Topic: LIVERPOOL TRANSFER THREAD 2023 - archived discussions about what’s offensive

[Wghennessy]

70 mil 

No chance. Be half that.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Wouldn't touch him with a barge pole for £70 million.

That's only unless Klopp really wants him then yeah sure, but I would imagine with that it would mean no Bellingham.

I think we'll get Mount to be fair, but probably for about £35 million at the least, £45 mill at most. If the competition is us and Bayern, neither of us are particularly renowned for spending big on players, particularly on last year of their contract - Bayern tend to buy cheap after poaching players, and we just don't spend that big on players on last year of a contract.

£70 million is the stuff of a fantasist

[RedBec1993]

70 million

I can’t see us paying that, I hope it’s not mount or Bellingham, I’d take both but not mount for 70 million!

[Stockholm Syndrome]

70 million

I can’t see us paying that, I hope it’s not mount or Bellingham, I’d take both but not mount for 70 million!

With who is interested, he won't go for 70. So he will either go for cheaper, or just not end up going.

I am going to go out on a limb here for our summer, and predict that we will buy:

Bellingham
Mount
Palhinha
Ndicka

[Gerry Attrick]

With who is interested, he won't go for 70. So he will either go for cheaper, or just not end up going.

I am going to go out on a limb here for our summer, and predict that we will buy:

Bellingham
Mount
Palhinha
Ndicka

Palhinha seems good but Fulham would want a fortune for a player who would have turned 28 and actually has quite minimal top level experience for a player so old. Swerve him.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Palhinha seems good but Fulham would want a fortune for a player who would have turned 28 and actually has quite minimal top level experience for a player so old. Swerve him.

Asking price is apparently 60 million, could probably get him for 50 to 55 with less money up front because of installments.

I also think he's a decent balance of experience but not too old - if we see Bajcetic as our future then it may make sense to go for a good level of experienced player to hold the fort while Bajcetic grows into the role more.

His lack of top level experience is a bother, but he does have plenty of experience in Portugal which we have seen tends to lend well to a good transition into English football and in particular, good for us.

This is all just a guess by me though, as the is some noise of interest but not being bellowed out - for the most part that feels like our signings, rumblings of interest but not loads because we keep quiet with deals

[Romford_Red]

Had a feeling somebody would have done it already, but if I didn't see it it's fair game imvho 

Kinda like going on the pull

[Romford_Red]

He's nowhere near his best though and he's not getting back to being near his best.

Why not?

Players have bad seasons all the time, only to bounce back to be as good or better than they had been. Yeah it might not happen with Fab or anyone of the players having bad years but people talk like everyone is suddenly finished and has zero chance of ever coming back.

[killer-heels]

Why not?

Players have bad seasons all the time, only to bounce back to be as good or better than they had been. Yeah it might not happen with Fab or anyone of the players having bad years but people talk like everyone is suddenly finished and has zero chance of ever coming back.

Are you willing to gamble the season on that?

[rocco]

I don't think that means Mount has to go by then. They have a few to sell. They have no leverage at all so hopefully all clubs stand firm so we can see them start to panic.

They need to balance books by June 30th so would be a bargaining tool in the negotiations but your right they don’t have to sell by then but would prefer it

[clinical]

They need to balance books by June 30th so would be a bargaining tool in the negotiations but your right they don’t have to sell by then but would prefer it

If Klopp really wants him and he only wants LFC we should just wait until the last week of the window, unless they agree to a fair price.

[Knight]

You don't think that midfield would work if Fabinho was close to his best?

Given the new forward line - which isn't going to press like the old one did, and given our fullbacks, who's natural game is very attacking, I don't think that midfield works even with Fab at his best. Mount is hardly an 8, Bellingham isn't a controlling 8 - or at least it's not his natural game. We'd be leaving Fabinho very isolated and even peak level Fabinho isn't great when he has lots of ground to cover.

[Caston]

Fabinho is 30 in October... his legs and ability to cover ground is declining and won't suddenly improve.

[clinical]

Fabinho is 30 in October... his legs and ability to cover ground is declining and won't suddenly improve.

I could understand us sellling everyone in midfield bar Bajcetic and maybe Henderson because he's loved in the squad and no one will pay decent money for him. Elliott isn't a midfielder imo.

