Leicester City winger Harvey Barnes won’t be joining Premier League rivals Liverpool this summer as he’s simply too expensive, as reported by Goal.
As the Reds’ neighbours from down the road will tell you, an ambitious Leicester side are never going to let a star player go for a bag of buttons and a packet of Wotsits.
Manchester United were forced to shell out a British-record £80 million for Harry Maguire in 2019, while Ben Chilwell (£50 million), N’Golo Kante (£30 million), Danny Drinkwater (£30 million) and Riyad Mahrez (£60 million) also required bank-busting fees.
But how much would Harvey Barnes cost?
23-year-old England internationals don’t tend to come cheap, especially when that 23-year-old England international has just enjoyed the best season of his career. Barnes scored 13 times despite missing the final few months of the season through injury.
One of those goals came against Liverpool too. Barnes ripped Jurgen Klopp’s Blu Tac back line apart during Leicester’s 3-1 comeback victory at the King Power in March.
Is Leicester star Harvey Barnes beyond the reach of Liverpool?
“Barnes really is an unbelievable player,” Klopp said at the time of the former West Bromwich Albion loanee.
According to Goal, the jet-heeled winger is one of many players on Liverpool’s radar as they look to strengthen a front line that fell way short of its usually irrepressible standards during a difficult 2020/21 campaign.
But a deal for Barnes will be placed on the back burner for now.
Klopp has insisted on numerous occasions that mega-money signings are a thing of the past at Anfield, with Liverpool still counting the cost of the pandemic.
So the prospect of Barnes shaking Klopp’s hand in front of the Kop feels about as likely as Kylian Mbappe boarding the Eurostar and heading to Merseyside before 31 August.
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