Liverpool’s hopes of signing one Premier League star have taken a huge blow after the player put pen-to-paper over a new deal at his current club.
Reports in the summer suggested that the Reds were ‘keeping tabs’ on Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma following his impressive debut campaign at the Amex Stadium where he registered 10 goals and eight assists for the Seagulls (across all competitions).
The Japan International has also started the current campaign in impressive fashion with seven goal contributions in 11 games.
Any potential hopes of the 26-year-old making the switch to Merseyside in the near future have been quashed, however, with Mitoma agreeing a new deal which will keep him on the south coast until 2027 – as reported by Fabrizio Romano on X.
Although Brighton fans will be delighted that their No. 22 has extended his stay at the Amex, new deals don’t always mean what they once did.
A fresh contract can be viewed as a sign of commitment from the player, but it can also be seen as the club, Brighton in this case, now having the ability to demand a higher fee in the event other teams come calling for the player.
Both Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo left Roberto De Zerbi’s side just a few months after signing fresh deals with the club.
Brighton’s scouting and recruitment has been exceptional in recent years and they have the confidence that if players do move on then there’ll be another gem waiting just around the corner.
Liverpool are pretty well stocked in the attacking department at the moment meaning the signing of Mitoma, a player Brighton CEO Paul Barber labelled as ‘exciting’ (via One Football), wouldn’t have been a necessity, but it now looks very unlikely the winger will be heading elsewhere.
#Ep94 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️