With only a few weeks left until the big leagues get back down to business for the 2023/24 campaign, it’s imperative that their member clubs have got the majority of their transfer dealings done and dusted.
Once pre-season is well underway, it’s often difficult to bring in new players and integrate them quickly into a set-up that has been worked on for weeks in most cases.
It does happen of course, but ask any manager and you’re likely to get the answer that the sooner their squads can be settled and focused, the better.
Both Liverpool and Newcastle United have been active in this summer’s market and for differing reasons.
The Reds need to ensure that they don’t fall away as badly as they did for the majority of last season, whilst the Magpies need to build on their successes in 2022/23 and ensure it wasn’t a flash in the pan.
There are clear attractions to moving to both clubs at this point, though one player would apparently favour a move to Merseyside rather than the north east, should his club receive an acceptable fee for his services.
According to Fichajes, that amount would be €60m, and the player concerned is Juventus front man, Federico Chiesa.
“The player would be more inclined to sign for a classic top club, such as Liverpool or Bayern Munich,” Gazzetta dello Sport journalist, Marco Guidi, said to TvPlay.
“It depends on whether Juve open the sale and under what conditions.
“If Newcastle have the economic strength they will try to take Chiesa, but the Newcastle option could only be taken into consideration at the end of the transfer market, in case of few offers on the table.”
Losing out on a player of Chiesa’s evident talent would be a blow for Eddie Howe, although Newcastle are quite well served in an attacking sense at present.
Whether Liverpool will be keen enough to invest such a hefty fee will ultimately be known over the course of the next few weeks.