Summer 2023 Transfer Thread

[Barrington Womble]

Just now, an tha said:

Maybe we just don't want to get into a long drawn out bidding war and have a price we won't go beyond and we've gone early to test water - answer is no and so we now have a clear Plan B.

 

Who knows basically.

 

Hopefully whatever we end up doing is well planned, well executed and is done as soon as possible so as to help us have the best pre season possible as we bed in a number of new players.

I get we don't want to get drawn in, but again, surely we've known that all along? It wasn't like other teams wouldn't want him. We've supposedly waited a whole season then to just get bored with a few weeks to go. I don't buy it. For me we were either never in for him or today's stories are just bullshit distractions and we are still there. Surely you can't go from bellingham or noone because he's so unique to we can't be arsed anymore?

[aws]

1 minute ago, Barrington Womble said:

I get we don't want to get drawn in, but again, surely we've known that all along? It wasn't like other teams wouldn't want him. We've supposedly waited a whole season then to just get bored with a few weeks to go. I don't buy it. For me we were either never in for him or today's stories are just bullshit distractions and we are still there. Surely you can't go from bellingham or noone because he's so unique to we can't be arsed anymore?

My guess would be we’ve allocated about £120m to get two midfielders and have been hoping to get him for £90m or so and still have enough to get someone else  in. But now it’s clear Dortmund won’t be shifting much on his valuation so we’re having to change tack. Either that or these latest reports are an attempt to cover up the earlier leak about our first bid going in. 

[Ronnie Whelan]

It makes no sense that we would table a bid, then brief the world we are moving on to other targets.

 

Brighton and others know we have money to rinse us. To be fair, they know we do anyway, but they'll be thinking we have a little left over of what we hoped to get Bellingham for and they'll take us as near to that place as possible.

 

I smell bullshit. Not saying we sign him, but makes zero sense to let it play out like that.

[an tha]

20 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

I get we don't want to get drawn in, but again, surely we've known that all along? It wasn't like other teams wouldn't want him. We've supposedly waited a whole season then to just get bored with a few weeks to go. I don't buy it. For me we were either never in for him or today's stories are just bullshit distractions and we are still there. Surely you can't go from bellingham or noone because he's so unique to we can't be arsed anymore?

My view is all the stories are just endless speculation and click bait until such a time as it is all done and dusted....

 

But if there is a plausible potential story, I do feel that one where we have decided to go in for him as early as possible for reasons already mentioned and maybe so we then know exactly what we have left to spend - or so we can just focus on others if he is out of reach - then this scenario is it...

 

[an tha]

26 minutes ago, Ronnie Whelan said:

It makes no sense that we would table a bid, then brief the world we are moving on to other targets.

 

Brighton and others know we have money to rinse us. To be fair, they know we do anyway, but they'll be thinking we have a little left over of what we hoped to get Bellingham for and they'll take us as near to that place as possible.

 

I smell bullshit. Not saying we sign him, but makes zero sense to let it play out like that.

But if we waited until say June and after say Man City have been reported as having bid 120m then Brighton et al all know we have bid at least same...and have that sort of money to spend

 

This way nobody knows as we have gone in dead early and not got involved in the auction - for all Brighton know our bid was a max of 85m.

 

Although ultimately i suppose everyone knows what the ballpark figure to be involved im buyng him is anyway!

 

Maybe we just officiallu asked today "OK we want to buy Bellingham - how much?"... They replied "120m" and we went "Er ok, thanks, but no - too much for us".... maybe...

 

I'd rather we made a call now about being in or out than get involved in and losing a long drawn out bidding war.

 

I'd also much prefer it if we signed 3 players for the money we could have spent on 1 (if that is all we have to spend) - the 3 may be not as good individually as the 1, but we may be a better team/squad for their addition as opposed to the addition of just the 1.

 

This is gonna be a fucking circus until we either say officially we are out or until he signs for whoever....with all sorts of reports - probably best to ignore it all frankly.

 

[El Rojo]

Hearing Mount, Gallagher and in a move that may surprise some, Big Harry Maguire.

[an tha]

This is anfield sum it up quite plausibly...

 

Now, though, in a briefing to all the Merseyside journalists, Liverpool are said to have withdrawn from the race to sign the player from Borussia Dortmund.

The Telegraph‘s Chris Bascombe is among those to report the news, saying that Liverpool have withdrawn due to “the prohibitive cost of a deal” – which would see an initial fee in excess of £115 million.

 

It is claimed that Jurgen Klopp is “fully on board with the decision” and that the manager wants summer business “completed as soon as possible.”

 

Earlier on Tuesday, it had been claimed by German reporters that Liverpool had submitted an offer to Dortmund.

 

Presumably, Liverpool’s later withdrawal is in response to Dortmund’s demands from that offer.

 

 

https://www.thisisanfield.com/2023/04/reports-liverpool-concede-defeat-in-pursuit-of-jude-bellingham/

 

[Aventus]

2 hours ago, TheDrowningMan said:

Sounds like a compliant house-media trying to take people for fools again. My feeling has been for a long time that Bellingham was the latest fantasy target fed despite all involved knowing we had no chance of competing with the big clubs for. Despite that lack of surprise, I’m furious that it’s happened again. 

