OPINION
Throughout his time as Liverpool sporting director, Michael Edwards has made a habit of getting value for money in player signings and sales.
So the Reds chief won’t like the latest report surrounding their summer signing of teenage winger Harvey Elliott from Fulham. Football Insider claimed on Saturday that the Cottagers are confident of securing a £10million+ fee from a tribunal for Liverpool’s signing of the player.
The Championship side are said to be preparing a dossier which will demonstrate that the 16-year-old is a rare talent with the potential to become a Premier League and international star with Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The Reds have previous with this sort of thing, with a tribunal ruling in 2016 that the club had to pay a record fee of £8million to Burnley in compensation for the free agent signing of striker Danny Ings, as per The Independent.
It would surely be best, though, for Edwards and co. to simply bite the bullet and cough up for the youngster. They must have known this sort of fee was a possibility, yet they signed him anyway.
Clearly, then, they viewed Elliott’s talent and potential as being worth the risk of having to pay a big compensation package for him. Yes, £10m+ for a teenager isn’t ideal, but if they really have faith that he’s going to become a first team player, then it’s not a bad sum of money.
Honestly, who are you going to sign for £10million or less whose going to potentially be a first team player for the Reds? It’s just not possible. Yet with Elliott, perhaps only in several years’ time, it is.
With that said, Liverpool should keep their opposition minimal to whatever ruling the tribunal comes up with, even if it is this hefty eight-figure possibility.
