There is rarely such thing as sheer coincidence in football. So it will not have passed unnoticed that as Liverpool applied the finishing touches to the transfer of Alexis Mac Allister, so it became known that Jude Bellingham had agreed a deal to leave Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid.
While the eye-watering fee of an initial £88.5million rising to £115m with add-ons may not be at the high end of figures being bandied about earlier this year, it's still easy to see why Liverpool took the difficult decision to walk away from a prospective bid in April.
Unlike the seemingly limitless funds of Real Madrid - always a curious phenomenon - the Reds continue to work under realistic financial boundaries imposed by owners Fenway Sports Group, not helped by the failure to qualify for the Champions League next season.
