“If I’m Liverpool…” – Ben Foster urges Richard Hughes to pull the plug on impending transfer | OneFootball

Ben Foster has implored Liverpool to pull the plug at the proverbial 11th hour on one transfer which looks all but certain to go through.

Having spent almost £200m since the end of last season on Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez, the Reds will likely need to recoup money from player sales before they can pull off further big-money signings.

One man whose Anfield career appears to be over is Jarell Quansah, who had his medical with Bayer Leverkusen on Monday ahead of a €40m (£34.3m) move to the Bundesliga runners-up, with the Merseysiders including a buyback option in the deal.

The 22-year-old looks set to join Erik ten Hag’s side off the back of helping England’s under-21s to retain their European crown last weekend, ironically by beating Germany in the final, a game in which Foster was hugely impressed by the Liverpool centre-back.

Foster urges Liverpool to consider transfer U-turn on Quansah

Speaking on the Football Fill-In, the ex-Manchester United goalkeeper said: “In the final he was brilliant… Whenever he had any space in front of him, he would just exploit it. With the ball at his feet he is so comfortable, and he’s such a big lad as well.

“He would just run into the space in front of him, which causes absolute mayhem for the opposition as, at some point, someone in the midfield has to go into there. That creates a gap behind them and it’s carnage; it’s horrible.”

(Photo by Christian Hofer/Getty Images)

Foster then claimed that Richard Hughes should consider pulling the plug on Quansah’s sale to Leverkusen, saying: “I’m thinking, £35m? If I’m Liverpool, I almost want to cancel this last second and go ‘You know what, I know you might not play every game this season, but you’ll definitely play a big chunk’.

“Honestly he will. Konate’s not going to play the whole season but I think he [Quansah] can fill in incredibly well. I think he’s the future of Liverpool, or he would’ve been the future of Liverpool. Leverkusen will be buzzing to get him through the door.”

Liverpool highly unlikely to pull the plug at this stage

While we agree with Foster’s effusive praise of the 22-year-old, realistically this transfer is much too far gone for Liverpool to cancel it at this stage.

There may be a sense of regret that FSG didn’t hold out a little longer before deciding to sell Quansah (i.e. until after the European Under-21 Championship), but if the player was happy to make the move to Leverkusen, then there’s probably not a lot that the Anfield hierarchy could’ve done anyway to prevent it from happening.

Maybe if the deal wasn’t so advanced, the Reds might’ve recouped a slightly bigger fee for the defender off the back of his excellent displays for England, but to bank almost £35m for someone who rarely started under Arne Slot last season still seems to represent sound business.

The prospective arrival of Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace would only have made it even harder for our number 78 to obtain much game-time if he had opted to stay at Liverpool, and the inclusion of a buyback clause allows the Merseysiders some bit of control over his future.

We obviously wish Quansah all the best at Leverkusen and can be grateful for his contributions in an LFC shirt, but hopefully this is a transfer that the Premier League champions won’t come to regret over time.