When news of Fenway Sports Group's openness to selling Liverpool became public, chairman Tom Werner quickly insisted it would still be "business as usual" at Anfield.
Despite FSG enlisting the help of two major US banks in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to assess what could be on the table with regards to a potential sale last month, Werner told the Boston Globe: "We’re exploring a sale, but there’s no urgency, no time frame for us, and as far as I’m concerned, it’s business as usual. One outcome could be our continued stewardship for quite a while."
As news of Julian Ward's summer 2023 departure from the sporting director role was then made public alongside the impending exit of Ian Graham, the club's head of research, it was difficult to take Werner's claim of 'business as usual' in good faith.
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But the signing of Cody Gakpo has at least reaffirmed that Liverpool's football operations department, despite the future uncertainty over ownership and the sporting director role, is working exactly how it has been for quite some time now.
Liverpool moved quickly to pip Manchester United to the signature of the Netherlands international. Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag shares an agency with Gakpo and it had been widely reported that Untied were lining up a January raid before the Reds stepped in.
Ward is believed to have worked over the Christmas period to thrash out a deal with his PSV Eindhoven counterpart Marcel Brands before the Eredivise side confirmed a deal was in place on Boxing Night with a statement on their official website.
"PSV and Liverpool FC have reached an agreement on the proposed transfer of Cody Gakpo," they wrote. "The 23-year-old attacker will leave for England imminently where he will be subjected to the necessary formalities ahead of the completion of the transfer. Both clubs are not making any announcements about the transfer fee."
While neither side will comment on the transfer fee, PSV have at least conceded it will be a club record sum and it is understood to be around the initial mark of £37m. Add-ons will take the overall package beyond £40m.
It has since been reported that Ten Hag has been irritated by Liverpool's unsuspecting swoop for Gakpo, who scored three goals in five World Cup fixtures for Oranje in Qatar. United need to fill the Cristiano Ronaldo-shaped hole left by the Portuguese superstar's shock mid-season sacking and Gakpo, with his ability to lead the line centrally, could have fit the bill at Old Trafford.
It's the third time this year Ward and his recruitment department have moved swiftly to fend off interest from others in their primary targets. Luis Diaz's signature was snared in late January after Tottenham Hotspur had initially made their admiration known.
The Reds flew a delegation out to Argentina where Diaz was on international duty with Colombia to ensure they would beat Spurs to the punch. Sources credited Diaz's Colombia-based agent, Carlos Van Strahalen, and the Porto intermediary, Raul Pais Da Costa, for convincing the winger to snub the advances of the Londoners in favour of Liverpool.
It was a transfer that was conducted with surgical precision following the registering of Spurs interest. Liverpool sent a handful of officials that included loan and pathways manager David Woodfine to South America on the Friday of that week and Diaz was confirmed as a Reds player by Sunday afternoon.
It was a similar situation in the pursuit of Darwin Nunez at Benfica in June when Ward flew to Lisbon for talks with his Portuguese counterpart, Rui Costa, before a £64m deal was sealed. Sources were firm in their claim that the Reds had beaten "at least one Premier League rival" to land Nunez. Again, it was believed to be United who missed out.
The decisive action to bring in both Diaz and Nunez mirrors the work done to effectively gazump United for Gakpo. Once United's interest was known, the Reds expedited their own to win the race. Much of the long-term future remains a mystery as FSG continue to assess their options, but true to Werner's assertion, it has been business as usual so far.
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