Manchester United signing Leny Yoro presents Liverpool with transfer hijack revenge opportunity

via Liverpool.com

There's no use denying it. Losing Leny Yoro to Manchester United would be extremely galling from a Liverpool perspective.

It's one thing missing out to Real Madrid, serial winner of the Champions League and the reigning champion of the competition

It's quite another missing out to Erik ten Hag's ragtag bunch, who will not even be in the tournament this season, and whose absence from the top of the Premier League now extends beyond a decade.

Frankly, Michael Edwards and Richard Hughesshould be scrambling to see if it's not too late to pull off a transfer hijack

assuming Yoro is going to slip through the net, another transfer opportunity might be emerging.

Despite Hughes claiming that Liverpool would be opportunistic this summer, the Reds have so far made the mistake of being passive.

Reading between the lines, they assumed Yoro's preference for Real Madrid could not be overturned, and thus missed the chance to be in the conversation

Meanwhile Manchester United threw everything at persuading him.

Liverpool should be more responsive to the next chance. Manchester United has been doing some stalling of its own when it comes to Matthijs de Ligt

It was reported back on July 9 that Manchester United had agreed personal terms with De Ligt (Mirror).

But the lack of progress since then suggests that the Dutchman might have been essentially left on standby while Yoro was pursued

There's no denying that De Ligt is not viewed in the same generational light as Yoro

with all of the conditions for a deal already essentially in place, Liverpool could construct a transfer in next to no time

The former Ajax and Juventus star is still only 24. It was not all that long ago that he was viewed in a fairly similar light to Yoro

Though De Ligt fell slightly down the pecking order at Bayern Munich last season, he still played a significant chunk of the matches for which he was fit

Given his age and his prior record, it does seem surprising that he's available at a relatively knockdown fee, significantly less than what Juventus sold him for in 2022.

Hugely assured with his passing, reasonably strong in the air and with an attacking threat to boot, De Ligt does tick a lot of boxes

It's not the perfect deal — that, unfortunately, may well be Yoro. But Manchester United's surprise coup could at least give Liverpool the chance to swoop for De Ligt.