Richard Hughes' GENIUS £52m gamble pays off

Liverpool only made one addition to their first-team squad last summer.

Federico Chiesa was signed from Juventus for a fee that could reach £12m but other than that the only other acquisition was Giorgi Mamardashvili, who remains on loan with Valencia this season.

READ MORE: Milos Kerkez strikes agreement as Liverpool close in on major deal

Although the Reds were linked with several players - not least Martin Zubimendi - it was decided that the club would not add any more recruits for Arne Slot’s first season in charge.

Liverpool have got issues in central defence and it was known at the end of last season that new signings would soon be required in the area. With Virgil van Dijk now 33 and approaching the end of his contract, the time is coming where the Reds’ defensive colossus will need a successor.

Factor in the injury issues of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez - as well as the inexperience of Jarell Quansah - and you see the need for a new centre-back.

Liverpool bow out of Yoro race

Accordingly Liverpool were heavily linked with Leny Yoro, the 18-year-old defensive prodigy then playing for Lille. But it was decided by FSG and sporting director Richard Hughes that Liverpool would NOT be willing to pay the asking price set by the French side.

The deal only made sense at a certain number and so the Reds bowed out of the running. Real Madrid thought similarly and it was Manchester United who ended up completing a £52 million deal for Yoro.

But events since then have shown Liverpool’s decision to be the correct one with Yoro, now 19, struggling immensely in his early days in the Premier League.

Yoro began life at Old Trafford by suffering a foot injury which sidelined him for three months. And since coming into the lineup, the defender has looked shaky with the game against bottom side Southampton summing up his time so far.

Kamaldeen Sulemana had Yoro on toast, playing down the Saints’ left, going past the highly-rated youngster time and again. At one stage around the hour mark, Yoro was helpless as the Ghanaian simply pushed the ball past him and chased after it, leaving him in his wake.

FSG decision pays off

That was the third time the 22-year-old had breezed past Yoro in the game and with all due respect to Sulemana he is not exactly Vinicius Junior. Ruben Amorim might well have hooked his defender there and then but opted to keep him on the pitch until the 82nd minute when he was finally replaced by Harry Maguire.

And from 1-1, United ultimately turned the game around, winning 3-1 courtesy of an Amad Diallo hat-trick.

Yoro clearly looks like a work in progress, perhaps a project player who needs carefully managed minutes and a lack of pressure on his shoulders. He simply does not look equipped at this stage to handle the rigours of playing week in, week out for a club like Manchester United nor Liverpool for that matter.

FSG and Hughes get a lot of criticism for their perceived lack of transfer activity but hats off to them on this front as it looks like one they got right - and saved the club £52m in the process.

READ MORE: Harvey Elliott is about to help Richard Hughes land DREAM Liverpool transfer