It would have been a summer like no other for Fenway Sports Group had they beaten Europe’s richest clubs to Jude Bellingham and committed in excess of £200m to one Liverpool transfer. Bellingham or not, and it’s now not for Liverpool, the pressure has increased on the club’s owners to deliver a summer like no other to prevent a season of regression leaving lasting damage.
When Jürgen Klopp, in a rare but minor dig at his employers earlier this season, expressed a wish for FSG to take greater risks in the transfer market and act more decisively, pulling out of the race for a long-time leading target in April was presumably not what he had in mind. If the Liverpool manager knew that was the case last Friday, however, when warning: “Whatever we do next year will never be enough from people’s point of view, but with smart recruitment we will improve,” he appeared extremely relaxed about a situation that has dismayed the fans.
