Peterborough United chairman Darragh MacAnthony has suggested Liverpool are missing a trick in the transfer market by not targeting homegrown talent on a regular basis.
Jurgen Klopp's side last month completed a deal to sign Porto winger Luis Diaz, who arrived at the club for an initial fee of £37million.
The Reds were also interested in recruiting Fulham midfielder Fabio Carvalho, but were unable to finalise formalities prior to the 11pm deadline on January 31.
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Carvalho is considered to be one of the most exciting players at Championship level and has proven his ability in the second tier this campaign, having scored seven times and registered five assists in 19 league outings.
Although pleased a deal for Diaz was still completed, MacAnthony the Reds should maintain their Carvalho approach of targeting future stars already plying their trade within the English football pyramid.
“I’m happy for Liverpool to spend €52million on a Portuguese guy,” said the Posh chairman on his The Hard Truth podcast.
“But I’d loved them to have spent £28million on a player in the Championship and then that player’s sell-on will go to the club before. There’s not enough of that, for me, that goes on.”
MacAnthony is no stranger to seeing players from League One or Championship level make the step-up to the Premier League.
Responsible for acquiring English duo Dwight Gayle and Ivan Toney, Peterborough got the best out of both strikers before sanctioning Premier League moves for the pair.
There are plenty of current players who could be the next to follow this path, with Nottingham Forest's Brennan Johnson named as one example of someone who is capable of reaching such heights.
“People always say English players are too expensive. Well, with all due respect, I would say that the Championship is as good as the Portuguese league,” said MacAnthony.
“That player [Diaz] has, I don’t know, 15 goals and 10 assists. Well I could show you a couple of players, the boy at (Nottingham Forest), Brennan Johnson, will probably be just as good as that player down the line in the future.
“He won’t get sold for €52million, it’ll be more like £20million quid. No one bought him, Nottingham Forest wanted to sell.”
