Liverpool hoping to avoid £107m mistake by targeting Lille star

Liverpool could be about to copy Brighton’s transfer approach after registering their interest in Lille’s Carlos Baleba after missing out on Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.

Last week was a frustrating week for Liverpool fans as transfer reports came thick and fast surrounding their pursuit of midfield duo Caicedo and Lavia, but the club fell short to the spending power of Chelsea on both occasions.

Liverpool’s need for a defensive midfielder is becoming a fundamental issue and having already begun the season without securing a player in that role is certainly worrying.

One team that has replaced and replenished their squad better than anyone in recent years is Brighton; they bought Caicedo for a small fee of around £4m in 2021 and two years later he’s just become the highest British transfer of all time - and they’re already looking to sign his replacement just days after his sale.

Now Liverpool have also registered their interest in Lille’s Baleba - the Daily Mail have reported that Liverpool are one of a number of clubs interested in the highly-rated young midfielder and Brighton are also in discussions over a move for the midfielder, offering a fee of £15m fee plus add-ons.

The 19-year-old is still extremely young but considering Brighton’s consistent success in the market, it may make sense for Liverpool to also enter the race. After all, they’ve recouped an enormous amount of money from players who have gone onto become stars after joining for low fees.

It’s the type of transfer that Liverpool in the past would be lauded for; the hard work behind the scenes of Michael Edwards and then Julian Ward meant their transfer business was the envy of all the other top teams in the country, and across Europe.

They were once offered the chance to buy Enzo Fernandez, who just produced a hugely convincing man of the match performance against Liverpool, for just £15m a few years ago.

He has since gone onto become one of the world’s best young midfielders, winning the World Cup with Argentina and breaking the British transfer record earlier this year and they won’t want to make that mistake again.

With the market for defensive midfielders looking scarce as it stands, following Brighton’s low-risk high-reward approach isn’t something we typically see top teams do, but, at this point, Liverpool may be desperate enough to try it.