Liverpool may have a secret weapon in their pursuit of Anthony Gordon. The Newcastle and England forward has been linked with the Reds all summer and a £75million transfer seemed imminent in June.
The Magpies withdrew from the deal before the June 30 Profit & Sustainability Rules deadline. Newcastle's CEO Darren Eales confirmed in July that the club had stayed within spending regulations after selling Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest and Yankuba Minteh to Brighton.
“On all of these things, we are compliant. We did what we needed to do," said Eales at the time. “We did not want to lose those players, but again we had to do the deals we had to do to leave the squad in the best place possible for Eddie [Howe] moving forward.
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But rumours persist about the former Everton player returning to Merseyside as new Liverpool manager Arne Slot seeks to bolster his inherited squad. There are suggestions that Liverpool could even land Gordon before the start of the new season, well before the August 30 transfer deadline. Slot's team face newly-promoted Ipswich on Saturday, August 17.
It's a tough call for both the player and the club, but Liverpool might have an ace up their sleeve: the number 24 shirt that Gordon wore at Everton for two seasons before switching to number 10, which he also donned at Newcastle last season. The number 24 shirt at Liverpool is currently vacant and hasn't been worn since 2021.
However, pundit Chris Sutton has advised Gordon to resist a move back to Merseyside and instead continue his development under Eddie Howe. The former Blackburn and Celtic striker told Best Online Poker Sites: "I heard these Anthony Gordon rumours a few months ago and was left scratching my head a little bit.
"First and foremost, I don't know how Newcastle fans would feel about selling the player. The way Gordon was at Everton, I wasn't the only person who questioned whether he had the right temperament.
"But in fairness to him, he's gone to Newcastle to work under Eddie Howe and he's knuckled down. Last season he was brilliant and performed really well. He produced his best form.
"If I was him, I wouldn't be in a rush to leave Howe and Newcastle. The fans there really took to him - he felt the love from the Geordies. He seemed to have a really good relationship with the manager too which is key."
