With less than a week to go until the transfer window closes, Liverpool and their owners Fenway Sports Group find themselves in not entirely unfamiliar territory.
For some time the Liverpool approach to the transfer market was something that was lauded in football circles. The ability to find value in the market for players with a high ceiling who had been overlooked led to the inspired additions of the likes of Mohamed Salah, Andrew Robertson and Georginio Wijnaldum.READ MORE: What Klopp told players at half-time as Liverpool boss makes Barcelona claim
Liverpool lost on both Lavia and Caicedo to Chelsea, with some suggestions that the latter was nothing more than a PR play designed to curry some favour for FSG. In truth, that’s largely a nonsense argument.
However, the transfer market has evolved in recent years and the Reds’ rigid approach to how they do business has created a problem. There is a notion that the lack of desire to spend big is purely through the owners putting profit over success. In reality, FSG don’t own Liverpool, or indeed any of their sporting assets for their profitability year to year. Of course, they want a profitable business with strong revenues, and how successful they are at doing that relates directly to their ability to invest on the pitch sustainably.