Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD

[Lynndenberries]

Why can't we sell an injured player? It's not like it's a career-ending injury it's just a hamstring. If the price was good you'd find teams willing to buy him.

I hope we try to reduce the number of midfielders we have and improve overall quality and durability. Sell Ox and let Jones go get first-team football somewhere else then bring a solid midfielder this window. Next year we can also bring in Bellingham to replace Keita with Jones coming back to replace Milner.

If he’s out until October, he’ll miss the first 15-20% of the season. I doubt anyone would offer more than £10m. Not sure the club think it’s worth that.

[classycarra]

Even if we can only afford Bellingham as a big purchase over the next two seasons, we will still be able to buy at the Robertson/Gomez/Tsimikas level. We're not going to be THAT cash strapped whatever anyone might claim.

So basically you're saying the same things Rob Dylan had said, that led you to making this catty post saying he loves big transfer fees and only pretends to like youth development?

Not got much faith in Harvey or Curtis or Carvalho or Bajcetic have you?

I see this a lot. For all our feigned interest and approval of youth development, only expensive purchases really count. Right?

Do you think it might be worth taking a breath and not diving in two footed on every perceived slight on [not entirely sure what] lately?

[Ghost Town]

If he’s out until October, he’ll miss the first 15-20% of the season. I doubt anyone would offer more than £10m. Not sure the club think it’s worth that.

Agreed. And I don't think he'd want to make a move mid-recovery, so to speak. I can only really see him staying-on till the end of the season, which I think is also the end of his contract?

Perhaps a Jan offer might tempt him but it's unlikely

[Lynndenberries]

Agreed. And I don't think he'd want to make a move mid-recovery, so to speak. I can only really see him staying-on till the end of the season, which I think is also the end of his contract?

Perhaps a Jan offer might tempt him but it's unlikely

If we identified someone else to bring in, I could see the club pulling the trigger on a sale, mainly to get the wages off the books.

Doubt either of those things will happen.

[Ghost Town]

If we identified someone else to bring in, I could see the club pulling the trigger on a sale, mainly to get the wages off the books.

Doubt either of those things will happen.

But he'd still have to agree to go, so it would be less pulling the trigger and more asking him politely if he wouldn't mind moving on so we can maybe get a fee (however small) and remove his wages. Unless a really advantageous (to him) offer comes along I agree that he'll stay put and then start afresh somewhere next season.

That's going to happen more and more often now, at least for the less wanted players, and the old idea of clubs 'selling' players they don't want may lose a lot of meaning over the coming years, as it becomes more about players (and their agents) dictating their own movements, and bagging a lot of the money.

[Dave McCoy]

Think some of the posts here are quite wild. Opportunity cost works both ways. There's no guarantee of anything in the future, acting like Bellingham will be 100% fit and available next year or the squad will be exactly as you expected or as good as you expected, there's no way to know. This could be as good as LFC is ever going to be in our lifetimes for all we know. So as always you have to maximize the now. To then say you'd sacrifice immediate results because it might prevent Jones or Elliott or whoever from becoming something is crazy, they may not even become good enough even if you give them all the minutes you could. And if that were to happen what are you left with in that case? There's no way you can run a club at the highest level where that's the predominant thought.

For me the club has the money, it's one of the richest in the world, so any talk of having to sell Ox or something else is just horseshit. The only question is whether the club thinks anyone available is better than what we have now for the cost it would take to acquire them. If the only available options wouldn't start if all of Fabinho, Thiago and Hendo were fit then probably nothing will happen. Why spend the money then if that were the case? You already have other options that fit the same profile on the team already so what are you gaining?

Probably the only interesting thing with that train of thought is Hendo. He clearly struggled at times playing the 8 last season and now the first game of this season it's the same. How long can you say he's first choice when fit captain or not? If that dynamic were to change then all bets are off as without him you're either changing to a 4-2-3-1 (which I don't see Klopp doing) or you have to buy someone. It's just one game though and one injury, would be amazed if the club does anything just based on that but I guess we'll see.

