Liverpool’s stuttering and faltering end to the season has meant the transfer rumour mill has gone into overdrive even earlier than normal.
The likely absence of Champions League football next season means that Brendan Rodgers won’t be able to shop at Europe’s top boutiques.
And while he may have hoped to pick up a bargain or two in the sales (I’ll stop this analogy now) that may be harder than anticipated if other play hardball as hard as Alan Pardew plays hardball.
Crystal Palace midfielder Yannick Bolasie is one name that has been heavily linked with Liverpool which prompted Pards to slap a £20m price tag on the 26-year-old.
When the general vibe coming out of Anfield was ‘yeah, that seems about right – we paid £25m for Adam Lallana after all’ Pards obviously decided to see how far he could push it.
Now he has said that Bolasie is for sale for somewhere between £40m and £60m.
“I’ll sell Yannick, if someone wants to give me £40m to £60m, somewhere in there, that would be good,” Pardew said. “I’ll take it and we’ll build the team around that money. Every player has a price, of course. All these players here are undervalued, in my opinion.”
So is that £50m, Alan? Because that’s right between £40m and £60m.
Or do you mean £41m because having indicated what you’d accept for the player it’s unlikely that anyone is going to come in and give you the higher amount?
Although it is Liverpool, so maybe Pards is on to something.
