The issue for me is the poor planning. We signed Salah, Mane and Firmino in different seasons but have ended up with all three of them having their contract expire at the same time. Add in potentially losing Naby and Ox as attacking mids on frees and we have three options. Spend hundreds of millions replacing like for like, hope the likes of Carvalho and Elliott perform at an incredible level or watch the squad depth drop.
As for Mane I think he was pretty average in the first half of the season but the signing of Diaz lit a fire under his arse. It was the improvement in the squad depth that for me nearly gave us an incredible season.
Ideally I think we would have tied up a couple of our forwards and could have concentrated our efforts on improving the midfield area especially with Hendo and Thiago being a similar age and Milner being used far too often.
Having to replace 4,5 or 6 players risks reducing the amount per player we can spend, which may also reduce the quality of the player we can bring in.
Again Al its not a criticism, but it just seems to be one of a number of things about the club (and well, football really), that you struggle to understand (or just ignore so you can get on with your favourite pastime).
Its got naff all to do with poor planning, its just how football contracts work. You cant stagger them so you're never in a position where someone has two years left on their contract and its genuinely laughable that you seem to think we could. The added aspect is that players more and more are running their contracts down to a point where they either leave on a free (and get a mega deal elsewhere) or get what they want. Players age differently, perform differently, and want different things. We've seen it with Mbappe this summer, we've seen it with Messi recently, we're seeing it with numerous players this and next summer. You've got some of the best players in the world in their position with contracts expiring this or next summer, not just our three. It could be that Liverpool, Bayern, Real, Barca (well probably true with them), Inter, Chelsea, Man City, Napoli, Atletico etc all don't know what they're doing with respect to contract extensions. Or it could be that more and more, players realise they'll get more money as a free agent as are more likely to run their contracts down, and there's very little a club can do once they've decided that.
And sorry, but Ox is barely even squad depth anymore. Harveys already in front of him in the pecking order, I'm pretty sure Carvalho can manage. It seems Naby will probably sign a new contract. It seems pretty likely Sadio will be sold this summer, for anything between £40-50 million. Which is right in our sweet spot for attacking signings, so I think we'll be fine there. So we actually then leave ourselves with Mo and Bobby with expiring contracts, and not quite in the panic station you predictably suggest we are. And of course, then predictably suggesting it'll cost us 'hundreds of millions' to replace like for like, knowing full well that we wouldnt replace like for like as thats not how we work. We'll look for the same again with either of them, in that usual spot for us. So more like £100 million to replace both of them, max, and thats on the basis that they both leave on a free next summer.
I asked the question and I'll ask again, at what point do you think we should have sold Salah and Mane when it became clear their extensions were going to be tricky?
The clear point here is that we've just
had an incredible season (not nearly), where we've used our squad tremendously well. Its on the club and the management staff to maintain that, the signs with our last few signings are that they know exactly what they're doing and will continue to do so. If they dont, then of course they open themselves up to criticism. But thats in the future. But look Al, a lot of us have enjoyed this season immensely and I dont think anyone wants to stop you from doing what you enjoy immensely so fill your boots mate
