Just In: Kylian Mbappe stance To Liverpool is Very obvious after £178m transfers

 

 

 

Liverpool were always plotting a long-awaited midfield revamp this summer, but the enforced extent of such surgery will

likely have caught many by surprise.

 

Having waved off James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at the end of their contracts, the Reds moved

quickly to snap up Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai before the start of pre-season. They were still interested in a

third midfield recruit, with Romeo Lavia earmarked as a potential long-term replacement for Fabinho, but, put off by

Southampton’s £50m asking-price, duly switched attention to a new centre-back instead.

 

But then Saudi Arabia came calling. While Thiago Alcantara, whose contract expires next summer, might have snubbed

advances from the Gulf State, Jordan Henderson caught Liverpool off-guard by deciding he wanted to join Al-Ettifaq in a

controversial £12m deal.

 

Meanwhile, Fabinho is expected to complete his own £40m switch to Al-Ittihad, with the Reds stepping up interest in Lavia

as a result and already have one bid, worth up to £38m, rejected by Southampton. It remains to be seen if they plan to target

a fourth midfield signing.

 

Consequently, with less than two weeks to go until they start the Premier League season away at Chelsea on August 13, it’s

highly plausible that Jurgen Klopp could be handing out three midfield debuts at Stamford Bridge. While he might not opt

to start three new signings, presuming Lavia does join, he will still be unleashing a new-look midfield.

 

With Mac Allister aged 24, Szoboszlai 22, and Lavia 19 years old, Liverpool are at least building a midfield for the future.

With the likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, and Stefan Bajcetic still in their ranks, this summer’s overhaul will leave them

well-placed in the engine-room for the foreseeable future.

But there’s no escaping the fact that Fabinho and Henderson’s unexpected exits, given the fact that Thiago was previously

touted as the more likely departee, has left the Reds having to complete this midfield revamp everything, everywhere, all at

once.

 

Needs must, evidently, but such a practice would preferably have been avoided. After all, it is in complete contrast to the

attacking overhaul that has taken place at Anfield over the past 18 months.

 

Well aware that Liverpool’s previously untouchable triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino were

all ageing and due to be out of contract this summer, the Reds have long been planning for a future beyond them.

 

Diogo Jota was snapped up in the summer of 2020, but it is over the last year and a half where Liverpool have taken these

next steps into their future. In successive transfer windows, they brought in Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo, with

each of the trio gradually being given time to find their feet alongside the players they were set to replace.

 

Mane would leave for pastures new last summer, joining Bayern Munich six months after his long-term replacement in Diaz

had arrived from FC Porto. Nunez was then signed the same summer as the Senegalese’s exit, as Salah and Jota both signed

contract extensions.

 

Fast forward to 2023 and Gakpo joined from PSV Eindhoven in January, with the Dutchman having already proven himself

to be the perfect replacement for Firmino – who joined Saudi side Al-Ahly at the end of his contract. Salah remains at

Anfield, of course, but in the likes of teenager Ben Doak, candidates to be the Egyptian’s long-term replacement are already

emerging.

 

Where once the prospect of replacing Salah, Mane and Firmino looked impossible, Reds bosses have made it look

effortlessly easy. This gradual succession plan, which they now won’t be afforded in midfield, has served them well.

 

Admittedly, there was an argument that once it was confirmed that Firmino would be leaving this summer, Liverpool would

need to replace him with a sixth forward. Yet Klopp can be most content with the five senior options he has at his disposal.

 

And while the Reds have been sloppy defensively at times this pre-season, with their midfield far from complete because of

those unexpected exits, it is at least proving to be business as usual for Liverpool’s forwards.

 

Nunez has scored in all three of the Reds’ friendlies so far, with his strike in Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Leicester City taking

his total to four goals and an assist this summer. Meanwhile, Jota was also on the scoresheet as he netted his third goal of

pre-season, to go along with one assist and having also had the shot against the Foxes that led to the Nunez’s latest goal.

 

Salah wasn’t able to score against Leicester, but he did claim two assists with the Egyptian having created five goals this

summer to go along with one strike of his own. And while neither Gakpo or Diaz added to their own accounts against the

Foxes, they are both already off the mark this pre-season.

 

Throw in Doak, who scored his first goal for the club with a header from a corner against Leicester, and all of Liverpool’s

attacking options are bang in form and providing Klopp with something of a welcome headache.

