Newcastle’s Georginio Wijnaldum completes Liverpool move – Twitter reacts

Liverpool have completed their seventh signing of the summer as Georginio Wijnaldum has moved to Anfield from Newcastle United. After relegation, it was always expected that the Netherlands international would leave Tyneside and he has been given the opportunity to continue his career in the Premier League.

It was believed that Tottenham and Everton were also interested in the Dutch international, which will make the signing even sweeter for the Liverpool fanbase. He did well in his one and only season at Newcastle, scoring 11 goals in a side fighting relegation. That is impressive on the face of it, but six of those goals came in two matches and perhaps padded his overall contribution.

The fee is believed to be around £25m, which looks to be a good deal for all parties. Liverpool get a midfielder capable of playing a number of positions and one that will bring goals to their side. Newcastle get a large fee to invest across two or three positions to ensure their squad is strong enough to win the Championship and Wijnaldum gets to play at the highest level.

It appears an odd signing as Liverpool have Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana in their squad. However, Wijnaldum can play a deeper midfield role, as he has done for the Netherlands and that is the role that Klopp may utilise him in at Liverpool.

Many eyebrows were raised last summer when Newcastle managed to sign Wijnaldum and the interest from Liverpool this summer shows that he was always on the radars of larger clubs. A relegation on your CV will be damaging, but Wijnaldum has enough credit in the bank from his time with PSV to get a move back to the Premier League.

Liverpool may still move for a left back, as there remain doubts about Alberto Moreno. This move for Wijnaldum should complete their business in the attacking midfield positions with Sadio Mane already signed. It will be interesting to see where he fits into Jurgen Klopp’s plans in the coming months.

Wijnaldum had this to say on his move to the official website, as reported by the Liverpool Echo:

“I’m really excited because Liverpool is a big club with a great history and it’s always a dream to play for as big a club as Liverpool.

“[Jurgen Klopp seems] a great man – from the outside – because I don’t know how he works yet and I have to work with him.

“[But] I always love to watch him, his passion as a trainer, I like how he enjoys the game. He gives something back to the group [with his passion] so I look forward to working with him.”

Here is how Twitter reacted to the news:

A lot of people thought it was a good move by Liverpool…

https://twitter.com/The_W_Address/status/756388989184139264

https://twitter.com/FutbolKen/status/756589663083569153

Some Liverpool fans were happy at the move…

https://twitter.com/ConnorwilsonLFC/status/756552585369292801

https://twitter.com/IamJake94/status/756586624369192960
Newcastle fans thought their club did a good deal…

Some were sad to see the club sell him…
https://twitter.com/toonlad9/status/756546429150171138
Others were happy to see him go…

There were a few who thought he was an odd signing by Liverpool…

Others thought it made sense…
https://twitter.com/andytt87/status/756559854731427842