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Most Liverpool fans have been focused on potential incomings, Luis Suarez, and the potential incomings if Luis Suarez heads to Barcelona so far this summer. The star striker isn't the only player likely to start next season elsewhere, though, even if he is the only likely guaranteed starter on his way out.
Players like Fabio Borini and Suso remain on the bubble, and Iago Aspas seems likely to return to Spain, but the man closest to an exit is Oussama Assaidi. Mostly it seems to be a matter of Liverpool and Stoke agreeing to terms. However, so far at least that's been easier said than done.
"As the chairman and the manager have already said, he's a player we like," Stoke chief executive Tony Scholes told BBC Radio Stoke. "He did very well last year and settled in. Everything points to it being a good match for both the club and the player, but, at the moment, the prices we're being quotes are just wrong."
The 25-year-old Moroccan winger impressed for Stoke, though following rumoured complications in his recovery from a knee injury, the West Midlands club seemed to signal they were moving on. In light of Scholes' latest comments, that now appears a negotiating ploy—an attempt to drive down his price.
If it had worked, Assaidi would likely be a Stoke player today. Instead, we're left waiting to see if the two clubs can bridge the valuation gap. Maybe Stoke should try offering a few add-ons.
