The corridors of Anfield may be buzzing with tactical optimism, but the recruitment department has just felt a cold draught from Berlin. Liverpool hav...
The corridors of Anfield may be buzzing with tactical optimism, but the recruitment department has just felt a cold draught from Berlin. Liverpool have failed in their high profile pursuit of Hertha BSC whiz Kennet Eichhorn, a 16 year old already causing tremors in the Bundesliga's youth ranks. Despite Liverpool tabling an offer that GoalZaza understands was financially weighty and packaged with the full allure of a Premier League giant, the teenager has told them thanks, but no thanks.This one stings for the Merseyside recruitment team, not because they lacked ambition, but because they ran into a kid who clearly values something more than the size of a signing on fee. What exactly has pulled the lad from the lure of English football We can only speculate, but the persistent refusal to be persuaded suggests a deep seated confidence in his own development path. Perhaps he sees the fast track to first team football at Hertha, or maybe he simply fancies remaining at home a while longer. Whatever the reasoning, it is a rare moment of rejection for a club used to getting its way in the market.From a tactical standpoint, losing a player of Eichhorn's mould is a blow to a long term plan. This is not a marquee signing for the present, but an investment in the future. Liverpool's model under the current regime relies heavily on identifying raw talent before it hits the stratosphere and commanding astronomical fees. Eichhorn, a prospect with the kind of tactical flexibility and transitional burst that gets a scout's pulse racing, would have slotted beautifully into a youth setup that values versatility and a high press. His clinical finishing in the Bundesliga youth divisions has drawn comparisons to a certain generation of German forwards, and the thought of him linking up with the senior side in a few seasons was a tantalising prospect for the Kop.For now, the club must dust itself off and look elsewhere. The transfer market is a brutal landscape where even the most compelling proposal can be swatted away by a whim or a deep rooted local loyalty. Liverpool will be seething, but they will also recognise that pushing a 16 year old too hard never ends well. The smart money is on the recruitment team already having a second name on their whiteboard. They do tend to learn from their scrapes. The postscripts to such stories can be fascinating. If Eichhorn goes on to become the star everyone expects, Liverpool will be left wondering what might have been. And if he falters, they will be relieved they dodged a bullet. Right now though, the men from Anfield are left holding an empty folder and a very real sense of what might have been.
