January 2018 Transfer Thread

[Josef Svejk]

Henderson should be called Kasper.

 

Kasper Henderson. The friendly opponent.

[El Rojo]

Dolewendowbergowski.

 

Ha, I made sure to say 'with us' because Lewandowski is the obvious exception with Klopp.

 

He was a freak of nature - a brilliant, nasty, prolific, cheating winner like Suarez. A player worth changing formation for. Not sure Dolberg is that good.

[Numero Veinticinco]

Ha, I made sure to say 'with us' because Lewandowski is the obvious exception with Klopp.

 

He was a freak of nature - a brilliant, nasty, prolific, cheating winner like Suarez. A player worth changing formation for. Not sure Dolberg is that good.

Well, Lewandowski wasn't 'that' good at 19 either, to be fair. I think he could certainly play the role, actually. I've not seen every minute he has played or anything, but my7 spider senses are saying that he's going to be the best player in the history of the sport. Or, possibly, shit.

[LF:D]

Henderson should be called Kasper.

 

Kasper Henderson. The friendly opponent.

I don't get it?

[LF:D]

Dolberg is very complete. Could probably play in any system. He's a pretty big guy, but still mobile, he's got technical ability and can score goals from anywhere.

Sounds like Solanke.

[Josef Svejk]

I don't get it?

If one has to explain one's witticism, one's witticism is a fucking failure.

[LF:D]

If one has to explain one's witticism, one's witticism is a fucking failure.

Sounds like a lazy, unnecessary dig at our captain to me.

[Josef Svejk]

Sounds like a lazy, unnecessary dig at our captain to me.

"Our"?

[G Richards]

Aubameyang makes most sense, if we’re selling Coutinho and moving Firmino deeper. He can do the business right now and it gives Solanke space to develop. This also assumes we’re selling Sturridge.

 

Origi might help us if he does well this season, as we could offer him to Dortmund to try to sign Aubameyang, or Leipzig to try to sign Werner. Werner is a younger striker himself, but I think he is better than Dolberg and Solanke and can go in to the side right away and do well.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens if and when we sell Coutinho. Will we spend a lot of money on the likes of Lemar, or will we drop Firmino a bit deeper and spend a lot on a striker?

[LF:D]

"Our"?

You don't support LFC?

[Josef Svejk]

You don't support LFC?

Got me. Fuck. I've been on a monumental wind-up for the last decade or so.

[G Richards]

Welcome back LFD. I like your posts and info you share to support your thoughts. It really adds to the forum. Hopefully everyone can give it a clean slate and not get embroiled in petty arguments, as that sort of stuff always drags the forum down.

 

I’m glad you are posting again.

[G Richards]

PS - that wasn’t aimed at you Josef Svejk, or anyone else for that matter.

 

Just in general, I remember LFD previously getting exasperated with it all, so hopefully it’s a clean slate and onwards and upwards.

[Boss]

Dutch player of the year Davy Klaassen looks totally out of his depth over here. Janssen looked like the next Van Nistelrooy in Holland and failed miserably at Spurs. Depay is the best player i've seen from the Eredivisie in years and he also failed. De Jong failed at Newcastle. Tadic failed and that's at Southampton where the expectation is low. Fischer failed at Middlesborough. The list goes on. There's no way a 19 year old kid from the Dutch League comes here and displaces Firmino, Salah and Mane. He doesn't even fit our style of play.

 

If we're signing anyone from Holland we're much better off signing defenders from Ajax - they seem to have a decent success rate (Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Sanchez). Purely using this criteria i reckon the only player in the Dutch league that would be decently successful for a top 6 club, right now, is Joel Veltman. 

[Russ Atmosphere]

Solanke shouldn't get any more time until he's scored a goal.

[LF:D]

Got me. Fuck. I've been on a monumental wind-up for the last decade or so.

I thought you did. Had to check as not everyone does on this forum, Fanchester City for example.

 

Well last time I checked, Henderson was our captain and he had a good game on the weekend in a position which suited his skillset more.

 

Doesn't mean he can't be upgraded or should always be our captain. But I didn't get the random reference or dig at him.

