On the James Pearce piece, I just find it hard to reconcile statements that the owners don't put anything in to the club (beyond what we bring in) whilst stating that the owners know they need to refresh the squad (likely next summer) - as surely that refresh is going to require them to put money into the club (unless they expect to sell the likes of Salah etc to fund this, which isn't likely)?
It depends on how you view a refresh of the squad in my opinion.
I think some people view a refresh of the squad in the sense that we buy a ready made replacement for one of our current key players. Let's say Haaland is brought in to replace Firmino for example. It's a plug and play approach that provides an immediate replacement. This allows you confidence that you can at least continue at the same level or even be improved going forward.
I think other people view a refresh of the squad as a more longer term piece. That the likes of Jota, Konate, Jones, Elliott and others form part of that refresh that will happen over years. We'll obviously add to this over windows, and the existing key older players will fall from prominence at different rates to each other. This allows a slower approach as longer term replacements aren't necessarily 1st team starters when bought. They are squad players that we hope to develop into key 1st team players on a trajectory that matches our needs, as a current key 1st team player's production and input begins to decline (or they are sold).
The likelihood in my opinion is that we'll do a bit of both of the things above. Primarily I think our plan has been to do the latter and buy squad some younger squad players to (a) improve squad depth and (b) hopefully future proof ourselves in certain positions. Jota and Konate fit in that space for example.
I think we've focused on that side of things because it's what this squad currently needs. Or at least what we would have projected what this squad needs in our long term planning to squad evolution. The age of the squad isn't that old at this point. It's more the fact that a number of key players are at similar ages (29-31).
What makes things more difficult with regards to longer term planning are aspects like VvD having an unexpected long term injury that potentially casts some doubt, Firmino and Mane having much poorer season than anyone expected and a global pandemic that's screwed football finances for virtually everyone and made us just play a season in unusual circumstances. I suspect those factors are some of the things that may have made our long term plan look less secure at this point in time.
Like I said the other day though, the club is stuck between a rock and a hard place currently. They need to trust that the mitigating circumstances of the last 12-18 months are what is driving some of the uncertainty about durability and current quality of certain players. That VvD can return to a high level. That Mane can return to a high level after some rest, a less condensed seasons ahead, crowds returning, etc..
We'll probably know in the next 12 months whether some of these concerns are true or have gone away for a year or 3. In the meantime it still feels sensible from a financial, squad building, cultural perspective to look for younger players like Konate who can contribute now but can equally grow into key players for a PL and CL challenging team. That might not be the case in 12-24 months time and we may need to go after a player or 2 who is 1st team, key player ready. That may need FSG to add funds or for us to shed a key player or 2.
It's all a bit of a high wire act currently with regards to transfers (in and out), contract extensions and long term planning aligned with winning now. There's obviously the financial aspects to consider and buying a 1st team key player now, as an insurance policy doesn't seem to fit with our financial capabilities or potentially Klopp's idea around squad building and depth. Personally I'm not too concerned currently, but that's an ever changing landscape. Depending on what happens this season could really dictate oute need to stay on the current path or accelerate our evolution fo the squad.
