Alex is....?

[Fabio]

So, now we are looking to sign a decent midfielder, and we don't want him?

I think it's more resignation that this is what we always used to do. Buy a player who does well in the prem, at the peak of their value.

The glory years of edwards are truly behind us.

I like Ali Mac, I like Mount, I like Gallagher

Just none of them are unknown or exciting. Thats whats nice.

 

[KopRed]

Macallister was really good yesterday against United. Playing for the scouts.

 

[Markeh]

Imagine we scouted, recruited, developed and loaned well then picked up a Macallister and a Caicedo for what Brighton paid for them. We’d have the cash free to buy a superstar.

 

[Fabio]

Imagine we scouted, recruited, developed and loaned well then picked up a Macallister and a Caicedo for what Brighton paid for them. We’d have the cash free to buy a superstar.

Thats the crux of my issue at the minute. We should have the funds available to scout these remote places and develop players. But we don't. I've never understood why

 

[ibromurph]

Read quite a bit from the Brighton fans.

They all love Mac Alister, but it's fair to say that Caicedo is the one they fear the most. They said all his best performances have come in a deeper midfield position, however, Mac Alister is all too often trying to make the number 10 position work for him and he just hasn't got the incisive passing and shooting to really justify it. They seem to think that Enciso will be able to cover for the loss of Mac Alister. Encisco is definitely one to watch if you haven't seen him before - looks like a terrific talent.

The Brighton chairmen will refuse to negotiate. They set a price for their players and if it's not met it's a firm no. I'm hoping Mac Alister has some golden-handshake price or clause that we can activate which is sparking our interest and that fee is no more than £60M. He's a cracking player, but that would be my top end.

That's probably because Mac Allister likes to get forward, but he's not quite a number 10 (like Enciso). And probably doesn't enjoy the double-pivot role from deep. I think in a 4-3-3, as an 8, he's probably have the perfect balance of playmaking from deep, but also, having license to get forward.

 

[Markeh]

Thats the crux of my issue at the minute. We should have the funds available to scout these remote places and develop players. But we don't. I've never understood why

something will have to change, those top four places just got a Newcastle more difficult to reach

 

[JohnnyRocket]

Imagine we scouted, recruited, developed and loaned well then picked up a Macallister and a Caicedo for what Brighton paid for them. We’d have the cash free to buy a superstar.

We seem to have lost the ability to uncover gems / good value.

Who was the last relatively unknown player we brought in at a good price who ended up being good for us?

 

[binomial]

We seem to have lost the ability to uncover gems / good value.

Who was the last relatively unknown player we brought in at a good price who ended up being good for us?

Kostas? Taki? (if you discount the group games we played against RBS in the CL)

Or do you mean good good as in contributing regularly in first team?

 

[tomasjj]

I think it's more resignation that this is what we always used to do. Buy a player who does well in the prem, at the peak of their value.

The glory years of edwards are truly behind us.

I like Ali Mac, I like Mount, I like Gallagher

Just none of them are unknown or exciting. Thats whats nice.

Yeah, I get it.
It is not my money, but if we overpay, to be more certain it would work, it still comes out of our limited chest of gold.

 

[tomasjj]

We seem to have lost the ability to uncover gems / good value.

Who was the last relatively unknown player we brought in at a good price who ended up being good for us?

Diaz? Ibou? Or are they in the above category, both in terms of price and renown?

 

[peekay]

So, now we are looking to sign a decent midfielder, and we don't want him?

It is a lot more nuanced than that.

Let us be honest. Our budget is limited. Most likely 100 million plus sales to be optimistic. With Milner gone and Ramsay dead, we need atleast two CMs, one RB backup, and one CD. Our only big money sellable asset is Salah and all the money we receive will go into replacing his goals. We built our all conquering team by being clever and thinking out of the box. Took a midfielder who barely played for a relegated team and made him a lynchpin (Gini), took a left back from a relegated team and made him the best in the world, took a failed winger from Chelsea and made him one of the greatest goalscorer we ever had. We focused on players who were under the radar of best teams, undervalued with respect to their potential, and built the base. Then we went after VVD and Allison - cherry on the pie.

