Barnes: Werner did not pass the Klopp test

[TLW]

John Barnes says he does believe Liverpool will regret missing out on the signature of Timo Werner because he was not fully committed to the joining them.

Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign the RB Leipzig striker, despite the widely held view that the Reds were in prime position to seal the transfer.
 

The news may have come as a shock as well as some disappointment to Liverpool fans who were looking forward to have another class forward joining the ranks.

But it seems the only set of individuals not surprised were the club hierarchy themselves who were not rushed into reacting and engage in a bidding war with the West London club.

John Barnes believes there is a clear reason for that as he explained to BonusCodeBets(via The Mirror).

“Liverpool want players that want to play for Liverpool. I'm sure a lot of people were after [Virgil] van Dijk, but he wanted to come to Liverpool.

"If they don't get a move on and Manchester City, Arsenal or Chelsea come in for him and he decides to go there, that's not the sort of player you want anyway.

"Because he'll just go where they're going to pay him more money or he wasn't that committed to wanting to come to play for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

Jürgen Klopp does things in a very measured and strategic way, almost testing the nerve of the player regarding how much he wants to play for the club.

Patience is the key and when they do sign on the dotted line, Klopp doesn’t just throw them to the wolves, instead he waits for the right time to bed them into the lineup.

It could be the case that Klopp believed that Werner would grow impatient with that type of process, and therefore he was not the right man for the club.

 

Barnes believes that Werner may have failed the Klopp test and cited recent examples of World Class talents who were more than willing to join the Reds.

"I don't think they have to get a move on, they didn't get a move on with Van Dijk or Alisson and a lot of people wanted them to, it's because they wanted to come. 

“This is a test to see if he really wants to come and play for Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.

“Considering how things have panned out it seems Werner didn't pass Klopp's test, but at the same time Liverpool - who didn't meet the deadline - failed the forward's too.”

Former Liverpool captain Jamie Redknapp agreed with his former club not purchasing Werner and questioned where he would fit in the lineup.

“Who is going to replace. He’s a really good player, but we don’t know right now, is he better than Mane, Firmino, Salah?

“It’s one of the best front three in the world right now so he doesn’t want to go somewhere and be a number two or a sub.

“Will they regret it? You don’t know but that is what he has got to do. He has got to make Liverpool regret that decision, or at least make them think ‘I wish we had signed him.

“For Liverpool, they have got to look at it and think, if you bring someone like him in it could upset the balance of them and maybe they might think, ‘would it be worth the risk to bring in another player.

“They have three top-class players who don’t get many injuries, why risk upsetting balance.”



 

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[coachpotato]

Naby Keïta - £50M+

Andy Robbo - £7M

 

You never really know how it’ll pan out.

Thankfully Klopp does seem to know most of the time, and if he’d really have wanted Werner, I think he’d have got him.

There must’ve been some doubt somewhere.

[coachpotato]

6 minutes ago, Istvan Kuntstain said:

Didn't the Athletic say yesterday he wanted him but got the news off FSG that they wouldn't pay? hence he rang Werner and told him? doesn't seem much doubt from Klopp

Missed that. Hope that doesn’t start driving a wedge in.

[El Rojo]

The Athletic said it was a financial decision. They also say that the club rated Werner much higher than Sancho or Havertz due to his speed and versatility. 

[El Rojo]

Thing is, he’d still only have been our fourth choice attacker for the foreseeable future on a much higher wage than most first choice players. It also looks likely that the ANC won’t take place during the domestic season.

 

Maybe we could have looked at a Keita type deal where he’d stay with Leipzig for  another year. 

[El Rojo]

Just now, Istvan Kuntstain said:

So we rated him highly but decide to let him go to a rival, personally think its a very stupid decision that we will regret. We knew the payout fee and had Klopp doing all these chats with him knowing we wouldn't pay... seems we wasted Klopp and Werners time. 

Fee seems fine but the wages look crazy. 

[El Rojo]

Things like this will happen unless and until we’re owned by a regime or an oligarch. 

[VladimirIlyich]

I'd guess that given this news,Klopp will have once again sell to buy. This is sound business sense but it does stretch resources a bit.

[El Rojo]

2 minutes ago, Istvan Kuntstain said:

Well if he asked us to match the 200k odd then yes

Yeah, who knows. Shame it didn’t happen for whatever reason as Klopp clearly wanted him. 

[TheDrowningMan]

33 minutes ago, El Rojo said:

The Athletic said it was a financial decision. They also say that the club rated Werner much higher than Sancho or Havertz due to his speed and versatility. 

