There was no positional alternative arriving at Anfield prior to last Friday’s deadline, so Liverpool had to wait until the last week of the summer transfer window to confirm any new signings.
However, this wouldn’t have happened if Martin Zubimendi had rejected the Reds earlier in August. LFC was willing to pay the midfielder’s €60 million (£51 million) release clause, but he chose to stay with Real Sociedad.
In the most recent episode of The Debrief podcast, Fabrizio Romano was asked if Richard Hughes would return for the Spain international when the market reopens in January.
In response, the transfer guru said: “I have no idea at this moment; it’s too early. At the moment Liverpool are not even commenting on this, but what I’m sure about is that Liverpool didn’t want to negotiate for any other number 6 this summer because they believe that the perfect player for this position was Martin Zubimendi.”
“They are not going to sign any other player for the sake of it. If they invest in a player it’s because they are 100% convinced, so I’m sure that Martin Zubimendi will remain on Liverpool’s list. Whether it’s January or next summer or never, we will see. It will depend also on what Liverpool want to do. At the end of the day it was the player who decided to stay at Real Sociedad.”
“There are many factors before deciding if Liverpool will try again in January or not, but I can confirm that the appreciation is still there. They still believe that Zubimendi could be a perfect player for the tactical idea they have at the club, so let’s see. The appreciation remains.”
We shouldn’t rule out Liverpool making another attempt to entice Zubimendi in the January transfer window if they are certain that he is the player who can improve Arne Slot’s midfield and give the team its ideal number 6.
But by declining to visit Anfield last month, when all the other pieces of the puzzle seemed to be in place for the transfer to happen, the Spaniard might have damaged his relationship with many Reds supporters.
As it happens, Ryan Gravenberch has been performing admirably in that area of the field thus far this season, so it may be best to hold off on making a firm decision about his suitability for the position until after we face the best players in the Premier League and Champions League.
Liverpool will obviously only sign players they are absolutely certain will improve Slot’s team, but we’d like to think that when January rolls around, they’ll at least have a backup plan in case Plan A doesn’t work out.
Although the Zubimendi door doesn’t appear to be completely locked just yet, given the events of the previous month, the Anfield administration would be prudent to avoid putting all of their eggs in that one basket.
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