Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD - 2023 (FSG posts = get muted) - No Mbappé

[killer-heels]

Falk suggesting Schmadke will be looking at younger players with potential to make big improvements in the German market, name checked Kone

This will be great if we can cherry pick a few of the top gettable talents not at Bayern or RB

Surely that suggests we are going to sign a lot of players this summer? Imagine we bring this guy in, we sign one player from Germany and then he gets off?

Its a bit of a circus is the club looking on in and I hope there is a plan. The only logic is rather than doing a few top players, we may go for numbers such as 5,6 or even 7.

[Avens]

Let's not go crazy now. If an inexperienced 18 yr old is our best number 6, then we're truly fucked, and i really really rate the lad.

Every player is allowed to have a shite season for numerous reasons, therefore Fabinho doesn't deserve this disrespect.

Not sure you're a great person to lecture anyone on disrespecting our players after you labelled them embarrassing immediately after the Champions League final last season.

That said, I do agree with your second point. Fabinho has probably earnt a shit season. Still doesn't mean we should be loaning out Bajcetic next season. He's ready to contribute.

[ScouserAtHeart]

Surely that suggests we are going to sign a lot of players this summer? Imagine we bring this guy in, we sign one player from Germany and then he gets off?

Its a bit of a circus is the club looking on in and I hope there is a plan. The only logic is rather than doing a few top players, we may go for numbers such as 5,6 or even 7.

I mean what he does on his own time doesn't really matter

[Asam]

Surely that suggests we are going to sign a lot of players this summer? Imagine we bring this guy in, we sign one player from Germany and then he gets off?

Its a bit of a circus is the club looking on in and I hope there is a plan. The only logic is rather than doing a few top players, we may go for numbers such as 5,6 or even 7.

It would suggest at least 2-3 yes, I guess Schmadke can provide his insights on the players we may have scouted or the ones we might have deprioritised, he’s got a solid reputation for spotting talent so i think this is more about us finding hidden gems which can save us money, the squad needs 5 players but we can only afford 2-3 if we buy premier league players so perhaps that’s why he’s here, to help us get more bang for our buck?

[Asam]

I mean what he does on his own time doesn't really matter

Queue The Lonely Island every time we sign a player, no judgement here

[killer-heels]

It would suggest at least 2-3 yes, I guess Schmadke can provide his insights on the players we may have scouted or the ones we might have deprioritised, he’s got a solid reputation for spotting talent so i think this is more about us finding hidden gems which can save us money, the squad needs 5 players but we can only afford 2-3 if we buy premier league players so perhaps that’s why he’s here, to help us get more bang for our buck?

Thats a good thing. Dont like our links to PL players, overpriced massively. Caicedo £80m, Mac Allister £70m, Mount £60m, Lavia £40m. All way overpriced.

[BarryCrocker]

I mean what he does on his own time doesn't really matter

He's not Prince.

[Knight]

Let's not go crazy now. If an inexperienced 18 yr old is our best number 6, then we're truly fucked, and i really really rate the lad.

Every player is allowed to have a shite season for numerous reasons, therefore Fabinho doesn't deserve this disrespect.

I guess it’s possible a 30 year old could recover the necessary athleticism to play top end football in a team making his role harder by no longer giving him the support centrally than he used to have but I have my suspicions.

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

Not sure you're a great person to lecture anyone on disrespecting our players after you labelled them embarrassing immediately after the Champions League final last season.

That said, I do agree with your second point. Fabinho has probably earnt a shit season. Still doesn't mean we should be loaning out Bajcetic next season. He's ready to contribute.

Yeah because saying a 18yr old kid is better than Fabinho who has won everything with this club, is similar to being angry and disappointed after the CL final. 

Your skis are going too fast mate, slow them down a little bit. 

[Flaccido Dongingo]

I guess it’s possible a 30 year old could recover the necessary athleticism to play top end football in a team making his role harder by no longer giving him the support centrally than he used to have but I have my suspicions.

30 isn't geriatric!, I'm 45 and I run at least 5 or so miles a day, so if I can be mobile, then I'm sure a 30 year old Brazilian international footballer retains some athleticism.

[Asam]

30 isn't geriatric!, I'm 45 and I run at least 5 or so miles a day, so if I can be mobile, then I'm sure a 30 year old Brazilian international footballer retains some athleticism.

