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

[Hazell]

spend a few pence on subscriptions you cheap bastard 

This site takes donations by the way….

[istvan kozma]

Much of the midfield issue can be laid at the management/recruitment team's door, it's piss poor planning, no two ways about it. However, the fans were shouting from the rafters for the club to sign a midfielder last summer. Players like Van Dijk were (and still is). Klopp by August held his hands up that he'd misjudged the situation (Tchouameni/Bellingham or bust) but the money was limited again, Diaz replaced Mane and Nunez was the summer budget.

FSG were complacent and uninterested in these calls and will pay for it (probably) by a loss of CL revenue which will be an excuse for turning the tap off further, when our rivals still outspend us when they're in the EL.

We committed another £40m on a forward in January.

[istvan kozma]

No, but guess what, players got old and some got shite. It happens. Its not the same team as last season.

How old is Modric, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Benzema & Kroos?

[Lone Star Red]

There's too much clickbait/volume on there now, I got rid of it even at £1 a month. You have to get past 8 or 9 articles to find one you actually want to read.

Half the content is barely a step up from the Liverpool Echo's how scouse is your nan type articles all over their website in terms of anything of interest.

Article volume is undoubtedly a more important piece of their strategy now, which has inevitably lead to a decrease in quality.

They started as a more long-form, lower volume but high-quality focused service and have slowly crept to the more (recently) tried-and-true content, clicks and clout method. Hence my cancellation. Was fun while it lasted.

[killer-heels]

How old is Modric, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Benzema & Kroos?

Mahrez has been great? How many players do we have on the level of those others?

[G Richards]

First of all, lovely to see Capon.

Second, what will be will be. There were always two options once we started to pursue Bellingham. We might sign him, or we might not. It still has to run its course. No need to get upset now.

If we don’t sign him, and we also fail to significantly upgrade the midfield in summer, fine, let the bed wetting begin. Sign me up for a summer tantrum at that point.

But we are not there yet. Let’s see what happens.

[istvan kozma]

Mahrez has been great? How many players do we have on the level of those others?

Point is, in 1 year you don't from where LFC were, to where they are now, due to age.

[DelTrotter]

How old is Modric, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Lewandowski, Benzema & Kroos?

Yep. We are hopefully looking at giving Hendo and Fab new 6 year deals. Look at how good Modric still is at 37. Thiago Silva still good too so hopefully a new 8 year deal for Matip.

[clinical]

I think we need more than players. The medical department looks like it's the worst in the league based on injuries. Ward needs to be replaced soon. We just need to sort this mess out and give Klopp the tools to succeed. It's all a mess right now.

[Sheer Magnetism]

Hasn't Henry literally come out and said we aren't for sale? So shall we add that to Ornsteins list of wrong clickbait exclusive pieces? Thanks I forgot that example.

Klopp literally mentioned the Athletic specifically due to more of it's journalists publishing lies. I'll take Klopp's opinion of their trusthworthness.

I understand the difference thanks, The Athletic has never made money, it loses money, reducing your losses by a third means you're still making a loss.

Do you work for them? You seem very defensive.

The vast, vast majority of media publications lose money unless they have a high-revenue sidebar like events and virtually none make money from subscriptions alone - it's 2023. The Atlantic for instance has some of the best long-form writing on the internet and has never made a profit. It has no bearing on the quality of output which is why it was a ridiculous thing to say, especially when a) attached to a link that undermined your claim about it 'getting worse' and b) the money they spend is literally going on journalists.

As for the other, Ornstein reported the existence of the sale pack, something that was later confirmed with the caveat that we were apparently looking for an investor rather than a buyer. Since we haven't found one, we'll have to guess how true that is. I'm sorry Ornstein sometimes writes things you don't like, it doesn't make what he writes clickbait, whatever you think that means in this instance. Klopp has never mentioned The Athletic by name, he refused to answer a question from James Pearce at a press conference, apparently a case of mistaken identity.

And no, I don't have a connection to The Athletic outside of subscribing. I just felt the need to correct an incredibly dumb series of posts.

[decosabute]

There's too much clickbait/volume on there now, I got rid of it even at £1 a month. You have to get past 8 or 9 articles to find one you actually want to read.

Half the content is barely a step up from the Liverpool Echo's how scouse is your nan type articles all over their website in terms of anything of interest.

100% agree - also got rid of it, despite being on the cheap subscription. It's mostly just more of the same crap masquerading as something new and better. Most football writers are either spouting clueless opinions or guesswork - the Athletic just have more of them than other sites.

Having said all that, I would say Ornstein is one of their more reliable ones. Sure, he's got some stuff wrong, but loads right too. Think it's fair enough to have concerns over this news, even though personally I still think we'll get it done.

[killer-heels]

Point is, in 1 year you don't from where LFC were, to where they are now, due to age.

Why not? Not every player can be like those legends you describe. Trying to do what only a handful of players have managed isnt sound judgement.

