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First, Liverpool's top defensive target was Alberto Moreno, but Spanish side Sevilla proved unwilling to lower their roughly £20M asking price. Then, Liverpool looked to Swansea's Ben Davies as Plan B, but with half an eye still on Moreno the player instead chose certainty and settled on a move to Spurs before Liverpool could bid.
As a result, Liverpool are now widely reported to have moved on to Brendan Rodgers' third-choice left back, Ryan Bertrand. The 24-year-old Chelsea man has seen his career stall despite some early promise and now, the same age as Martin Kelly, finds he has reached a stage where those at Stamford Bridge don't believe that he will ever fulfil his promise.
Enter Liverpool and a reported £8M bid, which seems more than generous for a player who has spent his entire career kicking around in the reserves or out on loan, the latest of which was a rather uninspiring stint with Aston Villa last season. Burned by selling Daniel Sturridge to Liverpool, though, Chelsea are resistant.
And so far it seems it is only that resistance on the part of Chelsea to sell to a club they now consider a rival that is stopping the deal getting done. An £8M offer from nearly any other club and Bretrand would have been long gone—likely with Chelsea fans celebrating what they would see as the fleecing of another club.
When it's Liverpool doing the asking and the last player you sold to them turned into the league's second top goalscorer, the picture changes. For Liverpool fans, too, it is likely only the Sturridge situation that is giving them any hope when faced with a rumoured transfer target that if called underwhelming would be an understatement.
Rodgers did spend time with Bertrand in his Chelsea days, though, and perhaps more should be willing to extend him the benefit of the doubt on that basis. And after having received £75M for Luis Suarez, there can be little reason for Liverpool to chase the cheap option simply because it's the cheap option—if Liverpool buy Bertrand, it must be because they rate him highly.
Not many others do, including most of his managers over the years at Chelsea, who have collectively loaned Bertrand out to Bournemouth, Oldham Athletic, Norwich City, Reading, and Nottingham Forest along with Aston Villa over the eight seasons he's been on their books as a senior player. In that time he has made 28 league appearances for Chelsea.
