Liverpool journalist Paul Gorst has shared some insight into the Merseyside club’s recent signing of full-back Kostas Tsimikas and their original pursuit of Norwich City defender Jamal Lewis.
This comes after Gorst recently made an appearance on the Liverpool Echo’s Blood Red Podcast to discuss this latest news from the club.
After having a £10 million bid for Lewis rejected, Liverpool then signed Tsimikas from Olympiacos for a fee of £11.7 million.
During the podcast, which was recorded before Tsimikas was officially announced as a Liverpool player, Gorst shared his thoughts on their pursuit of Lewis and their decision to make a move for the Greek defender.
He said: “While Jamal Lewis was the first-choice target, I think Liverpool looked at it and felt that there was a little bit more value to be found in the European market. It was referenced behind the scenes that Everton’s £17 million deal for Lucas Digne from Barcelona when Liverpool would have been paying £20 million for someone who should have been relegated in the Premier League which, okay was not directly down to Jamal Lewis, but Liverpool just feel that they can kind of unearth a little bit more quality looking elsewhere.”
Since making his senior debut at Olympiacos back in 2015, Tsimikas went on to make a total of 86 appearances for the Greek side, in which he managed to provide 12 assists for the club (per Transfermarkt).
Are you pleased Liverpool chose to sign Tsimikas over Jamal Lewis?
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TIF Thoughts…
Despite Liverpool eventually signing Tsimikas, the fact that they had a bid rejected for Lewis first proves that, as Gorst said, he was their first-choice target.
With Liverpool having their bid for Lewis rejected, it could well be that the club didn’t want to pay the £20m fee Norwich were thought to be holding out for.
Given the financial impact the current global pandemic has had on Premier League clubs and the transfer market this year, perhaps opting to buy Tsimikas instead of paying extra for Lewis was the sensible option from the Merseyside club from a financial point of view.