Liverpool: Harry Wilson close to £20million Anfield exit
Burnley are the front-runners to sign the Welsh international as Liverpool stand to make another healthy profit on a player deemed surplus to requirements.
After a weekend of incomings, Liverpool are reportedly close to agreeing a deal for Harry Wilson to leave for Burnley. The 23-year-old winger has only made one first team appearance for Liverpool, that coming during an FA Cup tie in 2017, but he has impressed during loan spells and could fetch up to £20million.
The Welshman first shot to fame in 2013 when he made his international debut at the age of 16 years and 207 days, beating the record set by Gareth Bale. He has now made 17 appearance for his country but has never been able to cement a place in Jürgen Klopp’s first team squad and has spent recent seasons on loan.
Harry Wilson's loan stints
Despite playing well during spells at Hull City, Derby County and AFC Bournemouth he is not thought to be in Klopp’s plans and has slipped further down the pecking order since the arrival of Diogo Jota from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Liverpool will receive a considerable sum for their academy product, impressive considering that Wilson is deemed surplus to requirements at Anfield. The club have also received loan fees for his services during his recent stints away.
Since Michael Edwards was appointed sporting direct in 2016 Liverpool have proved adept at bringing in considerable sums of money for fringe players. It is well-known that the sale of Phillippe Coutinho to Barcelona helped to fund the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, but the Reds’ transfer kitty has also been boosted by the sale of some less established names.
Liverpool cash-in on unwanted players
Mamadou Sakho – The former Paris Saint-Germain defender was billed as the solution for Liverpool’s leaky defence under Brendan Rodgers but he never convinced. Yet after four undistinguished years on Merseyside he was sold to Crystal Palace for a profit of around £8million.
Dominic Solanke – After impressing at youth levels for Chelsea and England, Liverpool managed to sign the young forward on a free contract but he struggled for form. Solanke made 27 appearances for the club, scoring only once, before being shipped off to Bournemouth just 18 months later for a fee close to £20million.
Danny Ward – The Welsh stopper was with Liverpool for six years after signing from Wrexham as an 18-year-old but he made just three appearances in that time. Despite having not played in the Premier League for over two years he was sold to Leicester City in 2018 for £12.6million.
Simon Mignolet – He was supposed to be a proven Premier League goalkeeper when he arrived in 2013 but never looked capable of holding down a starting berth at a club of Liverpool’s size. The Belgian had two years left on his £60,000–a-week contract last summer but they managed to offload him to Club Brugge, receiving a fee of over £6million. To put that in context, later that season Liverpool signed Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg for around £7million.
Dejan Lovren – The Croatian had been a big part of Klopp’s team during the early years and remained a popular figure in the dressing room but it had become clear that he was no longer good enough to feature for Liverpool. The club decided that bringing in a back-up for Andy Robertson was a priority this summer so used the £10.8million that they received for Lovren to buy Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas. Given that Tsimikas will be earning considerably less that Lovren’s reported £100,000-a-week salary, the Reds will even be making a small profit on the deals.