Jamie Carragher has said that Liverpool’s inability to get a deal done for Martin Zubimendi reflects poorly on the club.
A few days ago it seemed that the Reds were in a commanding position to make the Real Sociedad midfielder their first signing of the Arne Slot era, only for the 25-year-old to decide that he’d prefer to remain with his current club, despite having previously indicated an interest in the move to Richard Hughes.
Despite LFC’s reported willingness to pay whatever it took to sign the Spain international, they fell short in their attempts to close the deal, and the Sky Sports pundit admitted that it’s far from an ideal start for the new backroom regime at Anfield.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Carragher said: “To be honest, it’s not a great look for Liverpool. They’ve gone for this sitting midfield player, who is a different type of sitting midfield player to what Jürgen Klopp would have gone for. He went for Fabinho; this guy was obviously more of a footballer, technical player.
“A lot has been made of Liverpool bringing the old regime back, in terms of getting deals done and transfers done. It was always made out that we’re the best in the class, we’re the best in the business. They did a great job, but to not get the first deal done for the new manager, the optics are not great.
“It doesn’t look good at all, and it’s a position Liverpool have been looking for, for probably three seasons. They tried to buy [Aurélien] Tchouaméni, who went to Real Madrid. They obviously lost [Moisés] Caicedo, [Roméo] Lavia, and now they’ve lost this player.”
Carragher is right – the failed Zubimendi pursuit doesn’t reflect well at all on the Liverpool hierarchy, especially during a transfer window which has been open for two months but is yet to see a single player recruited with just over a fortnight remaining.
The Reds were the envy of so many clubs across England and Europe for the efficiency with which they completed transfers when Michael Edwards – now CEO of Football at FSG – was the club’s sporting director, but that reputation is at risk of being eroded, if indeed that hasn’t happened already.
It’s no wonder that, after so many failed attempts at recruiting a new defensive midfielder despite the position clearly being a priority, fans feel so frustrated over a situation which leaves us scrambling for reinforcements with comparatively little time to bring in someone who’ll actually be a good fit for Slot’s team.
You can view Carragher’s comments on the failed Zubimendi pursuit below (from 54:56), via The Overlap on YouTube: