Liverpool ‘dream’ deal one of six re-signings sporting directors are targeting this summer

Richard Hughes could bring Milos Kerkez to Liverpool for £45m, but he might not be the only sporting director signing the same player a second time.

Andrea Berta brings Samu Aghehowa to Arsenal
“It’s a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team,” Mikel Arteta said of Andrea Berta’s imminent first summer in Edu’s seat at Arsenal.

The solution to the second issue seems simple enough: identify and secure a forward who is guaranteed to score 30 times a season while avoiding injury, not costing too much and changing nothing about the existing team structure other than adding goals.

This sporting director lark really isn’t that difficult and frankly it’s weird that such signings aren’t commonplace.

The reality has been exposed by Arsenal supporters tying themselves in knots pretending Newcastle are going to sell Alexander Isak or that Viktor Gyokeres, who turns 27 in June, is too old.

The ingrained distrust of the Portuguese league adds another element of Darwin Nunez-based scepticism to the pursuit of Gyokeres, who does appear to be Arsenal’s priority target. He has twice as many goals as any other player in the Primeira Liga this season, but at least his closest challenger is only 20.

A former and if we’re honest probably current and future Chelsea target, Aghehowa has 21 goals in 35 games for Porto and the Spain international has continued to develop rapidly since signing for Atletico for €6m, not playing a single minute for them and leaving for €15m a year later.

Once Berta accepts that no single signing will ever receive unanimous approval from the Arsenal fanbase, he might start to think outside a remarkably unoriginal box which seems to contain only Gyokeres, Isak and Benjamin Sesko.

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Monchi brings Justin Kluivert to Aston Villa
There have been rumours ranging from whispers to full-blown shouts about almost all these speculated moves, with Kluivert to Aston Villa the exception. But when they win the Champions League it will make sense for Unai Emery to look closer to home for ways of strengthening his squad.

It does feel like Bournemouth are most at risk of being vultured by Premier League sides who cannot be particularly arsed to do the hard yards of progressing talent themselves. Chelsea will target half this squad, Manchester United will stare longingly at the other, Spurs are already confirmed to be sniffing around their manager and Liverpool have already snatched away their technical director, even if Richard Hughes does appear to have left his contacts book at Dean Court.

Kluivert will provide an interesting case study. This has been comfortably the most productive season of the 25-year-old’s entire professional career and Bournemouth’s success is predicated on timing their sales right. It is entirely feasible that Kluivert has reached his maximum value on the south coast and his exit could offset the need to cash in on Dean Huijsen or another such asset for at least another season.

There will be no shortage of suitors if it is decided that Kluivert can move on. After setting up an unfulfilling period with Roma, it might be that Monchi corrects that mistake and adds another versatile, experienced and exciting forward to Villa’s burgeoning collection.

Tiago Pinto brings Mile Svilar to Bournemouth
As president of football operations, Pinto presides over not only the sales but the signings which keep Bournemouth upwardly mobile. The loan of Kepa Arrizabalaga has been prosperous but negotiating a permanent departure from Chelsea will be difficult for a player who might also consider his stock to have been sufficiently boosted to aim for an even higher platform.

Bournemouth have rather sensibly identified a handful of alternatives, including Maduka Okoye of Udinese and Bayern Munich-linked Svilar, who Pinto brought to Roma in 2022.

No keeper has kept more clean sheets in Serie A this season and only five have a better save percentage across Europe’s top five leagues in 2024/25, none of whom have played more often or faced as many shots. His numbers at just 25 are startling, and crucially right in Bournemouth’s sweet spot.

Richard Hughes brings Milos Kerkez to Liverpool
But outgoings will inevitably dominate the Cherries’ transfer discourse as they walk the same tightrope as any club which embraces their role as the seller in the football food chain. The timing must be right, so too the price, but also the balance of not changing too much at once.

Brighton sustained themselves for years on the principle of sanctioning one major first-team departure every summer. It keeps the cycle going and allows for funds to be reinvested while retaining the nucleus of their excellence. That is the template any team aspiring to test the structural integrity of the glass ceiling installed above them will follow.

Whether Bournemouth risk pushing the boundary to two sales or more, it seems likely that Kerkez will be the first cab waved off from this particular rank.

“As a kid, you dream to play at the highest level, win the trophies, be on the best teams. These are the things that my agent is on,” the left-back said in a recent interview, days after which stories emerged of a £45m valuation for a player Hughes captured at the cost of £15.5m in summer 2023.

That is precisely the sort of mark-up Bournemouth’s blueprint relies on, and the kind of transfer Liverpool should be targeting to solve a progressively problematic position for the next decade.

Hugo Viana brings Ousmane Diomande to Manchester City
“The first option” to replace Txiki Begiristain according to Pep Guardiola, there will be immediate pressure on Viana to acclimatise to the challenge of restoring Manchester City to their former greatness.

The January transfer window was a taster. Manchester City have never spent so much in any winter as some of their deals were fast-tracked to prevent this season from spiralling any further out of control. Champions League qualification and an FA Cup represents a remarkably low bar but one which must be cleared.

And the work only continues from there. This remains an awkwardly assembled squad in certain positions, not least at centre-half where their six first-team options are split roughly down the middle of experienced players prone to injury – your Ruben Diases, your John Stoneses, your Nathan Akes and your Manuel Akanjis – and younger players brimming with potential – the Abdukodir Khusanovs and Vitor Reises of this world.

As young as Diomande is, he does at least possess two full seasons of first-team football, extensive European experience and an Africa Cup of Nations winner’s medal. If Viana does bring any Sporting player with him on his journey to the Etihad, the 21-year-old centre-half makes perhaps the most sense.

Paul Mitchell brings Matheus Cunha to Newcastle
No news is good news when it comes to what became a civil war in the Newcastle recruitment department last summer. Mitchell arrived late in a window which left Eddie Howe with a weaker hand than which he started, even if the manager did check, call and raise his way to a drought-ending Carabao Cup.

If the same hymn sheet is to be passed around St James’ Park ahead of this summer then the chorus might well focus on Cunha, whose propensity for saying silly things in public and then complaining about misrepresented quotes will not outweigh his obvious ability and appeal to potential suitors at £62.5m.

“I’ve made it clear that I need to take the next step. I want to fight for titles, for big things,” the Brazilian said recently, his last Wolves action to date being a sending-off for fighting in the closing stages of extra-time of an FA Cup fifth-round tie.

Cunha’s proclivity towards FA charges will disqualify him as a target for some clubs but Mitchell brought him to the major leagues with Leipzig and could look past those character flaws again if Newcastle stand to benefit.

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