Things could hardly be going better for Liverpool on the pitch right now, but have they missed a trick in the January transfer window?
The Reds had entered into talks over a potential swoop for Stefanos Tzimas last month off the back of a fine first half-season on loan at Nurnberg, who’ve activated their option to purchase the Greek striker from PAOK Salonika.
However, on deadline day earlier this week, Brighton confirmed the signing of the 19-year-old, who’ll remain with the 2.Bundesliga club for the rest of this campaign before moving to the Amex Stadium.
Falk hails ‘exciting’ Tzimas transfer
In his latest Fact Files column for The Daily Briefing, Christian Falk talked up the Seagulls’ acquisition of the teenage marksman as a standout coup.
The German transfer reporter wrote: “I think Stefanos Tzimas is an exciting signing for Brighton. His current coach at FC Nurnberg, Miroslav Klose, one of the best strikers in the history of football (having scored the most goals of all-time in the World Cup), educated this player. If Klose says this is a good striker, I think he knows a little bit more than us!
“It’s a big deal – €25m from Brighton. Nurnberg is a club in Bundesliga 2; it’s a lot of money for them! They can now trigger the release clause they have with PAOK (€18m), so they’ll get €7m for this deal and have the player until the summer.
“We’re keeping an eye on Tzimas and are very excited about his future. Ultimately, it’s not normal that a player from the German second division moves directly to the Premier League, so you see that he’s of a good quality. It’s great news for Nurnberg who have earned a lot of money.”
Have Liverpool missed out by not signing Tzimas?
As Falk points out, it’s not a common occurrence for an established Premier League to snap up a player directly from 2.Bundesliga, so Tzimas clearly seems to be a distinguished talent.
The teenager has netted 10 times across 17 league games for Nurnberg so far this season, justifying the endorsement from Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler of having ‘a natural ability to score goals‘.
Liverpool fans will obviously be hoping that the Anfield hierarchy haven’t missed out by not signing a player who evidently carries plenty of promise, particularly now that he’s joined a fellow top-flight club.
However, with Arne Slot boasting such an abundance of attacking riches that the likes of Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa can be left on the bench through choice and sheer depth, it could be argued that Tzimas is someone who’d have been nice to have but not a necessity for the Reds.
It’ll be compelling to see how he fares in English football once he links with Brighton in the summer. Let’s just hope he doesn’t haunt us in future Premier League meetings agains the Seagulls!