 

Which made Saturday’s widespread speculation linking them with a loan move for Kylian Mbappe even more bizarre. The

Mirror would report that the Reds are in talks with Paris Saint-Germain to sign the Frenchman temporarily, ahead of an

expected move to Real Madrid next summer, after he rejected a world record £259m move to Al-Hilal.

 

Now Liverpool links with Mbappe, the best player in the world in waiting, are nothing new. But there are a multitude of

reasons why such rumours would prompt scoffed laughter from bemused onlookers.

 

With PSG looking to avoid losing the wantaway forward for free next summer, a loan switch does not solve such a dilemma.

Meanwhile, having already been priced out of a switch for Jude Bellingham, among others, it’s well-documented that

Mbappe would be well-beyond the Reds’ financial grasp.

 

Besides, would the Frenchman really embrace a season of Europa League football at Anfield? And if he is destined to join

Real Madrid, would it really be in Liverpool’s interests to spend an extravagant amount on such a short-term deal?

 

Granted, Mbappe is a genuinely world class player and you could argue that if there is an opportunity to have him as part of

your team, even if only for a year, you should jump at it. And while he would no doubt go straight into the Reds’ strongest

starting XI, their own aforementioned attacking quintet ensures they are well-stocked regardless.

 

Having spent an initial £138m, rising to a potential £178m with add-ons, on their three most-recent attacking signings over

the past 18 months, the club’s revamp of their front-line is already complete – and without Mbappe.

 

Even before the latest links with the 24-year-old emerged, Liverpool’s own options were already in-form. Ultimately,

Mbappe speculation would likely not even be on their radar in Singapore, even if their latest goalscoring efforts were the

perfect response.

 

With Salah still one of the first names on Klopp’s teamsheet, it’s up to Nunez, Gakpo, Jota, and Diaz to continue to stake

their own claims over the next fortnight ahead of that trip to Chelsea.

 

The Uruguayan is the most eye-catching performer so far this summer, of course. Back in his preferred central role, his four

goals are that of a player determined to make a starting place his own. Yet, unlike Diaz and Gakpo, not the seamless like-for-

like replacements for Mane and Firmino, he has always faced far greater scrutiny.

 

Such form is in stark contrast to the scenes that greeted him 12 months ago, when compilations of his pre-season

performances went viral amongst gleeful opposing fans who were adamant Liverpool had spent £85m on a dud. The fact

that the first misses came against Manchester United, a side who had missed out on his signature, only fuelled such a

misguided narrative.

 

Such a fee would make Nunez a club-record signing for the Reds, but he has to score a lot more goals and win trophies to

activate that full fee. Instead, he was brought in for an initial £64m off the back of a 34-goal season at Benfica which had

seen him torment Liverpool, among others, in the Champions League.

 

By coincidence, that upfront fee is the same as what Manchester United have just agreed to pay for Atalanta’s Rasmus

Hojlund, after agreeing an overall £72m package for the 20-year-old. Scoring nine goals in Serie A last season, the Denmark

international is far more raw potential and a gamble than Nunez ever was.

 

Nunez has always been adamant that Liverpool will see the best of him this season, as he looks to replicate how he exploded

into life with Benfica in his second season at the club. Yet while Klopp is impressed with what he has seen from his potential

club-record signing this summer, he has made it clear what Nunez needs to do if he is to cement a starting role.

 

“Sometimes it needs more time, that’s how it is,” Klopp said after the striker’s latest goal against Leicester. “The signs

Darwin showed last season were really good. Injuries, red card, were not helpful at the start. But it’s all good. We just need to

find it together in different set-ups.

 

“The ticket into the team will be the readiness to defend. I’ve never heard about a team being really successful with sloppy

defending. It doesn’t happen.

“It’s the same for Darwin and all the other strikers. I know all about the quality they have and they need to do both – defend

and be influential in all offensive situations.

 

“He was good, you can see he’s a handful, speed, typical goalscorer being there, smelling it and finishing it off. In training he

looks really good. Being fit helps. Now two more games and then Chelsea and we’ll see.”

Only time will tell if Nunez wins the battle against his team-mates to start at Stamford Bridge in two weeks’ time. But, if fit,

he’ll be involved against Chelsea regardless and itching to deliver for Liverpool this season – which is certainly more than we

can say about Mbappe.