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If there's one thing to be said for Liverpool's transfer business so far this summer, it's that they're at least trying to get some of it done early. Last summer's early acquisition of Rickie Lambert coupled with the early rumblings for Adam Lallana and Alberto Moreno gave Liverpool fans hope that nothing would be left until the last minute and everything would be sorted out in a relaxing, reasonable time frame.
The departure of Luis Suarez at the beginning of July threw a spanner into the works, but it was otherwise a sound approach to getting transfer business done. It's still early days — it's still May! — in this summer's transfer shenanigans, but Liverpool have already been connected with a variety of players at the Submitted An Actual Bid stage, according to some well placed and not-so-well placed sources.
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One such player is Southampton's Nathaniel Clyne, whose current club allegedly already rejected a £10m bid from Liverpool for the player's services. The Reds will have to pony up £15m if they want the right back to move to Merseyside, which is less than Southampton's current valuation for the player but probably the best the Saints can do for a player with one year left on his contract.
So long as Liverpool pay the £15m, Southampton are evidently prepared to let Clyne move on should he just say the word. With a trio of former teammates already on Merseyside and positioned to do some convincing, it might not be that difficult to lure the defender away now that Southampton have named their price. Whether Liverpool are willing to meet it is, of course, another matter entirely.
