The squad 2 years from now

[keniget]

I was reading the latest miserable update from Pearce in the transfer rumours thread and it seems like we're in a pretty difficult predicament.

We seem to prioritise keeping "the group" together or something else I can't quite grasp over selling players so that we can reinvest, which has resulted in a couple of high profile players leaving on frees and others rotting away on the fringes whilst their value decreases.

That'd be okay if we had money to spend but we clearly don't so what's our pretty small squad going to look like in a couple years time?

Players aged 29+

Milner - 37 - likely departed
Adrian - 36 - likely departed
Henderson - 33
Thiago - 32
VVD - 32
Matip - 31
Firmino - 31
Shaqiri - 31 - potentially departed
Mane - 31
Salah - 31
Alisson - 30
Ox - 29
Fabinho - 29
Robertson - 29

Players that (we hope) will form the nucleus of the next cycle

Tskimikas - 27 - in the list out of hope more than anything
Gomez - 26
Jota - 26
TAA - 24
Konate - 24
Curtis Jones - 22
Elliot - 20

I've left out Minamino, Keita, Origi and Davies who will be between 27-28 because they either won't be here or reckon they won't contribute much anyways.

So what's going to be the end result?

It's clear that we've got far too many players hitting / the wrong side of 30. Are we going to refresh the team in preparation for the next cycle or is the plan to simply the let the team die out completely and start from scratch with another manager?

 

[King Binny]

Yup, have mentioned this concern over the past couple of transfer windows. Besides missing out on the opportunity to strengthen from a position of strength, we "wasted" a couple of transfer windows due to our inactivity (esp. those prior to Covid-19).

From article shared by @Hass in Jul 2020

Here' a thread detailing how we built that title winning team over the years




These are old (19/20), dated Feb 2020 but it's evident the other clubs' squads have a good/healthy number of younger options coming through.

Since then, (notable signings)

• Man City signed Dias (23), Torres (20), Ake (25)
• Man Utd signed van de Beek (23), Diallo (18), Telles (27), Cavani (33), Sancho (21)
• Chelsea signed Havertz (21), Werner (24), Chilwell (23), Ziyech (27), Mendy (28), Sarr (21), Silva (35)
• Arsenal signed Gabriel (22), Partey (27), Mari (26), Soares (28), Willian (32), Tavares (21)

 

[Halmeister]

Yeah I've been worried about this for a couple of years. Our spine is all approaching their 30s, if not already there, and we don't really seem to be doing anything to rebuild.

 

[Fabio]

I mean, konate is heir to virg, Jota and elliot to mane and bobby if we're lucky.

We really need to spunk top dollar dollar on some outrageously talented youngish winger to pick up where Salah left off.

 

[Hansern]

Arent we signing loads of young players at the moment? Musialowski, Frauendorf, Gordon etc
I’m guessing we’ll see some of these youngsters integrated to the squad, along with new signings.

We clearly need some top talent brought in during the next few transfer windows.
And it has to be in the class of Bellingham, Camavinga etc.

 

[binomial]

Now would be the time we’d normally sell Salah for 150m to Madrid or someone and reinvest in 3-4 players to “bolster” the squad like when we did with Sterling Suarez Coutinho etc

To tell the truth Ive no idea what the future holds for us if we plan to keep our assets till the end of their contracts and get nothing from sales.

 

[tomasjj]

Psg has money, so it is one of the few were we could fetch a good wedge and reinvest

 

[SummerOnions]

Arent we signing loads of young players at the moment? Musialowski, Frauendorf, Gordon etc
I’m guessing we’ll see some of these youngsters integrated to the squad, along with new signings.

We clearly need some top talent brought in during the next few transfer windows.
And it has to be in the class of Bellingham, Camavinga etc.

Yeah I don't necessarily think it's gonna work but I think they are betting heavily on youth bailing us out in 2-3 years

 

[keniget]

Yeah I don't necessarily think it's gonna work but I think they are betting heavily on youth bailing us out in 2-3 years

I think we needed to have invested in a few more "next big things" for that to be the case - we've made a couple big splashes in terms of the youth team but generally I get the impression that our setup is good but not rammed full of top tier talent like a couple of our rivals. Again, I suppose it comes down to money.

Hopefully Elliot makes it as he's closest to making an impact.

 

[MomoWASright]

They all will have won their 3rd league titles.

 

[Mamma Mia]

They all will have won their 3rd league titles.

Konate and Mbappe will have to wait another year for their 3rd.

 

[RedStar]

Klopp has what 3 seasons left. It pains me to say this but if we don't start serious reinvestment in the squad soon he is going to be handing over a very mediocre squad to the next manager. Maybe that was always the intent of FSG, invest early and get as much success as possible out of the 4 or 5 'peak' years the squad had in them and then spend another 5 years building to go again.

