Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2020/2021

Over at Anfield, the champions are patient enough to sit and wait until a truer picture of the landscape emerges.

Liverpool are confident enough in their squad that they do not feel they have to buy and, equally, do not feel they need to sell. It puts them in a unique — and strong — position, the fruits of four years of carefully manipulating the markets with huge success.

If they do receive bids for their fringe players, they will not be selling on the cheap. Securing £10.9 million for 31-year-old Dejan Lovren from Zenit Saint Petersburg was further evidence of the sporting director Michael Edwards’s knack of maximising value, although it helps if the club doing the shopping are the Russian champions.

There are plenty of players that Liverpool could offload — Loris Karius, Harry Wilson, Marko Grujic, who all spent last season out on loan. Xherdan Shaqiri, especially, and Divock Origi, who did not have regular starting roles in the title success, also look dispensable.

But if Brentford value their forwards Ollie Watkins and Saïd Benrahma at about £25 million each, what would the value be of Origi — the slayer of Barcelona, a Champions League final goalscorer and a man with five goals in eight games against Everton? North of that surely? Yet, beyond the fee, there is the added complication for suitors of meeting wage demands at a time of shrinking finances.

Wilson and Grujic had differing fortunes at Bournemouth and Hertha Berlin, but neither would be sold for knockdown prices. At 23 and 24 respectively, they could go out on loan again and retain their value.

What happens with players leaving Anfield is likely to influence what happens with those coming in, given that Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, is not about to abandon a self-sufficient strategy that has crafted the best team in England, the world and, for a little longer, Europe.

Liverpool are interested in the left back, Jamal Lewis, at about £10 million — roughly the same as the receipts from Lovren’s sale — but less so at the £20 million price that Norwich City are demanding for the 22-year-old.

Watford’s Ismaïla Sarr, a Senegal team-mate of Sadio Mané who wrecked Liverpool’s unbeaten Premier League record when scoring twice in a 3-0 win at Vicarage Road in February, is another player they will monitor. Watford, who were relegated to the Sky Bet Championship on the final day of the season, paid Rennes in the region of £30 million for the 22-year-old Sarr last summer, so would be looking for a hefty fee. Sarr’s record of five goals and six assists in the Premier League last season does not necessarily unsettle the attacking triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Mané.

If Georginio Wijnaldum, who is in the final year of his contract, was to leave in this window (and there is no suggestion he will) then a move for Thiago Alcântara becomes more likely. Similarly, if the Spain midfielder, 29, is willing to see out the final 12 months of his deal at Bayern Munich, then trying to sign him on a free next summer becomes a no brainer.