[Josef Svejk]

PS - that wasn’t aimed at you Josef Svejk, or anyone else for that matter.

 

Just in general, I remember LFD previously getting exasperated with it all, so hopefully it’s a clean slate and onwards and upwards.

No problem, Rev. I agree. Never had an issue with LFD. In fact, no knowledge of said issues...

[Josef Svejk]

I thought you did. Had to check as not everyone does on this forum, Fanchester City for example.

 

Well last time I checked, Henderson was our captain and he had a good game on the weekend in a position which suited his skillset more.

 

Doesn't mean he can't be upgraded or should always be our captain. But I didn't get the random reference or dig at him.

I just don't like him as a player. It's unfair to blame him for our collective fragility, I know. And yet he perfectly encapsulates it...

[El Rojo]

Solanke shouldn't get any more time until he's scored a goal.

 

Harsh but fair.

[SammyAftershave]

If one has to explain one's witticism, one's witticism is a fucking failure.

 

[LF:D]

Aubameyang makes most sense, if we’re selling Coutinho and moving Firmino deeper. He can do the business right now and it gives Solanke space to develop. This also assumes we’re selling Sturridge.

 

Origi might help us if he does well this season, as we could offer him to Dortmund to try to sign Aubameyang, or Leipzig to try to sign Werner. Werner is a younger striker himself, but I think he is better than Dolberg and Solanke and can go in to the side right away and do well.

 

It will be interesting to see what happens if and when we sell Coutinho. Will we spend a lot of money on the likes of Lemar, or will we drop Firmino a bit deeper and spend a lot on a striker?

You would hope the money for last summer set a side for VVD & Keita will be part of last summers budget.

 

Had Coutinho gone, then you'd still think a Lemar / Draxler player would replace him.

 

So then we still have next summers budget to get a striker, especially if Sturridge goes - which could maybe bring forward that part of the budget if he goes in January (seems unlikely - but guess it depends who comes in for him or how reliable these Aubameyang rumours are, but until I see a good source I suspect they're bullshit).

 

If we go for a striker I'd have thought it would be in the summer when teams are willing to sell such a key player and I'd have thought it would be a Werner type who is ready now and is on the verge of exploding into a star and just needs the team to do it. Rather than a youngster in Dolberg (we've got that in Solanke) or an older striker like Aubameyang, who goes again our model. I'm pretty wary of signing strikers of Aubameyang's age too. Especially ones where pace is a big part of their game and that declines from 28 - 30ish.

 

But I personally am quite relaxed about our attacking players should Coutinho go or stay. Should we sign Draxler, Lemar, Aubameyang, Werner etc we shouldn't go too far wrong.

 

I'm more concerned about getting the right partner for Keita in CM, whether we playa CM two or three - I think that's the key player and probably the most important signing we get right this summer. Having said that I do think Henderson would look much more effective alongside Keita and in a CM two than a three. Same goes for Wijnaldum. I'd be getting Weigl if it was my choice.

 

Wouldn't say no to an Oblak at GK to be an incredible upgrade on Mignolet. But I think that's pushing our luck, but I dream about such moves.

[G Richards]

I too hope the money we were ready to spend on VVD and Keita is accounted for in last summer’s budget, sans Coutinho sale, but I’m not fully trusting the owners on that. I’m not as down on them as many on here, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Coutinho is sold and we buy two pricey players with the money and that’s the lot (apart from a smattering of prospects, or possibly a nice Bosman signing).

 

What do you think of Goretzka? Seems like everyone is in for him now. Is he a different sort to Weigl?

[LF:D]

What do you think of Goretzka? Seems like everyone is in for him now. Is he a different sort to Weigl?

I think the links for him are due to his contract situation.

 

Weigl is the one who'd suit us more IMO.

[LF:D]

But I personally am quite relaxed about our attacking players should Coutinho go or stay. Should we sign Draxler, Lemar, Aubameyang, Werner etc we shouldn't go too far wrong.

Actually I'd go as far to say I am pretty relaxed about our transfer business, probably the most I have been since Benitez was at the club and we had just won the Champions League.

