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Nine days. A lot can happen in nine days. Wars can start and end, title dreams can rise and fall. Players can even sign for one team, and then another. Just ask Bolton, Manchester City and Dietmar Hamann.

Nine days can also see the world transfer record be broken, a boyhood hero return home, and the collective heads of a fan base explode.

That last action, that anguished explosion, is happening at Liverpool right now. Though some are pleading patience, the fact the Reds have just Mohamed Salah to show nine days after the summer’s transfer window opened is proving too much to handle and too little to enjoy.

With Manchester United on the verge of sealing a deal worth over £90million for Romelu Lukaku – and with Wayne Rooney heading in the opposite direction to Goodison – the transfer market has truly opened for business.

This just days after Alexandre Lacazette moved to Arsenal – to be freshly acquainted with the Europa League this season – for nearly £50million.

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The restlessness is understandable, even though it is still early days and the Reds have already broken their transfer record with the acquisition of Salah.

Salah – and Dominic Solanke, who will primarily be used in the Under-23s to begin with – were both signed before the window opened. Deals can be tied up before the mania officially begins, and it had been hoped there would be more progress with the deals Jurgen Klopp wants to complete.

Interest in Virgil van Dijk has ended – publicly, at least – while Naby Keita firmly remains an RB Leipzig player, the Bundesliga club insisting he is not for sale.

Ryan Sessegnon was firmly on and abruptly off the agenda, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andrew Robertson are two under consideration.

Kylian Mbappe, the Monaco teenage sensation, is no more than an aspiration.

The club are striving to progress with their intentions, but the first week has thrown up nothing but disappointment; a brick wall, forever being run into.

There are reasons for this, and not all because of Liverpool. Here is why it has been a quiet week of what the Reds hope will still be a busy and successful summer.

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The Champions League

How ironic this is proving to be. It was widely believed returning to Europe’s premier competition would ensure an easier summer, making the club more attractive to prospective signings.

But while it has opened more doors for Klopp, it also means they are just as likely to slam back in his face.

The German is targeting quality over quantity this summer and wants players who, unsurprisingly, their clubs want to retain.

While last summer’s two big-money deals for Sadio Mane and Gini Wijnaldum were completed swiftly after quick work from the Reds, being in the Champions League means there is naturally a higher difficulty sealing deals for players who are ready-made for the competition.

There is more competition – which, indirectly, scuppered the initial advances for van Dijk – and more likelihood of clubs wanting to keep hold of their prized assets.

The situations of the selling clubs

Last summer’s dealings in the transfer market took place with regular deal-brokers Southampton, relegated Newcastle, Bundesliga mid-table side Augsburg and Schalke, although there was no direct negotiations with the Gelsenkirchen club for Joel Matip.

This time, a seriously browbeaten Saints will take no more, while RB Leipzig are financed by a global energy drink giant and have just finished runners-up in the Bundesliga.

Arsenal, meanwhile, have no real incentive to sell Oxlade-Chamberlain to a rival just yet.

Indeed, Salah was difficult enough to finalise, even accounting for Roma’s financial situation; the Serie A runners-up knew they could command a large fee for their star man.

The landscape has changed vastly in the space of 12 months.

The current market

The secret is out: the Premier League clubs is flush with money.

In a splurge reminiscent of Serie A at the turn of the century, England is now where the game’s money lies, with an astronomical television rights deal funding every one of the 20 top-flight clubs.

What used to be a premium on buying English players has now simply turned into a tax for being situated in England; prospective sellers know they can squeeze every last penny.

Over £1.5billion has been spent in Europe’s top five leagues already this summer – and over a third of that, £553million, has come from Premier League clubs.

Lukaku will become the 11th transfer that sees an English team breaks the £20million barrier this summer; Spain, Germany, Italy and France can only boast nine between them them.

It means negotiations are harder and prolonged.

The Van Dijk saga

External issues have proven difficult, but Liverpool cannot escape this without blame.

After their pursuit of van Dijk soured quickly, there was the prospect of the Premier League taking action following the Saints’ threats to report the Reds.

The public apology, as well as publicly ending interest in the player, was a measure from the club to stop that.

The alleged meeting between Klopp and the Dutchman in Blackpool – one of the misdemeanours of which the club were accused of by Southampton – means the microscope will fall upon Liverpool and their conduct throughout the summer.

The Reds must tread carefully after their early summer misstep.

… It’s still only early July

Liverpool have signed two players, one of those for a club record fee.

Though Arsenal and Manchester United have made eye-catching signings, they strengthen a position Klopp is already content with; he is not truly in the market for a new striker, though Mbappe becoming available would change that stance.

Manchester City acted quickly to bring goalkeeper Ederson and playmaker Bernardo Silva in; Chelsea have only just made Antonio Rudiger their first summer signing, and this after letting Lukaku slip from their grasp.

Tottenham, meanwhile, have not yet signed anybody.

The unease at the start of the transfer window is understandable, but the first chapter has not yet been written.

It is believed Klopp is so intent on signing Keita, he is not currently interested in identifying an alternative. There is the sense the van Dijk saga could have one final twist. Arsenal, eventually, will have to make a decision on Oxlade-Chamberlain.

At this point last season, three of the six new arrivals had joined – but the remainder were done by the end of July.

Though things feel slow at the moment, it could all change quickly; the ride was never meant to be enjoyable, after all.