Harvey has the perfect example on hand should he choose to stay at Liverpool

WHEN Liverpool were poised to undergo a midfield revamp in the summer of 2023, all eyes were on the Under-21s European Championships.

- By THEO SQUIRES

Ryan Gravenberch, Gabri Veiga, Manu Kone and Khephren Thuram were all on the Reds’ radar ahead of the tournament in Georgia and Romania along with Romeo Lavia, though he withdrew from the Belgium squad due to injury.

Yet come the close of the tournament, the best midfielder on show proved to be one of their own.

Curtis Jones scored the winner in the final as England beat Spain, and was named in the team of the tournament.

Of course, that did little to deter Liverpool from their big-money midfield revamp.

A long-standing transfer target, Gravenberch concluded the Reds’ business when arriving in a £40m switch from Bayern Munich.

The Netherlands inter-national joined Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo in moving to Anfield as Liverpool committed to spending £151m on their new-look midfield.

Yet they would have happily forked out more, having had £111m and £60m bids accepted for Moises Caicedo and Lavia by Brighton and Southampton respectively, only to see both midfielders sign for Chelsea.

Fast forward two years and the success of that Liverpool midfield revamp has never looked greater, with Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch all playing starring roles as the Reds won the Premier League.