Our signings nowadays are honestly a bit on the boring side. Dmish was campaigning for Mac Allister a year ago when he was not on anyone's radar. Mac Allister is obviously a very good player and will do well here. Do we really need "ahead of its time" data driven world class background team to recommend us MacAllister for 70 million and Mount for 60 million? Our signings feel more Commolliesque than Edwardesque. Just a small sense of disappointment from that.

 

[Hyena]

It's easy to say we should do a Brighton, but we have Curtis, Bacjetic, Elliot, Carvalho and if we were to rely on them for next season most on here would throw a fit. We don't have the structure or system in place (yet) to bring in, loan out, filter, and train youth without sacrificing our goals for the season. Even Gakpo and Darwin seem to get endless grief for not being instant successes.

There was a time when we had to uncover gems, or young players, because we couldn't afford to dine at the top table like Chelsea, Man Utd, City, Arsenal etc, or attract those who were available - basically where Villa / Spurs / Brighton are now. Playing mad moneyball.

Was it just skill? Or a lot of luck mixed in as well?

We could only dream of getting someone like VVD, Salah, Luis Diaz or Mac Allister then. So now that we can buy 'risk-free' let's not thumb our nose at that. We still need to be judicious, but at the same time we should spend when we have to. What we need is a structure where we buy confirmed quality as well as potential - but with a plan for them. Otherwise, they'd be better off in a team that will definitely play them, like Brighton or Brentford.

Rooney, RVN, RVP, Haaland, Jaap Stam, Kante etc were all 'boring' - no one cares as long as they solve a problem you don't have a solution for.

 

[peekay]

It's easy to say we should do a Brighton, but we have Curtis, Bacjetic, Elliot, Carvalho but if we were to rely on them most on here would throw a fit. We don't have the structure or system in place (yet) to bring in, loan out, filter, and train youth without sacrificing our goals for the season. Even Gakpo and Darwin seem to get endless grief for not being instant successes.

There was a time when we had to uncover gems, or young players, because we couldn't afford to dine at the top table like Chelsea, Man Utd, City, Arsenal etc, or attract those who were available - basically where Villa / Spurs / Brighton are now. Basically playing moneyball.

Was it just skill? Or a lot of luck mixed in as well?

We could only dream of getting someone like VVD, Salah, Luis Diaz or Mac Allister then. So now that we can buy 'risk-free' let's not thumb our nose at that. We still need to be judicious, but at the same time we should spend when we have to. What we need is a structure where we buy confirmed quality as well as potential - but with a plan for them. Otherwise, they'd be better off in a team that will definitely play them, like Brighton or Brentford.

Rooney, RVN, RVP, Haaland, Jaap Stam, Kante etc were all 'boring' - no one cares as long as they solve a problem you can't otherwise solve.

If you look at my posting history, I have argued against being Brighton also. We cannot be them. They have a safety in numbers approach, able to give players time to develop away from the glare, etc. We operated brilliantly in the space between Chelsea, United, Madrid, Barcelona and Villa, Spurs.

I have no problem with boring signings if we were close to the finished article. We aren't. Almost all of the signings you mentioned made very good teams, great like VVD and Allison. We need to make our money count and stretch. In this scenario, we need to be a bit clever.

I don't want us to look at Brighton, Sevilla, or anyone. I want us to look at 2016-2019 LFC where literally every signing we made was unorthodox and looked two to three times what we paid for within six months.

 

[bluebell]

I think it's more resignation that this is what we always used to do. Buy a player who does well in the prem, at the peak of their value.

The glory years of edwards are truly behind us.

I like Ali Mac, I like Mount, I like Gallagher

Just none of them are unknown or exciting. Thats whats nice.

If we get Ali Mac, Ugarte then add Gallagher, I doubt there would be too many grumbles but it's the price that's the concern. From the press conferences he isn't looking to get too many new bodies probably 4 max

 

[Fabio]

.

