As the fallout over their likely failure to land Timo Werner continues, it’s reported that Liverpool hope to move on six players in their bid to raise funds for future signings.
It was widely reported on Thursday that Chelsea have an agreement in principle to sign the prolific RB Leipzig forward this summer, exercising his €55m release clause while a £200,000-a-week contract has been touted.
That came after months of speculation linking the German international with a move to Liverpool, and while nothing has been made official as of yet, it does appear as though he’s now heading to Stamford Bridge.
Goal.com note that interest from the Merseyside giants was genuine, but ultimately the financial implications of the coronavirus pandemic forced them into cooling that interest, as they ‘couldn’t commit such money with so much uncertainty swirling around’.
In their defence, there are obvious concerns that are still ahead. From paying back money to broadcasters, to huge losses both during the lockdown and moving forward given games will be played behind closed doors. Liverpool may well be criticised for missing out, but perhaps there is sense behind their decision while Chelsea seemingly feel confident in their ability to cope and have the freedom to spend after inactivity over the past 12 months.
It’s also noted that Liverpool have one of the highest wage bills in world football, with a string of first-team players signing new deals while they are among the biggest spenders on agent fees.
In turn, that all combines to explain why they perhaps dropped out of the race for Werner, although there could still be some hope that they’ll make signings this summer or perhaps put themselves in a stronger position to strengthen moving forward by trimming the squad first.
Divock Origi, Dejan Lovren, Xherdan Shaqiri, Loris Karius, Harry Wilson and Marko Grujic are all specifically named as the six that Liverpool had hoped to raise funds through sales as per the Goal report above, but time will tell if they can still attract the same fees as they did prior to the pandemic which in turn could be a another problem that they encounter off the pitch.
TeamTalk add that they hope to raise £120m from those six sales.
Offloading those six makes sense from a Liverpool perspective given their bit-part roles and how it’s unlikely that they will be key pieces for Klopp moving forward, but it appears as though the Reds are going to face obstacles in their bid to sustain the success that they’re currently enjoying.