It looked like Liverpool had the signing of France international Nabil Fekir all sewn up in time for the World Cup. It had been heavily reported that all parties were keen to get the deal completed before Fekir flew to Russia but the deal appears to have fallen apart.
Lyon release statement about Fekir remaining at club.
There have been questions doing the rounds regarding whether he failed his medical, or whether Liverpool tried to negotiate the price based on historical knee injury problems. Lyon released a statement that appeared to quash any hopes of the deal being finalised, stating that they were ‘delighted to be able to count on the presence of their captain in 2018-2019’. Full details of why the deal collapsed have not been revealed and this could mean that Lyon are playing hardball with the price, or that the deal is completely dead.
World Cup makes transfer negotiations more difficult
If Liverpool are definitely not pursuing Fekir any further, then Klopp will still be looking to bolster his team with an attacking midfielder. The only problem is that there does not seem to be too many on the market right now. Negotiations in World Cup transfer windows are notoriously difficult, which makes this even more frustrating for Liverpool. They looked to have been the most proactive team in the transfer window, with deals for Naby Keita and Fabinho all wrapped up. When news broke that the Fekir deal was almost complete, Liverpool fans were ecstatic about their club’s transfer ambitions and speed of getting things done.
Who is Plan B or even Plan C?
However, it looks like they may need to look elsewhere now and other rumoured attacking midfield option Lanzini recently picked up a serious injury that will remove him as an option. Since Coutinho left Liverpool, they have done exceptionally well but they are still in need of a creative midfielder so this is a big blow for their transfer plans. Klopp has been very effective in his transfer business so far at Liverpool, so you would expect that he has a few more ideas up his sleeve this transfer window.