Watch Richarlison explains Liverpool summer stance as £60m transfer gamble won’t worry Jürgen Klopp

Watch Richarlison explains Liverpool summer stance as £60m transfer gamble won’t worry Jürgen Klopp

With Takumi Minamino and Divock Origi gone, Liverpool may have made a move for another attacker to play in wide areas this summer. Why they didn’t is explained by Richarlison.

If anyone can compete with Liverpool and Manchester City for first place in the Premier League next season, those teams are the most likely rivals.

Richarlison (photo by Getty images)

The top two contenders for the title of third-best team in the nation are Chelsea and Tottenham, but both are presently reshuffling their rosters in preparation for the upcoming season.

Raheem Sterling and Raphinha are being pursued by Chelsea as quickly as they can, while Richarlison of Everton is being pursued by Spurs, who have a £150 million “transfer war chest” at their disposal.

The Brazilian forward’s departure from Goodison Park has not yet been confirmed as of this writing, but a physical has been scheduled for the 25-year-old.

Richarlison will be moving to Tottenham after a “agreement in principle” was reached. Tottenham will pay an initial fee of £50 million for the player, plus an additional £10 million in add-ons, for his services.

Such numbers are eye-watering for a guy who hasn’t shown much in the Champions League (or indeed any European competition).

53 goals have been scored by Richarlison in 153 games for Everton. His is a respectable record for a player who spent the majority of that time playing for a losing team, but the transfer fee was still substantial.

It is comparable to the Raphinha deal Leeds United would desire, another Brazilian international who has been performing admirably for a struggling squad and who is also anticipated to go in this transfer window.

Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chelsea are all interested in him. Liverpool has been linked with Raphinha, a Brazilian international of a similar age, with a similar Premier League record (17 goals in 66 games), and for a comparable price to what Richarlison will cost.

However, the Reds were not interested in paying such a high fee to sign a player who they did not view as being “transformational” this summer.

Heung-min Son and Harry Kane, who now occupy his preferred roles through the center and off the left, are expected to be Richarlison’s backup options at Spurs.

Raphinha would probably fall into the same category as Chelsea’s other attacking alternatives given their abundance, whereas at Anfield, he fills the similar function as Mohamed.

Of course, Liverpool has acquired players from groups that either went down or just missed it themselves.

Just two names that come to mind are Andy Robertson and Gini Wijnaldum, both of whom went on to achieve great success.

However, the combined cost of those two players was less than half of what Spurs might have paid for Richarlison. Both bets were relatively inexpensive, but they both paid off because Liverpool saw value where others did not.

It certainly puts Darwin Nunez’s initial fee of £64 million, the 34-goal attacker who did make an impression on the European scene last season and who is one of a very select few elite number nines, in context given the fees being discussed for both Richarlison and Raphinha.

Therefore it seems unlikely that Richarlison will be in one of the teams hoping to chase down Jürgen Klopp’s men.

In other news, (Video); watch FSG reveals new plans to upgrade midfield as Liverpool midfield maestro is linked with swap deal for Juventus superstar