Gordon and Zubimendi to Liverpool are both somehow still on in remarkable £126.6m deal

Liverpool have a Martin Zubimendi ‘lifeline’, while three words perfectly sum up their apparent continued pursuit of Newcastle forward Anthony Gordon.

What’s the point?
Mediawatch does not for one second disagree with the actual argument, but these two MailOnline headlines feel unnecessary in their inherent MailOnline-ness, coming as they do from the same outlet and all:

‘When the game’s biggest stars are running on empty so early in a new season, it’s the clearest sign yet that we’ve reached SATURATION POINT’

‘Alan Shearer insists footballers are reaching ‘BREAKING POINT’ due to a congested schedule – as the Newcastle legend claims the number of games is leaving top stars ‘knackered”

Is there any need to attach a shouty movie subtitle to the general issue of congested fixture lists? Die Hard: Saturation Point sounds like an excellent watch but there are better ways of getting across Jude Bellingham’s need for a rest.

Author John McGarry never even uses the phrase in the first article, while here is the Shearer quote in question:

“There are too many games. I’ve always said that. There has to come a point where it is breaking point and perhaps it’s getting to that now.”

To be fair, it is very fun to imagine him suddenly screaming “breaking point” in the middle of that slightly meandering sentence during a Prime Video event in London.

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Ant man and the cost
The Anthony Gordon to Liverpool bandwagon has inexplicably not yet collapsed in on itself under the sheer weight of ridiculously contrived updates on a transfer which is definitely not happening. The latest comes from the Daily Mirror website, who have done as much as anyone to keep it rolling.

‘Liverpool handed Anthony Gordon transfer boost after Eddie Howe makes Newcastle admission’ is an entirely straightforward headline. Liverpool have been handed an Anthony Gordon transfer boost; Eddie Howe has made a Newcastle admission. These are two things which have apparently happened. Simple.

A red flag immediately emerges as Gordon is not actually mentioned or referred to until the fifth paragraph. There must first be some Martin Zubimendi preamble because shut up, that’s why.

But when Gordon is finally brought into the equation, the Liverpool transfer boost is as clear as the Eddie Howe Newcastle admission.

“There’s not necessarily financial pressures to lose anybody before the end of this window. But player trading is key, and we have to trade players out as well as players in. That’s not necessarily in the next two weeks. But certainly, within the next window, that’s what we’ll have to do.”

That was Howe speaking last week – quite why the quotes have taken days to be rehashed on a fairly quiet Tuesday morning is a mystery – but that right there must quell the frustrations of any angry Liverpool supporters waiting for their first summer signing. It hardly matters that Howe never once actually named Gordon as one of the players Newcastle might have to one day contemplate selling, nor that Newcastle definitely aren’t going to sell Gordon to Liverpool any time soon if ever, nor that the only reason it was a possibility at all is because of a desperation in the Magpies which no longer exists.

Spent force
The Liverpool Echo get in on the action too with this:

‘£105m spent, loan agreed, four sales – Seven transfers Liverpool could complete this week’

That ‘£105m spent’ will be on Giorgi Mamardashvili, a goalkeeper Liverpool are haggling over and will send on loan if they do sign him, and Gordon, because ‘if the interest is still there, then the Reds could look to swoop in and try to sign Gordon once again in the coming days ahead of next week’s deadline’.

Between the ‘if’, the ‘could’ and the ‘try’, as well as the Newcastle ‘admission’, it pretty much sounds like a done deal, doesn’t it? Get that Photoshop ready, Fab.

Zu fighters
But really why stop there? Because the Liverpool Echo know that the Reds have been ‘handed late Martin Zubimendi lifeline’ as £45m transfer revisited’ too.

Of course no-one has actually said or written that Liverpool were ‘handed late Martin Zubimendi lifeline’ by Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil telling the press “I won’t even tell you if Zubimendi leaves or not last minute” on Monday evening. Not even the Echo themselves are daft enough to think the move might suddenly be back on because of one throwaway line about a player who has already specifically rejected Liverpool.

But fair play for chucking it together with some stuff about Joe Gomez, for that is the £45m ‘transfer revisited’ deemed worthy of both the headline yet also only one solitary mention in the final paragraph, presumably because they needed to crowbar in a number.

Cristiano belief
‘Cristiano Ronaldo tipped for Man Utd comeback as star has ‘unfinished business” – Daily Mirror website.

A few notes:

a) He has been ‘tipped for Man Utd comeback’ by Louis Saha, who offers no indication of any sort of inside track beyond pointing out the apparent exclusive that the actual Cristiano Ronaldo has “passion and dedication”.

2) Saha saying both that Ronaldo “will know that he needs to find a new way to communicate when he becomes a coach, which maybe isn’t as harsh or direct as it was when he was at the club,” but also there is “no reason why he wouldn’t be a success” in management, is great banter.

c) It is somehow of minor importance nowadays, but at no point does Saha say Ronaldo has ‘unfinished business’; that quote is mentioned nowhere other than the headline. Mainly because it would be an insane thing to think of someone who has won eight trophies, played 346 games and scored 145 goals for the club in question.

4) Does this really warrant the BREAKING NEWS ticker treatment at the bottom of the page?

You with the sad eyes
The showing of true colours is obvious nonsense that these pages have dealt with all summer, but this is just ridiculous from the Daily Mirror website:

‘Antonio Conte shows true colours with Napoli transfer admission as Victor Osimhen in limbo’

The dictionary definition of ‘to show one’s true colours’ is: ‘to show what one is really like : to reveal one’s real nature or character’. There cannot have been a literally single shred of doubt in 2024 that Antonio actual Conte is a bit of an arse when it comes to transfers.

Don’t be discouraged, oh I realise
Actually…

‘Alejandro Garnacho shows true colours with what he did just hours after Man United impact vs Fulham’

The Manchester Evening News hit pay dirt with the ‘just hours after’ tap-in as well, but is ‘professional athlete goes to gym a day after playing about half an hour of football’ really ‘shows true colours’ worthy?

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