Liverpool cannot fall into summer transfer trap that would cost them millions

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

Liverpool will continue to be linked with players who have impressed during the ongoing World CupIt's one of the oldest transfer traps into which almost every club has fallen. Never be persuaded to buy a player on the strength of a good showing in an international tournament.With the World Cup having now reached the quarter-final stage and approaching 100 games having been played, it hasn't only just been an opportunity for some of the best players on the planet to showcase their talents.Those who previously have flown under the radar - whether that be through their league having a lack of wider exposure on television or playing for an unheralded club - have also now captured the attention of the wider public for the first time.And as with every major international event, there is scope for Liverpool and other Premier League clubs to be seduced by performances on the big stage.For many Reds supporters, for example, it was a first chance to properly assess one-time wing target Yan Diomande, while there remains hope new signing Victor Munoz can gain minutes with Spain before the end of the competition.Throughout the finals names have been bandied around, most recently Mexico's 17-year-old midfield sensation Gilberto Mora, who started their round of 16 defeat to England in the early hours of Monday morning.Liverpool, though, aren't daft.

Any impression made at the World Cup would only solidify previous opinion.And that homework should ensure they avoid making the kind of missteps that have hampered teams in past years, Liverpool included.Centre-backs Torben Piechnik and Phil Babb were bought after the 1992 European Championship and 1994 World Cup respectively, but neither proved as successful at Anfield as they did in those tournaments. Vegard Heggem was unused with Norway at the 1998 World Cup before moving to Anfield while Xabi Alonso (Euro 2004) and Dirk Kuyt (2006 World Cup) were not regulars at the finals.In 2010 Milan Jovanovic had already agreed a move to the Reds before scoring a winner for Serbia against Germany in that year's World Cup while Raul Meireles, a regular in the tournament for Portugal, joined only days before the transfer deadline in the August.

And more recently, Alisson Becker and Xherdan Shaqiri were on Liverpool's radar long before the 2018 World Cup after which they arrived.But perhaps the biggest myth surrounds the purchase of El Hadji Diouf and Salif Diao, who helped Senegal reach the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup.Liverpool agreed a deal for Diouf before the finals while a transfer was negotiated in principle during the tournament itself for Diao. But they shouldn't let the World Cup spark any rash transfer judgements.