[TepidT2O]

When we’re looking at midfield i think we need to consider what the forward line is going to be:

if it’s Diaz-Nunez-Salah then i don’t think we will see anywhere near the level of pressing / intensity that we had under Mane-Firmino-salah (in his prime) does that not mean we need midfielders who are even more able to provide the intensity that’s been missing off the ball? adding Gapko or Jota changes things a little but not that much

we can’t play with 2 very attacking full backs, 2 number 10s in midfield and 3 forwards who aren’t great pressers off the ball and leave it to Bajectic, Konate and an ageing VVD to defend

our benchmark and what made us successful was being the best team off the ball in europe, our recruitment objective should be to get the team in a position to be absolutely horrific to play against, having too many players that want to run forward isn’t the way to go

Hopefully someone can show me how a midfield of Bellingham, Mount and Fabinho wil get us back to where we want to be but i don’t see the balance working for us when you consider our forwards

 

Diaz is a pressing monster

[Fromola]

70 million

I can’t see us paying that, I hope it’s not mount or Bellingham, I’d take both but not mount for 70 million!

I'd imagine it's one or the other but the prices are high this summer. We chose to sit on our hands for the last 2 years so we'll have to pay a premium somewhere.

Chelsea aren't going to sell to us lightly. It's like with City, they gave Sterling to Chelsea and Jesus to Arsenal, they'd have never have sold them to us.

[clinical]

I'd imagine it's one or the other but the prices are high this summer. We chose to sit on our hands for the last 2 years so we'll have to pay a premium somewhere.

Chelsea aren't going to sell to us lightly. It's like with City, they gave Sterling to Chelsea and Jesus to Arsenal, they'd have never have sold them to us.

Yeah not sure how just buying Mount for £70m makes us any better at all really. I know we're not what we once were but we're not that dumb either I'd like to hope.

[Musketeer Gripweed]

Just because they are paying stupid money for players they expect everyone else to probably. If that's their game, I hope it blows up in their face and are left with players they don't want on long contracts.

[Flaccido Dongingo]

Any more rumours of us being interested in Kante on a Bosman?

[DelTrotter]

Any more rumours of us being interested in Kante on a Bosman?

Thankfully not.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Any more rumours of us being interested in Kante on a Bosman?

I didn't know there were any rumours to begin with

[Romford_Red]

Are you willing to gamble the season on that?

Do you always answer a question with another question that may be in the same conversation somewhere but does not actually address the question asked?

[JackWard33]

The thing with Fabinho is if you want to keep him and build the midfield round him (which is what you're doing with your 6 in a 1-2 midfield shape) you have to be able to say why he'll return to his 2019 form
We have plenty of evidence now that he's diminished as a player so the default assumption is that that decline will continue, or at least not be reversed, because that's what usually happens and what, logically, you'd expect to happen once a player has clearly peaked physically

This is probably the last summer where we could move him on and still get a decent fee as his reputation and the 'we can rebuild' him vibe will happen with other clubs
And if we keep him what does that look like? If he's at this seasons level weve got a 200k a week squad player, who we actually never want to play because he's not at our level, with 3 years left on his deal

Top level sport is brutal and saying to players who have been amazing for us and delivered trophies that their time is up sucks - but if we can't do it our ability to get back to where we want to be is massively handicapped

[Nick110581]

Mount for that money is insanity.

[killer-heels]

Do you always answer a question with another question that may be in the same conversation somewhere but does not actually address the question asked?

Well if you want to be absolute about it then I think his race has been run and if we want to challenge for any honours we should sell him and get a better player.

[newterp]

Top level sport is brutal and saying to players who have been amazing for us and delivered trophies that their time is up sucks - but if we can't do it our ability to get back to where we want to be is massively handicapped

[Romford_Red]

The thing with Fabinho is if you want to keep him and build the midfield round him (which is what you're doing with your 6 in a 1-2 midfield shape) you have to be able to say why he'll return to his 2019 form

Jaysus, I was not aware that people were calling him shite for 3 years!

Well if you want to be absolute about it then I think his race has been run and if we want to challenge for any honours we should sell him and get a better player.

I have no issue with you having an opinion like that but it has to be based on something doesn't it (which I'm sure it is) which is why I asked my question, which your response above still isn't an answer to.

So I'll back away from this now because I've learned that if I have to work this hard to get someone to answer a question (that they themselves stepped into voluntarily), it is rarely worth while.

