Our midfield

[Scott_M]

I still think we can salvage this season (ie go deep in the CL & cups), we need to do something reasonably major in January though.

 

Looking at all the players we've been linked with, I genuinely don't know the answer...

 

Bellingham - Looks a potentially great player but would the fee stop us signing other players? We need more than 1 midfielder.

Laimer - Recent injury record is a concern. Bundesliga.com compares him to N'golo Kante and apparently he's a pressing machine, who does all the dirty work. Apparently, also a Liverpool supporter and his idol was Gerrard.

De Jong - See Bellingham on price.

Barella - See Bellingham on price. From the Euros, I thought he was great but, well, Italians to us don't travel well.

Rice - Same issue as Bellingham and De Jong on price and although he is good, I'm not convinced he's that good.

Neves - Good, not convinced he's good enough.

Tielemans - Gone backwards since his FA Cup winner, not convinced he's good enough.

Caicedo - Don't know enough about him, played well at Anfield.

Enzo Fernandez - We've likely agreed a fee but Benfica will back out when we get them in the CL on Monday... again, I know nothing of him. 

Neuhaus - Apart from the 5 minutes we were linked with him last summer, I'd not heard of before or since. 

Aouar - Like Tielemans, seems to have gone backwards and not convinced.

 

Have I missed anybody?

 

Although, our best side was built around Wijnaldum, Milner and Hendo. All good players but masters of none really. Functional & hard working rather than spectacular. Maybe a couple of the above could do a good job?

[TheHowieLama]

4 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

 

Have I missed anybody?

 

Every realistic target it looks like.

[Scott_M]

6 minutes ago, TheHowieLama said:

Every realistic target it looks like.

 

Ah, Sucic at Salzburg. I know nothing of him.

 

Anyways, I tried.

 

Given Barca budgeted everything this summer on them getting to the CL Quarters, I do wonder, if like Diaz, if there is a possibility for a knock down fee for De Jong fee if agree to a large % of the fee up front.

[Ronnie Whelan]

48 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

I still think we can salvage this season (ie go deep in the CL & cups), we need to do something reasonably major in January though.

 

Looking at all the players we've been linked with, I genuinely don't know the answer...

 

Bellingham - Looks a potentially great player but would the fee stop us signing other players? We need more than 1 midfielder.

Laimer - Recent injury record is a concern. Bundesliga.com compares him to N'golo Kante and apparently he's a pressing machine, who does all the dirty work. Apparently, also a Liverpool supporter and his idol was Gerrard.

De Jong - See Bellingham on price.

Barella - See Bellingham on price. From the Euros, I thought he was great but, well, Italians to us don't travel well.

Rice - Same issue as Bellingham and De Jong on price and although he is good, I'm not convinced he's that good.

Neves - Good, not convinced he's good enough.

Tielemans - Gone backwards since his FA Cup winner, not convinced he's good enough.

Caicedo - Don't know enough about him, played well at Anfield.

Enzo Fernandez - We've likely agreed a fee but Benfica will back out when we get them in the CL on Monday... again, I know nothing of him. 

Neuhaus - Apart from the 5 minutes we were linked with him last summer, I'd not heard of before or since. 

Aouar - Like Tielemans, seems to have gone backwards and not convinced.

 

Have I missed anybody?

 

Although, our best side was built around Wijnaldum, Milner and Hendo. All good players but masters of none really. Functional & hard working rather than spectacular. Maybe a couple of the above could do a good job?

Bellingham is the dream player, but as you say unless we get another midfielder, it is not the right deal. Mad thing to say, but wouldn't it be classic us that we sell a few players to fund him and then get an injury crisis - let's say we sell Kev as part of gathering the cash for him and Ali is out for 4 months and then we are left with some random Bundesliga 2 goalkeeper.

 

Love what I've seen of Fernandez. I love South American players in general and this kid looks the business. Fucking love Barella, but can't help but think that he wouldn't do well here - think he would be brilliant at one of the London clubs. Like the look of Caicedo, but is he a world class talent or a lad in brilliant form. Rice is a really fine player. I haven't thought of him because I just presumed he will go to Chelsea. If there is a chance and Bellingham was unattainable, I'd be very interested in him. 

Really like De Jong but he can fuck off if he thinks he becomes the biggest earner at the club. He needs to be humble and come here to reset his career. A potentially brilliant signing though.

