Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD

[Schmidt]

We could genuinely get a quality three man midfield for the fee and wages we'd likely need to spend on Bellingham, and that would actually take us close to a "complete" squad.

[killer-heels]

We could genuinely get a quality three man midfield for the fee and wages we'd likely need to spend on Bellingham, and that would actually take us close to a "complete" squad.

There are questions around the attack and defence as well. We are past the point where we are adding maybe one, max two players to our side. I would be expecting 4 or 5 players in the first team over the next two windows.

[Schmidt]

There are questions around the attack and defence as well. We are past the point where we are adding maybe one, max two players to our side. I would be expecting 4 or 5 players in the first team over the next two windows.

There'll always be somewhere we can improve, but I'd say on paper we've got the strongest defence and attack we've had since Klopp arrived.

[killer-heels]

There'll always be somewhere we can improve, but I'd say on paper we've got the strongest defence and attack we've had since Klopp arrived.

Dunno, there are maybe some questions going forward around a lot of our players who are 30 and above. There are some really good forwards about and with Salah’s numbers dropping and Firmino possibly off, we could and should be looking at another good attacker.

[Schmidt]

Dunno, there are maybe some questions going forward around a lot of our players who are 30 and above. There are some really good forwards about and with Salah’s numbers dropping and Firmino possibly off, we could and should be looking at another good attacker.

We've spent the bulk of the last few years in attack with basically a first choice front three + Origi, now we've got Salah/Diaz/Jota/Nunez/Firmino and Carvalho/Elliot as added depth, that should be pretty nuts but unfortunately problems in other areas have maybe overshadowed the depth we have there.

The defence is a bit older but I'd say the age profile is fine there, and we now have actual fullback depth assuming Ramsey settles. Maybe we need to think a bit about Gomez/Matip given the injury issues both suffer from and the former seemingly declining a bit, but I wouldn't say there's any urgency there right now.

I know letting players age out has caused us problems in midfield but Firmino is in great form and there's a reason teams still double/triple up on Salah.

[Samie]

Liverpool are eyeing a January move for Rennes winger Kamaldeen Sulemana (20)

The player is a personal request of manager Jurgen Klopp, with the Reds preparing a £30M bid for the player.

[@ElNacionalcat]

[JasonF]

I googled the source and some of the top results were:

Ten Hag to Barcelona
Ferran Torres to Arsenal
Toni Kroos to Man City and
Ansu Fati to Man City

Seems to be a Catalan source so doubt they'd have the inside track unless Barca were interested in him too.

[newterp]

I want us to sign Joe Cameldeen as well.

[MonsLibpool]

I googled the source and some of the top results were:

Ten Hag to Barcelona
Ferran Torres to Arsenal
Toni Kroos to Man City and
Ansu Fati to Man City

Seems to be a Catalan source so doubt they'd have the inside track unless Barca were interested in him too.

They are a shite source.

[Pistolero]

Pound for pound, the biggest flop for Liverpool. No doubt once he leaves, he'll try and pin the blame on Liverpool, but he's been such a dissapointment. Hope the offer of a new contract isn't true

In terms of cost, expectation, availability and the quality of the side he came into, he's right up there....very sporadically flattered to deceive, but sadly an almost total dud....

[.adam]

Was doing a little Youtube scout of Kouadio Kone who a few journalists said a while back "was of interest" to Liverpool.

Looks exactly like the type of midfielder we should be after. Dynamic, powerful, skillful.

[El Lobo]

Yeah he is pound for pound one of the biggest flops. I was raving about the guy, thought he was the missing link. Potentially one of the best midfield of his generation in Klopps heavy metal football. At least we got some money back from Caroll, this guys gonna walk on a free and then moan that he wasn't given the chance

I know we've moved the conversation on but....

Naby Keitas biggest crime is that he's got injured and hasn't lived up to the hyper ridiculous expectations we had for him, whilst contributing to one of our greatest sides of all time.

I'm not old enough to have seen the sides of the 60s, 70s and 80s where I'm sure we had our fair share of flops but just off the top of my head since the mid-90s...

Paul Stewart, Ruddock, Dicks, Babb, Kennedy, Ince, Leonhardsen, Dundee, Ferri, Ziege, Diomede, Diouf, Diao, Cheyrou, Morientes, Josemi, Pennant, Babel, Keane, Aquilani, Carroll, Poulsen, Konchesky, Downing, Adam, Borini, Aspas, Ilori, Balotelli, Markovic and Benteke.