 

I really like the players we are targeting. Demebele, Brandt, Keita, VVD, Sessegnon, Dolberg, Draxler, Mane, Salah etc are exactly the types of players who should be on our radar.

 

We might not have attracted them all and at times that might have been blessing in disguises getting perceived 2nd choices who have been brilliant in themselves. We clearly targeted a for few wide players before getting Salah for example. I think the recruitment & analytics department seem really switched on.

 

Even players who aren't stars like Matip or Wijnaldum - you can see why we went for them and that they all have plenty of attributes that you can like.

 

I think we're in good hands in who we are targeting. The negotiating still needs some work as we saw with the VVD farce this summer. But equally how much was that politics and Southampton just not wanting to sell to us. All players get tapped up, they do it themselves but they chose that example to leak and make a stance on. We'll never know but I just don't think they wanted to sell to us even before all that tapping up allegations.

 

What it shows to me is we in certain positions we have quite a number of options. Wide players for example I think Klopp would have been fairly happy with any of two of Brandt, Salah, Draxler, Dembele, Mane or Pulisic - maybe even others. You can see why as they're all exciting and effective in different ways, although I suspect Klopp did have his preference it wasn't a disaster if we missed out on some of them.

 

However Keita and VVD we didn't appear to have alternatives and you can see why given the skillsets of both players. Try naming players currently who are as good as VVD & Keita, who we could attract and have a similar skillset. I don't think there are (m)any - give both are pretty unique at this moment in time.

 

Another point on the negotiating. While it's easy to always moan at the failures, without know all the information why we do miss out on some of them. Let's not forget the successes. Mane, Salah, Matip for their prices we paid is incredibly shrewd. Getting Keita on a pre contract ahead of Barca, again will prove to be excellent business.

 

We might not spend as much as we want and I personally think Klopp is a large reason for that as much as FSG. For example Draxler seemed dead to him when he went to PSG & only wanted to talk about how much he' be paid when he spoke to Klopp. Similar situation with Gotze. Klopp is patient and while it's always easy to blame FSG for not spending more. I think Klopp is right on the same page as them, as he'd rather stick with what he has and wait for a Naby Keita or VVD if he can't see anyone near as good as them. Or he'd wait for a Salah rather than panic buying after Draxler snubbing us for example. In the short term it might hurt us, as this season I think we all know VVD & Keita would have been huge upgrades.

 

But in the long term that stance I think will be seen as the right one. Now with the recruitment being so much better. I am comfortable losing Coutinho as I trust Klopp / Edwards etc to get another Mane, Salah type even just looking at the players we're linked with and targeting. This is no Carlton Cole type strategy & links like we've seen in the past or Balotelli who couldn't be more unlike Suarez as a replacement if he tried.

 

We shouldn't fear losing our best players if we replace them well. When Suarez went we needed a Sanchez and unless we got that he shouldn't have been allowed to go.

 

When we lost Rush, we got Aldridge. Keegan to Dalglish. If you have good recruitment then losing players shouldn't be feared half as much and if you keep buying players like Mane, Salah, Keita, VVD etc you will not go far wrong IMO.

 

Although I'm frustrated we're not the 'real deal' yet. I think we should have faith in Klopp, Edwards & even FSG - who hired these people. If you're not going to be able to compete with City, PSG etc financially, you need a great plan and the right people to carry that out.

 

I believe FSG have got the right man in Klopp. He's proved it at Dortmund punching above his weight and I think he's starting to prove it here given the players we are targeting / signing.

[Thoth]

I too hope the money we were ready to spend on VVD and Keita is accounted for in last summer’s budget, sans Coutinho sale, but I’m not fully trusting the owners on that. I’m not as down on them as many on here, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Coutinho is sold and we buy two pricey players with the money and that’s the lot (apart from a smattering of prospects, or possibly a nice Bosman signing).

What do you think of Goretzka? Seems like everyone is in for him now. Is he a different sort to Weigl?

Sorry Rev but no way will our owners sanction Keita and VVD out of last summers budget and give Klopp circa £100 mil from Phil,s sale.. JWH’s head would explode if he even considered it