Laimer has impressed me a lot when I have seem him, but cautious over getting a lad with his injury record.

Could Neves be another unheralded player that is top class for us - I rate him and he is a good age profile. 

Tielemans looked great a few years ago, but there is real talent there. I would definitely fancy Jurgen to get the most out of him.

 

So many options out there for us. What is key is getting that age profile right down.

 

Anyhow, what we know is that this summer has to be a big one, but if FSG have any cop on, the summer needs to start in January, even if it means paying a premium. I've said before that they might have faults, but they are very astute business people. They have got away with balancing the books nicely because of Jurgen's genius. The team needs funding and if that is managed well over the next twelve months, their business will continue to thrive and we can chase trophies in the coming years, which is what we have to be doing. If they don't fund over the next two windows, my gut is that they are looking at selling us on because it would be a bat shit crazy decision to let a massive club that is at the height of appeal around the world fall back into the pack and with Newcastle, a rejuvenated United, Arsenal, Spurs, a free spending Chelsea and City, not hard to see how that happens very fast.

[joe_fishfish]

Exequiel Palacios is the one.

[HBenn]

1 hour ago, Scott_M said:

 

He broke his ankle in 20/21 and missed virtually the whole season.

 

He's out again at the moment with ankle issues.

 

Apart from 20/21 and this season, his injury record is actually pretty good - occurring ankle issues are a concern though. 

 

That is where I am at.

 

I think we all would agree that there is no guarantee that even a player with a great injury record pre arrival wouldn't become injury prone. 

 

However I would still rather play the percentages and I cannot see why we need to take the chance on a player that arrives with quite significant concerns already. Especially with what we went through in the summer/are going through now. 

 

I think most fair minded fans would give the club a fair amount of slack if they signed someone with a good injury record that became injury prone. Any signing is a risk and if you do everything you can to mitigate the risks then so be it.

 

Buying a player that doesn't have a good injury record though would just antagonise the fans and lead to questions over their football intelligence. It just feels like a road the club have no need to go down. 

[an tha]

3 hours ago, Scott_M said:

I still think we can salvage this season (ie go deep in the CL & cups), we need to do something reasonably major in January though.

 

Looking at all the players we've been linked with, I genuinely don't know the answer...

 

Bellingham - Looks a potentially great player but would the fee stop us signing other players? We need more than 1 midfielder.

Laimer - Recent injury record is a concern. Bundesliga.com compares him to N'golo Kante and apparently he's a pressing machine, who does all the dirty work. Apparently, also a Liverpool supporter and his idol was Gerrard.

De Jong - See Bellingham on price.

Barella - See Bellingham on price. From the Euros, I thought he was great but, well, Italians to us don't travel well.

Rice - Same issue as Bellingham and De Jong on price and although he is good, I'm not convinced he's that good.

Neves - Good, not convinced he's good enough.

Tielemans - Gone backwards since his FA Cup winner, not convinced he's good enough.

Caicedo - Don't know enough about him, played well at Anfield.

Enzo Fernandez - We've likely agreed a fee but Benfica will back out when we get them in the CL on Monday... again, I know nothing of him. 

Neuhaus - Apart from the 5 minutes we were linked with him last summer, I'd not heard of before or since. 

Aouar - Like Tielemans, seems to have gone backwards and not convinced.

 

Have I missed anybody?

 

Although, our best side was built around Wijnaldum, Milner and Hendo. All good players but masters of none really. Functional & hard working rather than spectacular. Maybe a couple of the above could do a good job?

I have said it a few times on here and i stand by it....if we could find 2 midfielders who could do to a high level what Hendo and Wijnaldum did so well from about 2018-2020 we would be sorted.

[VladimirIlyich]

11 hours ago, Scott_M said:

I still think we can salvage this season (ie go deep in the CL & cups), we need to do something reasonably major in January though.

 

Looking at all the players we've been linked with, I genuinely don't know the answer...

 

Bellingham - Looks a potentially great player but would the fee stop us signing other players? We need more than 1 midfielder.

Laimer - Recent injury record is a concern. Bundesliga.com compares him to N'golo Kante and apparently he's a pressing machine, who does all the dirty work. Apparently, also a Liverpool supporter and his idol was Gerrard.

De Jong - See Bellingham on price.

Barella - See Bellingham on price. From the Euros, I thought he was great but, well, Italians to us don't travel well.

Rice - Same issue as Bellingham and De Jong on price and although he is good, I'm not convinced he's that good.

