On the day Milos Kerkez completes his £40 million transfer to Liverpool, there was an interesting claim on talks with Kevin De Bruyne earlier in the summer.
Today’s Main LFC Headline
With De Bruyne leaving Man City after 10 years, some supporters held an unlikely pipe dream the legendary midfielder joining Liverpool.
While the move always seemed improbable – the Belgian ended up signing for Napoli – The Athletic‘s Sam Lee reports there was actually a “short conversation” held between Liverpool and player’s camp.
However “there are conflicting accounts of who approached who” and the deal for Florian Wirtz showed he “would not necessarily have been a regular starter.”
It would be hard for a club to say no to a player with the quality of De Bruyne, but the midfielder wouldn’t have been the heartbeat of the team and would have had to settle for life as a squad player.
While it would have been nice to bring boyhood Liverpool fan home, him moving to the Italian champions and Liverpool signing Wirtz wasn’t a bad result for all involved.
Today’s Liverpool FC News
• Liverpool’s asking price for Darwin Nunez is claimed to be just over £42 million, with Napoli now set to make a bid after being given the green light – did we expect any more than that?
• Left-back Owen Beck is attracting interest from the Premier League, Championship and Scottish Premiership – including an expected offer to join Rangers permanently
• Liverpool have announced a series of changes to their ticketing system for next season – read the details here
• Jurgen Klopp has revealed that had Liverpool’s £52 million deal for Nabil Fekir had gone through, they wouldn’t have been able to afford Alisson – talk about a blessing in disguise!
Elsewhere in the football world today
• Jordan Henderson could be set for a Premier League return, with Nottingham Forest interested in the ex-Liverpool captain – who can leave Ajax for free!
• Middlesbrough have appointed former Luton boss Rob Edwards as their new manager to replace Michael Carrick (mfc.co.uk)
• After Jude Bellingham criticised the pitches at the Club World Cup, Luis Enrique has become the latest figure to complain, saying that the “ball bounced like a rabbit” in PSG’s 2-0 win over Seattle Sounders (BBC Sport)
• Brentford have agreed a deal to promote set-piece coach Keith Andrews as replacement for head coach Thomas Frank (Guardian)
In the community
You may have heard about how Zoe’s Place baby hospice, not far from Melwood, was saved from closure last year, thanks to an astonishing campaign that fundraised over £5 million in a month.
As a charity, the work isn’t over, with the running costs totalling up to £2.5 million per year.
To help fundraise, Merseyside musicians have come together to put on an incredible night of music at the M&S Bank Arena, that will be accompanied all night by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
You can get tickets for ‘A Celebration of Zoe’s Place’ on July 17 here.