[RedKenWah]

A part of me thinks maybe we do need another midfielder to bolster numbers. Thinking back to the season 2 years back when our back line got decimated through injury and we ended up with more injuries to Hendo & Fab whilst they played there… similar things could happen here in midfield. When Ox does come back he isn’t going to be fully up to speed and in some ways maybe the opportunity has gone now with his injury so don’t think he can be really relied upon…

[El Lobo]

Maybe we’ll emulate 2021 and go for Alan Brown of Preston late on, and Florian Flick on loan

[lionel_messias]

Same arguments from the last 10 transfer windows.

Klopp doesn't do stop gaps.

[Knight]

Same arguments from the last 10 transfer windows.

Klopp doesn't do stop gaps.

Yeah because next season we’ll be in a much stronger position in midfield what with Milner, Ox, Keita gone (as it stands) and Fabinho, Henderson and Thiago a year older. There’s really no point bringing in a midfielder just for these few weeks with Thiago out. After all, he’s normally so robust, very unlikely to be injured again this season.

[tubby]

It's not about stop-gaps, we surely have an idea of which midfielders we want to bring in to improve the team over the next few seasons.  We have to, because of the age of the current first-choice midfielders.  It's just about us advancing our plans to buy someone early this window.

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Maybe we’ll emulate 2021 and go for Alan Brown of Preston late on, and Florian Flick on loan

It does feel like a case of deja vu. Same arguments in here, same information leaked to the press. I’m not sure we can expect the same miracle to happen though, considering the CB loans/buys that January barely helped or wasn’t seen at all.

[Nick110581]

Really odd to put all out eggs in the Bellingham basket when we need at least two midfielders.

He might not want to join us and could command a huge wage (which we won’t pay).

[Ravishing Rick Dude]

Same arguments from the last 10 transfer windows.

Klopp doesn't do stop gaps.

That's not always the case. Ozan Kabak helped us massively that season, and he was here for couple of months.

We definitely need CM's. If we don't get any, i don't think we can go for the title. Good enough for top4, but not more than that.

[Chris~]

Really odd to put all out eggs in the Bellingham basket when we need at least two midfielders.

I don't think we are. It's easy clicks for journalists to link him, but I don't think any have said it's only him. A lot of stuff just repeating that Klopp likes him and if he was available we'd go for him.

[Fromola]

Really odd to put all out eggs in the Bellingham basket when we need at least two midfielders.

We put all our eggs in the Tchouameni basket this summer only to pull out once it became a bidding war/he wanted Madrid. At least a few of Chelsea/City/United/PSG/Real will be in for Bellingham as well anyway. We might well get him but, equally, we could be reading the James Pearce piece in the Athletic next June of how Liverpool won't pay the 120 million quid or 250k a week that other clubs will and are no longer pursuing.

But regardless we'll need a couple in anyway before next season, so it made sense to make one this summer.

Hopefully we get someone in like the Diaz buy in January which may leave us carrying one too many knowing players will go in the summer (as with the forwards) but opening day of the season and we've got a 17 year old midfielder on the bench yet to make his senior debut. We're going to need the extra player.

[LovelyCushionedHeader]

That's not always the case. Ozan Kabak helped us massively that season, and he was here for couple of months.

We definitely need CM's. If we don't get any, i don't think we can go for the title. Good enough for top4, but not more than that.

They aren't comparable situations.

All our CBs were out for the entire season. Right now, we have 8 midfielders who are either fit or that will be fit by October/November.

[SamiJari]

I think it's more odd to buy another midfield if it doesn't add proper value to the team. We have EIGHT midfielders and on the pitch there is 3 at one time. That leaves midfielders out of squad even!  We have midfielders for three lines. Hendo, Thiago, Fabinho. Second line Keita, Milner, Jones. Third line Elliott, Carvalho (okay might play more in attack for first season) and Ox. Injuries are bad and we cannot do much for those but lets keep in mind that mldfield is actually our strongest area in depht wise.

[Nick110581]

I think it's more odd to buy another midfield if it doesn't add proper value to the team. We have EIGHT midfielders and on the pitch there is 3 at one time. That leaves midfielders out of squad even!  We have midfielders for three lines. Hendo, Thiago, Fabinho. Second line Keita, Milner, Jones. Third line Elliott, Carvalho (okay might play more in attack for first season) and Ox. Injuries are bad and we cannot do much for those but lets keep in mind that mldfield is actually our strongest area in depht wise.

It’s pointless having 9 options if they aren’t robust / good enough.