The same article states that, when contacted, the club said it wasn’t a financial decision. With that said, in the next sentence writer states that it would have been a “vast outlay for a player who would have started his Anfield career as a substitute”, so perhaps it was...partially financial? In the sense that the money may have been available for someone who would have a material impact on the first team and go straight in as a starter, but not worth the risk for backup.

[Rotpeter]

29 minutes ago, TheDrowningMan said:

The same article states that, when contacted, the club said it wasn’t a financial decision. With that said, in the next sentence writer states that it would have been a “vast outlay for a player who would have started his Anfield career as a substitute”, so perhaps it was...partially financial? In the sense that the money may have been available for someone who would have a material impact on the first team and go straight in as a starter, but not worth the risk for backup.

So they appear to know even less than usual? 

 

I thought theathletic had some kind of rep.  Seems like they've just not been around long enough for us to work out that it's the usual BS.

 

 

[Chocoholic]

1 hour ago, El Rojo said:

The Athletic said it was a financial decision. They also say that the club rated Werner much higher than Sancho or Havertz due to his speed and versatility. 

If that's the case, then we can rule out, with certainty, the prospect of signing Sancho or Havertz for what would be at least double Werner's release fee. 

 

The only chance we have of signing either of them, or similarly, Mbappe, for whom there was even a campaign hashtag last year, is if either Mane or Salah leave, where both the positional need and opportunity arises and the transfer figures add up. But that is a scenario few of us want to consider.

[3 Stacks]

5 hours ago, Istvan Kuntstain said:

So we rated him highly but decide to let him go to a rival, personally think its a very stupid decision that we will regret. We knew the payout fee and had Klopp doing all these chats with him knowing we wouldn't pay... seems we wasted Klopp and Werners time. 

He's a striker approaching his prime age that has "broken out" this season and attracted the attention of top clubs (although tbf, he was pretty good for a couple seasons before this as well). There's a Timo Werner that emerges every year on the market. He isn't unique or a massive difference maker.

 

The likes of Mbappe, Sancho and Havertz are the players who have the ability to change the fortunes of a club and who we should be pursuing long term, not someone like Werner. 

[coachpotato]

22 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

 

The likes of Mbappe, Sancho and Havertz are the players who have the ability to change the fortunes of a club and who we should be pursuing long term, not someone like Werner. 

That’s a good point.

[gkmacca]

If we had signed him then Barnes would have said it was a shrewd move. He seems to just say whatever it suits the club for him to say these days. Too many people around the club are acting like spin doctors at present, including all of those lazy-arsed Echo hacks like Ian Bloody Doyle. The whole transfer market will be affected by recent events, so prices in and out will be down, but the idea that a club that is about to win the league after decades of misery and frustration isn't going to strengthen this summer seems madness to me. Unless there's been appalling mismanagement, we should be one of the few clubs that can and should invest in strengthening the squad ths summer. You don't win a title and then sit back and snooze - not if you want to win it again.

[Bruce Spanner]

8 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I'd guess that given this news,Klopp will have once again sell to buy. This is sound business sense but it does stretch resources a bit.

Nobody’s buying what we’re selling hence we’re not buying.

 

Shaq, Grujic, Wilson at least should have gone and would have covered this, but alas, here we are.

[VladimirIlyich]

39 minutes ago, Bruce Spanner said:

Nobody’s buying what we’re selling hence we’re not buying.

 

Shaq, Grujic, Wilson at least should have gone and would have covered this, but alas, here we are.

Far from ideal if Klopp wants to strengthen those squad places though. Much better to have a bench with players he wants to play rather than has to.

[scudger99]

48 minutes ago, VladimirIlyich said:

Far from ideal if Klopp wants to strengthen those squad places though. Much better to have a bench with players he wants to play rather than has to.

The players he has had to use so far have won the Champions League, the World Club Championship and have one hand on the Premiership trophy.  There's scope for improvement but I don't see any doom and gloom in the results we've had so far.

[VladimirIlyich]

18 minutes ago, scudger99 said:

The players he has had to use so far have won the Champions League, the World Club Championship and have one hand on the Premiership trophy.  There's scope for improvement but I don't see any doom and gloom in the results we've had so far.

I'm not a doom and gloom merchant by any stretch. I have been a bit disappointed to see some players not getting a look in when we were just starting to get a bit leggy though. No point having the likes of Shaq there if he's not going to get used at all. Give his spot to a youngster instead. You mentioned our WCC win and Shaq contributed to that so I would have thought he'd be good enough for the odd league game. 

[Scott_M]

[Butch]

3 hours ago, Scott_M said: