I partially disagree. When Liverpool have decided they want a key player, they get it done quickly. Allison. Van Dyk. You'd even argue that once we fluffed the pillow for Diaz, they wasted no time getting it done. I won't get into Chelsea ot Emirates Marketing Project as I believe both operate in a nefarious fashion.
This is NOT just about the fee, but the wages. Let's start with the fee. I understand the need to make a deal as opposed to pay what we're first told to pay, but we have form and history for not just dragging out deals in order to try and squeeze a extra few quid. Wages. I believe we're 6th or 7th in terms of wages. If we want to aspire higher, then we will need to shift that figure. We have the means.
The three biggest losses in recent times in terms of players who were ours that we did not sign, are Mane, Winaldjum, and Grealish. The first two were wage-related, the latter was done and dusted but we played that 'squeeze a bit more value' and ended up fudging it up.
A player the manager REALLY wanted too. And we failed him. We didn't even do it conclusively, if I remember correctly there was some gonads at the 11th hour of deadline day which Levy/someone blamed as the reason we didn't sign him. Whatever the reason, we fudged it and fudged AVB on that one.
Absolutely. Another Poch dearly wanted. How many of his own KEY requests did Poch get over the years he was with us? At times he could've used them?
And how many times has Levy signed players in good enough time for the manager to have a close-season with them? Berbatov and Luka stand out as early birds in that sense. Not too many others.