Craig’s Column: Richard Hughes Has Left Liverpool Scrambling Again
Bradley Barcola will become a Liverpool player and I am delighted about it. I wanted him, Andoni Iraola wanted him and Liverpool have eventually got the biggest deal of their summer over the line. But one £120 million signing cannot be allowed to disguise what has happened around it because, with the transfer window rapidly running out, Liverpool once again look like a club scrambling around for answers they should have had months ago.
This is the bit that drives me mad. We keep hearing about complicated deals, difficult markets and players attracting interest from other clubs, as though Liverpool somehow discovered in August that signing elite footballers might involve competition. Where was the planning? Where is this supposedly industry leading recruitment operation we have heard so much about? Richard Hughes has had more than enough time to understand what Iraola requires, yet we are heading towards the deadline still needing a right winger, still needing more balance in midfield, still looking light at right-back and potentially requiring another forward. That does not look like execution to me. It looks like desperation.
Mbaye Miss Raises Serious Questions
Ibrahim Mbaye going to Aston Villa is probably the deal that has tipped me over the edge.
Liverpool have looked at him, spoken about him and explored the possibility of bringing him in. We also had very strong information from the player side that Mbaye wanted Liverpool. Yet Villa appear to have got the deal done for around €55 million, despite figures around €70 million being pushed in Liverpool’s direction during our involvement.
How does that happen?
Maybe there is an entirely reasonable explanation. Perhaps Villa structured the deal differently or PSG preferred their proposal. Their ownership also has a strong relationship with PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and relationships matter in football. But that immediately brings me back to Hughes. We were told about his contacts, his network and this little black book of relationships that would benefit Liverpool. Where are they when Liverpool actually need them?
I am not saying we should simply pay whatever selling clubs demand. Quite the opposite. But there comes a point where you have to ask why Liverpool repeatedly appear to hit these walls. We have had rejected approaches around Yankuba Minteh and Ismaïla Sarr, Mbaye now appears Villa bound, and the entire search for a right sided attacker has increasingly resembled throwing names at the wall and hoping something sticks.
Liverpool will brief that the Mbaye interest never became particularly advanced. I find that difficult to square with the amount of work and conversations that clearly took place. We seem to get the same routine whenever a player goes somewhere else, suddenly Liverpool apparently never wanted him that much anyway. Supporters are perfectly capable of making their own minds up.
Camara Could Become Another Missed Opportunity
Lamine Camara is another one that frustrates me because this is a player Liverpool have genuinely looked at.
We had information from within the club that groundwork and due diligence were being carried out around a possible deal. I was excited about it because everything I have heard from people who know Camara far better than I do suggests he could bring precisely the sort of balance this midfield needs.
Now Chelsea are reportedly exploring the possibility, with Monaco apparently looking for somewhere around €60 million.
Again, Liverpool may still do something. I am not claiming Camara is definitely going to Chelsea and I am not pretending the window has closed already. But why are we still at the stage of considering and exploring when there are only days remaining?
Liverpool sold Curtis Jones. Harvey Elliott could now be allowed to join Valencia on loan. Stefan Bajcetic has gone. James McConnell has left. Yet supporters are expected to believe the midfield numbers will somehow take care of themselves.
Trey Nyoni is an outstanding young footballer and I want him to get opportunities, but there is a difference between giving a talented youngster meaningful minutes and constructing your entire squad depth around the assumption that he will suddenly be ready to carry a major workload across four competitions. We have already seen Iraola hesitate to use him when Liverpool needed something from the bench.
Camara would make sense. The position makes sense. The player makes sense. So if Liverpool genuinely rate him, why are we waiting?
Elliott Situation Sums Up Liverpool’s Thinking
The Harvey Elliott situation might be the strangest of the lot.
Valencia reportedly want him on loan and Liverpool could end up covering a significant percentage of his wages. If that happens, somebody needs to explain the sporting logic to me.
You are taking another senior option away from a squad that already looks thin, receiving no transfer fee and potentially paying part of his salary while he plays somewhere else. What exactly are Liverpool gaining beyond saving a portion of his wages?
Elliott loves Liverpool. He has Premier League and Champions League experience. He can cover several attacking and midfield roles. I understand completely if the long term decision is that he needs to leave because he will not play enough, but then sell him properly. If nobody offers the valuation Liverpool want, keeping him for another season makes far more sense to me than effectively subsidising another club to use him.
That is the wider problem with this summer. Individual decisions constantly seem disconnected from the needs of the squad.
Cody Gakpo could still leave for Tottenham, yet Liverpool have not secured the natural right winger who would allow that attacking reshuffle to make sense. We might keep Gakpo, which I would have absolutely no issue with, but then we remain overloaded with players who naturally prefer operating from the left while asking others to fill unfamiliar roles elsewhere.
Why can’t we simply build a balanced squad?
Hughes Cannot Keep Living Off Liverpool’s Reputation
This is ultimately where I land with Richard Hughes.
I have tried to give him time. I have tried to judge each deal individually rather than deciding somebody is useless because Liverpool missed one target. Transfers do collapse. Players choose other clubs. Selling teams change valuations. Nobody completes every deal they want.
But eventually patterns matter.
This is another summer in which Liverpool have entered the season without completing key pieces of business. Another summer where we are being told to remain patient as the deadline approaches. Another summer where the manager is publicly talking about wanting players while the recruitment department tries to close deals at the last possible moment.
Barcola is an excellent signing and Hughes deserves credit for getting that negotiation completed. I am not going to ignore something positive because it does not suit my argument.
But Barcola cannot provide midfield depth, play right-back, operate as Liverpool’s natural right winger and cover every injury across the front line simultaneously.
Iraola has a very good first XI. He probably has 13 or 14 players I would be comfortable relying upon regularly. That is not enough for a club expecting to challenge in the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
Perhaps Hughes pulls something extraordinary out of the bag before Tuesday night. I genuinely hope he does because my concern has never been about winning an argument. I want Liverpool to succeed and I want Iraola given every possible chance to succeed.
Right now, however, I see a sporting director desperately trying to complete work that should never have been left this late.
Supporters are angry because they recognise the pattern.
Barcola was a massive step forward.
Everything around him still looks like a mess.
Much love.