Jamie Carragher comments on 'brilliant' Liverpool transfer plan after £27.5m deal

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has praised the latest deal which saw Fabio Carvalho depart for Brentford.

The 21-year-old was a consistent feature in Arne Slot’s pre-season tour of America and some believed that it could spark a new chapter for the Portuguese attacker. However, he was sold to Brentford in a £27.5m deal before the season had even begun as the club pocketed a healthy profit.

Having signed from Fulham in 2022 for a fee of around £5m, the sale is a clear success from a business standpoint. While Liverpool have negotiated a strong fee, they will only receive an initial fee of £22.5m but they have negotiated a 17.5% sell-on clause which could benefit in the future. Fulham have already benefited from such a clause, as they will receive 20% of the profit from his move to Brentford. Coincidently, Liverpool have just received a pay-out from a sell-on-clause thanks to Spurs; their £65m signing of Dominic Solanke has resulted in a fee of around £7.6m heading back to their accounts. And while it is a blow to lose the talented youngster to Thomas Frank’s side, it’s a deal that represents strong selling business that the club have been lauded for since the Michael Edward era began nearly a decade ago - with Carragher voicing the exact opinion on the latest episode of ‘Stick to Football’.

“What Liverpool are brilliant at is bringing transfer fees in,” Carragher told The Overlap after Carvalho moved to Brentford for an eye-watering £27 million. “And that is nothing to do with the manager. When a manager wants a player to go, the club get on with that. And Liverpool got a great fee the other day for Carvalho to Brentford. That’s what they are brilliant at.”

Other examples include the obvious £142m sale of Phillipe Coutinho to Barcelona, the original sale of Solanke to Bournemouth (£19m), Rhian Brewster to Sheffield United (£23.5m), Mamadou Sakho to Crystal Palace (£26m), Christian Benteke to Crystal Palace (£27m) and even Danny Ings to to Southampton (£20m).

The ability to extract higher levels of fees from other Premier League clubs has been commendable and it has allowed for that money to be distributed and reinvested across the squad over the years. It wouldn’t be a celebration unless Liverpool had also applied a careful and incisive approach to their additions.

Multiple key players that have formed the bedrock of their successes all arrived for fees less than £40m. For example, Andy Robertson (£8m), Mohamed Salah (£34m), Fabinho (£39m), Harvey Elliott (£4m) and Joel Matip (free) have all been great deals. And when they have stretched to bigger fees - Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk - it has been to secure a player of top quality.

While Liverpool have missed out on targets this summer, their continuation of this transfer model - that includes both signings and sales - will be key to sustainable success and ensuring they remain as competitive as they can be for years to come.