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The most frustrating transfer saga of the summer has finally come to a conclusion, but unfortunately it's not a happy one.
The Liverpool Echo is reporting that the deal for Sevilla left back Alberto Moreno has officially broken down, and that Liverpool are moving on to other targets. The deal had previously stalled some weeks ago, but it was hoped that after recent Liverpool efforts to revive the deal, something could be done to get Moreno to England.
Ian Ayre reportedly went down to Spain to work on the deal, and it was also hoped that the loan of Iago Aspas might grease the wheels a bit. Liverpool even upped the total value of their offer, believed by some to be over £18 million, up from £16 million previously.
Alas, an increased offer and a new striker weren't enough to get Sevilla to budge off their prized fullback, and now Liverpool are back at square one.
The Echo lists Swansea City youngster Ben Davies as an alternative to Moreno, and that's a thought that makes sense. At 21, Davies isn't much older than Moreno, but already has two Premier League seasons under his belt. He perhaps doesn't have the pure upside of a Moreno or a Ricardo Rodriguez or an Alex Sandro, but he'd also be much cheaper and easier to get than those three, already knows the league, and already knows the manager. He also still has a fair bit of upside for himself, so it's not like this is some random scrub we're talking about.
Rodgers knows him well as Davies was coming up through the Welsh team's academy system while Liverpool's manager was in charge there, and if he's willing to sign off on bringing Davies in, it'd be hard to be against the move. The Echo doesn't moot a price to wrest Davies away from Swansea, but something in the neighborhood of £10-12 million should be enough to get Swansea to sell.
Other known targets of Liverpool's at the position have recently included Guilherme Siqueira and Ryan Bertrand. Siqueira, however, has moved to Atletico Madrid to replace the Chelsea-bound Felipe Luis, and the Echo say that Chelsea are unwilling to sell Betrand to a direct rival. That seems odd after Chelsea sold Juan Mata to Manchester United, but whatever, most everything Chelsea does is weird.
While losing out on a talent of Moreno's quality is disappointing, one thing we've seen this summer is that Liverpool aren't narrowing their focus too far down. They'll move on to another target in a hurry, likely Davies in this case, and if that doesn't work out, they'll find another quality name to plug in. Given faith and time, this summer is going to be a lot of fun.
