds have still done remarkably well to keep pace at the top of the table.
If they’re able to keep the same high levels of intensity between now and the window opening, there’s no reason why Jurgen Klopp won’t be celebrating with a trophy or two at season’s end.
Missing out of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia, both of whom chose Chelsea over Liverpool, would’ve surely got under the skin of the German, as may the failure to capture 22-year-old, Andre, from Fluminense.
However, the Brazilian has now given the club a ray of hope.
“In this past window I didn’t talk about it, the first time I’m going to talk in more depth will be now,” he was quoted as saying by CONMEBOL Libertadores.
“It really was an irrefutable proposal from the club that plays in a big league. I think every player one day dreams of playing for a big club in Europe, in a big league.
“But I decided to keep my word because when the January window closed, Diniz [Fluminense manager] arrived and told me that he wanted me here until the end of the year.
“We didn’t know that a proposal of that amount would arrive and I told him that, regardless of what happened, I would be there until the end of the season.
“It ended up passing and arriving in the middle of the year, we were still in the round of 16 of the Copa Libertadores. It was a very difficult decision to make. I think if I had accepted this proposal, I don’t know if I would have felt 100% comfortable because I had already agreed with Diniz.
“He really values his word, his honesty. I know that when we do the right things, good things always happen. And in January he told me that without a doubt, if I stayed I would gamble and my value would increase.”