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Liverpool may look likely to close out the month without making a first team signing, instead relying on the recall of Jordon Ibe and return from injury of Daniel Sturridge and Jon Flanagan as providing the club with three players who will, to use the old cliche, be like new signings. That doesn’t mean, though, that they might not look at a player or two for the future.
If rumours are to be believed, though the focus with the first team is on working with the players on hand after last summer’s major spend following the departure of Luis Suarez, there could still be a youngster or two welcomed into the fold before the month is over. The latest name added to the list is Championship side Ipswich Town’s breakthrough 18-year-old midfielder Teddy Bishop.
Having worked his way through the ranks at Ipswich since he joined the under eight side more than a decade ago, Bishop has broken through to the first team this season and established himself as a regular in Mick McCarthy’s side. In twelve stars and a further six appearances off the bench, the youngster has recorded one goal and five assists in his first season with the first team at his boyhood club.
Liverpool are rumoured to have inquired as to Bishop’s availability with an eye to bringing him in early—though likely with a loan straight back to Ipswich. If reports are to be believed, they have been rebuffed in their efforts to land the midfielder, who is also rumoured to be an Arsenal and Manchester United target, but the suggestion is that if they fail to land him this month they will return in the summer.
The widespread interest in Bishop is at the root of Liverpool’s rumoured desire to get a deal done as soon as possible for the £10M rated youngster, though as yet the links appear tenuous. The links will also raise questions in the minds of many fans if they develop into something more solid before the month is out, no matter that most can understand the need for Liverpool to build through youth.
Building for the future by investing in youth may be the only way for Liverpool to compete with the biggest spending clubs. Yet with acute needs at either end of the pitch, throwing £10M at a player for the future right now would seem foolish to many when £10M buys a quality goalkeeper and £12M is the rumoured asking price for Villarreal striker and previously rumoured target Luciano Vietto.
