It’s not even mid-June and there’s already disquiet over Liverpool transfer dealings. It has become the traditional “first sign of summer.”
The feel-good factor from the covert operation which brought Monaco’s Fabinho to Anfield appears to have been dissipated by the shambolic, on-off drama surrounding the club’s attempt to prise Nabil Fekir away from Lyon.
Fabinho’s arrival was applauded as old school; a resurrection of the efficiency the club regularly used to do their business. Fans should probably have known better.
Unsurprisingly both clubs are claiming they brought proceedings to a halt. There are even some, like ESPN FC’s Steve Nicol, who felt the player could still sign for Liverpool eventually.
It’s capped off a peculiar week for the Reds. The announcement of Loris Karius suffering concussion during the Champions League final had kicked up the dust that had only just begun to settle.
A largely fine season and the achievement of reaching Kiev in the first place seemed to have been accepted before the Karius news.
It inevitably led to more comment from Sergio Ramos and even Marcelo for some reason, while those Liverpool fans still wary of their Boston owners began imagining strings being pulled that would somehow end in no replacement for the German this summer.