We are clearly not set up on any level to compete with City/Chelsea/Utd over the longer term. We all laugh at Utd but Tuchel has shown how quickly a decent manager can turn around a talented squad. When Utd get their act together and bin Ole they will turn around quickly.

 

[refugee]

Not a single football club planned for Covid. Only the oligarchs can ignore it.

Juventus lost over 240m, Spurs took out a 200m loan to cover this period, Barca are fucked...

if you think we can ignore this then I don't know what to say to you.

Any new significant investment (great time to be investing in a new stand) would be on the assumption that Covid is gone... sadly the UK's government are dreadful and couldn't have botched it anymore if they'd tried.

Last I heard we lost 46m in our last accounts, with an estimated -140m (from memory) to come in the next accounts.

We do have a good youth team. Gordon, Beck, Koumetio, Cain, Bradley, Musialowski, Frauendorf, and Pitaluga all have a chance of making it, so we just have to hope someone makes the grade. Otherwise it's just a case of waiting it out and wheeling and dealing.

 

[Frogfish]

Not a single football club planned for Covid. Only the oligarchs can ignore it.

Juventus lost over 240m, Spurs took out a 200m loan to cover this period, Barca are fucked...

if you think we can ignore this then I don't know what to say to you.

Any new significant investment (great time to be investing in a new stand) would be on the assumption that Covid is gone... sadly the UK's government are dreadful and couldn't have botched it anymore if they'd tried.

Last I heard we lost 46m in our last accounts, with an estimated -140m (from memory) to come in the next accounts.

We do have a good youth team. Gordon, Beck, Koumetio, Cain, Bradley, Musialowski, Frauendorf, and Pitaluga all have a chance of making it, so we just have to hope someone makes the grade. Otherwise it's just a case of waiting it out and wheeling and dealing.

Yep. Having read the posts above yours I was going to post exactly this.

Clearly City and Chelsea have a major advantage (and PSG on the continent) however just a look at the other teams in our situation (no oil / oligarch backers) and it's obvious that we have been, with good reason, financially astute. Just one glance at Barca and Real and it's obvious what the situation could have been but for parsimony.

The one issue I have is that we have players we can offload but haven't, even if only to bring in one new quality player in the 40-60m range. I'm assuming that is because values have plummeted and the club don't want to take the hit. That attitude really needs to change, get rid or 4-5 fringe players, bring in 1-2 players that can actually aspire to be first team players and use the quality youngsters we have to rest players in games of less importance.

 

[Modo]

Not a single football club planned for Covid. Only the oligarchs can ignore it.

Juventus lost over 240m, Spurs took out a 200m loan to cover this period, Barca are fucked...

if you think we can ignore this then I don't know what to say to you.

Any new significant investment (great time to be investing in a new stand) would be on the assumption that Covid is gone... sadly the UK's government are dreadful and couldn't have botched it anymore if they'd tried.

Last I heard we lost 46m in our last accounts, with an estimated -140m (from memory) to come in the next accounts.

We do have a good youth team. Gordon, Beck, Koumetio, Cain, Bradley, Musialowski, Frauendorf, and Pitaluga all have a chance of making it, so we just have to hope someone makes the grade. Otherwise it's just a case of waiting it out and wheeling and dealing.

I also think we have some decent youths, but replacing our 30 year olds is a big ask.
Too big of a gap.

 

[binomial]

Klopp has what 3 seasons left. It pains me to say this but if we don't start serious reinvestment in the squad soon he is going to be handing over a very mediocre squad to the next manager. Maybe that was always the intent of FSG, invest early and get as much success as possible out of the 4 or 5 'peak' years the squad had in them and then spend another 5 years building to go again.

We are clearly not set up on any level to compete with City/Chelsea/Utd over the longer term. We all laugh at Utd but Tuchel has shown how quickly a decent manager can turn around a talented squad. When Utd get their act together and bin Ole they will turn around quickly.

Utd have been mediocre for almost 10 years now, if they wanted to get their act together don't you think they wouldv'e done so by now?

Maybe we have to accept we can't dominate English/European football year after year, it's no fault of the owners they can't invest what they don't have.

 

[Dreambeliever]

I’ve always thought our American owners are taking the approach of win what you can with this squad then rebuild, a bit like most American sports.

 

[Modo]

I’ve always thought our American owners are taking the approach of win what you can with this squad then rebuild, a bit like most American sports.

Seems like it. So we're going the San Antonio Spurs route.
Keep, Salah, Mané and Firmino until they're 38 and then rebuild. Spoiler alert, it turned out great for them...

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Seems like it. So we're going the San Antonio Spurs route.
Keep, Salah, Mané and Firmino until they're 38 and then rebuild. Spoiler alert, it turned out great for them...

