It’s hard not to be a touch disappointed but ultimately you have to trust the people that have done so excellently in assembling this team.
Klopp has performed masterfully with the assembly of this team, and you don’t need me to list the numerous players who weren’t fancied by other clubs (and our own fanbase) prior to signing for Liverpool and becoming absolutely pivotal to what we’ve achieved. That said, we signed the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, the most expensive centre half in the world, spent over 70 million on Fabinho and Chamberlain and went from a, potentially excellent, but largely inconsistent team, to a team that has amassed 97 points, won a european cup and is looking likely to win the league. It’s clear that spending, and at times spending big, has played a key part in putting us where we are now.
Far be it from me to try to dictate how the manager and club should act - they’ve got credit in the bank and have earnt my trust, I’m sure that the decision was a calculated one and one which they feel is for the overall benefit of the club. I am no accountant and I won’t even try to add my take on the financial side of things, except to say that the line I keep hearing is that we can’t meet Werner’s buyout clause because of COVID-19, and therefore any player costing similar (or more) will also be out of reach. Now that may well be true, but I think that the one thing which has been certain throughout this crisis in every area, is uncertainty. My point is that Werner’s clause needs to be activated shortly, that, combined with Chelsea’s interest presumably meant that the club had to act now if they wanted him - it may well be the case that if this could be done in August, rather than June, and the club had a while longer to observe the financial impact of this, that we could have acted - with that in mind I wouldn’t necessarily say that just because we couldn’t sanction Werner doesn’t mean that we won’t be able to sanction a signing of a similar amount in this transfer window - I do think that there’s a fair chance that the time limits on the transfer were a factor in us being unable to do business as well as the cost.
When it comes to transfers, Its not something which I’m too invested in, ultimately I just want the club to be successful, and whilst there is an obvious correlation between (good) transfer work and success, ultimately it is the latter which is of my concern and the former is simply a means to its end. The line which is often used is to judge the club at the end of the transfer window, in my opinion we should be judging at the end of the season, what appears a successful transfer window does not necessarily equate to a successful season - just ask Everton. If we sign nobody this season and win the league next season then I, and I’d imagine everybody else, will be ecstatic and won’t be looking back to our lack of transfer business.
I can’t add to much on the merits of Werner specifically, I’ve watched only a handful of his games. All I can say is it is a touch disappointing that we weren’t able to get it done as it seems fairly clear that the manager wanted to sign him, and, given his track record with signings, I’m sure that means he would have stood a fairly good chance of success here, it’s a shame we won’t get to see that.
Ultimately, I find it hard to get too worked up about this. I’ve waited 30 years for this league title and it looks like it’s now imminent, I’d have been delighted if we signed Werner as well but at the end of the day we’ll be lifting the title up in a few weeks, that’s what we’re all in it for.