If you think he's 'pound for pound the biggest flop in our history' I'd suggest it says more about you and your silly expectations (not just you personally, literally anyone with the same opinion) than it does about Naby Keita. Plenty of us, me included, thought we'd signed a generationally good midfielder and what we got was just merely a good midfielder who is injured more than we'd like. In the meantime, we've won every trophy possible. Him and Ox are in the same boat. Good players, good moments, ultimately disappointing because they didn't live up to what we thought they would BUT the big point is, they still contributed, they're still good squad members, still fit into the ethos of the club.

Contrast that with, I dont know, Aquilani. Big money when we were very short of it, replaced Xabi Alonso, played 28 massively forgettable games, contributed fuck all, loaned out twice and then let go for fuck all to Fiorentina. Or good lord, Mario fucking Balotelli. £16 million when that was a lot of money, essentially the 'x factor' to replace Luis Suarez, fucking dreadful, scored against Ludogerets and thats pretty much it, got banned for racist tweets, swapped shirts with Pepe at half time of a hammering against Real, loaned out once to Milan and then released on a free the season after. Saying Naby Keita is pound for pound a worse signing than Mario Balotelli is like saying pound for pound Anne Widdecombe is more attractive than Margot Robbie (she deserves a mention, we havent used her in an analogy for a few weeks). Or Diouf, fucking El Hadji Diouf. Nicholas Anelka comes in, looks great, shall we sign him? Nah, lets sign a shit, spitting c*nt as our big new blockbuster attacker. Give him the number 9, so he can set the record as our first one ever to go a full season without scoring a goal (even Aspas managed a goal against Oldham). Six goals in his two seasons here, whilst Anelka scored 38 in the same two seasons.

Anyway...Sulemana

[Robinred]

That’s a good post Lobo, but Babel? He wasn’t to blame for contracting Guillain-Barre surely?

[El Lobo]

That’s a good post Lobo, but Babel? He wasn’t to blame for contracting Guillene Barre surely?

Guillene Barre? Wasn't he the Belgian wonderkid who ended up at Portsmouth?

[Robinred]

Guillene Barre? Wasn't he the Belgian wonderkid who ended up at Portsmouth?

Very droll. But as to my point?

[El Lobo]

Very droll. But as to my point?

Ryan Babel obviously, not Markus Babbel (who was a free transfer and a tremendous signing)!

[Sheer Magnetism]

Yeah, Babel was a decent signing, played fairly regularly and we lost under £3 million on the fee. Ince played well for us too, even though he wasn't the missing link we were after, and three or four in that list that were basically low to mid-sized punts anyway. But good post otherwise.

[Robinred]

Ryan Babel obviously, not Markus Babbel (who was a free transfer and a tremendous signing)!

Ahh…apologies. Must improve my spelling😎

[Asam]

seems legit

[Knight]

Great Post Lobo.

Feel I should defend Babel though! He wasn't incredible obviously but it seems a little unfair to put him in an otherwise very painful list to look through! But I look back at Babel's time with us with some genuine enthusiasm.

146 games, 22 goals, 15 assists. Not incredible but he contributed whilst he was here somewhat. Some of the others though... the mind boggles at what we were thinking.

[ScouserAtHeart]

His debut against Derby where he scored twice...had high hopes

[The G in Gerrard]

Lent us his helicopter as well didn't he?

[AndyMuller]

Babel was poor and thought he was the new Thierry.

[Nobby Reserve]

Yeah, Babel was a decent signing, played fairly regularly and we lost under £3 million on the fee. Ince played well for us too, even though he wasn't the missing link we were after, and three or four in that list that were basically low to mid-sized punts anyway. But good post otherwise.

Problem with Ince was that, by the time we signed him, in his head he was no longer the very good defensive midfield destroyer that he undoubtedly was, and had grown into a quality box-to-box allrounder that he definitely wasn't.

[Crosby Nick]

Babel was poor and thought he was the new Thierry.

Did he? Not sure I ever heard him called that and if they did I doubt it came from him.

Didn’t live up to his potential but he had some decent contributions. That Arsenal European night for one. And one of the great forgotten Liverpool goals was his away at Lyon late on. Which, in keeping with that season, we still managed to fuck up by conceding a last minute equaliser.