What do his performances over the course of the season tell you?

[CraigDS]

Surely that suggests we are going to sign a lot of players this summer? Imagine we bring this guy in, we sign one player from Germany and then he gets off?

Lets be honest, he isn't coming here to JUST work on German deals. Would be stupidity. He'll likely have an input in numerous deals, even if he doesn't head them up, given he has plenty of experience.

[Eeyore]

Surely that suggests we are going to sign a lot of players this summer? Imagine we bring this guy in, we sign one player from Germany and then he gets off?

Its a bit of a circus is the club looking on in and I hope there is a plan. The only logic is rather than doing a few top players, we may go for numbers such as 5,6 or even 7.

What happened to Schmadke is just coming in to sign off a few deals we already done the groundwork on. Ward targeted the Portuguese market because that is the area he Ljinders and Matos specialise in and have connections there. Schmadtke is almost certainly going to target the German Market where his knowledge and connections lie.

Then a 3rd DoF will likely target the market he is most familiar with and has the connections in.

It's bizarre because the idea of a DoF is to provide continuity. We have seen at other clubs like United what happens when you allow a manager to bring his own players in and then he gets sacked and within a few years you have a mish mash of players brought in by different managers.

Klopp being here for so long should prevent that from happening. Four different DoF's in a couple of seasons risks throwing that advantage away.

[killer-heels]

Lets be honest, he isn't coming here to JUST work on German deals. Would be stupidity. He'll likely have an input in numerous deals, even if he doesn't head them up, given he has plenty of experience.

But wouldn’t we have people at the club who have experience with the English market and of course relationship with several clubs via previous deals? Can’t imagine some new guy stomping in and demanding good deals would work out well.

We have seen before us target players from certain markets because the relationship our staff have with those players and clubs.

[kasperoff]

What do his performances over the course of the season tell you?

I don’t actually think he’s fallen off as badly as our form suggests. The whole midfield fell apart around him and it’s clearly put him in a bad light. He’s never been the quickest, and the general drop off in midfield exposed weaknesses he’s always had. He’s been alright the past 10 games after we fixed the formation.

He’s the type of player who is good in a solid midfield, and bad in a poor one. He’s not the type of player to carry a whole midfield on his own.

[Sir Capon of Debaser]

How about posting credible sources that Bellingham is demanding £350k after taxes as you have continually stated?

I mean you stated this.

Surely if you are going to call someone a money grabbing bastard you will have at least some semblance of evidence.

We all know he is making shite up. All those dreams of only needing one footballer.

https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=353490.msg18848093#msg18848093

  Jude Bellingham

In the end, this saga is ending the way it had to. Liverpool don’t have the money for Jude Bellingham and Manchester City were never an option for the Dortmund player, so Real Madrid had a clear path. Transfer negotiations between the Spaniards and Bellingham‘s agent/father Mark are now really speeding up, however, no offer has yet been received from Real Madrid. Two of the parties agree, but nothing will happen without the agreement of the third. Behind closed doors, however, BVB bosses assume that things could be agreed with Real in the near future.
I heard that Bellingham imagined playing for Liverpool for a few years before making the move to Real Madrid. That was the career plan but Liverpool didn’t have the money for this deal. Bellingham has always thought highly of Los Blancos, and the talks with the Spaniards convinced him to move there, dissuading him from moving back to England in the process. Those responsible at Real are planning a visit to Dortmund, whilst Mark Bellingham, who manages his son’s career as director of his own company, ‘BelloBall LTD,’ definitely wants to finalise things this summer. It concerns high commission payments and the background to this is FIFA’s new statute, which is due to come into force on October 1. It will mean that only licensed player agents can issue invoices and they would only receive a share of three percent commission from the club and three percent from the player, based on their salary. The FIFA decision also applies to family members.


In the case of a transfer after this summer, Mark Bellingham would either have to take the difficult license test or hire a licensed consultant, and the former is out of the question as he wasn’t registered for the spring course. In simple terms: Real Madrid have already budgeted an annual salary of €20m (€100m over a five-year contract) for Bellingham, and would have to pay €3m to the licensed consultant, of which only a small part, minus taxes and deductibles, goes to Mark Bellingham – and which in turn would have to be taxed. According to the current rule, the commission is still at 10%, and would flow directly from the receiving club to Mark Bellingham and would only have to be taxed once. Neither Jude could wait for Liverpool in a sporting sense, nor it seems could his father Mark in a financial one.