And there was me thinking that we are a big club. 

[TheDrowningMan]

4 minutes ago, Aventus said:

And there was me thinking that we are a big club. 

There’s the facade of a big club, but our station in the transfer market under FSG is below that of West Ham, Aston Villa and Wolves, let alone the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

[lifetime fan]

Regardless of the motives behind this blanket reporting;

 

i) we don’t want to piss Dortmund off with the bid being leaked. 
ii) we didn’t like what Dortmund had to say after the bid and have walked away. 
iii) any other multitude of reasons for planting the story. 
 

Please can the fucking FSG fan boys never again repeat the obvious bullshit the club don’t feed the journos that follow us the information they want published. 

[Evelyn Tentions]

Every player we show interest in with either be too expensive or signed elsewhere. On the last day of the window we will give Keita and Ox new contracts (because no other club has shown interest), give Arthur a contract and get told about the wonderful talent coming up through the ranks.

I'm struggling to think of any successful business that has allowed their most important asset (in our case the team) to run down like FSG have done with us. Cunts. Deep pockets and shorter arms than Prickford.

[Pete]

We seem to be in a  bit of a mess these days. Off and on the field. 

[Scooby Dudek]

We didn't get a midfielder last year because we knew this guy was expensive, so putting all our eggs in one basket.

 

We aren't getting this guy because he is expensive and because we didn't get a midfielder last year we can't put all our eggs in one basket. 

 

Next year will be huge 

[Scott_M]

Fair…

[Ronnie Whelan]

8 hours ago, an tha said:

But if we waited until say June and after say Man City have been reported as having bid 120m then Brighton et al all know we have bid at least same...and have that sort of money to spend

 

This way nobody knows as we have gone in dead early and not got involved in the auction - for all Brighton know our bid was a max of 85m.

 

Although ultimately i suppose everyone knows what the ballpark figure to be involved im buyng him is anyway!

 

Maybe we just officiallu asked today "OK we want to buy Bellingham - how much?"... They replied "120m" and we went "Er ok, thanks, but no - too much for us".... maybe...

 

I'd rather we made a call now about being in or out than get involved in and losing a long drawn out bidding war.

 

I'd also much prefer it if we signed 3 players for the money we could have spent on 1 (if that is all we have to spend) - the 3 may be not as good individually as the 1, but we may be a better team/squad for their addition as opposed to the addition of just the 1.

 

This is gonna be a fucking circus until we either say officially we are out or until he signs for whoever....with all sorts of reports - probably best to ignore it all frankly.

 

I really like Bellingham and the poor mouth routine pisses me off greatly. We're one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. We should be able to sign Bellingham, Caicedo + one more in midfield and even Gvardiol or the South Korean kid from Napoli for defence in one window if we really wanted to. 

 

Problem is that FSG are shrewd cunts. They like winning, of course they do. However, they will believe that spending well this summer rather than a gigantic outlay to have us back challenging for the title is enough for them because they'll gamble that Jurgen gets us back in the top 4 which is their golden goose. It's great the development of the stadium but again that's shrewd investment for them because it's developing the asset for when they do fuck off.

 

My gut feeling is we spend big (for us) this summer - Bellingham and punts or Caicedo/McCallister (or their ilk)and better quality mix of players. They will recognise what is needed within their parameters and will realise their yearly top 4 jaunt is at risk. The pr machine will really spin it and rightly or wrongly signing the likes of Caicedo will excite us. If we did sign Bellingham, they could probably bring in Ronald McDonald and Donald Duck and a lot of fans would see it as a boss window. Anyhow, I'd nearly bet the most unheralded signing we make will be fucking boss. It will be the kind of outlay that gets us back in the top 4 and in the right season if City weren't at it, we might challenge for the title like Arsenal this year. 

 

 

[the chimp]

"It's OK love - and I appreciate it's a pain in the arse, but - we've only got to stay in the tent for a year and we'll have the money to put a big deposit on that house in Woolton."

 

 

Next year "I can't believe how expensive those houses in Woolton are... On the bright side we can get a new sleeping bag...What are you crying for!?"

[Harry Squatter]

They think Bellingham is too expensive but then they’ll go and spend £50m on Mount, Mr Bang Average who offers fuck all in the last year of his contract.

[House of Dirk]

Lets see what we can get with our 37 and a half p.

[Carvalho Diablo]

Loads of excellent midfielders out there, all at a fraction of the price of Bellingham and each of whom would improve us dramatically.

 

One thing I do know though is FSG are miserly shithouses who need to fuck off asap.

[Barrington Womble]

5 minutes ago, Harry Squatter said:

They think Bellingham is too expensive but then they’ll go and spend £50m on Mount, Mr Bang Average who offers fuck all in the last year of his contract.

 

The thing I'm hoping for to be honest, is we actually don't need that much in terms of high quality, it's a numbers game (both quantity of player, age and being available). I posted this a week or so ago, but Bajcetic made an enormous difference when he came in the side and then when we dropped him for the man united game, the levels of fab and Henderson were better than anything we have seen this season. And as much as he did great for his age, he wasn't amazing. He was sloppy in possession at times and overawed at others. But his impact was clear, even when he didn't play because of the rest he gave others.

