Liverpool have walked away from negotiations to sign Fenerbahce youngster Arda Guler, after the full cost of the deal became clear.
The Reds have been linked with a move for Guler, who reportedly has a release clause of around £15m. That sounds like a bargain price for a player who Andrea Pirlo proclaimed to have ‘unlimited potential’ only last month [Hurriyet].
However, it’s now emerging that in order to sign the 18-year-old, teams are going to have to pay a lot more than that.
Now, according to ESPN, a clutch of teams – including Liverpool – have decided that the move is getting a little too rich for them. On top of the transfer fee, it’s claimed that suitors will have to pay a ‘significant’ commission to Guler’s agents, as well as surrendering 20% of any future sale to Fenerbahce.
The cost of all that is said to have forced Liverpool to ‘take a step back’ from the talks. Ajax, Sevilla and Borussia Dortmund reportedly joined them in their stance.
There are still said to be clubs well in the race to sign Guler, though. The player himself is said to be dreaming of a move to Real Madrid. But with Madrid already stacked in midfield, they can’t promise the Turkey international regular game time. The saga goes on.
Liverpool pull out of Guler battle
Guler is by no means a top transfer target for Liverpool. First and foremost they need to sort their midfield out before they start looking at players with potential for the future.
As a result, we think it’s absolutely fine for them to walk away from this one.
Some will argue that as a prodigious young talent, Guler is still well worth the money Liverpool would have to pay. Significantly more than £15m could mean anything, but you’d think it’d be unlikely to cost more than, say, £30m as a full package.
Given his potential and even his current quality, that may not be a bad deal for someone.
But for the Reds, every penny appears to count at this stage. As they put full focus on re-tooling a stale looking squad for next season, they need to make their budget stretch as far as they can.
Spending a chunk of it on a player who would be highly unlikely to start for Jurgen Klopp is therefore quite a big no-no.
Some supporters won’t like that. They will, with some justification, argue that Liverpool should be in the mix for any and every ‘wonderkid’ who becomes available. Well, in this instance it seems that they were. But not at any cost. Perhaps we’ll see them return to the table if the demands are reduced.
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