Jamie Carragher has blasted Liverpool’s chaotic midfield transfer scramble after seemingly losing out on two top major targets to Chelsea.
The Reds saw a mammoth £110million bid for Moises Caicedo accepted by Brighton last week, only to then be swiftly rejected by the Ecuador international, who only ever had eyes for Stamford Bridge as Chelsea eventually upped their offer to £115m and clinched a British record transfer on Monday.
If that was not quite bad enough for furious Liverpool, reports on Monday night claimed that Southampton’s Romeo Lavia - another talented young midfielder at the centre of a transfer tussle between the two clubs - had also opted for Chelsea over Anfield as a deal worth £55m edges closer to completion.
Such a massive double blow leaves Jurgen Klopp and Co desperately seeking other midfield alternatives in the final weeks of the summer window, having signed Caicedo’s Brighton team-mate Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig earlier in the window.
However, more quality options are needed in the middle of the park after the sales of both captain Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia, following on from the exits of the likes of Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner at the end of their respective contracts and injuries that have sidelined both Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic.
Addressing the Caicedo and Lavia sagas on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football programme, Liverpool legend Carragher did not hold back as he slammed the lack of deals being closed on Merseyside, their approach with Lavia and Caicedo and the sheer number of sporting directors that have come through the club since transfer guru Michael Edwards’ exit last summer.
“They are in a pretty difficult place,” he said. “They need to buy someone in midfield, people know that they are desperate.
“They put a bid in for Lavia I think today for £60m even when they refused to pay £50m probably four or five days ago. It’s been an absolute mess. It’s a joke. The biggest problem about it is, Liverpool have known they have needed midfield reinforcements since about August last season... 12 months ago.
“To not have things in order... people think I defend [owners] FSG, I’ve got no relationship with them at all. This is not on the owners, this is on the structure of the football club. When you go back two years when Liverpool were the model for every team in Europe, not just the Premier League, to follow.
“When Liverpool are winning the league and getting to Champions League finals, what are Liverpool doing? They’re not spending as much money as other teams, but they are producing these players. Yes they’ve got a great manager but they had a guy called Michael Edwards at the top of the club in terms of a director of football, transfer committee... whatever name you want to put on it beneath him, it worked well.
“He left. His number two [Julian Ward] then took over, he was in the job for six months and moved on. You have to ask the reasons why these people are actually moving on from the football club. I don’t know, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes.
“A guy has come in from Germany [Jorg Schmadtke] who has got a relationship with Jurgen Klopp, he’s only there for the summer. That’s all he’s there for, then he moves on and Liverpool will then get another director of football. In the space of 18 months, Liverpool have had four directors of football.
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“They haven’t got deals done, that is your job in that role to get deals over the line. The two players Liverpool bought [Mac Allister and Szoboszlai] had buyout clauses, there’s no negotiating or big deal to go about it, you just meet the buyout clause. Liverpool have not got deals over the line and it’s been embarrassing.
“The fact that you start with Lavia, don’t pay a certain amount, then you go for Caicedo, yes you get something agreed. That’s why I will not be critical of the owners, they were willing to pay £110m and break the transfer record. But to go with him when he’s been talking to Chelsea for three months and now go back to Lavia, it’s an absolute mess. It’s a joke.”
