Wednesday’s big news was all about Jamal Lewis and the reported interest of Liverpool in the Norwich City full-back.
As the day wore on there were a few more developments which were later published in an article on The Athletic:
£1️⃣2️⃣m – No, not the likely meeting point – but the gap in the current valuations of Norwich City & Liverpool for Jamal Lewis.
I've got a fortnight off come Friday. Not sure this gets much further before I'm back from it.#NCFC #LFC @TheAthleticUKhttps://t.co/1TJ26ilg25
— Michael Bailey (@michaeljbailey) August 5, 2020
The basic crux of The Athletic’s report was this…
1. Liverpool value Lewis at £10m, while Norwich value him at £20m
2. Liverpool are prepared to offer £8m + £2m add-ons
3. Liverpool have not officially made contact with Norwich yet
4. Norwich are yet to receive a serious enquiry about any of their players
5. Liverpool would be prepared to walk away if the fee is too much (good) and have other options
6. Norwich will hold out for a large fee because it strengthens their hand with other players like Godfrey, Cantwell, Aarons and Buendia
7. Norwich are in a financially sound position and do not have to sell anyone. They may well choose to do so though, to help freshen up the squad
8. With Sam McCallum already in the squad, City have a ready made replacement for Lewis. Talk of signing Yasser Larouci in a swap deal is therefore not likely, although apparently Norwich do like Larouci.
So, lots of interesting points to consider, especially that as of Wednesday lunchtime, there had been no official contact between the clubs.
I have no doubt that Jamal Lewis would like to join Liverpool. Why wouldn’t he? It’s an opportunity to work with Jurgen Klopp and to join the newly crowned Premier League Champions, not to mention it would probably make him financially secure for the rest of his life.
How much he would play at Liverpool is the big question and with Andy Robertson ahead of him as the main man at left back, the answer is probably “he won’t play regularly.”
Would Lewis be happy to sit on the bench? Only he can answer that but the EDP’s suggestion that he has flown back early from holiday in anticipation of talks kind of tells you what the player thinks, assuming the EDP are right, of course.
The bottom line, as ever, is going to come down to money and Norwich, you can be sure, will play hardball over the fee. The biggest question there is “are Liverpool prepared to stump up £20m+?”
If they are, then I guess that Jamal will leave because everybody has a price.
OTBC