Listen, they did win a title late against LeBron (should have been 2 bar a ridiculous 3 pointer from Jesus Shuttleworth).
But this way - imo - doesn't work in football.
It's hard enough - without MASSIVE money (hi man city! hi chelsea!) - to build great teams.
When you've done it smartly, you have to strengthen and build on your greatness.
If you don't, well we're on that path ... I think we *can* win 1-2 more big trophies but once this crop of players gets to a certain age, you and I may grandparents by the next time we win a league (and mark may have 10 more kids!)

 

[Modo]

Listen, they did win a title late against LeBron (should have been 2 bar a ridiculous 3 pointer from Jesus Shuttleworth).
But this way - imo - doesn't work in football.
It's hard enough - without MASSIVE money (hi man city! hi chelsea!) - to build great teams.
When you've done it smartly, you have to strengthen and build on your greatness.
If you don't, well we're on that path ... I think we *can* win 1-2 more big trophies but once this crop of players gets to a certain age, you and I may grandparents by the next time we win a league (and mark may have 10 more kids!)

Ok, Skip...

 

[RedStar]

I’ve always thought our American owners are taking the approach of win what you can with this squad then rebuild, a bit like most American sports.

That system doesn't work in Europe, the football league system, lack of salary cap, transfers, no draft, unternational competitions all make it irrelevant. Anybody who thinks you can run a top tier European football club like a US sports franchise hasn't got a clue.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Ok, Skip...

No Ray Allen 3, he leaves Miami with one title in 4 years (including his humbling by DIRK).
That was the game defining play of that (fucking great) series.

 

[Hansern]

Not a single football club planned for Covid. Only the oligarchs can ignore it.

Juventus lost over 240m, Spurs took out a 200m loan to cover this period, Barca are fucked...

if you think we can ignore this then I don't know what to say to you.

Any new significant investment (great time to be investing in a new stand) would be on the assumption that Covid is gone... sadly the UK's government are dreadful and couldn't have botched it anymore if they'd tried.

Last I heard we lost 46m in our last accounts, with an estimated -140m (from memory) to come in the next accounts.

We do have a good youth team. Gordon, Beck, Koumetio, Cain, Bradley, Musialowski, Frauendorf, and Pitaluga all have a chance of making it, so we just have to hope someone makes the grade. Otherwise it's just a case of waiting it out and wheeling and dealing.

Confirmed by City looking to spend 200-215 mill £ on Grealish and Kane.

 

[Modo]

No Ray Allen 3, he leaves Miami with one title in 4 years (including his humbling by DIRK).
That was the game defining play of that (fucking great) series.

I know dude. It was something else

 

[Bradley]

As a supporter, you have a couple of options:

A) Accept doom - We will never win another game again.

B) Hopeless optimistic - Think we'll spend money despite everything pointing to us not having any.

C) Roll with the punches - They will spend whatever they can and it might work out. Klopp will probably get enough out of what we have for a title challenge and champions league run. Then who knows what after that.

 

[rubans]

As a supporter, you have a couple of options:

A) Accept doom - We will never win another game again.

B) Hopeless optimistic - Think we'll spend money despite everything pointing to us not having any.

C) Roll with the punches - They will spend whatever they can and it might work out. Klopp will probably get enough out of what we have for a title challenge and champions league run. Then who knows what after that.

For me, transition between the lot throughout the season:
- day 1 pre-season - option B
We are gonna rule all
- day 2 if we lost first game - option A
We are fucked, no signings and all our midfielders are injured and pretend football doesn’t matter that much
- christmas period - option C
We roll with it and adapt

 

[Modo]

As a supporter, you have a couple of options:

A) Accept doom - We will never win another game again.

B) Hopeless optimistic - Think we'll spend money despite everything pointing to us not having any.

C) Roll with the punches - They will spend whatever they can and it might work out. Klopp will probably get enough out of what we have for a title challenge and champions league run. Then who knows what after that.

Since we just won the league and the CL a few years ago, I'm kinda going with option "A", and I'm pretty OK with it.

Cause, we ain't winning shit with this squad. We might win a few games, make a few quarter final cup runs but this squad is very fragile in certain positions.
Origi, Shaq, Keita, Ox, Neco, Tsimikas, a 47 year old Milner, an inexperienced Jones and a young Elliott ain't winning us shit.

Basically we've got a really good starting eleven when everyone is fit + 2 good CB's and a very good attacker in Jota. (Should actually be starting ten, since Firmino turned shit).
And if this doesn't worry you, then I need some of the drugs you're taking. Is it Xanax? I hear good things.

 

[MomoWASright]

We are winning the lot you shit bags.

 

[RedStar]

Confirmed by City looking to spend 200-215 mill £ on Grealish and Kane.

City's record transfer is still De Bruyne for £65m. While they have deep pockets they dont seem to spend huge amounts on any 1 player. I really don't see them doubling that for an injury prone 28 year old striker and then throwing another £100m at Grealish.

I don't think Grealish will move this summer unless Pogba leaves Man Utd. Chelsea won't sign any more attacking mids, Utd just spent £70m on a winger and City have Foden playing the same role

 

[Hansern]