This week's Blood Red column assesses Liverpool's decision not to sign anyone in the January transfer window
Jeremy Jacquet will join Liverpool next summer but there is an argument to suggest Arne Slot's squad needed strengthening now
Jeremy Jacquet will join Liverpool next summer but there is an argument to suggest Arne Slot's squad needed strengthening now
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(Image: Neal Simpson/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images)
The final hours of the transfer window, as they so often are across the Premier League, sounded particularly fraught at Liverpool.
Sunday morning came the news that the Reds were trying to arrange a deal that would effectively see them take over the arrangement of Lutsharel Geertruida's loan from RB Leipzig to Sunderland, with Arne Slot in need of defensive cover.
Injuries to Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez and Jeremie Frimpong were poorly timed given the head coach had stressed at the beginning of the month that it appeared unlikely the club would be doing anything in the market.
By the middle of the month, Slot indicated that he expected to end the window with the same options he already had at his disposal, but with issues for all three players leaving numbers stretched to breaking point, his tone changed somewhat after the 4-1 victory over Newcastle United.
“We are trying to strengthen the squad and not trying to weaken it," the Reds head coach said. "But yeah, [there are] 48-72 hours to go, let us see where the window ends up.”
The plan to take Geetruida, Slot's captain at Feyenoord, was a complicated one given he was already on loan at Sunderland. So while the Black Cats recognised the opportunity that was presented to the versatile Dutch defender, it was understandable they would want cover themselves before allowing him to move to Merseyside.
As a result, the deal was being viewed as too complicated by Sunday evening and the goal posts were shifted. During that time, Liverpool struck a £60m agreement with Rennes for defender Jeremy Jacquet to join in the summer.
It was a snapshot of how the Reds have generally tended to operate in the last decade or so. Why settle for a short-term stop-gap when the long-term addition represents a better investment?
It's a fair stance and backs up why, pound for pound, the defending Premier League champions likely have the strongest recruitment record in the traditional 'big six' in recent years.
Manchester City and now even Arsenal may seek a challenge to that, but there have been very few 'flops' at Anfield. There can be a debate as to the merits of certain players but big-money mistakes are few and far between on Merseyside.
The idea that planning for the long term takes precedence over panicking for the here and now was something Slot spoke about earlier this week after previewing Sunday's visit from Manchester City.
"I think I've said that we've tried to strengthen the squad, so that probably tells you [I wanted players] and I don't think I was the only one who wanted that," he said. "But it's always about availability and the right player.
"We do have discussions about what is good for the short and for the long term of the club and now, for example, Jeremy Jacquet wasn't available for the winter, but he was for the summer."We've made a decision to sign him because we think he's a really good signing for the future of this club. I'm very happy with the squad. Let that be clear. But it's all clear and obvious, that we have three long-term injuries (Bradley, Giovanni Leoni, Alexander Isak)."
There is something virtuous about refusing to panic or completing hastily-arranged deals for sub-par players as a knee-jerk response to what are short-term injury setbacks.
Liverpool will rarely, if ever now, be pressed into those sort of transfers having had their fingers burned when they drafted in £2.6m Ben Davies and an on-loan Ozan Kabak in the winter of 2021 only for neither to feature prominently.
Kabak was not of the desired standard and the Reds eventually refused to make the deal permanent even at half the quoted price from a cash-strapped Schalke, while Davies, a signing from Preston North End, never kicked a ball for the senior side.
That being said, the decision to keep the squad as it is for the remainder of the campaign places an enormous amount of trust in Slot and his staff's ability to clear up the injury list and keep what is already a streamlined defensive department ready for the action for the remainder of the campaign.
At a time when Liverpool find themselves sixth in the Premier League and outside the places that will guarantee Champions League qualification, it feels like a considerable gamble to hope players like Gomez and Frimpong can get fit and stay available.
That, of course, is not to suggest the Reds' entire hopes of participation in next year's European Cup rested solely on their ability to complete a transfer for versatile defensive cover, but when they are clearly able to agree to a £60m deal relatively swiftly for what is unproven potential in Jacquet, the risk of standing still now is inherent.
It's one even Slot himself is acutely aware of given his comments this week. Level-headed thinking for the future is admirable but leaving the squad as it is must be viewed as a roll of the dice by the Anfield hierarchy now.