Aldridge: I respect Zubimendi's decision to reject Liverpool

Similar to Zubimendi, Aldridge also spent a part of his career playing for Real Sociedad and understands his thought process behind his decision.

He wrote for the Sunday World: "I liked what I saw from Ryan Gravenberch (against Ipswich) at Portman Road.

"This lad was a big disappointment after his arrival at Liverpool and Klopp was always pretty ruthless when a player was not performing.

"Jurgen (Klopp) had his favourites and if you were not one of them, you needed to get yourself some cushions as your time would be spent warming the bench.

"Now it’s a fresh start for everyone with (Arne) Slot’s arrival and the new boss clearly likes what he sees from Gravenberch.

"Liverpool have had a problem in that defensive midfielder role and it’s clear they are looking to strengthen in that area after trying and failing to sign Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi in recent days.

"This lad was their top transfer target for the position, but he turned down the move because his family didn’t want to move from Spain.

"I have some sympathy with Zubimendi. While I loved my time playing for Sociedad in the early 1990s, my wife missed home badly and that forced my hand in asking to leave.

"There are several elements to a transfer working and one of them is getting a player’s family on board, so if Zubimendi’s partner was not keen on a move to Liverpool, they need to look elsewhere.

"Slot may feel he has a solution in that position in Gravenberch and he looked a much better player yesterday than what we saw from him under Klopp."