Mkhitaryan

[TheHitman]

How would we know he was keen to come if we never spoke to him at all? And they were feeding the press that he wanted to come to us.

 

Ha somebody should stick that old quote from John Smith on Ian Ayre's wall, these days we do a lot of talking and little action and seem unprofessional.

 

 

“We’re a very very modest club. We don’t talk. We don’t boast. But we’re very professional”

[Major Tom]

Ha somebody should stick that old quote from John Smith on Ian Ayre's wall, these days we do a lot of talking and little action and seem unprofessional.

 

 

“We’re a very very modest club. We don’t talk. We don’t boast. But we’re very professional”

 

What has Ayre said regarding Mkhitaryan?

[polymerpunkah]

It does bring Dempsey to mind.

 

At least now there's time to find an alternative.

[Randy Marsh]

What worries me is the thought that we pinned all our hopes on HM causing enough of a stink at Shakhtar for us to eventually get him for a few million under his asking price. If this is the lad we identified as the headline signing of our summer, which by all accounts we had done, we needed to act quickly , pay his asking price and do the deal. Whilst there are club's of the calibre of Dortmund on the scene, clubs playing Champions League football, it seems a bit naive to me to expect him to sit it out all summer just so Liverpool who aren't in any European competition can sign him on the cheap. The fact the Champions League finalists are paying the money for him shows his calibre. We needed to act quickly and decisively to do a deal and on the face of it we didn't do that.

[Zizou]

It does bring Dempsey to mind.

 

At least now there's time to find an alternative.

 

Agree with this. We won't know too much till he signs for whoever but at least we have TIME to find someone else.

[Major Tom]

What worries me is the thought that we pinned all our hopes on HM causing enough of a stink at Shakhtar for us to eventually get him for a few million under his asking price. If this is the lad we identified as the headline signing of our summer, which by all accounts we had done, we needed to act quickly , pay his asking price and do the deal. Whilst there are club's of the calibre of Dortmund on the scene, clubs playing Champions League football, it seems a bit naive to me to expect him to sit it out all summer just so Liverpool who aren't in any European competition can sign him on the cheap. The fact the Champions League finalists are paying the money for him shows his calibre. We needed to act quickly and decisively to do a deal and on the face of it we didn't do that.

 

Maybe we were trying our damnedest but Shakhtar or the player or the player's representatives weren't playing ball. Who knows.

[Brownie]

At this point we have no idea what's happened with this 'deal. We can blame it all on Ian Ayre if we want but without understanding the facts, what is the point?

 

It will all come out eventually anyway.

 

The one thing to take out of this; take what you read on Twitter with a massive pinch of salt and be prepared for more transfer woes whilst we languish in mid-table

[Randy Marsh]

Maybe we were trying our damnedest but Shakhtar or the player or the player's representatives weren't playing ball. Who knows.

 

You're right, maybe that's the case. However I doubt this would've rumbled on to this point if he had no interest in signing for Liverpool. The cinic in me says we've seen this scenario play out a few times before were Liverpool are involved, pissing about over the sake of a couple of million and usually regretting it further down the line. However it's still early doors, so let's see what contingency plans we have in place.

[moof]

Shakhtar's manager seemed insulted that he wanted to leave for us, that we were a step down from them. Maybe they wouldn't play ball with us and pushed him more toward the Dortmund offer.

[setreal]

Dortmund have been in talks with Mickeys club for a few weeks, just like us - in fact he has been one of Klopps favorite for a while and Dortmund were already rumored to be interested in December, for the January window.

 

I don't know why people are surprised he chose them, that's what you get when you get to the CL final, eliminate Citeh and Real on the way and are fairly certain to be in the CL for years to come.

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

What worries me is the thought that we pinned all our hopes on HM causing enough of a stink at Shakhtar for us to eventually get him for a few million under his asking price. If this is the lad we identified as the headline signing of our summer, which by all accounts we had done, we needed to act quickly , pay his asking price and do the deal. Whilst there are club's of the calibre of Dortmund on the scene, clubs playing Champions League football, it seems a bit naive to me to expect him to sit it out all summer just so Liverpool who aren't in any European competition can sign him on the cheap. The fact the Champions League finalists are paying the money for him shows his calibre. We needed to act quickly and decisively to do a deal and on the face of it we didn't do that.

 

Looks like I'm completely agreeing with you tonight mate.

 

The way we conduct our transfer activity is just so frustrating. Imagine if you're a scout and spend days/weeks/months tracking a player and then watch Ayre failing to close a deal.

 

If our 2 top targets were Papadopoulos & Mkhitaryan, then you get both done asap. If you expect to get both on the cheap, then why bother dragging your heels? We were bidding £12m for Papadopoulos when Schalke have previously rejected bids of £15m from other clubs. Ilori is another target we've identified and still negotiating with Sporting.

 

Our lowballing strategy really does my fucking head in and just doesn't work. We tried to get Alberto on the cheap, yet ended up spending £7m on a player who's only played less than 10 first team games. We tried the same with Mignolet and ended up paying £10m.

 

Why have we spent £10m on a keeper when we haven't sold the one he's rumoured to be replacing?

 

Don't really understand why we still bother with this lowballing strategy. This doesn't even work nowadays when a player has little left on his contract.