[Fromola]

I think it's more odd to buy another midfield if it doesn't add proper value to the team. We have EIGHT midfielders and on the pitch there is 3 at one time. That leaves midfielders out of squad even!  We have midfielders for three lines. Hendo, Thiago, Fabinho. Second line Keita, Milner, Jones. Third line Elliott, Carvalho (okay might play more in attack for first season) and Ox. Injuries are bad and we cannot do much for those but lets keep in mind that mldfield is actually our strongest area in depht wise.

If Thiago is out for a while then it's already 7 for the foreseeable, that means 1 or 2 more out (i.e. Jones and Keita yesterday) and you've got kids on the bench making up the numbers. Plus, less options to rotate leads to more injuries as we saw in 20/21.

The problem is, you might always get 3 of them on the pitch but you need a combination that actually works and that's the difficult thing with the options we have. Brighton at home we played most of that game (From 2-0 up onwards) with Ox, Jones and Henderson as the midfield 3 and Brighton with Bissouma bossing the show played us off the park the rest of the game and got a draw. Spurs away it was Morton/Milner/Keita and we were dominated.

You need the right balance.

[clinical]

It’s pointless having 9 options if they aren’t robust / good enough.

Exactly. The numbers are really deceiving when so many of them are injury prone.

[Phineus]

If Thiago is out for a while then it's already 7 for the foreseeable, that means 1 or 2 more out (i.e. Jones and Keita yesterday) and you've got kids on the bench making up the numbers. Plus, less options to rotate leads to more injuries as we saw in 20/21.

The problem is, you might always get 3 of them on the pitch but you need a combination that actually works and that's the difficult thing with the options we have. Brighton at home we played most of that game (From 2-0 up onwards) with Ox, Jones and Henderson as the midfield 3 and Brighton with Bissouma bossing the show played us off the park the rest of the game and got a draw. Spurs away it was Morton/Milner/Keita and we were dominated.

You need the right balance.

Agree with this. I think most people's issue with the midfield is not the numbers we have, but the balance/profile of players and because we have a few who aren't the most robust/often pick up injuries, we often end up playing imbalanced midfields (and naturally, these occur in the biggest games of the season and typically always against City or Chelsea etc).

It's a small bone of contention, but when competing against City for the biggest titles, its the finest of margins that could be rectified with another smart piece of recruitment this summer.

And that doesn't mean Bellingham for 100m+, someone like Nunes reportedly has a 34m release clause and instantly adds press resistance, ball retention, penetrative passing and dribbling and cover 2 positions and is the right age profile. The players are out there.

[Oskar]

Really odd to put all out eggs in the Bellingham basket when we need at least two midfielders.

He might not want to join us and could command a huge wage (which we won’t pay).

Who has actually said we are doing that?

[Jookie]

It does feel like a case of deja vu. Same arguments in here, same information leaked to the press.

I understand people’s frustrations but it’s not exactly the same.

3 out of 3 centre backs being out for the season is quite damaging.

Current midfield situation is that we have 4 midfielders fit and another who has just returned to training.

Another midfielder who we know is out for 2-4 weeks and another who is out for 2-3 months.

3rd injured midfielder is out for as of yet undefined period. Could be 4 weeks, could be 4 months.

At present we do still have 5 options for 3 places and only play 1 game a week for next few weeks. I’m not sure we are at 2020 centre back panic stages yet.

If you are unhappy with the quality with the current 5 midfielders then your gripe is with Klopp. 3 of them have been awarded new contracts in the last 12 months (Fabinho, Henderson, Milner) and a 4th (Keita) we are reported to be keen to extend. The 5th midfielder is Elliott who Klopp has put a lot of faith in and purposely made a clear pathway to him getting 1st team minutes. The composition of our midfield for this season is t something that’s been sprung upon us. Klopp and the club have purposely taken this path through the recruitment, contracts and youth development policy over the last 12-24 months.

I would have done things slightly differently but don’t see current situation as some huge issue. Therefore I’m quite sanguine about Klopp’s approach around midfield. Others in here seem more irritated and I assume he deduction dissatisfied with Klopp in this regard.

[Fruity]

It’s pointless having 9 options if they aren’t robust / good enough.

