Liverpool take £35m shortcut from Caicedo and leave Manchester United even deeper in transfer mire

Moises Caicedo is good enough, but Liverpool have found “the next” version of Manchester United’s goal, which appears to be older and much cheaper.

Enzo the earth
‘Arsenal were convinced they had a clear run at Rice, despite rejected initial offers, but City’s decision to move for him could see them miss out on their main transfer target.

“City already hold the record for British transfers, following the £100m disbursement for Jack Grealish from Aston Villa two years ago – and are ready to match it again in pursuit of Rice” – David McDonnell, Daily Mirror.
Fair play to Chelsea for cooking up the books with such success that Enzo Fernandez no longer exists.

Moise basket
Mediawatch is pleased to report the discovery of a transfer window holy grail with this:

Liverpool have two big assets in the transfer race to sign next Moises Caicedo

Right. The Echo of Liverpool has finally succeeded. We have a “next” version of a player that is older than the current version. What a day. what moment

But how does Manu Kone qualify as ‘the next Moises Caicedo’ when he has made 71 appearances in Europe’s top five leagues six months longer than Caicedo’s 45 appearances for Brighton?

The defensive midfielder is also capable of filling slightly more advanced roles and can count highly coveted Brighton & Hove Albion star Moises Caicedo in his list of ‘similar players’ on scouting tool website FBref.

He absolutely can, actually. Eight fewer players, mind, below in addition to Moises Caicedos in Johann Lepenant, Hugo Magnetti, Samuel Moutoussamy, Rominigue Kouame, Hicham Boudaoui, Mohamed Camara and Jean-Victor Makengo.

And what about those “two big advantages” Liverpool have when it comes to pursuing Kone?
Firstly, sporting director Jorg Schmadkte has an “extensive network of contacts and expertise with regards to the Bundesliga”.

What no other club has. And if so, Liverpool’s vast network of Bundesliga contacts and expertise means even more. Because he can find hidden gems, which Borussia Mönchengladbach want £35m for.
As for the second “big advantage”…

Kone will already know at least one potential new Liverpool team-mate, having played for Paris FC alongside Ibrahima Konate in the early 2010s, and although both players were teenagers during their time together in the French capital, this It is not inconceivable that the central defender is consulted before any other substitution.

We don’t know if Koné and Konaté actually played together regularly at Paris FC – and for good reason. Were they really there ‘at the same time’, they were both on the club’s books in their youth system between Kone’s arrival in 2012 and Konate’s departure in 2014.

But given that the latter, two years older than the former, had Aged 14 when he moved to Sochaux, it seems unlikely that a) they have been teammates for any significant amount of time, if at all, and b) paths have crossed often enough for it to be worth ‘consulting’ Konate on what he was like as a child literally ten years past.

But fuck all of that, as Liverpool have pretty much wrapped up “the next Moises Caicedo”. Please stop asking why they don’t sign the current, younger and much more expensive one.

June: second part
While Liverpool are making great strides in the transfer market, Manchester United are embarrassingly far behind. It’s June 23rd and they haven’t signed anyone. Don’t they know the season starts in 52 days?!

After the panic of the move to Old Trafford seized David McDonnell and the Daily Mirror, Samuel Lukchurst of the Manchester Evening News is getting nervous.

June is on the horizon and the hotter the weather, the more cranky the Manchester United fan is.
There’s still no ownership decision, Mason Greenwood’s trial is nearing the five-month mark and this could be the second June in a row that they haven’t signed a player.

Hahaha. It’s a thing? Imagine how embarrassing it must be to potentially not sign anyone for two consecutive junis. Now fold the bat.

It is aggravated by the activity of rivals United. Liverpool bought a World Cup winner for a paltry fee in Alexis Mac Allister, Manchester City replaced the Treble-winning leader before walking away with Mateo Kovacic and Declan Rice looks set to bring Lines Central and Piccadilly to Arsenal.

This again. Liverpool have indeed bought Alexis Mac Allister, but that alone won’t close the eight-point gap with Manchester United.

Manchester City are yet to finalize the signing of Mateo Kovacic, but if they do, as you say, they will be replacing a Treble-winning captain. So it’s certainly not an overall gain.

And if Declan Rice looks ‘destined’ to join Arsenal, why are Manchester City bothering to hijack that move?

Luckhurst ends his ominous article by writing about Manchester United’s most disastrous summer transfer window of 2013, when Marouane Fellaini arrived with more than one release clause that expired a month early and the club “signed someone ‘one in June’.

And Guillermo Varela has been such a resounding success that it’s bewildering Manchester United are flirting with the idea of ​​going two consecutive Junes without a signing.

Rome.com
Staying with Luckhurst, who couldn’t help but dig a former Old Trafford striker:

Some at United may need a refresher. Six years ago United agreed a £90million transfer fee for Romelu Lukaku, who has one year left on his contract at Everton.

United overtook Chelsea to turn Lukaku’s head, but there was consensus that a striker in his early 20s with Big Five league influence would demand a club-record transfer fee.

This was when United’s summer budget was capped at £150million and a month before Neymar and Kylian Mbappe’s crucial transfers to Paris Saint-Germain. Lukaku didn’t score or stay long enough to trigger his £15m extras.

Someone should probably tell Paul Hirst of The Times, who wrote in May 2019: “It is clear United have since paid Everton a further £15m in add-ons as part of the deal.”

Laird’s bath
“Three Manchester United youngsters can earn first-team place on pre-season tour” – Manchester Evening News.

“Four Manchester United youngsters to impress Erik ten Hag in pre-season” – Manchester Evening News.

Three hours and 56 minutes between the publication of the two stories. And it’s bad news for Ethan Laird, who may be looking to impress Erik ten Hag in pre-season but he seems to be failing to earn first-team places in pre-season.

Watch out for yourself
“ANOTHER Sky Sports presenter reveals he is leaving the broadcaster due to widespread job cuts – a week after they cut half their squad of football reporting and the departure of Martin Tyler” – MailOnline.

Complete with a split photo of Martin Tyler and Geoff Shreeves, the story is clearly about John Fendley, as only revealed in the sixth paragraph.