Liverpool's scouting system is well-known to be thorough, but the team may well have had a helping hand with their latest deal.
Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas is expected to arrive from Olympiakos for a fee of around £12 million after he emerged as Liverpool's best option when the Reds saw a £10 million bid for Norwich's Jamal Lewis rejected.
But Liverpool links to Tsimikas go back a long way with the club having kept tabs on him for years. Tsimikas kept Gini Wijnaldum's brother, Giliano, out of the team at Willem II, while on loan there as a 21-year-old.
Speaking to Blood Red for a special Kostas Tsimikas podcast, Themis Kessaris of Greek news outlet Sport24 explained: "It was not only Gini’s brother in that team - he also played with Pedro Chirivella [at Willem II] and that is why I am thinking Tsimikas got for the first time on Liverpool’s radar, because the guy’s that watched the players out on loan [watched him too].
"It was an absolutely crucial season [in Tsimikas' development] because loans rarely work for Greek players. [He had] to say ‘this is for my development and I will go to another country and come back stronger’.
"Greek players don’t like loans and take it as a form of rejection. Most prefer to stay in the Greek league. That shows that he is really wanting to improve himself and becoming the best player that he can become.
"He was playing week in, week out, and was in the best XI of the week [across the league] six times which is quite impressive for a 21-year-old from Greece and he came back a different person in mentality, concentration and belief that he is going to be a top footballer."
It was not only Wijnaldum and Chirivella who would have been keeping an eye on the left-back, either, with Jurgen Klopp's assistant manager Pep Lijnders managing NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands at the same time.
Lijnders was in the second division, not the first, as Tsimikas was, but he will no doubt have been aware of his talent as the full-back made his mark.
Get the complete lowdown on Kostas Tsimikas by listening to the full podcast HERE
Plenty of other teams were interested in a deal for Tsimikas this summer, but when Liverpool came in, they were the team to get the switch over the line. And there was good reason for that.
Kessaris added: "You have to remind yourself that 24 is Klopp and Michael Edwards’ favourite age to get a player in.
"They like to get players in between 24 and 27 so they have seen enough to know what they are getting but they have their best years ahead of them.
"Tsimikas three seasons ago was playing in the Netherlands in the Eredivisie with Willem II. He has been a regular starter for Olympiakos for the last two seasons, but these two seasons have been amazing and the development is there for everyone to see.
"Napoli were very interested. Nice were looking also for him, but that was before the pandemic, when Olympiakos were asking for more than €20 million for the player.
"Olympiakos is the best selling club in Greece and they know how to get the price up, but now that Liverpool came, and with the COVID situation, the numbers are not so high, so the deal came through."
With the Lewis deal deemed too expensive to get done at £20 million, Liverpool will hope that Tsimikas can be the latest example of a bargain transfer that they have completed under sporting director Edwards.
If their recent record is anything to go by, then Tsimikas could prove to be steal, and the Reds have certainly done their due diligence.