[Asam]

The most important words in the Ornstein tweet are the first 3. I fully expect some investment to be announced before the end of the season.

Even if we don't expect any investment, we're at a similar level of the clubs who are in for him and he would be the main man for us vs a bit part player elsewhere, it does get the pulses racing but if we did walkaway it won't be because we can't compete for the transfer fee or wages

[killer-heels]

Even if we don't expect any investment, we're at a similar level of the clubs who are in for him and he would be the main man for us vs a bit part player elsewhere, it does get the pulses racing but if we did walkaway it won't be because we can't compete for the transfer fee or wages

We are in terms of size but not finances.

[Motty]

This site takes donations by the way….

I find it amazing there are people with thousands of posts, one with 70k that haven't thrown any money in the Rawk coffers, fucking tight bastards.

[istvan kozma]

Why not? Not every player can be like those legends you describe. Trying to do what only a handful of players have managed isnt sound judgement.

Err...no, age isn't the reason for the teams results to go from 1 extreme to the other, players have pointed out there's been a bad attitude in certain games. For instance from October 12th to November 6th we beat City Tottenham & Napoli, but lose to bottom placed Leeds & Forest, that's ridiculous and has nothing to do with age.

[Jm55]

It’s probably worth mentioning that around a month ago Ornstein did another piece on Bellingham where he mentioned us quite favourably in the running.

I wouldn’t take it especially seriously, clickbait is perhaps a bit harsh but anyone thinking that even the more reliable journos don’t have targets to hit in terms of readership etc and don’t know easy ways of bumping their numbers during an international break is probably a bit naive.

It’s not about ‘reliable va reliable’ or ‘clickbait vs non-clickbait’ just that they basically all have targets and if the news isn’t around you have to be a bit creative with the information you do have. I can only really think of Joyce that doesn’t do that.

[Agent99]

NEW: Josko Gvardiol and Kim Min-Jae are both on Liverpool’s list of targets for this summer, with the former having been tracked extensively in recent months. #lfc [@JacobsBen]

Feast on this mofos.

[FlashGordon]

Err...no, age isn't the reason for the teams results to go from 1 extreme to the other, players have pointed out there's been a bad attitude in certain games. For instance from October 12th to November 6th we beat City Tottenham & Napoli, but lose to bottom placed Leeds & Forest, that's ridiculous and has nothing to do with age.

It's a mixture of both actually, they can muster up the required motivation to get them through some of the big games, relying on adrenaline to mask their physical deficiencies. The smaller games, lack of motivation, lack of adrenaline can't mask their physical deficiencies.

[A-Bomb]

Feast on this mofos.

Kim has had a good season, Gvardiol was impressive in the world cup - the little I've seen since, less so.

[Draex]

The vast, vast majority of media publications lose money unless they have a high-revenue sidebar like events and virtually none make money from subscriptions alone - it's 2023. The Atlantic for instance has some of the best long-form writing on the internet and has never made a profit. It has no bearing on the quality of output which is why it was a ridiculous thing to say, especially when a) attached to a link that undermined your claim about it 'getting worse' and b) the money they spend is literally going on journalists.

As for the other, Ornstein reported the existence of the sale pack, something that was later confirmed with the caveat that we were apparently looking for an investor rather than a buyer. Since we haven't found one, we'll have to guess how true that is. I'm sorry Ornstein sometimes writes things you don't like, it doesn't make what he writes clickbait, whatever you think that means in this instance. Klopp has never mentioned The Athletic by name, he refused to answer a question from James Pearce at a press conference, apparently a case of mistaken identity.

And no, I don't have a connection to The Athletic outside of subscribing. I just felt the need to correct an incredibly dumb series of posts.

As other posters have mentioned The Athletic was a really good forward thinking site. I've been a subscriber since the first day, Simon Hughes and Melissa Reddy were great to read. Now funded by adverts it's changed, my personal view is the culture and production of the site has changed much more akin to a clickbait one, I wonder if there is a link to the new owners target of 15mil subscription figure by 2027. There is still the odd good piece but far far more filler rehash articles alongside the "exclusives" with little to no actual material or sources.

Ornstein is basically an upper class Romano.

Happy to be proven wrong but I understand it was articles at the Athletic co-authored/promoted by Pearce implying weird things about Klopp and his relationship with Matt McCann and suggesting we'd faked Covid tests which has caused the animosity.

Dumb posts? Just a differing of opinion, no need to get personal is there.

[killer-heels]

Feast on this mofos.

He isnt very reliable is he?

[Trump's tiny tiny hands]

Tell me why, I shouldn't like Min-Jae

[Hazell]

Tell me why, I shouldn't like Min-Jae

Oof!

[RedSince86]

Kim has a 45 million Euros clause i read the other day.

He's going to have a lot of suitors, looks to be the best CB in Serie A, great business by Napoli getting him for peanuts, can we nab Napoli's DoF by any chance?