Rooney, RVN, RVP, Haaland, Jaap Stam, Kante etc were all 'boring' - no one cares as long as they solve a problem you don't have a solution for.

None of those signings were boring. They were arguably the best in their position in the league at their time.

 

[peterhague]

I think it's more resignation that this is what we always used to do. Buy a player who does well in the prem, at the peak of their value.

The glory years of edwards are truly behind us.

I like Ali Mac, I like Mount, I like Gallagher

Just none of them are unknown or exciting. Thats whats nice.

But the glory days of Edwards were signings like Mane, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Alisson, Salah, Fabinho, Ox etc.

They were always kind of conservative, low risk signings of obviously quality players at or near their peak.

Mac would be another straight from that playbook, really.

 

[Fabio]

But the glory days of Edwards were signings like Mane, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Alisson, Salah, Fabinho, Ox etc.

They were always kind of conservative, low risk signings of obviously quality players at or near their peak.

Mac would be another straight from that playbook, really.

I'd say it was only similar to mane, van dijk and wijnaldum as they came fro the PL as well, which is my main concern.

Mane and wijnaldum, it is probably like them so thats fair. Van dijk we broke the PL record for a defender for, so that had it's own buzz and excitement.

I love a transfer thats from nowhere, or a highly prized gem from abroad.

 

[LarryHagman]

£140m for MacAllister and Caicedo? Not sure we'll be there tbh.

 

[binomial]

£140m for MacAllister and Caicedo? Not sure we'll be there tbh.

Not as long as FSG are here we won't.

 

[tomasjj]

Some good discussion above. As a further comment as to what we are looking to buy, seemingly, I reckon we are trying to buy a couple of plug-and-play midfielders. We have a gaping hole there currently, and this is a way of doing so with minimal delay.
We then have to pay the premium as we sat on our hands the last two windows.

Also, did our fan base have said that Salah or Gini were good enough for LFC when we signed them? I ask as now, when someone says Olise, or whoever like him not yet on the top shelf, often we frown and say they are not good enough.

And, in the age of a million youtube scouts, transfermarkt etc, how many unknowns are there now to be unearthed in similar fashion, apart from in the regional Nigerian league and such?

 

[Raz]

£140m for MacAllister and Caicedo? Not sure we'll be there tbh.

We won't sign either of them.

 

[Buddha]

I think he’s a target and would be a versatile, quality addition to our new midfield.

He seems a Klopp type player and would likely thrive at Anfield. Yes please.

 

[Hyena]

If you look at my posting history, I have argued against being Brighton also. We cannot be them. They have a safety in numbers approach, able to give players time to develop away from the glare, etc. We operated brilliantly in the space between Chelsea, United, Madrid, Barcelona and Villa, Spurs.

I have no problem with boring signings if we were close to the finished article. We aren't. Almost all of the signings you mentioned made very good teams, great like VVD and Allison. We need to make our money count and stretch. In this scenario, we need to be a bit clever.

I don't want us to look at Brighton, Sevilla, or anyone. I want us to look at 2016-2019 LFC where literally every signing we made was unorthodox and looked two to three times what we paid for within six months.

I do too. Hopefully with a new sporting director we can go back to those days

 

[StevieM]

I think it needs pointing out we paid £60m odd for Naby Keita.

At £70m - Mac Allistar represents great value.

However - what the fucks this gap between “Mac” and “Allistar” - why.. it’s fucking weird.

 

[binomial]

Wouldn’t say its great value, we’ve no idea how he’ll do for us.

 

[StevieM]

Wouldn’t say its great value, we’ve no idea how he’ll do for us.

By that logic then you also can’t say it’s not great value.

 

[bluebell]

I do too. Hopefully with a new sporting director we can go back to those days

I mentioned Ali Mac I think in October, his contract was going to run out in the summer. So why didn't they approach his agent to talk to Ali Mac and persuade him not to sign a new contract?

 

[tomasjj]

I guess He is a rich mans Tielemans
But is it a sixty mill gap in quality

 

[the count]

 

[tomasjj]

You have to wonder why we have scouts though, if this is the best they can come up with.
The evident.