Richard Hughes' playmaker clanger has cost Liverpool £20m | OneFootball

Liverpool last summer conducted around £450m worth of transfers.

And in order to accommodate the new arrivals - including British record deals for Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz - several players were let go.

Richard Hughes’ outgoings have been under scrutiny - from the top performances delivered by Luis Diaz at Bayern Munich to a failure to land a bigger fee from Darwin Nunez.

But the one that got away would appear to be Tyler Morton.

Tyler Morton going from strength to strength

The homegrown midfielder, 23, was allowed to join Lyon for a total of €15m including bonuses - around £12.8m overall. And far from being a wasted talent the England under-21 international has adapted superbly to life in Ligue 1.

He has been among the best midfielders in a league which includes Vitinha and Joao Neves - emphasising his credentials as a future star.

Liverpool sold him for a song - due to his contract expiring in 2027 and no realistic opportunity coming his way for a breakthrough.

Lyon to flip Morton for £20m profit

Lyon under Paulo Fonseca has proven to be the perfect home for Morton’s talents - a player who enjoyed productive loan spells at both Blackburn and Hull.

Although the financially hit French side plan to keep hold of Morton through this transfer window we can expect them to cash in next year. That’s according to a report in Foot01 - which claims Lyon are already looking to flip Morton at a mammoth £20m profit or more.

“At Lyon, however, Matthieu Louis-Jean can only be praised,” the report reads.

“By signing Tyler Morton for barely €15 million (£12.8m), the club has secured the potential for a huge future profit.

“In this 2026 summer window, Lyon intend to keep the Englishman. However, there is little doubt that a transfer will be on the agenda within a year.

“The starting price would likely be €30–40 million (£25m to £34m) at minimum—enough to infuriate Liverpool supporters, who are frustrated at how cheaply Tyler Morton was allowed to leave for Lyon in 2025.”

Morton deal infuriates supporters

The sale of Morton was hard to take as he is a local boy who earned his stripes in the academy. Arne Slot barely looked at him while injuries also played their part in restricting his role.

But this is very much one that got away for Liverpool and sporting director Richard Hughes - who couldn’t get rid of Morton quick enough.

That decision is coming back to bite the outgoing champions in a big way. Not only are they crying out for players in Morton’s mould but giving him a platform to perform could arguably have helped Liverpool realise his true value in the market.

As it stands the decision to offload Morton so cheaply could be a clanger from Richard Hughes that ends up costing the Reds around £20m in missed transfer revenues.