Liverpool’s first signing of the summer is in good company at Anfield, and not just in the sense that he is moving to Premier League champions.
Jamal Lewis appeared to be Liverpool’s first choice to endorse Andy Robertson, but her attempts to sign the Norwich City man were quickly dismissed.
The Canary Islands wanted double the opening offer from Liverpool for their player, a price that Michael Edwards and Co did not consider a reasonable valuation.
And so all the attention turned to Olympiakos man Kostas Tsimikas, who was bought for much less than the fee Lewis would have cost.
Just because Tsimikas wasn’t the first player Liverpool made a move doesn’t mean the transfer deal won’t be a success.
On the latest issue of the Blood Red podcast, Joe Rimmer stated, “Liverpool are very, very smart when it comes to transfers and maybe the talk of ‘second decisions’ is not entirely correct because Liverpool do very well on broadcast plans market.
“Liverpool’s recruiting is very data driven where they find players who are statistically similar and then go out and watch them and make a decision.
“Robertson was technically a ‘second choice’ when Liverpool tried to sign Ryan Sessegnon and Mohamed Salah was technically a ‘second choice’ when Liverpool was negotiating for Julian Brandt.”
Matt Addison said: “You can also add Piotr Zielinski and Gini Wijnaldum to the list, as well as Sadio Mane and Mario Gotze.
“In every position there is an example where there is a list of three or four names of alternatives and that almost helps in the negotiation.
“Norwich was keen to spend the £ 20million on Lewis and they were in a very strong position, but Liverpool were also in a very strong position because they weren’t putting their hopes on a player.”
“They used that as a negotiating tool to choose the best player from the club who was the right one in the end.”
And Paul Gorst concluded: “It’s not always as simple as ‘Who is Liverpool looking at?’ It depends on the circumstances and Liverpool had four left-back options and could easily have ended with Lewis – it’s very fluid .
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“The only two Liverpool have stood firm with have been Alisson and Virgil van Dijk – the two most expensive in Liverpool history and two who are the best in their positions in the world.
“They were the ‘slam dunks’ and they proved it, but it’s not always a thing to have ‘Player A’ and chase him for six months.
“As Liverpool looked at Jamal Lewis, they thought there was a little more value to be found in the European market.”
Mane and Salah are the most transformative signatures of these names listed, but each of them has made a name for themselves in some form and not least since arriving in Anfield.
So Tsimikas can certainly add his name to an elite list. The Greek will take some time to get used to English football but can team up with his teammates before the start of the season.
His debut could come against Arsenal in the Community Shield, which will take place on Saturday 29 August.
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