[Nobby Reserve]

Keita suffers from being signed in a period when we all believed our transfer team were almost infallible.

How many scoffed at us signing Ox, thought they were proven right when he hardly played for the first few months, then had to reassess when he burst into the team looking like a top quality midfielder?

We'd seen other [relatively] big-money signings excel, like Mane, Gini, Salah & Virg who all surpassed everyone's expectations. 

Given how much we wanted Naby, how long we'd waited for him, how much he cost, and the fact he'd won the 2017 Austrian league player of the year, got in both the Bundesliga and Europa Legue teams of the year in 2017/18, everyone thought he was nailed on to be the next superstar in our team. I know injuries have strangled his gametime here, but it's not like even when he's played he's been world class; his form has been inconsistent.

I'd love him to come good for us and prove us all wrong, but the multiple stories about him not really being settled suggest his heart and future are not at Anfield

[El Lobo]

Ince and Babel borderline for me, probably Pennant too, in terms of actually being a flop. It was more players who were at least bigger 'flops' than Naby.

[Asam]

Keita suffers from being signed in a period when we all believed our transfer team were almost infallible.

How many scoffed at us signing Ox, thought they were proven right when he hardly played for the first few months, then had to reassess when he burst into the team looking like a top quality midfielder?

We'd seen other [relatively] big-money signings excel, like Mane, Gini, Salah & Virg who all surpassed everyone's expectations. 

Given how much we wanted Naby, how long we'd waited for him, how much he cost, and the fact he'd won the 2017 Austrian league player of the year, got in both the Bundesliga and Europa Legue teams of the year in 2017/18, everyone thought he was nailed on to be the next superstar in our team. I know injuries have strangled his gametime here, but it's not like even when he's played he's been world class; his form has been inconsistent.

I'd love him to come good for us and prove us all wrong, but the multiple stories about him not really being settled suggest his heart and future are not at Anfield

The transfer team gets a lot more right than wrong, the issue with Keita is continuing with someone when he’s not really worked out, there are plenty of younger alternatives who can give us more output, why keep him when we know he will break down?

we could rebuild our entire midfield with 22-25 year old players rather blowing our
load on Bellingham and then looking at cheap signings or free transfers

2 out of Caicedo / Kone / Fernandez is the way we should go, we can then also bring in a wide forward to
provide competition for Salah rather than £100M on Bellingham

[Dim Glas]

The transfer team gets a lot more right than wrong, the issue with Keita is continuing with someone when he’s not really worked out, there are plenty of younger alternatives who can give us more output, why keep him when we know he will break down?

we could rebuild our entire midfield with 22-25 year old players rather blowing our
load on Bellingham and then looking at cheap signings or free transfers

2 out of Caicedo / Kone / Fernandez is the way we should go, we can then also bring in a wide forward to
provide competition for Salah rather than £100M on Bellingham

what do you suggest they did with him though, is he not still on the original contract he signed?

The only issue with Keita now - is if they still try and sign him to a new contract, then sure, that’s a legitimate question to ask as in ‘is that really wise’.  I get that contracts aren’t just for the obvious reasons - they are also used to try and protect value, but with someone like Keita, there has to come a time when the value isn’t worth protecting as the club gets so little out of him, unfortunately.

[Asam]

what do you suggest they did with him though, is he not still on the original contract he signed?

The only issue with Keita now - is if they still try and sign him to a new contract, then sure, that’s a legitimate question to ask as in ‘is that really wise’.  I get that contracts aren’t just for the obvious reasons - they are also used to try and protect value, but with someone like Keita, there has to come a time when the value isn’t worth protecting as the club gets so little out of him, unfortunately.

Learn from what clubs in Spain or Italy would do:

-Keep his training to an absolute minimum
-Dont play him in any pre season games
-make him available for transfer

instead we watch both him and Oxlade break yet again, we’re beyond naive at times

[JasonF]

Learn from what clubs in Spain or Italy would do:

-Keep his training to an absolute minimum
-Dont play him in any pre season games
-make him available for transfer

instead we watch both him and Oxlade break yet again, we’re beyond naive at times

Ox was two years between injuries. Keita missed one game in 10 months through injury and played 40 games last season. I don't think it was naive to think we could count on them both this season, they're back this month and Keita at least will likely be straight back into contention and play a significant number of games again this season.

