January 2021 Transfer Thread

[Moo]

4 minutes ago, Numero said:

Agreed. It’s a disposable transfer fee otherwise. Buy that Ben White lad and be done. 

Yes, if we were genuinely interested in him now's the time to go all out, even if it means over-paying.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

11 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Yep - once Rhys came on there was no reason to play that high a line.

Certainly not when winning.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

We have best keeper and fullbacks, put Philips alongside Fabinho and put Henderson and Thiago in front with Wijnaldum ahead of them, obvious front three.

Don’t play as high a line, still get the fullbacks forward, utilise are superior forwards. Fight and concentration. Play every minute like it means something.

 

Or buy.

[cloggypop]

5 hours ago, 1892-LFCWasBorn said:

 

I'm a realist you stupid motherfuckling cunt.

Realists don't follow Twitter bullshitters. 

[cloggypop]

4 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

 

Neil Jones, fucking hell, he's a blast from the not too distant past. Where did he end up when he left the echo? 

Has an ex Echo employee Twitter account. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(also writes for Goal). 

[Barrington Womble]

Just now, cloggypop said:

Has an ex Echo employee Twitter account. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(also writes for Goal). 

I've never come across goal. I'm guessing that's some kind of clickbait website? 

[cloggypop]

4 hours ago, Trumo said:

 

 

 

Konoplyanka was another one. We were apparently ready to pay the asking price, Ayre rode off on his Harley to negotiate only to be told to turn back round by the player's club president as the player wasn't for sale at any price. We've dodged a bullet there because Konoplyanka hasn't pulled up any trees since, being a bit-part player at Sevilla and Schalke before going back to the Ukraine.

I was all in for getting him and making this his song. 

 

 

 

Still reckon it would have been worth it. 

[cloggypop]

7 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

I've never come across goal. I'm guessing that's some kind of clickbait website? 

It's better than it used to be. Has had site favourite Melissa Reddy writing there before the Independent. 

[an tha]

52 minutes ago, Moo said:

Exactly.  We need someone very, very good.

Neither Gomez nor Matip can be relied upon and who knows how this injury will impact Virgil in future.  We need a clear first choice.  Hopefully Klopp agrees and FSG back him.

Absolutely imperative in my view.

 

Difference between maybe being champions again and pushing for european cup and endung up with fuck all.

 

Its that critical in my book.

[joe_fishfish]

I'd be very surprised if anyone came in during the January transfer window. I think Schuurs ruled himself out of a move the other day. He would have made sense to me. Good height, excellent 1v1 defender, trained at Ajax so you know he'd be able to play a bit, young, rumours of a release clause as well. Probably not in Matip's class but much much better than Williams or Phillips.

 

If he's out of the picture I don't see there being too many other options. Whoever we target would need to have a release clause or their club would bend us over backwards on the fee, everyone knows how desperate we are.

[3 Stacks]

I don't think it's possible to argue against the purchase of a CB, when the options are now Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams and Fabinho. 

[TheHowieLama]

1 minute ago, joe_fishfish said:

I'd be very surprised if anyone came in during the January transfer window. I think Schuurs ruled himself out of a move the other day. He would have made sense to me. Good height, excellent 1v1 defender, trained at Ajax so you know he'd be able to play a bit, young, rumours of a release clause as well. Probably not in Matip's class but much much better than Williams or Phillips.

 

If he's out of the picture I don't see there being too many other options. Whoever we target would need to have a release clause or their club would bend us over backwards on the fee, everyone knows how desperate we are.

I tend to agree - think the only realistic chance is if we had already contacted a team about a prospect and began talks that were intended for the summer. In that case maybe we could pay a premium and move the deal up.

 

To begin a negotiation now for a quality player and get it over the line will be difficult.

[Barrington Womble]

1 hour ago, cloggypop said:

It's better than it used to be. Has had site favourite Melissa Reddy writing there before the Independent. 

That explains a lot. I'm still shocked every time I hear her that she's managed to get a gig at the independent. 

13 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

I don't think it's possible to argue against the purchase of a CB, when the options are now Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams and Fabinho. 

While it's not a view I subscribe to, many will argue we should only buy as part of a long term strategy with players we'd planned to go for this summer or beyond anyway and if we can't get them, stick with the hand we've been dealt.

 

Personally I think football like all businesses there's a time for strategic planning and sometimes you need to be reactive and tactical. I'd be happy with a solid PL level centre back to get us through the next 18 months. It's not like we don't have a slot. And it's not like we can be sure VVD or Gomez will be back on schedule and immediately up to speed. And it's not like Phillips is anywhere near good enough and from what I've seen of him Williams looks like a boy, aside from the league cup he shouldn't be near our 1st team during that period, so we'd not be blocking his progress. I also don't subscribe to the point of view there are no players out there. We've one of the most sophisticated scouting networks in world football, it would seem a complete and utter failure of that system if it can't find someone significantly better than Williams and Phillips in January. And I don't mean just a bit better, there should be 100s of players who are loads better than those 2, surely a couple are gettable. 

