On Tuesday, it was widely reported that Newcastle United had rebuffed Liverpool's initial approach over a move for Alexander Isak.
Newcastle remain steadfast in their view that Isak is not for sale, and even with Liverpool proposing a British transfer record fee of £120 million, the Magpies would not be moved.
Liverpool's play after that was to try and beat the Magpies to the signing of Hugo Ekitike, after Newcastle lodged a sub-£70 million bid for the Eintracht Frankfurt striker.
Newcastle's bid was rejected by the Bundesliga side, who are holding out for someone to activate Ekitike's £86 million release clause.
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Liverpool have approached Eintracht Frankfurt over Hugo Ekitike
Reports out of Germany on Wednesday morning suggested that Newcastle were preparing another bid and that talks were accelerating for Ekitike.
Now, though, David Ornstein has written in The Athletic that Liverpool have officially entered the race for Ekitike, having reached out to Frankfurt.
There's no mention of a bid, only an 'approach', which suggests they could have done with Frankfurt what they did with Newcastle, laying out what they are willing to pay before making an official offer.
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Liverpool's strategy may be their own undoing
It now remains to be seen what happens next. Which Premier League club is going to offer enough to get a deal done?
Obviously, it's going to come down to more than timing, but the sooner Newcastle acts, the more convincing it will be to Hugo Ekitike that Tyneside is where he belongs.
Knowing that he is Liverpool's second choice and that they appear to be acting out of spite isn't exactly going to inspire Ekitike to want to move to Liverpool. The draw of joining the Premier League champions may be enough, though. Although you'd hope that the lad has learned his lesson from the last time he rejected Newcastle for a 'bigger club' as it almost derailed his career.