 

So imagine 3 players with his type of energy, but more experience and a level above where he was at that point. We maybe don't need a generational type talent. We didn't have one in the team that won the league and CL in midfield. We just need lads who are going to stay fit, make us a better 2nd ball team, increase the quality of the press and make us more difficult to transition against. I'm not a fan of mount, but he might be what we need. And I wasn't expecting wonders from gini and he was a great player for us, as has been Henderson with his limited ability, but high energy. Even milner for the super professional he is, the qualities we talk about are normally regarding his competitiveness around the pitch. As a team we've stopped competing, I don't think you need generational talents to compete again. 

 

[Carra_is_legend]

2 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

 

The thing I'm hoping for to be honest, is we actually don't need that much in terms of high quality, it's a numbers game (both quantity of player, age and being available). I posted this a week or so ago, but Bajcetic made an enormous difference when he came in the side and then when we dropped him for the man united game, the levels of fab and Henderson were better than anything we have seen this season. And as much as he did great for his age, he wasn't amazing. He was sloppy in possession at times and overawed at others. But his impact was clear, even when he didn't play because of the rest he gave others.

 

So imagine 3 players with his type of energy, but more experience and a level above where he was at that point. We maybe don't need a generational type talent. We didn't have one in the team that won the league and CL in midfield. We just need lads who are going to stay fit, make us a better 2nd ball team, increase the quality of the press and make us more difficult to transition against. I'm not a fan of mount, but he might be what we need. And I wasn't expecting wonders from gini and he was a great player for us, as has been Henderson with his limited ability, but high energy. Even milner for the super professional he is, the qualities we talk about are normally regarding his competitiveness around the pitch. As a team we've stopped competing, I don't think you need generational talents to compete again. 

 

 

100% agree. Which is why I personally never thought we need to spend massive amount of money on one player like Bellingham. 

 

I am not saying we should get them both but if we had Mount and Neves this season we may be 10 points better off. It won't take a lot to improve the shitfest of a midfield we have had this season.

 

[Babb'sBurstNad]

Whatever happens, we need to sign players made of steel. Two fit midfielders, capable of 40-50 high intensity games a season will make more difference than one elite player to this team.

 

If you can get two of Caicedo, Mac, and Barella for the same money then do it.

 

No more steaming piles of Keita.

[Creator Supreme]

3 minutes ago, Babb'sBurstNad said:

No more steaming piles of Keita.

If he's still here next season I'll give up on life! One of the most underwhelming signings of my almost 48 years on this planet!

[Ronnie Whelan]

23 minutes ago, Barrington Womble said:

 

The thing I'm hoping for to be honest, is we actually don't need that much in terms of high quality, it's a numbers game (both quantity of player, age and being available). I posted this a week or so ago, but Bajcetic made an enormous difference when he came in the side and then when we dropped him for the man united game, the levels of fab and Henderson were better than anything we have seen this season. And as much as he did great for his age, he wasn't amazing. He was sloppy in possession at times and overawed at others. But his impact was clear, even when he didn't play because of the rest he gave others.

 

So imagine 3 players with his type of energy, but more experience and a level above where he was at that point. We maybe don't need a generational type talent. We didn't have one in the team that won the league and CL in midfield. We just need lads who are going to stay fit, make us a better 2nd ball team, increase the quality of the press and make us more difficult to transition against. I'm not a fan of mount, but he might be what we need. And I wasn't expecting wonders from gini and he was a great player for us, as has been Henderson with his limited ability, but high energy. Even milner for the super professional he is, the qualities we talk about are normally regarding his competitiveness around the pitch. As a team we've stopped competing, I don't think you need generational talents to compete again. 

 

Great post that.

 

Being honest, that is the crux of it. There are plenty of players that massively improve us. 

 

As I said what will annoy me if we don't sign Bellingham will be the bullshit excuses churned out, but if we got 3 really good players in, I'll be very happy. As you rightly say, Bajcetic made a big difference on the others and his ceiling could be very high.

 

I know Mount plays with those horrible bastards, but I think he's a very good player if he came at the right price. A 7/10 player but that's okay if the rest of the team is in good nick.

[Barrington Womble]

20 minutes ago, Carra_is_legend said:

 

100% agree. Which is why I personally never thought we need to spend massive amount of money on one player like Bellingham. 

 

I am not saying we should get them both but if we had Mount and Neves this season we may be 10 points better off. It won't take a lot to improve the shitfest of a midfield we have had this season.

 

 

I've never been sold on the Bellingham either, not because he's not a good player, but I can't bring myself to believe the idea only one player will do, especially when our midfield loses the battle most weeks against the poorest of sides. Obviously you want the best players. And clearly you don't want the suits getting in the way of what the recruitment team and the management staff want. But I don't think it's the end of the world if we need someone else. I just think it's a.little depressing that there seems such little backing of what the manager wants. Summer after summer we sell him short.