Now Dortmund are waiting for Real Madrid’s offer.  They want a fixed amount of €120m which could rise to €150m, and as they’ve shown in the past with Dembele, Sancho and others, they have precise expectations when it comes to transfer fees and they’ll stick to them

https://www.caughtoffside.com/2023/05/06/christian-falks-fact-files-inside-the-bellingham-deal-tuchels-double-chelsea-swoop-bayerns-preferred-striker-target-more/

[Schmidt]

I know people are desperate for us to be back at the top, but that's not where I see this window taking us and I don't necessarily think that's an issue.

Realistically, I don't think there's any level of business we can do that'll get us competing for the title again immediately. City are at their peak right now and will continue to spend to stay there, whereas we have been wildly off the pace and like it or not will likely be going through a transition season. We're at a point where the amount of signings needed to get us competing would likely lead to us struggling to integrate so many players at once.

With that in mind, the goal of the summer at the minimum will be to break back into the top four, try to win the Europa and develop the squad so they can compete on multiple fronts the season after. Signing players who are still developing (but of a good standard) is less of a concern as realistically in that scenario I think we can bridge the gap to top four very easily.

What I'm trying to say is I don't really have a problem with us targeting players like Lavia and Gravenberch. I said last summer (and possibly the one before) that while Bellingham would be incredible, we've been desperately short of actual depth in midfield for a long time and I think we could get a lot more from 2-3 cheaper signings than one statement one. If we do get Mac Allister I think we could end up signing 1-2 projects alongside him, then another 1-2 over the next couple of windows.

[Andy82lfc]

What do his performances over the course of the season tell you?

To be fair we could say that of a few players seen as the team has been absolute dog shit the past year.

Fabio's performances have been well back towards what they once were the last ten games as have a lot of others too.

[The G in Gerrard]

https://www.redandwhitekop.com/forum/index.php?topic=353490.msg18848093#msg18848093

To be fair that just states what Madrid were/are preparing to offer rather than Bellingham demanding it

It's irrelevant now though as he isn't joining us. I don't agree with Mac's comments re Jude in general.

[Schmidt]

To be fair we could say that of a few players seen as the team has been absolute dog shit the past year.

Fabio's performances have been well back towards what they once were the last ten games as have a lot of others too.

It's weird how players like Trent and Robertson looked equally leggy earlier in the season, yet Fabinho's dip in form is 100% his age and nothing else according to some.

[Andy82lfc]

I know people are desperate for us to be back at the top, but that's not where I see this window taking us and I don't necessarily think that's an issue.

Realistically, I don't think there's any level of business we can do that'll get us competing for the title again immediately. City are at their peak right now and will continue to spend to stay there, whereas we have been wildly off the pace and like it or not will likely be going through a transition season. We're at a point where the amount of signings needed to get us competing would likely lead to us struggling to integrate so many players at once.

I disagree on that in looking at a more optimistic side of things, we have been showing almost title winning form in the last part of the season, a very similar thing happened some seasons back were we were shit, won our last 8 games or so then went on to either win the next year or miss out by way of the cheats.

Point being if we hit the same form into next season and the midfield is improved then Klopp is certainly capable of carrying that on as long as injuries are good to us. I think the back line can be solid, midfield hopefully fixed but a big issue for me is finding a winning formula with the front 3 again and some consistency in bagging goals on demand.

[Adeemo]

It's weird how players like Trent and Robertson looked equally leggy earlier in the season, yet Fabinho's dip in form is 100% his age and nothing else according to some.

Other than a good performance against Leicester, Fab seems to be pretty much the only one who hasn’t shown considerable improvement with the new system. He’s done, the signs were there towards the end of last season. We need to move him on this summer.

[Clint Eastwood]

Should we be looking at Asensio on a free? Or is he the next Saul Niguez?

[the_red_pill]

30 isn't geriatric!, I'm 45 and I run at least 5 or so miles a day, so if I can be mobile, then I'm sure a 30 year old Brazilian international footballer retains some athleticism.

