Fundamental Liverpool transfer truth offers Aurelien Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham clue

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There is a fundamental truth about Liverpool transfers these days: if there is prolonged noise around a potential target, then it is not going to happen.

The evidence is there in the last few transfer windows: so many names linked, so much certainty. (Nicolas Pepe anyone?! Timo Werner. Ismaila Sarr. Jadon Sancho. Christian Pulisic. Etc, etc.) The list is endless. None happened. Meanwhile, the likes of Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Kostas Tsimikas, Takumi Minamino, Fabinho and even Mohamed Salah all went - relatively - under the radar, to surprise many of the fanbase… and sometimes provoke the question, who?!

So when the two names of Aurelien Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham keep recurring, then it is sensible to retain a degree of calm, if not scepticism, especially given they are both pursued by clubs with, shall we say, more financial desperation. And yet: there is another fundamental truth about Liverpool’s transfer business these days; their research, their due diligence, is immaculate. Which means for the large part, in the overwhelming majority in fact, they get those transfers right.

Those are not just my words: they are the words of an Anfield legend, Robbie Fowler. In his last Mirror column, he compared the business