OPINION
Michael Edwards’ catalogue of super-shrewd Liverpool transfers is an extensive one.
The Anfield sporting director can take a significant share of the credit for recruiting the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Alisson in recent windows.
But the Liverpool transfer and contract guru has pulled off his smartest deal yet by making sure that Barcelona won’t be able to poach any of Liverpool’s players for the next two years.
That is the upshot of a surcharge agreed by the two clubs as part of the £142million transfer that took Philippe Coutinho from Anfield to Camp Nou in January.
As reported by the Times’ Merseyside correspondent Paul Joyce, Barcelona will have to pay an £89million premium “in addition to any transfer fee” should they sign another Liverpool player before 2020.
Barcelona will have to pay a 100million Euros premium in addition to any transfer fee should they try and sign another Liverpool player before 2020.
The clause was negotiated by sporting director Michael Edwards as part of Philippe Coutinho’s £142million move. @TimesSport— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) November 21, 2018
Basically, were the Spanish giants to try and sign Salah, Van Dijk, Roberto Firmino or any of the other star Liverpool players in the next few years, they will be completely priced out.
What price Salah in January? Or, Van Dijk? At current market rates, around £150million, which would effectively cost Barcelona around £250million.
That cuts off the La Liga champions for the next two transfer windows, at least, and possibly more, although it is not stated at which point in 2020 the surcharge expires.
For any Liverpool player looking for a more glamorous move, the main real threats are Barcelona and Real Madrid, although Manchester City should not be discounted given their Pep pulling power.
That Edwards has staved off one of those threats should be celebrated by every Liverpool follower as a brilliant move.