“That’s a dangerous question” – Tottenham player on recent performance, whole campaign ‘hasn’t been pretty’

Liverpool missed out on Micky Van de Ven

Throughout the summer, there were many connections to Micky van de Ven.

It was because to the appointment of Jorg Schmadtke as Liverpool’s acting sporting director that Van van Ven ended up at Wolfsburg.

Even during the summer, The London Evening Standard brought attention to Tottenham’s concern that Liverpool might sabotage their efforts to capture Van van Ven.

Van van Ven preferred to transfer to Tottenham over Liverpool, according to Miguel Delaney of The Independent in October, who also reported that Liverpool was “very interested” in signing him.

The story goes that Tottenham were willing to throw him right into the team, while Liverpool were unable to guarantee regular first-team football. According to TEAMtalk, Virgil van Dijk, a defender for Liverpool, even spoke with Van de Ven to try and persuade him to join the Reds; the two had only recently become teammates in the Netherlands, but Van Dijk allegedly contacted Van de Ven to try and sell him on the move to Merseyside. Apparently, the charm offensive failed, as Tottenham secured a deal worth £34.5 million, rising to £43 million, which now appears to be an incredible deal.

Whilst Van de Ven is now injured, he has been hailed as a ‘machine’ by teammate James Maddison and has been one of the signings of the season.

Liverpool could now turn to Goncalo Inacio

According to a TEAMtalk report, Liverpool is still looking for a left-footed center back and is now considering Sporting ace Gonzalo Inacio.

Liverpool has reportedly been scouting the Portuguese defender on a regular basis for more than two years.

Liverpool has been keeping an eye on Inacio both on the club and international front as they prepare to make a move.

Even though Inacio would appear to be more expensive than Van de Ven, Sporting would need to offer him a £52 million release clause in order to lure him away.

Given that other teams are rumored to be interested in the 22-year-old, Liverpool must now decide whether to exercise that clause in January or wait until the summer.

TEAMtalk claims that Van de Ven was directly approached by Virgil van Dijk regarding a move to Anfield, which explains this.

During the summer, the Reds mostly concentrated on adding midfield players, and they signed Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo, Dominique Szoboszlai, and Alexis Mac Allister.

However, it appears that Liverpool looked at the center back position, considering a left-footed natural.