Arne Slot wants to have a thorough look at his team before making any significant adjustments, but at Liverpool, the occasional deviation should never be completely ruled out.
It’s common knowledge that you should never sign a player following an outstanding international competition. When Liverpool bought El-Hadji Diouf based mostly on his performance in the 2002 World Cup, they burned their fingers by explicitly defying the idea more than twenty years ago.
The Senegalese player joined the team for approximately £10 million, replacing Nicolas Anelka, although he never lived up to the substantial transfer fee that was paid 22 years prior. In fact, in club history, only Emile Heskey had cost more at that point.
In fact, Diouf has a notorious place in Liverpool history, and it was a grave error to sign him after what he did in South Korea and Japan two decades ago.
However, seeing Nico Williams light up Spain’s European Championship this summer has caused some people to rethink that well-worn football cliché.
Williams, a notable player for La Roja who plays for Athletic Club in La Liga, has led his team to victory in all seven of its games played in Germany, including Sunday’s championship match against England.
The 22-year-old winger scored the first goal with style, beating Jordan Pickford, and posed a continual threat to an overworked Kyle Walker, who at moments appeared to be 12 years older than his counterpart.
Despite Barcelona’s interest, reports of a buyout clause of approximately £50 million persist in Spanish media, but the player himself downplayed rumors about his own future during the European Championship.
He declared last month, “I just signed a new deal at Athletic a few weeks ago.” “I feel fantastic over there. At Athletic, I’m really content,” he remarked. “It’s very strange to receive questions on my future.”
“We have a top project with no limits and we’re able to keep top players like Nico Williams at the club,” stated Athletic president Jon Uriarte last week. Nico is frequently asked too many questions about his future because the Federation has failed to keep him safe. We kindly request your respect.”
Uriarte could be disappointed with the amount of interest in Williams’ future, but it makes sense given that he gave such an incredible display of his skills when playing for Spain. Even more so after Joan Laporta, the president of Barcelona, publicly discussed the team’s attempts to acquire him during this transfer window.
“From an economic standpoint, we could commit to signing Nico Williams,” stated Laporta. Nico is a player that I really enjoy watching. We are discussing potential signings with [coach Hansi] Flick.”
Williams has also been the subject of speculative links from Liverpool in recent weeks, which is not shocking considering how many players are regularly connected to the Reds. However, Anfield sources have insisted that he is not being considered.
However, given the results in Germany and the comparatively low buyout clause in comparison to today’s standards, one could wonder why not.
Given that Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota, and Darwin Nunez can all play on the left side of the attack, Liverpool is obviously well-stocked there. In fact, the Reds avoided having serious talks with Newcastle about Anthony Gordon last month when the Magpies contacted them as the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules deadline approached on June 30.
Having said that, there is a great deal of risk associated with adopting an insular approach to squad development and believing that proactive and aggressive effort throughout the window cannot improve it. Although the Reds have a strong team that placed third in the Premier League and was involved in a title fight until the last few weeks of the season, there is still room for development in the window.
Therefore, although if Arne Slot is eager to see his team as a whole before making any significant decisions on hiring, it is never completely impossible for there to be the occasional divergence, pivot, or, dare I say it, change in strategy.
And does activating the realistic release clause of one of the best young players on the continent fall into the same category as Richard Hughes’ suggestion that the club intends to be “opportunistic” when it comes to the window this summer? It’s anyone’s guess what genuinely works if that doesn’t.
It makes a tonne of sense, especially in light of his recent performances for Spain. It’s time to finally put an end to El-Hadji Diouf’s shameful legacy.