I agree and based on age the likelihood is that they will become more injury prone. Our first choice midfield is currently aged fabinho 28, henderson 32, thiago 31. The subs keita 27 and Milner 36 (both appeared over 23 games last season). After that was OX and Jones.

So based on last season we pretty much depended on the older members of our squad in midfield. I imagine Elliot and Carvalho will get more game time this season but we still heavily rely on our older players. Not sure if it's the norm or not compared to other teams but we don't have anyone in the 24 or 25 age group in midfield with a bit more experience then Elliot, Carvalho or Jones in our team.

[clinical]

I agree and based on age the likelihood is that they will become more injury prone. Our first choice midfield is currently aged fabinho 28, henderson 32, thiago 31. The subs keita 27 and Milner 36 (both appeared over 23 games last season). After that was OX and Jones.

So based on last season we pretty much depended on the older members of our squad in midfield. I imagine Elliot and Carvalho will get more game time this season but we still heavily rely on our older players. Not sure if it's the norm or not compared to other teams but we don't have anyone in the 24 or 25 age group in midfield with a bit more experience then Elliot, Carvalho or Jones in our team.

What's wrong with having 10 midfielders anyway? We clearly need 10 given how unavailable half of them are. We have space in the squad for another player. Are we worried about upsetting Ox? It's better to have too many players than not enough. We have 3 of them set to leave on frees next summer too as things stand. It's baffling we want to take this unneccessary risk to save some money. This is the best team we've had and just feels like we aren't fully capitalising on that.

[killer-heels]

What's wrong with having 10 midfielders anyway? We clearly need 10 given how unavailable half of them are. We have space in the squad for another player. Are we worried about upsetting Ox? It's better to have too many players than not enough. We have 3 of them set to leave on frees next summer too as things stand. It's baffling we want to take this unneccessary risk to save some money. This is the best team we've had and just feels like we aren't fully capitalising on that.

Footballers are selfish. Its ok when they are injured but there will be a moment where most of them are fit and do you think they will understand? They will want back in the side and thats a headache Klopp can do without.

In my opinion we need a complete overhaul of our midfield. For one, I wouldnt even entertain giving Keita a new contract. We are probably going to have to keep Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago so the other 3 or 4 max should be players ready to play and of good quality and age.

Next summer we should be letting Ox, Milner, Keita go and I am not sure on Jones either.

[Phineus]

Footballers are selfish. Its ok when they are injured but there will be a moment where most of them are fit and do you think they will understand? They will want back in the side and thats a headache Klopp can do without.

In my opinion we need a complete overhaul of our midfield. For one, I wouldnt even entertain giving Keita a new contract. We are probably going to have to keep Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago so the other 3 or 4 max should be players ready to play and of good quality and age.

Next summer we should be letting Ox, Milner, Keita go and I am not sure on Jones either.

I think there is an argument to let Jones out on loan next season and get some serious minutes under his belt at a good standard and see what that does for his development.

[clinical]

Footballers are selfish. Its ok when they are injured but there will be a moment where most of them are fit and do you think they will understand? They will want back in the side and thats a headache Klopp can do without.

In my opinion we need a complete overhaul of our midfield. For one, I wouldnt even entertain giving Keita a new contract. We are probably going to have to keep Henderson, Fabinho and Thiago so the other 3 or 4 max should be players ready to play and of good quality and age.

Next summer we should be letting Ox, Milner, Keita go and I am not sure on Jones either.

So we're going to leave it next year before we sign 2 or 3 midfielders? That's a lot of players to introduce to one position.

[Phineus]

So we're going to leave it next year before we sign 2 or 3 midfielders? That's a lot of players to introduce to one position.

In a role where Klopp has been very careful & patient in how he integrates players, Thiago the exception.

[clinical]

In a role where Klopp has been very careful & patient in how he integrates players, Thiago the exception.

I think Klopp wants Keita to stay and Jones. Milner and Ox will leave and all out for Bellingham. That's what my guess is for the plan. Trouble is leaves us light this season.

[Fromola]

What's wrong with having 10 midfielders anyway? We clearly need 10 given how unavailable half of them are. We have space in the squad for another player. Are we worried about upsetting Ox? It's better to have too many players than not enough. We have 3 of them set to leave on frees next summer too as things stand. It's baffling we want to take this unneccessary risk to save some money. This is the best team we've had and just feels like we aren't fully capitalising on that.