Bit touchy there old timer!
These guys run 7-9 miles A match! Anyway, I'm 47 and I'll give you a run for your money.

[Schmidt]

I disagree on that in looking at a more optimistic side of things, we have been showing almost title winning form in the last part of the season, a very similar thing happened some seasons back were we were shit, won our last 8 games or so then went on to either win the next year or miss out by way of the cheats.

Point being if we hit the same form into next season and the midfield is improved then Klopp is certainly capable of carrying that on as long as injuries are good to us. I think the back line can be solid, midfield hopefully fixed but a big issue for me is finding a winning formula with the front 3 again and some consistency in bagging goals on demand.

If we were up against any other team I'd agree, I just think the requirements to win the title now are so obscene and the surgery on the squad required is significant enough that it'll take a while for Klopp to imprint his ideas on the new players. The season we won the league we made our big signings before the previous season, and we had a stronger XI back then to begin with. Our run of recent form has been great but we haven't exactly looked impenetrable and a full season throws up all kinds of challenges.

I'm not saying this to be pessimistic, more just to highlight that we don't have to solve everything in one go.

[Andy82lfc]

It's weird how players like Trent and Robertson looked equally leggy earlier in the season, yet Fabinho's dip in form is 100% his age and nothing else according to some.

Yeah exactly, the whole team was out of sorts and looking like a shell of their former selves.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

What do his performances over the course of the season tell you?

You've spectacularly missed my point, that footballers are labelled over the hill physically the moment they hit 30, when it's genuinely not old at all.

[Andy82lfc]

If we were up against any other team I'd agree, I just think the requirements to win the title now are so obscene and the surgery on the squad required is significant enough that it'll take a while for Klopp to imprint his ideas on the new players. The season we won the league we made our big signings before the previous season, and we had a stronger XI back then to begin with. Our run of recent form has been great but we haven't exactly looked impenetrable and a full season throws up all kinds of challenges.

I'm not saying this to be pessimistic, more just to highlight that we don't have to solve everything in one go.

I think in any season playing against this juiced up team who have been allowed to cheat the whole system it's near impossible and we are depending on them having more of an off season as they can have. If that happens and we carry this form into next then I'm optimistic just based on Klopp's track record to do the impossible, but yeah there is a lot of obstacles and things needing to go on our side for that to happen.

Like I said earlier I reckon getting the forwards to gel and be consistent is a major one for me. We have the players there to do it but need a solid 3 like we used to have that play every week and bag goals for fun and I'm not sure if we are confident of who that is yet. 

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Falk suggesting Schmadke will be looking at younger players with potential to make big improvements in the German market, name checked Kone

This will be great if we can cherry pick a few of the top gettable talents not at Bayern or RB

I would suggest that Falk is potentially talking out his arse, or we are run monumentally badly if this is the case. The idea that we would bring in a sporting director in the middle of may, on a 3 month deal, with the idea that he is going to make a whole new list of transfer targets and get them signed in 6 weeks is frankly baffling behavior to me.

Basically just picking this dude up and saying "Get some young players you like, we trust you" rather than the analytics, highly scouted approach we have done in the past

And then the strategy will change again when the next permanent appointment is made.

The idea that we would bring someone in last minute to implement their vision for one summer and then go in another direction right afterwards, rather than this being sorting out the scouting by ward, seems like really disfunctional planning to me

[Boaty McBoatface]

James Pearce
@JamesPearceLFC
Young Liverpool attacker Elijah Gift set to join Athletic Bilbao this summer.
Understand the fee is set to be around £1 million. #LFC

[Fromola]

Are you suggesting we shouldn't have signed him?

No. Its about having a proper strategy and knowing what we're scouting. The talent is there but you can't sign players and wonder why they don't tactically fit in once you get them. Same applies with Nunez.

[Knight]

Plenty of 30 year olds retain their athleticism. Fabinho needs to recover his. Plenty of Liverpool players have struggled this season at times. Fabinho has been awful for the vast majority of it. I suspect that anyone thinking we're fine with Fabinho as our 6 going into next season is effectively giving up on a title challenge because this version of Fab gets us nowhere close.