[Agent99]

So Bellingham for the RCM and Mount for the LCM spot? Good luck to the Defensive Midfielder in that set up

[Asam]

Diaz is a pressing monster

Pre injury + Nunez isn't great at pressing, Salah is dropping off before all 3 were the best in the business at pressing

[Asam]

So Bellingham for the RCM and Mount for the LCM spot? Good luck to the Defensive Midfielder in that set up

Bellingham is LCM usually isn't he? a pressing/running monster would make more sense for RCM, is Mount that guy? and yes, we can't expect Fab or Henderson to be our 6 given their mileage

[JackWard33]

Bellingham is LCM usually isn't he? a pressing/running monster would make more sense for RCM, is Mount that guy? and yes, we can't expect Fab or Henderson to be our 6 given their mileage

Bellingham's a freak - he's played almost every midfield position already and usually at an elite level
Mount is an actual pressing monster / runner yes, really its his main strength/stand out ability, last statsbomb pressing data I saw he was 3rd in the league for possession adjusted pressures

[The G in Gerrard]

Any more rumours of us being interested in Kante on a Bosman?

No thanks he's been injured alot this season?

[Asam]

Bellingham's a freak - he's played almost every midfield position already and usually at an elite level
Mount is an actual pressing monster / runner yes, really its his main strength/stand out ability, last statsbomb pressing data I saw he was 3rd in the league for possession adjusted pressures

That's really impressive, I didn't know his numbers were that good!

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Bellingham's a freak - he's played almost every midfield position already and usually at an elite level
Mount is an actual pressing monster / runner yes, really its his main strength/stand out ability, last statsbomb pressing data I saw he was 3rd in the league for possession adjusted pressures

Could Mount potentially be the next Lallana under Klopp for us- an attacking midfielder playing a tad bit deeper in a midfield 3, pressing monster, can play in forward 3 at a push

Not the most flashy but very effective

[JackWard33]

That's really impressive, I didn't know his numbers were that good!

Yeah he's got huge potential under Klopp... I'm just not sure if him AND Bellingham make sense because the squad still wouldn't have a ball winner in midfield and I can't see us getting those two and a 6
But no complaints from me if Mount comes

[JackWard33]

Could Mount potentially be the next Lallana under Klopp for us- an attacking midfielder playing a tad bit deeper in a midfield 3, pressing monster, can play in forward 3 at a push

Not the most flashy but very effective

Yup (but a decent bit better than Lallana imo depsite being way less good to watch)

[Too early for flapjacks?]

I think we need some 8s with genuine tactical defensive nous rather than just pressing monsters. Gini was intelligent and read the game well and that's why he was so valuable as he adapted in game to make sure other players had the platform to support the attack without us being exposed too much. Not sure Mount or Bellingham fall into that category. Unless we're changing the role of the fullback(s), I could see us having similar problems to this year with a midfield of Fabinho (or other 6), Mount, and Bellingham.

[Stockholm Syndrome]

Yup (but a decent bit better than Lallana imo depsite being way less good to watch)

Lallana is an odd one because he was great under Klopp but of course with injuries and just age he wasn't as good as he could be I don't think

Mount would potentially be a more robust and younger version of that, which is really exciting at kinda what we need.

Still wouldn't pay £70 mill for him though under the circumstances

[fowlermagic]

Could Mount potentially be the next Lallana under Klopp for us- an attacking midfielder playing a tad bit deeper in a midfield 3, pressing monster, can play in forward 3 at a push

Not the most flashy but very effective

Pretty much said that a couple of weeks ago. Mount is the modern version of Lallana who cost us 25m 10 years ago so don't expect Mount to cost anywhere near that figure. Double it and more me thinks and you have a player who has never played in midfield but has roamed around the front line pretty much in a pressing role. Most of his assists are from dead ball scenarios so don't ask me where he fits into our plans considering we have the front line pretty much covered with Salah, Gapko, Diaz, Nunez, Jota. Where will a 50m plus 175k a week wages Mount fit as thought our cash reserves were lower than some. That's a lot of ammo we could spend on a designated midfielder or do we plan to convert Mount into a full time midfielder.

[Clint Eastwood]

So Bellingham for the RCM and Mount for the LCM spot? Good luck to the Defensive Midfielder in that set up

Hypothetically if we signed both Bellingham, Mount and a new DM, I'd see us starting next season with a midfield of...

New DM
(Bajcetic)

Henderson Bellingham
(Mount)     (Thiago)

With Mount gradually taking Henderson's minutes. You've also got the likes of Elliott, Jones and Morton as options too.

Having said that, the maximum I'd have us paying for mount is £50m.