Is Will Hughes Good Enough To Warrant This Expense?

It is one of those rumours which has persisted since the summer and appears to be building up quite a head of steam as the player progresses rapidly for Derby County and interest builds from Liverpool’s rivals but reports on Sunday morning suggest that Liverpool have jumped to the top of the queue as Hughes is currently preferring a move to the Reds.

Should that progress continue though, it is likely that Liverpool’s rivals for the youngsters signing may become more threatening with the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Barcelona all reportedly keeping their eye on the young Derby midfielder, and with the spending power the likes of those have it would be difficult for Liverpool to match any bid or wage offers.

One thing Liverpool do have on their side however, is the ability to offer almost immediate first-team football. A move to any of the big spenders in the league, or in Europe, would no doubt be more lucrative but you can only hope his advisers have his best interests at heart and realise that the financial incentives will come in future but his progress is more important right now.

All of that aside, my own question is: can Liverpool really justify spending – potentially – upwards of £15 million on an 18 year old unproven at the top level?

We’ve seen it occur so many times over the years, and there are so many cautionary tales that spending big on a young player often seems like the biggest risk you can take.

Even spending big on an established Premier League player often doesn’t work out, as we’ve seen with the likes of Stewart Downing. A player may well be head and shoulders above his fellow players at a smaller club but once he gets to a big club he more often than not looks decidedly average by comparison.

Brendan Rodgers, and particularly FSG, will likely try to negotiate a lower valuation for Hughes, and rightly so. As paying that sort of money for a player with barely 50 lower league games to his name is, quite frankly, a joke and if the Football Association are so appalled at the state of the national game and the lack of Englishman playing for the first teams of big clubs then they may want to address the ridiculous fees smaller clubs usually demand for young, players with potential.

In the end, it is that potential that you’re paying for and the club really needs to ask: can we afford the risk? The short answer is obviously no, and unless we can afford to invest in Hughes potentially becoming a great Premier League midfielder and simultaneously invest the same amounts in the first team then I’m afraid we’ll just have to accept missing out on Will Hughes.

Liverpool are not currently in a position to gamble large portions of the transfer budget on 18 year olds that may be world class in 3-4 years. Without Champions League football, we’ll never reach that position again either. Which is why I think it is key for Brendan Rodgers to look to players that can go straight into the first team in January and make an immediate improvement to the team.

This season is all about the Champions League push. If we can make a sustained ‘challenge’ for the Premier League title, then even better but we have to be back amongst the ‘big boys’ again and that means that any significant investments in playing staff have to go toward making the first team better. And unless Hughes is going to go straight in and make us a better side overall, then I think we’ll just have to look for ready-made, top-class players.