Richard Hughes' £75m mistake could have cost Liverpool their season

Liverpool have been under severe scrutiny since the start of the 2025-26 season.

Whether it's been because of the amount of money they chose to spend on new signings or how poor their form has been, most people have had a bone to pick with Arne Slot's men this term.

Although the performances that most of Liverpool's first-team squad put in were well below par, some such as Hugo Ekitike and Dominik Szoboszlai have risen to the occasion and helped the Anfield outfit get to where they are now.

Indeed, there are many things such as injuries that need to be considered when thinking about Liverpool's season thus far but their summer transfer window is when things could have really turned around, especially if Richard Hughes didn't make a £75 million blunder.

Liverpool should have signed Joao Pedro instead of Alexander Isak

After Liverpool bought Alexander Isak, the Sweden international became the club's record signing.

Hughes and Slot chose to spend £125 million on the striker with many thinking that he'd form a dynamic partnership with Mohamed Salah.

That certainly hasn't been the case and although many people though that Liverpool were signing the Premier League's best striker, it's been made clear that Isak is far from that at the moment.

Of course, his lack of fitness and inability to break into the team over Ekitike have played a part in this but, for £125 million, fans would've been expecting much more, even in the minimal amount of game time that he's had.

Several strikers were linked with a Liverpool transfer in the summer with Chelsea's Joao Pedro among them.

Most of the Premier League's biggest clubs were vying for Pedro's signing due to the potential he's shown throughout his career.

In the end, the £50 million that Chelsea paid for him was seen as too money by everyone else which is how the Blues ended up with him as their talisman.

Indeed, Ekitike has arguably been better than Pedro this season but, if both players were representing Liverpool this season, they'd have one of the Premier League's best attacks.

And, he'd have cost Liverpool £75 million less than Isak which is why missing out on Pedro was a massive mistake on Hughes' behalf.

Joao Pedro has outperformed most of Liverpool's attackers this season

Since Pedro has played centrally for Chelsea this term, if he'd have joined Liverpool instead, there would have been an easy way to fit him into Slot's starting XI, especially since Ekitike can play on the left-wing.

This season, Cody Gakpo has performed poorly with fans begging for players such as Rio Ngumoha to be given the nod over the Dutchman.

However, since they have little-to-no depth up front, the Dutchman has played in almost every game which is far from ideal.

For Chelsea this season, Pedro has contributed to 26 goals across all competitions whereas Gakpo only has 12 to his name.

Indeed, Ekitike has 22 so he's fairly close to the Brazilian but that doesn't mean that Pedro's extra goals wouldn't have been appreciated.

One of Slot's main problems with his team this season has been the lack of form his attack have shown and, if the Brazilian was there to help lead the line, he and Ekitike could've been unstoppable.

Of course, these are all ifs, buts and maybes as Slot may have used Pedro in a slightly different way but realistically, it feels like Hughes made a massive mistake by giving up his chase for the Brazilian in the summer.

That is, especially since he's still only 24 years old and is likely to have his best years ahead of him.

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