I'd rather we tried to get N'Dicka on a Bosman and put whatever money we are spending on the midfield.

[disgraced cake]

Feast on this mofos.

Just when I thought I was out ... THEY PULL ME BACK IN!!!

[TepidT2O]

Is Kim little?

[CS111]

I do love a bit of Min-Jae 2 or 3 times a week. 

[RedBec1993]

Ornstein adding more context on a podcast to his earlier article. Not sure what podcast it is though.

“It’s mainly likely to come down to finances, the expected transfer fee, we don’t know what that is going to be at this time. We’ve reported that Borussia Dortmund are looking for around €150m. Liverpool don’t know what competitions they’re going to be playing in, Champions League or Europa League and that will affect budgets.”

“It’s vital to stress Liverpool’s pursuit is not off, but that is our understanding of the current situation, speaking to multiple sources with knowledge of this situation from across the industry. Liverpool would be reluctant to get into a bidding war at that level of finance.

“We’re not saying with certainty how this is going to conclude, we’re trying our best to relay to you what we’re hearing at this moment in time.”

[Caston]

Since when is a ‘bidding war’ ever a thing. It’s just doesn’t happen.

We’ve known for years what the potential fee will be.

[RedBec1993]

Since when is a ‘bidding war’ ever a thing. It’s just doesn’t happen.

We’ve known for years what the potential fee will be.

Yep, bidding wars between clubs are a thing of the past. It’s a myth that this still goes on.

Player picks the club he wants, clubs then agree on a fee.

[killer-heels]

Since when is a ‘bidding war’ ever a thing. It’s just doesn’t happen.

We’ve known for years what the potential fee will be.

Have we? This time last year I remember a lot of people expecting nothing over £75-£80m.

[istvan kozma]

Since when is a ‘bidding war’ ever a thing. It’s just doesn’t happen.

We’ve known for years what the potential fee will be.

Exactly, buying a footballer isn't the same as auctioning off a painting at Sotheby's.

[Samie]

"Bidding War" Fucker is living about 15 years ago. 

[Caston]

Have we? This time last year I remember a lot of people expecting nothing over £75-£80m.

For years is an exaggeration. I just find it funny if it’s true it’s unlikely because of the fee when we’ve been chasing him for years and should expect to pay a large fee. Said earlier if it was footballing reasons him not joining us fine but if it’s now finances then it’s not good enough.

We shall see.

[Lone Star Red]

Ornstein adding more context on a podcast to his earlier article. Not sure what podcast it is though.

“It’s mainly likely to come down to finances, the expected transfer fee, we don’t know what that is going to be at this time. We’ve reported that Borussia Dortmund are looking for around €150m. Liverpool don’t know what competitions they’re going to be playing in, Champions League or Europa League and that will affect budgets.”

“It’s vital to stress Liverpool’s pursuit is not off, but that is our understanding of the current situation, speaking to multiple sources with knowledge of this situation from across the industry. Liverpool would be reluctant to get into a bidding war at that level of finance.

“We’re not saying with certainty how this is going to conclude, we’re trying our best to relay to you what we’re hearing at this moment in time.”

Good stuff. Just really, really good stuff here.

[A Red Abroad]

Good stuff. Just really, really good stuff here.

Proper that.

Nearly as good as that other fraud Alex Crook - I swear they just make a story fit the narrative they want - without actually confirming anything.  Friggin' Twitter makes more sense. 

[killer-heels]

For years is an exaggeration. I just find it funny if it’s true it’s unlikely because of the fee when we’ve been chasing him for years and should expect to pay a large fee. Said earlier if it was footballing reasons him not joining us fine but if it’s now finances then it’s not good enough.

We shall see.

There are a lot of possibilities. Important also to remember that the club and the footballing side are in complete different worlds between last summer and this summer. It could very well be that we are in a place now that we never expected and that we need to go right back to the start of the whole thing rather than be the club that puts the cherry on the cake.

[CraigDS]

Ornstein adding more context on a podcast to his earlier article. Not sure what podcast it is though.

“It’s mainly likely to come down to finances, the expected transfer fee, we don’t know what that is going to be at this time. We’ve reported that Borussia Dortmund are looking for around €150m. Liverpool don’t know what competitions they’re going to be playing in, Champions League or Europa League and that will affect budgets.”

“It’s vital to stress Liverpool’s pursuit is not off, but that is our understanding of the current situation, speaking to multiple sources with knowledge of this situation from across the industry. Liverpool would be reluctant to get into a bidding war at that level of finance.

“We’re not saying with certainty how this is going to conclude, we’re trying our best to relay to you what we’re hearing at this moment in time.”

So in other words, he doesn't have much of a clue, but by mentioning "Liverpool", "Bellingham" and "may not sign" together will get a shit load of attention.

[Jm55]

So in other words, he doesn't have much of a clue, but by mentioning "Liverpool", "Bellingham" and "may not sign" together will get a shit load of attention.

Quite.