Hey Jude Bellingham

Let's buy both!

 

Fabinho, Gravenberch, Elliott. That'll be our midfield for the next half decade.

 

I wanna buy him now after watching that video

 

If Raiola is his agent - we’re likely out.

 

We patched up that relationship a long time ago, so that shouldnt be a problem.

 

Did we?

I was under the impression there was still some bad blood there and we have specifically avoided working with him - despite spending loads on agents.

 

I think these things get overblown in the media. Raiola is agent to loads of players, not just the few high profile players he generally gets brought up in the media for. It'd be quite unpragmatic (and dare I say unprofessional) for a club to simply stop working with an agent because of the fallout over one high profile player.

Take Mendes for example. Not very well known, but it's his agency which represents Fabinho and Jota, and those were deals we did quietly and quickly without any attention.

I'd suspect it'd be the same with Raiola as long as the player is right.

 

There's reportedly no release clause in Bellinghams contract, so I agree with Dmish, that Gravenberch looks the more likely signing of the two.

The only way we'll compete for Jude is as if he runs his contract down and insists on joining Liverpool, similar to a Thaigo situation, but that's some way off yet. I suspect the oil clubs will pay up heavily to secure a talented home-grown player.

 

I thought i read somewhere that he’s about to be offered a new contract, i wonder if this is where Dortmund offer him big boy money to agree to a big release clause. Not sure that makes sense unless Dortmund are already planning for his sale and are prepping the price tag.

 

Unfortunately for us. I remember the stories about them pulling Barcelonas pants down over Dembele but at least we’re better than that these days.

 

My question would be; has the club learnt from passing on both Haaland and Jude? The likes of Elliott and Gordon COULD be shrewd buys, but might take a couple of seasons, however, both were low risk investment.
IMHO The club needs to look at teen agers who will cost £15-£30m but even then the club might say its out of budget.  I don't have any confidence FSG will spend more than £20m net per season

Article:

This comes from Fabrizio Romano. He claims Liverpool wanted Patson Daka in the transfer window.
They had a strategy, however, and stuck to it. It’s one that would, unfortunately, cost them the transfer.
“Liverpool had a strategy,” said Romano. “Sell players and then eventually sign new players.
“If they had sold [Xherdan] Shaqiri or Divock Origi in the first days of June, then they had the chance to sign Patson Daka.
“They were interested but never made an official bid. Then it collapsed because of the timing of Shaqiri.
“Leicester was great on the deal and Patson Daka is one of the stars of the Premier League.”

 

I think the issue is that the only way these kids will develop is if they play regular footy. Dortmund can offer them that opportunity because they're not expected to win their league and the only way they'll stand a chance of doing so is if they take a chance on these kids and they prove to be as good as the hype. Even with Haaland reaching exceptional standards, they're still not likely to win the Bundesliga because Lewandowski can match him and cancel out that advantage (plus Bayern have other strengths on top). I just don't think we can do that - there's too much pressure to perform from day one, so we wait and hope to pick these kinds of players up when they're proven, but not yet at the very top of the game.
I'm surprised to see Elliott getting so much game time so far this season - it's what he needs to develop, but it's unusual for us to give out that kind of opportunity. The lads who got decent minutes last season were mostly in the team because of injuries. I suppose Elliott is getting game time because in Klopp's system midfield is not as important - we need workers, rather than ballers in there, so there's not as much pressure on Elliott as there would be if he played up front or at full-back (obviously TAA is one of those exceptional players who can just do the job from an early age).
Most on here are convinced Neco, for example, isn't good enough, but I think he just needs more time to grow into the player he could become - I don't think he will ever be as good as TAA or Robbo, but I think he has the potential to be decent, but perhaps more for a mid-table side.

 

this is it, Dortmund is a well worn path for youth now and quite a draw because they know they’ll play and move on

 

Totally agree with Beamrider - young players known that there are a couple of quality teams just below top level that they can go to, challenge for honours (though not necessarily win), play in the champions league and the club will happily sell at the right time, at the right price.

Think Dortmund and the Red Bull teams for starters.

We’ve gone past the point were we accept selling our best players - because we actually need to keep them to have any sort of sustained challenge in the Premier League due to the petro teams and Utd.

We’re probably moving more towards a Chelsea model were we need to develop some solid young players that “might” not be quite good enough for the top tier - but are good enough to warrant amid tier team spending some cash on.

We also need to be quicker at churning out the players that aren’t contributing- rather than hanging on to them - but that relies on having decent players coming through that we want to hang on to - which isn’t happening enough either.

 

Actually it’s probably more like a Bayern strategy - without the ability to cherry pick the domestic league talent.

Hang on to top talent, pick up good players when you can, sell off the odd player here and there and bring some solid youth players through to fill out the squad.

 

If Dortmund had Klopp and the squad they have now, would you rule them out of winning the league?

 

I wouldn't rule them out of winning it, even without Klopp, but I wouldn't expect them to. So because there's no expectation, there's less pressure on the kids.
If they had Klopp, I still wouldn't expect them to win it, such is Bayern's strength, but I wouldn't be massively surprised if they did.

 

Where would the current Dortmund setup finish in the premier league? Scrapping for 4th imo and their business model / transfer strategy might not work.