Andoni Iraola’s side host Liverpool on Saturday and look like one of the league leaders’ toughest away assignments
At any time in the Premier League, there is a model club to follow. In recent years such a label has been attached to Brentford and Brighton. Before that Southampton’s managerial recruitment and scouting network was feasted on, Mauricio Pochettino moving on to manage Tottenham before Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mané and Adam Lallana also left to join Liverpool and became Champions League and Premier League winners there.
This year’s model? Undoubtedly Bournemouth, Liverpool’s seventh-placed opponents on Saturday, replete with candidates for Anfield’s next rebuild. Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson phased out for Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez? Simple, ideal solutions – the young Spaniard and Hungarian have been outstanding this season – but in this era of tightened profit and sustainability, perhaps beyond the realms of financial feasibility. The £65m Tottenham were asked to pay for Dominic Solanke last summer is an indicator of how hard a bargain a club owned by Texan billionaire Bill Foley are likely to drive.
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