Neves - Good, not convinced he's good enough.

Tielemans - Gone backwards since his FA Cup winner, not convinced he's good enough.

Caicedo - Don't know enough about him, played well at Anfield.

Enzo Fernandez - We've likely agreed a fee but Benfica will back out when we get them in the CL on Monday... again, I know nothing of him. 

Neuhaus - Apart from the 5 minutes we were linked with him last summer, I'd not heard of before or since. 

Aouar - Like Tielemans, seems to have gone backwards and not convinced.

 

Have I missed anybody?

 

Although, our best side was built around Wijnaldum, Milner and Hendo. All good players but masters of none really. Functional & hard working rather than spectacular. Maybe a couple of the above could do a good job?

'Go Deep?' What is this Americanised nonsense!

[Daisy]

11 hours ago, Scott_M said:

 

Ah, Sucic at Salzburg. I know nothing of him.

 

Anyways, I tried.

 

Given Barca budgeted everything this summer on them getting to the CL Quarters, I do wonder, if like Diaz, if there is a possibility for a knock down fee for De Jong fee if agree to a large % of the fee up front.

 

Surely you of all people know your overlords won't be buying anyone in January 

[Scott_M]

4 hours ago, Daisy said:

 

Surely you of all people know your overlords won't be buying anyone in January 

Shut up you boring cunt. 

[Scott_M]

https://www.espn.com/soccer/soccer-transfers/story/4788658/the-battle-for-bellingham-liverpool-close-in-as-real-madrid-lurk
 

Dunno who James Olley is but I’m choosing to believe it. 

[El Rojo]

If we get Bellingham, I’ll be organising a crew of the most virulent FSG critics on here to spend an afternoon scraping barnacles from John Henry’s big yacht.

[Colonel Bumcunt]

I hope Van Dijk has a great world cup and we sell him for £100m to Madrid or PSG. 

Use that towards Bellingham, and someone like Sangare. 

We can survive with Gomez, Konate, Matip, Phillips and keep an eye out for another young talent.  

I think we need a rebuild, starting from midfield.

[VladimirIlyich]

14 minutes ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

I hope Van Dijk has a great world cup and we sell him for £100m to Madrid or PSG. 

Use that towards Bellingham, and someone like Sangare. 

We can survive with Gomez, Konate, Matip, Phillips and keep an eye out for another young talent.  

I think we need a rebuild, starting from midfield.

Be careful what you hope for. Selling VVD would be madness.

[etho]

That's mental. Out of form this season yes but fuck me, you don't sell virg now surely

[Colonel Bumcunt]

You don't turn down £100m for any player, ever.  

I think Virg is still top class when he wants to be, but he'll be 32 next summer.  Our high line is going to catch up with him sooner than later.  

If we build a great midfield then we can cover shortcomings at the back for a year if we need to.  We can't cover shortcomings in midfield though, it affects everything. 

[HBenn]

1 hour ago, El Rojo said:

If we get Bellingham, I’ll be organising a crew of the most virulent FSG critics on here to spend an afternoon scraping barnacles from John Henry’s big yacht.

Crazy as it is for a player that will likely cost £100m, I don't think that him on his own would be enough. 

 

If it was him and no one else or say Caciedo and Fernandez, I think I would prefer the latter option.

 

If they sign those two or Bellingham and another one then (and not fund it by selling a first teamer) then that would be great. 

 

They would rightly get positive press for that. I am a bit wary to say that all would be forgiven because you cannot help but think they are wasting some of Van Dijk's, Mo's and some others best years by not bringing in these players more gradually over the last couple of years. That is before you get onto the premium they will be paying for these players now. 

 

All that said, if they get the likes of Bellingham in I am sure there would be a valid argument that they had to wait as he was just not available. The question marks will come if they bring in players that to all intents and purposes were most likely available last summer 

[HBenn]

1 hour ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

I hope Van Dijk has a great world cup and we sell him for £100m to Madrid or PSG. 

Use that towards Bellingham, and someone like Sangare. 

We can survive with Gomez, Konate, Matip, Phillips and keep an eye out for another young talent.  

I think we need a rebuild, starting from midfield.

I think it was Martin Keown saying the other days that it often takes 2 seasons for players to get back to their best after this type of injury. 

[Torvald Utne]

1 hour ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

You don't turn down £100m for any player, ever.  

