Why can Arsenal never sell like Liverpool? Jordan Ibe, Dominic Solanke, Neco Williams, Christian Benteke, the list goes on.
However, when looking deeper perhaps we give the Reds too much credit. The frustration from the north London side stems from season upon season seeing players either leave for nothing, below their value or in some cases paid to move on in what Edu told football.london he calls ‘investments’.
With the new transfer window fast approaching, many supporters would like for Arsenal to adopt what their Merseyside rivals have shown for some time. Perhaps Liverpool’s record has been exaggerated and Arsenal’s own business overly scrutinised in comparison.
This summer, Liverpool have allowed Roberto Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, James Milner and Naby Keita all to depart the club at the expiration of their contracts. That is £117million worth of investment gone with no economic return.
Now, it would be fair to say that during their Liverpool careers, they’ve won some massive accolades like the Premier League and the Champions League. However, this is not relevant to the discussion regarding “Arsenal need to sell like Liverpool.”
Not to mention amongst the quartet, Keita was signed from RB Leipzig for more than £50million at 23 and now in what many would define as the age he should be hitting his prime, he’s been let go for nothing at all. Injuries were an issue prior to his move to the north west, having, according to Transfermarkt, missed 151 days of action with nine separate issues – the signs were there.
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Rewind further into Liverpool’s outgoing history and the story worsens. Gini Wijnaldum, £25million, Adam Lallana, £25million, Nathaniel Clyne, £12.5million, Alberto Moreno, £12million, Daniel Sturridge, £12million and Divock Origi, £10million. Taking the total of all the discussed players to £213.5million to see them all leave at the expiration of their contracts.
Letting players leave for nothing and failing to sign targets is not a new revelation for Liverpool, their fans or former players. Jamie Carragher quoted a clip from the Anfield Wrap criticising the club's transfer policy and highlighted that the Reds were reluctant to budge from their primary targets and therefore left themselves short in some seasons.
He tweeted: “It is plan A or no one, in terms of players coming in. That’s exactly what Pep Lijnders says in his book.
“That’s been a mistake. Players going for free is a consequence of Liverpool getting high fees for players. They don’t budge on what fee they want & that’s proven successful.”
It has proven successful to a degree and that is where perhaps the Arsenal perception of Liverpool comes from. But the Anfield Wrap rightly points out that it has not proven sustainable as Jurgen Klopp’s side have now fallen into the Europa League.
This season they’re reacting and have already signed Alexis Mac Allister and are reportedly interested in Khephren Thuram. But it has allowed the likes of Arsenal to usurp them as they invest smartly whilst moving on players they’ve needed to trim from their squad.
Since Mikel Arteta and Edu Gaspar came together, their incomings have proven more efficient to progressing the side than Liverpool’s. Yes the Reds won a League Cup more than Arsenal, but certainly the Gunners would not trade places with them right now as they aim to better compete with Manchester City next season and aim at some of the Premier League’s best in the market like Declan Rice and Moises Caicedo who want Premier League football and see Arsenal as an attractive destination.
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