Liverpool transfer news: Jörg Schmadtke has left following the conclusion of the January window, but he discussed one final signing. Kylian Mbappé has made a decision.
Jürgen Klopp has high hopes of exiting Liverpool with an almighty bang. There’s a very real prospect of success on four separate fronts — and while the quadruple would be the ultimate dream, the prospect of at least bowing out with one more piece of silverware for the collection is hugely tangible.
By contrast, Jörg Schmadtke is leaving the club with little fanfare. His departure got a little lost in the news that Klopp would be going, with a low-key club statement confirming he would be parting ways with Liverpool at the conclusion of the January transfer window.
There was to be no last hurrah. Liverpool added nobody to the squad in the winter transfer window, meaning that the extent of the short-lived sporting director’s impact will be the summer signings — which could still yet prove to be a significant legacy to leave, in fairness, given how well Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endō in particular are getting on (the Alexis Mac Allister deal was wrapped up before Schmadtke took the helm).
But there were internal ‘discussions’ in January about a final piece of Schmadtke business. Meanwhile, Kylian Mbappé is said to have made a definitive call on his future. Here is the Liverpool.com verdict on the transfer gossip to emerge around the Reds today.
Outwardly, Klopp never acknowledged so much as a possibility that Liverpool would make any signings in the transfer window. But behind the scenes, there were ‘discussions’.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano. Speaking on the Here We Go Podcast, he claimed that Liverpool was offered the chance to sign Oumar Solet, a center-back at Red Bull Salzburg.
“They were offered a nice possibility, an interesting opportunity with Oumar Solet at Salzburg as new center-back,” he said. “A player that they have been scouting for a long time.
“Obviously, the German director of Liverpool (Jörg) Schmadtke knows the player so well, so there were discussions internally this possibility for Oumar Solet. Then Liverpool decided not to sign any player, but Solet was one of the names in the list also at Napoli, and also in the list at Lens, then he ended up staying at Salzburg.”
It’s not immediately clear why Schmadtke ‘obviously’ knows Solet well, given the player is neither German nor from the Bundesliga. But it’s interesting to hear that the 23-year-old has been extensively scouted, and he could be one to keep an eye on, with Liverpool regularly shopping within the Red Bull network.
