As Liverpool's front of house continues to be a quiet place for transfers, the kick-off of the Under-21s' European Championships has led to some unease creeping into parts of the fanbase this week.
The Reds are monitoring at least four midfielders at the tournament, which got underway on Wednesday night, with Gabri Veiga of Spain, the Netherlands' Ryan Gravenberch and France duo Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone all being assessed.
Gravenberch's international colleague, defender Micky van de Ven, has also been linked with a move to Anfield, while the club will of course be keeping a keen eye on Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones, who are both with Lee Carsley's England squad in Romania and Georgia.
On the face of it, then, there is plenty to hold the focus of those of a Liverpool persuasion, even if there is little shame in some supporters admitting that a long and often unhappy Premier League season was more than enough football consumed until next season.
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But while some will still be watching on across the next few weeks to see how those aforementioned transfer targets get on with their respective nations, the main driver of interest presently is the transfer activity. Or rather, the supposed lack thereof.
Alexis Mac Allister was signed earlier this month, of course, when Liverpool triggered his £35m release clause at Brighton & Hove Albion but football supporters are an impatient bunch at the best of times during the summer months. Even more so when much work needs to be done in the player trading months to help restore Jurgen Klopp's squad to the sort of levels enjoyed in the last five years.
Plans remain ongoing behind the scenes as new sporting director Jorg Schmadtke gets his feet under the negotiating table having signed on for a short-term deal at the beginning of June.
It seems, however, that no news is in fact bad news for followers desperate to see the rebuilding of the squad take place in double quick time following the official opening of the transfer window last week.
One concern that has been floated by the alleged inactivity is the prospect of their targets' price-tags rocketing through their performances at the Under-21 tournament.
These fears, though, are likely misplaced. While prices and fees are known to rise significantly after senior tournaments like the World Cup, there is little to suggest junior competitions have any dramatic impact on asking prices.
In Veiga's particular case, there is believed to be a £35m release clause in the Celta Vigo midfielder's contract, while figures of around £35-40m have been reported for the likes of Thuram and Kone and Romeo Lavia, another youngster under consideration who was forced to miss the Euros with Belgium through injury. Gravenberch, meanwhile, joined Bayern Munich for an initial £18m last summer and has barely featured in Bavaria.
And while "in ideal world" - to quote Jurgen Klopp - all transfer business would be complete before pre-season, there are plenty of recent examples to suggest there is no real correlation between the success of a player and when they signed.
Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara, for example, were signed in September, after the post-COVID Premier League season had already started, while Alisson Becker and Andy Robertson both arrived in July.
What will be factored into the equation much more than a handful of junior internationals in Romania and Georgia will be the level of experience the likes of Gravenberch, Kone, Thuram and Veiga already have as seniors in three of Europe's top-five leagues.
While the eyes of world football - from supporters and media through to managers, coaches and agents - are transfixed on global events like the World Cup, there isn't anywhere like that same kind of interest in competitions like the Under-21s Euros. As a result, concerns of a sharp rise in fees demanded by selling clubs are generally unfounded.
With all four established as first-team members of their clubs and with some of Europe's biggest clubs already taking a closer look, standout performances for the U21s will probably not add too many millions on to the bottom line.