[Brownie]

My hunch (whilst we're speculating) is that he was willing to join us but there was always the threat that he would go to the first club that managed to agree a deal with Shakhtar/the other owners. Dortmund have been negotiating with them just as long as we have and they have managed to conclude the negotiations ahead of us, possibly because of the difference in rules with regards to third party ownership.

 

If we'd got the deal done earlier, he'd have snubbed Dortmund.

 

Clubs always speak to a player first (either directly, or indirectly) to understand whether they're willing to join before starting negotiations with the selling club. We wouldn't have put the work in without understanding his position first, it's ludicrous to believe otherwise.

 

I may be wrong but I have a feeling that's what went down.

[Brownie]

 

Looks like I'm completely agreeing with you tonight mate.

 

The way we conduct our transfer activity is just so frustrating. Imagine if you're a scout and spend days/weeks/months tracking a player and then watch Ayre failing to close a deal.

 

If our 2 top targets were Papadopoulos & Mkhitaryan' date=' then you get both done asap. If you expect to get both on the cheap, then why bother? We were bidding £12m for Papadopoulos when Schalke have previously rejected bids of £15m.

 

Our lowballing strategy really does my fucking head in and just doesn't work. We tried to get Alberto on the cheap, yet ended up spending £7m on a player who's only played less than 10 first team games. We tried the same with Mignolet and ended up paying £10m.

 

Why have we spent £10m on a keeper when we haven't sold the one he's rumoured to be replacing?

 

Don't really understand why we still bother with this lowballing strategy. This doesn't even work nowadays when a player has little left on his contract.[/quote']

 

You have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Ayre is the reason for us losing out here. What's the point?

 

I understand your frustration, I feel the same way.

[kalasoma]

You're right, maybe that's the case. However I doubt this would've rumbled on to this point if he had no interest in signing for Liverpool. The cinic in me says we've seen this scenario play out a few times before were Liverpool are involved, pissing about over the sake of a couple of million and usually regretting it further down the line. However it's still early doors, so let's see what contingency plans we have in place.

 

Maybe in the past, but in the most recent cases where we pulled out of a deal (that we know of) it was Sigurdsson and Dempsey and I can't say I regret not getting either of those players. You're right about it still being early for transfers though.

[Brownie]

 

Maybe in the past' date=' but in the most recent cases where we pulled out of a deal (that we know of) it was Sigurdsson and Dempsey and I can't say I regret not getting either of those players. You're right about it still being early for transfers though.[/quote']

 

Rodgers actually deserves credit for how he dealt with the Sigurdsson situation. He refused to budge on his valuation and last season proved him to be right.

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

You have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Ayre is the reason for us losing out here. What's the point?

 

I understand your frustration, I feel the same way.

 

The more you fuck about with transfers, the more the chance of other clubs coming in who can offer Champions league football.

 

It's no coincidence that we make our best signings in January (apart from Carroll of course) when most other big clubs don't tend to do much business.

[MLB]

He was a very ambitious target and I'm surprised that we came as close to pulling it off as we did. It's embarrassing for us to have to admit defeat on both of our main targets, but it is what it is. I think we are right to refuse to give Schalke £20 million for Papadopoulos, and Mkhitaryan chose a club who are currently in a much stronger position than us. It's a good thing that we are being ambitious with our targets, but maybe the lesson to learn is to be a bit less conspicuous about it in future.

 

This guy is the closest I can think of to another Mkhitaryan, and would likely cost about half as much:

 

Josip Ilicic, Palermo - Every Serie A Goal (2012/13) *HD* We love him, do you? Comment Below - YouTube

 

Perhaps we could also bring in Wanyama and Deulofeu on loan with the money left.

[Mathewbet1]

Plan B?

[Brownie]

 

The more you fuck about with transfers' date=' the more the chance of other clubs coming in who can offer Champions league football.

 

It's no coincidence that we make our best signings in January (apart from Carroll of course) when most other big clubs don't tend to do much business.[/quote']

 

You're doing it again. How do you know we fucked about? You don't.

[Skrtel Milk]

Plan B?

 

Why don't you go fuck yourself? I blame you more than Ayre.

[G Richards]

Plan B? Muniain. Spend the money on him. A front four of Sturridge, Suarez, Coutinho and Muniain would do me. We are getting a Spanish vibe going again. Why not?

[1892-LFCWasBorn]

Plan B?

 

Tom Ince. Place your bets.

[Barrington Womble]

 

All of which means squat when the player decided playing in the CL rather than the Europa League or in our case' date=' not in Europe at all this coming season, was of a bigger interest to him.

 

Having a savvy MD or not, wouldnt have changed a thing. People need to wise up. As big as we think we are, most players will sign for a club in the CL rather than ones which are not.[/quote']

 

We've chased this guy for 2 months and now we're being led to believe he was never even interested in talking? The stuff people will believe.

[Brownie]

 

We've chased this guy for 2 months and now we're being led to believe he was never even interested in talking? The stuff people will believe.

 

That does surprise me. As if we would even begin working on any transfer without knowing that a player is up for it first.

[Mathewbet1]

Bernard Anício Caldeira Duarte was scouted last season.