I like that we buy potential, if we buy players for that purpose. Buy a few players like Ibe. Take a chance on them. Spend 1-2M on them if necessary at a young age. Or think Suso and Sterling. It's a gamble and it may not work, but the benefits could be huge. However, don't buy a Markovic for 20M, if we expect no more than we expect from Ibe. Don't buy Origi for 10M so he can learn the trade. Don't then buy Ings for 5-10M so he too can learn the trade. This is how our money disappears. I think we get as much quality from our own Academy, as we do when we spend tens of millions of pounds on potential. Flanagan, Wisdom, Ibe and Sterling vs Ilori, Borini, Alberto and Markovic?
When we have an Academy that works alright, there's less need to buy young potential. All that does, is it creates competition and less chances for the Academy players. We need signings that challenge leading players, not Academy graduates.
In the case of Ings, I think we should have chosen Origi OR Ings.
And just to clearify, it's not Ings I'm targeting here. It's the reasons we signed him and how we build our side that I question.
I think that's the point though.
As a club in order to compete at the title challenge end of the season, we need top top notch players. The kind of players that cost in excess of 30-40 million pounds on the market, Suarez like signings that cost 50 mil upwards. That's what we need to compete, where all of the fans players and staff want to be.
We can not afford those players, we simply do not have that kind of money. What we can do though is look at players with a view to them being potentially that kind of player within the contract length that we offer them. Ings and Origi do have that kind of potential. Its a gamble though with a large chance that neither will ever get anywhere near that kind of level, and when its a gamble you have to spread your spend, so its perfectly logical to go for 2 potentials for 15 16 million, because it gives you double the chance of getting and absolute worldie.
And what's more I think we have done well in that regard. Look at Carroll and Suarez, they came in in the same window for what £50 million 55. Carroll flopped, Suarez was by far the best footballer I have seen in the modern era pull on a shirt for Liverpool. Couhtinho and Sturridge both excellent bits of Business. I think actually with these kinds of signings we are doing alright when you pair them up. They are gambles and there needs to be a fair few of them to make it work.
Where we arguably fall down is buying prem proven mid career players. There we generally tend to get decent players at a high price who are never ever going to make it here because the ones that would be able to make it here don't want to come here anymore. I'm happy with Lallana and perhaps Milner will be an excellent bit of business, but in all honesty the likes of Lambert Downing and Adam and allen, well they are what they are Mid table prem players. Good players but not top 4 quality.
Think we have done really well when we have gambled though myself. Ballotelli and Carrollare the two horrendous mistakes, but we could all see the logic couldn't we.
