For the second time this season all eyes fall on Jim White.
That yellow breaking news bar on Sky Sports News will determine whether fans around the country get what they want or are left envious of their rival’s activity.
For Liverpool it seems like there’s only one target to go for on the remaining day of the January transfer window as Brendan Rodgers looks to shape his squad for the months ahead that could define our season.
Yevhen Konoplyanka is, at the time of writing, the only man even remotely linked with a move to Anfield and could well be a Liverpool player by 11.01pm. That is if the finer details of the transfer are sorted in time, something that might need to be done to save face alone.
Following the euphoria around the derby victory on Tuesday, Brendan Rodgers continued the good vibes around the club by telling reporters that Liverpool are close to capturing a major transfer signing. While the promise of a big name signing is exciting for a supporter, it opens the club up to a world of humiliation if they fail to achieve their goal.
That aim of keeping the fans happy by speaking publicly about transfer rumours can be a double edged sword. It affirms to the supporters that their club is determined to bring players in to improve the side but at the same time it adds pressure on themselves to bring in said player, especially in an extremely competitive transfer market.
Previous Liverpool regimes have kept things under wraps, away from the spotlight until a deal is on the verge of completion. It seems that this regime is attempting to fuse that previous ideology alongside one that gives supporters a glimpse of matters inside the club. While supporters want to feel like they know exactly what is going on at their club but in these circumstances the little that is exposed the better.
We’ve already had three cases this season where transfer targets, some of which that were considered almost ‘done deals’, that have slipped through our grasp. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Willian and Mohamed Salah were all seemingly on their way to Anfield but public knowledge of these deals seemed to trigger interest from Dortmund, Chelsea as well as Spurs, who were also in for Willian. Admittedly the media would have a large say in some deals being made public knowledge but the club’s eagerness to show that they’re doing business with the right kind of talent may have done more harm than good.
The importance on keeping tight lipped on transfers is even more imperative considering that we’re competing in a market that is highly competitive, even more so when attempting to buy players from under the radar of the Chelsea and Man City’s of this world.
The policy set by FSG is to buy young and develop that talent, a process that sees the club not spending astronomical amounts on a player, is one that makes sense but advertising your interest is not.