Liverpool have reached the stage in the transfer window where they are going to have to be very, very careful. They have known since March they will have to replace Mohamed Salah. But now just a fortnight before deadline day, they still haven't brought in a signing on the right flank.
Barcola deal a non-starter at £130m
Talk of a move for Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain continues and he's certainly a quality player, although I don't know much about Ibrahim Mbaye, the other PSG player we are said to be looking at. Whether Barcola would be brought in to play on the left or right, I'm not sure. But Liverpool will have a plan and Andoni Iraola will know what he wants.
But there comes a point when enough is enough. There's simply no way Barcola is worth the supposed £130million PSG are asking and the Reds simply cannot afford to pay that. It's a crazy game of poker in a way, a case of who will blink first between Liverpool and the French side.
However, an increasing number of supporters I'm speaking to say that while they want a top player to come in and replace Salah, they don't want Liverpool to be held to ransom. The problem is I'm not sure there are many players who are capable of getting close to the quality Salah had for most of his Reds career. They are going to have to be top notch.
Squad depth concerns
It's a tough situation for both Iraola and the club. The head coach has to put his faith in the recruitment team. And clearly Barcola doesn't want to make up the numbers at PSG, and they are buying wide players this summer. The deal looks doable, but not at any price.
There is also a chance that by leaving any transfer so late in the window, Liverpool are setting themselves up for a repeat of the Alexander Isak situation from last year, and nobody wants that. Whatever happens, Liverpool simply cannot allow any more senior players to leave.
Sunday showed we are light in terms of quality. The difference between the team that lined up for the evening game and that which played out the goalless draw earlier in the day was stark. There has to be a question mark over whether the depth is sufficient right now for a team that hopes to compete at the top end of the Premier League and deep into the Champions League.
No more sales
I'm not saying Liverpool need to have a squad capable of challenging for the title. But we have to give ourselves a chance of a top-four finish. So the talk about Cody Gakpo potentially leaving is worrying. Liverpool cannot sell him. It would be insane to do that.
There's already a good chance Curtis Jones could go and there are others like Harvey Elliott and Federico Chiesa. Yes, I know a couple of the young lads have done well in pre-season such as Trey Nyoni, and he in particular will get more minutes this season and hopefully kick on. But Liverpool need to be buying players - not selling them.
New investors can't change Liverpool
Much has been made of the investment deal agreed by Liverpool with the 1892 Holdings consortium that includes Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. It's hard to really comment on it properly until we learn the full ins and outs. But it's a further sign of how football has changed massively during the Premier League era.
For me, as long as it doesn't hurt the structure of the club then I would probably give the deal a cautious welcome. Surely those coming in will know all about Liverpool, about how we are an iconic club with a very passionate fanbase and how we have very particular ideals and values. Would they want to change that? I don't think so. They are successful businesspeople for a reason, and they will know what works.
By definition, it will make the club richer. And is that what fans want? Possibly so, if it means we have the spending power of the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City in the transfer market. Fenway Sports Group have been astute in balancing the books compared to many other clubs and making Liverpool self-sustainable, and I can't see a massive change from that.
But it might give the club a little more leeway to invest in the squad long-term, because most of the infrastructure is already in place.