[dockers_strike]

15 hours ago, Arnaud said:

Morientes was a failure here, it’s not even an issue ! 

Sadly yes. I thought he'd be a great signing. Very good header of a ball though. Almost as good as Toshack.

[3 Stacks]

10 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Personally I think football like all businesses there's a time for strategic planning and sometimes you need to be reactive and tactical. I'd be happy with a solid PL level centre back to get us through the next 18 months. It's not like we don't have a slot. And it's not like we can be sure VVD or Gomez will be back on schedule and immediately up to speed. And it's not like Phillips is anywhere near good enough and from what I've seen of him Williams looks like a boy, aside from the league cup he shouldn't be near our 1st team during that period, so we'd not be blocking his progress. I also don't subscribe to the point of view there are no players out there. We've one of the most sophisticated scouting networks in world football, it would seem a complete and utter failure of that system if it can't find someone significantly better than Williams and Phillips in January. And I don't mean just a bit better, there should be 100s of players who are loads better than those 2, surely a couple are gettable. 

The long term view goes out the window when you're trying to win everything and you have no CB's. Just find a way to get one of these targets we've been looking at. Not you specifically, but in general I've seen people say we'll be desperate, it will be hard, no one will want to sell, the club doesn't do short term thinking, to argue we won't sign anyone. In this instance, it's all nonsense. There's always a way. Just get it done. 

[an tha]

We've known since moment that little dinocunt went through VVD that we needed a centre half, and that was compounded when Gomez went down.

 

That is nigh on 3 mths to identify who and get to work to make it happen in Jan.

 

It isn't a case of 'emergency stop gap'.....we literally need to buy a top class regular starter and partner in the long term for VVD for obvious reasons.

 

The injuries have just brought that need forward one window.

[Barrington Womble]

1 minute ago, 3 Stacks said:

The long term view goes out the window when you're trying to win everything and you have no CB's. Just find a way to get one of these targets we've been looking at. Not you specifically, but in general I've seen people say we'll be desperate, it will be hard, no one will want to sell, the club doesn't do short term thinking, to argue we won't sign anyone. In this instance, it's all nonsense. There's always a way. Just get it done. 

Spot on. None of those problems you mention there should prevent us signing someone. We don't need the next VVD, just someone who can play at this level 

[Code]

When we signed Matip on a free, not a single soul on this forum suggested him before the rumours started. Same goes with Hyypia, Agger etc.

 

To be honest, I cant think of a CB we have signed the last 20 years, apart from VVD, that people wanted us to sign before it happened. 
 

Im pretty sure we will sign a CB, and I have no problem with the fact I have no idea who we will sign at this moment in time, I trust Klopp and Edwards on this one. 

[Elite]

11 minutes ago, Code said:

When we signed Matip on a free, not a single soul on this forum suggested him before the rumours started. Same goes with Hyypia, Agger etc.

 

To be honest, I cant think of a CB we have signed the last 20 years, apart from VVD, that people wanted us to sign before it happened. 
 

Im pretty sure we will sign a CB, and I have no problem with the fact I have no idea who we will sign at this moment in time, I trust Klopp and Edwards on this one. 

What about if it's Harry Maguire?

[aRdja]

28 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

Spot on. None of those problems you mention there should prevent us signing someone. We don't need the next VVD, just someone who can play at this level 

PL defenders worth taking a punt on: Mings, Konsa, Soyuncu, Tomori.

[Barrington Womble]

Just now, aRdja said:

PL defenders worth taking a punt on: Konsa, Soyuncu, Tomori.

The thing is, I would say most clubs have one or two miles better than the two we have to play alongside fabinho. It could be we pick someone who's near the end of their career just to patch us through. We might get a klavan type from abroad - while he wasn't great, he was light years better than the 2 we have today. Or we might just bring forward a major signing. I think my point is we should be falling over centre backs who can improve us considering our 3 senior centre back will struggle to play 10 games between them over the rest of the campaign. 

[aRdja]

2 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

The thing is, I would say most clubs have one or two miles better than the two we have to play alongside fabinho. It could be we pick someone who's near the end of their career just to patch us through. We might get a klavan type from abroad - while he wasn't great, he was light years better than the 2 we have today. Or we might just bring forward a major signing. I think my point is we should be falling over centre backs who can improve us considering our 3 senior centre back will struggle to play 10 games between them over the rest of the campaign. 

Ideal signing would be Declan Rice as he could cover two positions very well but he wouldn’t come cheap. 

[Bjornebye]

When Thiago comes back we wont need defenders 

[sir roger]

I had one eye on Rudiger but he suddenly appeared in the Chelsea team last night

[joe_fishfish]

Don't think Chelsea would sell to us unless it was a player they were desperate to get rid of.