[Macc77]

If we were up against any other team I'd agree, I just think the requirements to win the title now are so obscene and the surgery on the squad required is significant enough that it'll take a while for Klopp to imprint his ideas on the new players. The season we won the league we made our big signings before the previous season, and we had a stronger XI back then to begin with. Our run of recent form has been great but we haven't exactly looked impenetrable and a full season throws up all kinds of challenges.

I'm not saying this to be pessimistic, more just to highlight that we don't have to solve everything in one go.

There's a difference saying we may not hit 90+ points and beat City and saying we are looking to get back into the top 4. We're a handful off it now after a fairly mediocre season, so it won't take alot to make that small step up. We competed with the top teams this season, our record against the top 4 was decent all in all, it was terrible defeats to the lesser teams that meant we ended 5th, not City being too good. 2 or 3 midfielders of quality will see us back in the 4. It may not mean we win the league, but only aiming for top 4 from here is very unambitious IMO.

[Andy82lfc]

Plenty of 30 year olds retain their athleticism. Fabinho needs to recover his. Plenty of Liverpool players have struggled this season at times. Fabinho has been awful for the vast majority of it. I suspect that anyone thinking we're fine with Fabinho as our 6 going into next season is effectively giving up on a title challenge because this version of Fab gets us nowhere close.

Come on now, I think that's a bit wild. He's been a starter in all our last 10 unbeaten games in the league winning the vast majority of them. We can write off half the squad if we go by the rest of this shite season.

[Adeemo]

Come on now, I think that's a bit wild. He's been a starter in all our last 10 unbeaten games in the league winning the vast majority of them. We can write off half the squad if we go by the rest of this shite season.

And he’s been standing out like a sore thumb, as the only one that’s not shown significant improvement. He’s imporoved a little but no where near enough for anyone to seriously think he could consistently regain his peak level. He’s committing so many more fouls than he should, simply because he’s getting beaten to loose balls 9 times out of 10. It’s his job to get to those loose balls first and he can’t physically do it anymore.

[Dim Glas]

Falk suggesting Schmadke will be looking at younger players with potential to make big improvements in the German market, name checked Kone

This will be great if we can cherry pick a few of the top gettable talents not at Bayern or RB

so weird, like the club are doing a 180 now on who they go after. 

But then all the players linked with are in the PL, but he’s there to look at young players in Germany.  I don’t know, it all sounds a bit random to me.

[PeterTheRed ...]

James Pearce
@JamesPearceLFC
Young Liverpool attacker Elijah Gift set to join Athletic Bilbao this summer.
Understand the fee is set to be around £1 million. #LFC

Young Liverpool attacker Elijah Gift is set to join Athletic Bilbao this summer.
Talks between the clubs are at an advanced stage with the fee understood to be around £1million.
Liverpool didn’t want to lose Gift, who has impressed for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s under-18s team as a first-year scholar this season.
However, with so much competition in that position and an inviting offer on the table, they have decided not to stand in his way.
Gift, who turns 17 next month, was born in the town of Corella in the Basque Country, which led to Athletic tracking his progress closely.
The Spanish club have a policy where only players native to the Basque Country are eligible to play for them.
Gift joined Liverpool at under-12s level from Huddersfield Town and can operate on either flank.
He scored three goals and contributed three assists in 17 appearances in the Under-18s Premier League in 2022-23.

https://theathletic.com/4557047/2023/05/27/elijah-gift-liverpool-athletic-bilbao/

[Robinred]

Simon Jordan is such a penis. Talking about Klopp not being sacked in his first couple of seasons because of his personality even though he didn't win anything. He got to two finals in his first season you fool.

Simon Jordan has to make himself relevant, so does what all shock jocks from Piers Moron to Rod Liddle have done to earn a crust - perversity, exaggeration, controversy - anything to gain attention.

[MonsLibpool]

Come on now, I think that's a bit wild. He's been a starter in all our last 10 unbeaten games in the league winning the vast majority of them. We can write off half the squad if we go by the rest of this shite season.

He shouldn't be a starter next season. We can also apply this across the team, we went 10 games unbeaten so why should be change anything?

[MonsLibpool]

Simon Jordan is such a penis. Talking about Klopp not being sacked in his first couple of seasons because of his personality even though he didn't win anything. He got to two finals in his first season you fool.

Ignore him. Barnesy made some good points. We're a bit lost atm between a technical or physical midfield.