We need to forget Ox at this point. He'll be out injured till after the World Cup and everyone knows is going on a free next summer. We should have moved him on earlier in the window. If he didn't want to go then there's not much you can do, but should have made it known his chances would be limited.

He barely kicked a ball after January last season despite being available.

[DonkeyWan]

Same arguments from the last 10 transfer windows.

Klopp doesn't do stop gaps.

What? Of course he does. Literallly just sold Ben Davies, a stop gap that was never even used once. Lonergan was allowed go as a free agent after  a year of zero appearances. Steven Caulker, brought in on loand, made 3 appearances.

[Goalposts for Jumpers]

...
If you are unhappy with the quality with the current 5 midfielders then your gripe is with Klopp. 3 of them have been awarded new contracts in the last 12 months (Fabinho, Henderson, Milner) and a 4th (Keita) we are reported to be keen to extend. The 5th midfielder is Elliott who Klopp has put a lot of faith in and purposely made a clear pathway to him getting 1st team minutes. The composition of our midfield for this season is t something that’s been sprung upon us. Klopp and the club have purposely taken this path through the recruitment, contracts and youth development policy over the last 12-24 months.

I would have done things slightly differently but don’t see current situation as some huge issue. Therefore I’m quite sanguine about Klopp’s approach around midfield. Others in here seem more irritated and I assume he deduction dissatisfied with Klopp in this regard.

Don't reply to this, its just a divisive ruse to get you to criticise Klopp, so all the superfans can pile up on you.

Class act!

[killer-heels]

I think Klopp wants Keita to stay and Jones. Milner and Ox will leave and all out for Bellingham. That's what my guess is for the plan. Trouble is leaves us light this season.

Maybe Jones but we cant keep Keita unless he has a flawless, or close to flawless season with injuries.

[JackWard33]

What? Of course he does. Literallly just sold Ben Davies, a stop gap that was never even used once. Lonergan was allowed go as a free agent after  a year of zero appearances. Steven Caulker, brought in on loand, made 3 appearances.

We also regularly buy players who arent immediate first team players but may become that or if not will play important squad roles or could grow into first eleven players (Jota, Carvalho, Tsimikas, Konate) .. and many of our transfers werent first choice at the time
There's an odd idea in the LFC fan base (generated through the Van Dijk saga and mysticism around our recruitment) that it has to be 'THE ONE' or we don't do business and we wait.. its not born out by events

[pathetic]

I adore Klopp but for me this is his Achilles heel. Once again we're going into a season with a weak area which could still be rectified. We did the same with the CB position a couple of years ago and when we were actually forced to invest in Diaz early last January we almost went on and won almost everything.

Why are we leaving things to chance when we know that half of our midfield options are either injury prone or won't be here next season? It promises to be another season of "what could have been?" instead of a season were we dominate and it's a pity. For me only Thiago and Fabinho are absolute starters when everyone is fit. That third midfield spot is up for grabs and I don't think that's good enough for a team of our level.

[clinical]

Maybe Jones but we cant keep Keita unless he has a flawless, or close to flawless season with injuries.

It's a tough one with Keita. But agree I'm not gutted he hasn't signed a new deal yet. It's a big season for him.

[clinical]

I adore Klopp but for me this is his Achilles heel. Once again we're going into a season with a weak area which could still be rectified. We did the same with the CB position a couple of years ago and when we were actually forced to invest in Diaz early last January we almost went on and won almost everything.

Why are we leaving things to chance when we know that half of our midfield options are either injury prone or won't be here next season? It promises to be another season of "what could have been?" instead of a season were we dominate and it's a pity. For me only Thiago and Fabinho are absolute starters when everyone is fit. That third midfield spot is up for grabs and I don't think that's good enough for a team of our level.

He's working on a relatively small budget compared to others. If he had unlimited money like Pep you think he'd take risks like this?

[pathetic]

He's working on a relatively small budget compared to others. If he had unlimited money like Pep you think he'd take risks like this?

I don't think it's a question of budget to be honest cause the money was there for Tchoumeni. Waiting for a target that we hope to get but might not get is not exactly a great recipe for success. Especially when looking back most of our 2nd/3rd targets for a position turned out to be 10x better than the first choice.

Also bearing in mind that we might need 2/3 midfielders next year.