Liverpool appear to have missed out on the opportunity to secure an experienced defender on a free transfer this summer.
A report from TEAMtalk on Monday claimed that John Stones is among the centre-back options who’d been ‘under serious consideration’ at Anfield and was ‘viewed as an especially attractive option’ after the expiry of his contract with Manchester City.
The Telegraph‘s Dominic King had been advocating for the Reds to snap up the 32-year-old for free, hailing him as a ‘class act’ who would ‘tick so many boxes’ for Andoni Iraola’s side.
However, it would appear that the England international isn’t going to be playing his football with Liverpool any time soon – or indeed with anyone in the Premier League.
According to reports from Sky Sports in Italy, Stones has reached a verbal agreement on a free transfer to Inter Milan, with his representatives set to finalise terms with the Serie A champions over a two-year contract.
The Nerazzurri had been aware of ‘significant interest’ in the ex-Man City defender from the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea and accelerated to close a deal for him, with Ben Jacobs sharing via X (with attribution to Fabrizio Romano) that the player is ‘expected to formalise’ the move to San Siro this week.
Although it never seemed as though Liverpool were truly in the mix to sign Stones, instead merely having him ‘under consideration’, this feels like an opportunity missed for the Anfield hierarchy.
The need for centre-back recruitment was heightened by the sight of Joe Gomez going off early in the weekend win over Sunderland, which left Iraola without any senior players in that position to call upon due to injuries and post-World Cup holidays.
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Virgil van Dijk’s return to the AXA Training Centre today was most welcome, and Gomez and Jeremy Jacquet have only minor issues. Even once they all return, though (along with Giovanni Leoni), it still feels as though the Reds would be one centre-back light of having that position properly covered off.
Stones may be 32 and have been on high wages at Man City (£250,000 per week, according to Capology), but bringing him in on a free transfer for even a couple of years would’ve given Liverpool some hugely experienced defensive reinforcement and another influential voice in the dressing room.
It was also claimed (via TEAMtalk) that the England defender was ‘open to discussing’ a potential move to Anfield, which’ll heighten the sense of frustration at missing out on what had seemed a glorious market opportunity for LFC in their current predicament.
Alas, FSG will immediately need to switch their attention elsewhere in the search for centre-back recruitment, something which has now become all the more essential over the remaining five weeks of the transfer window.
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ANOTHER LOSS FOR LFC…
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