Looking back to last summer, it should be no surprise that Liverpool turned to the Bundesliga for the bulk of their £150m midfield overhaul.
When Jorg Schmadtke was appointed as the Reds’ new sporting director on a short-term contract, having previously held similar posts at VfL Wolfsburg, FC Koln, Hannover 96, and Alemannia Aachen over the past two decades, the writing was on the wall.
With the departing Julian Ward staying on an extra week to help oversee the already-agreed £35m arrival of Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton & Hove Albion, Schmadtke then stepped in and made use of his contacts in his homeland over the rest of the summer.
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Dominik Szoboszlai was brought in from RB Leipzig in a £60m deal after Liverpool activated his release clause, while long-term target Ryan Gravenberch was belatedly snapped up from Bayern Munich in a deal worth up to £40m on transfer deadline day.
Jurgen Klopp would later admit that the Reds had had to be patient for the Dutchman, declaring, ‘We knew there was a chance for Ryan,’ when later recalling the start of pre-season at an Anfield Road stand test event in December. With the club holding talks with his representatives through much of the first half of 2023, such a move was a long time coming.
Meanwhile, after being left frustrated in their pursuits of a new holding midfielder after the unexpected exits of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabia, missing out on the likes of Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, and Andre Trindade, Liverpool eventually settled on Wataru Endo from VfB Stuttgart.
Admittedly, onlookers
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