HBenn

If this was last summer I would agree with you. However with it obvious to everyone we need at least two midfielders and the owners chasing investment who knows what our budget will be.

Unfortunately I think that there are plenty of fans in our fanbase that would turn a blind eye to compete. Seeing FSG perceived underinvestment as the reason we have not beaten City I.e. success starved

Well whatever it is, they need to sort it out sharpish. Hopefully the new doc will help things. The last thing we need is to invest heavily in the team and for them to be injured. Based on our history of investment, we are all of the top clubs can ill afford that. Diaz barely missed a game before he arrived here.

Yeah, I am sure you are right. Just basing it on everything I have read I would prefer it not to be either of these.

I think the first corner Villa concede will be interesting. Virgil may want to give Martinez a bit back.

It was based on them buying a majority stake cause apparently they have less money than FSG. Tbh I was just going on what was being said about them, it was probably crap. Based on the responses to the above tweet though I think I would rather stick with FSG! Personally not keen on Qatar or Saudi and a joint effort sounds like it would go tits up very quickly and I have yet to see anyone say anything positive about Harris and Glitzer (if they really are the ones interested). So, based on all that, without knowing absolutely anything about them, I am preferring the German bid!

Supposedly the only way they could afford to buy us out is a LBO. Which sounds great. Just like Hicks and Gillett then.

They had a great department, pissed them off by being arses so much that they left and now this is happening. If you buy something expensive and know that you cannot afford to buy another one for ages (basically the FSG model todate) wouldn't you bring in the best medical team you could get your hands on to look after it? How much does a top class medical department cost to run? Couple of mil a year? How much does it cost to pay 11 midfielders? I just don't get them over this at all. If FSG goes, hopefully whoever comes in invests in that straightaway. Protect whoever they buy.

Who is that though? Was it the people deputising for Moxon or would it be Schlumberger? If it's the latter it puts Jürgen in a bit of an unenviable position. Booting out the guy he brought in was it last year or early this? Frankly I find a lot of the medical stuff bizarre. I cannot get my head round why we seemed to be chasing Laimer either. Constantly bloody injured. It's not even stupid it's fucking bizarre

I don't think Klopp will give a toss what the journos think and why should he. Even then, we could spend £250m and he wouldn't look like a hypocrite, especially if someone invests £300m in the club. Our net spend has been what? £27m a year on average for the last 10 years? The owners knew this day was coming and the big question was always about what they would do when it arrived. Thankfully they are looking for investment. It feels more and more like Klopp had the discussions with the club ahead of signing his contract about what their intentions were and it feels the answer was to compete or leave and get someone in that would. We seem to be going all in for Bellingham and I think there will be at least another midfielder brought in and he will be backed. I don't see the point of selling a minority or majority stake otherwise. For me, it's looking much more positive than it has for quite a while. The only concerns are selling the club to Saudi/Qatar which I am dead against, replacing Ward and Graham appropriately and whether we can fight off the other clubs for the players we want.

Buy fit players?

See the Daily Mail are saying there are strong rumours of Bellingham having a release clause. Not written by Dominic King and I would be surprised if true as surely it would have come out by now.

Yes, hopefully it is much more advanced than is being let on publically. There are plenty of things that make you wonder if it has been going on behind the scenes for quite a while, the lack of activity in the summer, the reluctance to spend any money whatsoever at the end of the window, the supposed desire to address issues AFTER the world cup. The issues we have faced for the last few months (and last season) were entirely predictable by even us fans. I cannot imagine that Jürgen and FSG have literally just woken up to the self sufficiency model isn't working. Basically the way in which, inspite of all of our medical department and data guys, this situation has been allowed to develop. Perhaps ever since the EFL debacle the owners started to make movements behind the scenes and due to the size of the deals it's just coming to conclusion now. If the club announced it before Jan though the new owners would get rinsed in Jan. Desperate for a midfielder, post WC and new owners. Couldn't have a worst negotiating position. Maybe all coincidental and we take another 9-12 months to conclude but you would hope not.

If Bellingham is not available in Jan I think they will have very little choice than to go after someone else in the interim as otherwise CL and the impact on the sale price could be severe. Part of me wondered if they were happy to put out the "Bellingham/midfield rebuild next summer" line in the summer as they thought that they wouldn't be here and they could get away without any further investment before they left. The alarming way we dropped off may have forced their hand a bit though. Conversely maybe they were waiting for the money to arrive before investing. Even if we have new owners who will authorise Bellingham and another I don't see the sense in announcing investment before Feb even if they are funding Jan transfers.

Agree.

I am starting to think this. Klopp is saying we need proven players now, the noises are the club realise they need to move away from the self sufficiency model. Had we not been so bad in the league I could see the owners doing nothing until investment arrives but I don't know as they can take that risk now. Maybe the new owners/investors will be in place/are already in place for Jan. Even without that though, we have 11 midfielders for 3 positions with at least 4 going in the summer. That should solve the wages issue re Bellingham.

Yeah, I agree the stuff going on with the recruitment team is concerning. You would have a lot of confidence in them spending say £200-300m. The jury would be out on a new model. That does seem a bit odd.

You may well be right, I am not sure. I think had we invested a moderate more each year over the last couple of years we wouldn't be needing the big investment now. I think if we invested in the team again with maybe 3 players then it would be a case of much more moderate investment every summer. If that was coupled with a significant one off investment in infrastructure which allowed us to improve our commercial revenues then maybe that could be managed within that.

Oh right, thanks. Yes, all sounds a bit dodgy. Let's hope these itks are as full of as much crap as they usually are.

Saw that but I wasn't sure from the wider interview whether he was talking about them or the Ward and Graham roles. Either way, I assume when he said he is aware of everything that is happening, he meant in the same way everyone else is that has read the news. It would be great if the players know what is really going on, hence his confidence. Somehow feel they will be like most fans though and find out much later on.

The Saudi-Qatar stuff was floating around yesterday wasnt it? No thanks. The German consortium is far enough left field to there potentially be some truth to it. Or it could just be idle speculation because Toto Wolff and Henry had dinner recently. A consortium involving Wolff maybe alright though. Loves to win in sport.

Bloody hell, we don't even know how it's going to look yet. We could still operate to an FSG + model and have 3-4 magnificent years (if not more under Klopp).

Ok. Thanks.

With so many expected departures in the summer I think we have to buy 2-3 midfielders. Jurgen has intimated that at least one of those will be proven quality. For the first time in a few years I think we will invest heavily in the midfield over the next 2 windows. I could see us spending £200m. I can see us being in for Bellingham and probably Caciedo. Maybe with a young Carvalho type (not necessarily his playing style) also coming in. Whether we strengthen in other areas as well may be down to just how much investment we get in.

Doesn't really sit right with me, the idea of being owned by a huge corporation like Red Bull. Not sure, 100% why, possibly feels like it would cheapen what and who we are. If it was a large company though I would want one that is synonymous with winning and excellence. Someone like Mercedes, somewhere 2nd or 3rd place doesn't really fit with their ethos. I am not sure I see that sort of thing happening though but I don't really have an issue with owners like FSG if they have ambition and don't run such a non flexible self sufficient model. Quiet owners that basically give Klopp the tools to compete and don't interfere. Utd pre Glazers is still the type of club I think we could be. I still think we could achieve that and reach the point where we have enough money to be sustainable and the owners can cream off some nice profit directly or indirectly through ownership.