[Machae]

Snip

I've already explained why I think he's considered a bigger flop a page or so back under those criterias. I watched a lot of him in the Bundesliga and he was probably the best midfielder in that league and the expectation I had on him was high. I genuinely thought he was world class and help transform this Liverpool team to unparalleled success (especially under the tutelage of Klopp). We paid a decent whack and a premium on top to bring him in, I think pretty much everyone was excited to have him (since Torres). The fact that he's flattered to deceive (for whatever reasons Inc injuries is unfortunate), but he will leave (assuming he does) as a player who just never lived upto to the hype.

Of course he isn't the worse player to have ever played for Liverpool, far from it and maybe should have made that clearer in the initial post, but I think that's pretty obvious and I've said that in my follow up posts. I agree with the players you mentioned were pretty shite and Keita is a far more accomplished player than they ever were.The duds you mentioned were questionable gambles though and came with those expectations of being meh

I genuinely hope Keita does come good, but he's in his last year, still out injured and probably looking to leave on a free now and the excitement that 99% of the fans had for him will go unfulfilled

[Dim Glas]

Keita, due to him being injured too much and seemingly not able physically to withstand the demands here, has indeed dissapointed for those reasons, but he’s been here while the club has won every possible trophy and played some part in winning those trophies, that’s always worth remembering rather than just dismissing him as being ‘pound for pound’ the worst signing, when he clearly wasn't. I won’t dwell on him leaving at all, it is what it is, sometimes injuries blight talented players’ careers, and that it did for him in a big way.  Shame for him more than Liverpool though, as despite it, this squad prevailed and won it all in the face of cheats and sportswashers.

[Machae]

Yeah, going round in circles now. I've explained my criteria or rationale above. Yes he's won pretty much everything and I'm grateful for that, he's played his part, as did Minamino and the whole squad.

Genuine question because I'm quite intrigued now, which other player had a similar hype, expectation and/or potential (with a price to match) who flattered to deceive?

Collymore?

Aldridge was the opposite, where he took over Rush and exceeded my expectations

[El Lobo]

Yeah, going round in circles now. I've explained my criteria or rationale above. Yes he's won pretty much everything and I'm grateful for that, he's played his part, as did Minamino and the whole squad.

Genuine question because I'm quite intrigued now, which other player had a similar hype, expectation and/or potential (with a price to match) who flattered to deceive?

Collymore?

Yeah Collymore. Probably Harry Kewell, maybe even more so. We were gagging for a winger, and got one of the best around (beating a lot of clubs to him) and he really did flatter to deceive.

[Knight]

Injuries robbed us of a top end Kewell I suspect.

[Machae]

Yeah good shout on Kewell, but he came on a free no? However he was probably on a fair whack. I'll go with Ziege as well, thought him and Babel would tear it up and both the left and ride side will be sorted for years.

Got taken to a tribunal for him as well, certainly wasn't worth the hassle

[AndyMuller]

Mark Gonzalez was a massive flop if I recall. He was the missing piece of the puzzle.

[Sharado]

Yeah, going round in circles now. I've explained my criteria or rationale above. Yes he's won pretty much everything and I'm grateful for that, he's played his part, as did Minamino and the whole squad.

Genuine question because I'm quite intrigued now, which other player had a similar hype, expectation and/or potential (with a price to match) who flattered to deceive?

Collymore?

Aldridge was the opposite, where he took over Rush and exceeded my expectations

I don't neccessarily disagree with Collymore given how it ended, though there was a season [was it his debut season?], or period of about 6-8 months where him and fowler were probably the best strikeforce in the league and got over 50 goals between them. After that, obviously, he declined very quickly. I guess it's just a bit different as anything Keita's done has been in flashes, where just as you think he might be putting a little bit of consistency together he's injured.

Kewell, from the next post, i agree with. He was the best left-footed winger in the league after Giggs at the time and it just never started for him. That same kind of 'would occasionally show something' and then injured/crap for weeks. The CL final in 05 and the way he went off, despite everything that happened after, will always make me wonder too.

[El Lobo]

Mark Gonzalez was a massive flop if I recall. He was the missing piece of the puzzle.

Naaah he was pretty much just a punt, wasn't expensive at all.

I always think of Chris Kirkland as a massive disappointment. Thankfully we got Pepe not too long after, but I always had an image of him being our number one for years and he was just always injured.