I think Virg is still top class when he wants to be, but he'll be 32 next summer.  Our high line is going to catch up with him sooner than later.  

If we build a great midfield then we can cover shortcomings at the back for a year if we need to.  We can't cover shortcomings in midfield though, it affects everything. 

[Crazy Dave]

Bellingham is a generational talent. Would be an unbelievable signing but we're not getting him at those numbers considering we're going to need at least 3 new midfielders this summer, maybe even 4 if Fabinho continues to decline because Keita, Ox, Milner are already all fucking off on freebies.

 

Also worth noting that Thiago will have 1 year left and I don't think we'll renew him at his age (32/33) and injury record considering he's one of the top earners at the club. At some point Curtis Jones is also going to have to go and play somewhere regularly because he hasn't progressed since 2020 and already looks in danger of becoming another Jesse Lingard. 

 

 

[Scott_M]

1 hour ago, HBenn said:

Crazy as it is for a player that will likely cost £100m, I don't think that him on his own would be enough. 

 

If it was him and no one else or say Caciedo and Fernandez, I think I would prefer the latter option.

 

If they sign those two or Bellingham and another one then (and not fund it by selling a first teamer) then that would be great. 

 

They would rightly get positive press for that. I am a bit wary to say that all would be forgiven because you cannot help but think they are wasting some of Van Dijk's, Mo's and some others best years by not bringing in these players more gradually over the last couple of years. That is before you get onto the premium they will be paying for these players now. 

 

All that said, if they get the likes of Bellingham in I am sure there would be a valid argument that they had to wait as he was just not available. The question marks will come if they bring in players that to all intents and purposes were most likely available last summer 

 

If we sign, for example, Bellingham and Laimer (so c.£100m for 2 players) based on the assumption they’d strengthen us, where else would we need to improve in

the summer? 
 

Although things change, personally, I think we’d be set-ish until 2024. 

[Scott_M]

7 hours ago, VladimirIlyich said:

'Go Deep?' What is this Americanised nonsense!

BALLS DEEP. 

[TheHowieLama]

1 hour ago, Scott_M said:

 

If we sign, for example, Bellingham and Laimer (so c.£100m for 2 players) based on the assumption they’d strengthen us, where else would we need to improve in

the summer? 
 

Although things change, personally, I think we’d be set-ish until 2024. 

I think you mean @ 200m

[Colonel Bumcunt]

41 minutes ago, Crazy Dave said:

Bellingham is a generational talent. Would be an unbelievable signing but we're not getting him at those numbers considering we're going to need at least 3 new midfielders this summer, maybe even 4 if Fabinho continues to decline because Keita, Ox, Milner are already all fucking off on freebies.

 

Also worth noting that Thiago will have 1 year left and I don't think we'll renew him at his age (32/33) and injury record considering he's one of the top earners at the club. At some point Curtis Jones is also going to have to go and play somewhere regularly because he hasn't progressed since 2020 and already looks in danger of becoming another Jesse Lingard. 

 

 

You can make a financial argument for Bellingham at £100m+ if you subscribe to the theory that he stays for 10 years, with him being a boyhood red it's not beyond the realm of possibility. 

The less churn in key signings, the better, and it saves millions in various ways, be it agent fees, player signing fees, and the risk of a new signing just not 'fitting in'.  

 

Bellingham also has the ability to cover any three of the midfield positions, another key factor to his worth.  

 

As much as we need the mix of youth and experience, we do need to reset the average age and decide on who we retain in terms of experienced players, we can't keep them all .  For the latter, it has to be Matip, Salah, Alisson, Henderson, Robbo as definite stayers, and I'd listen to offers for Van Dijk, Thiago, Firmino, Jota, in addition to the universally-agreed need to get rid of the likes of Keita and AOC. 

 

We need a group of young talents to drive us forward as a group for the next 3 years or more.  For me, that's Trent, Diaz, Konate, and then Bellingham, and I'd go big on  Kvaratskhelia or someone similar who can beat men in tight spaces.  

 

 

[VladimirIlyich]

1 hour ago, Scott_M said:

 

If we sign, for example, Bellingham and Laimer (so c.£100m for 2 players) based on the assumption they’d strengthen us, where else would we need to improve in

the summer? 
 

Although things change, personally, I think we’d be set-ish until 2024. 

If we sign those two we are losing half the first team based on FSGs previous dealings. We sell to buy,always have. We've trimmed loads of lean meat already.