Is there a better way ?

[Hansern]

What profile does VVD fit ?

Well, we're looking for an aerial dominant CB. Van Dijk has won more headed duels then any other defender in the PL, 4,7 per game.
Rudiger won 1,7 per game.

There are huge question marks about Rudigers ability on the ball and concentration. Van Dijk is probably the best ball playing CB in the league and made only one defensive error last season.

They're not very similar to say the least.

 

[Frogfish]

Have you got amnesia ?

Don't you understand risk analysis ?

 

[peekay]

If the plan is to spend in the region of another 130-140m on VVD and Keita, i'm beginning to wonder if its the best use of that kind of money.

Lets assume Coutinho is staying.

Instead of VVD and Keita we could have:
Kessie 28m
Paredes 23m
Schick 20m
Rudiger 35m

And still have money left over

No doubt we can do better. But I don't think we have the background team competent enough to scout, identify, and pull of deals for value for money players before they have their breakout seasons.

I am not sure about VVD especially due to the injury aspect which you bought up in the discussion a month ago.

But it looks like Keita is in the Alonso, Gerrard talent bracket and is a perfect fit for Klopp style football. The sort of talent which will help take the team to the next level.

 

[FoxForceFive]

No doubt we can do better. But I don't think we have the background team competent enough to scout, identify, and pull of deals for value for money players before they have their breakout seasons.

TBF very few teams who consistently get to cup finals & have our kind of spending power get those players.

The reason is they're all gambles. For Southampton they buy seven of those type of players, they'll play them for most of the season & three make it as first team regulars or improve the side then they're happy.

We can't afford to do that & to challenge for cups & top four in an increasingly competitive league.

Those types of players need football regularly at the top level to either make or break them. We can't afford to do that with more than one or two players, & we already have one or two each season coming through from the youth sides.

 

[peekay]

TBF very few teams who consistently get to cup finals & have our kind of spending power get those players.

The reason is they're all gambles. For Southampton they buy seven of those type of players, they'll play them for most of the season & three make it as first team regulars or improve the side then they're happy.

We can't afford to do that & to challenge for cups & top four in an increasingly competitive league.

Those types of players need football regularly at the top level to either make or break them. We can't afford to do that with more than one or two players, & we already have one or two each season coming through from the youth sides.

Agreed. I don't expect us to become Sevilla, Porto, or Southampton in our approach towards signings. I also recognize that it is 100 times more harder trying to get the right signings to take us from sixth to first than go from fifteenth to sixth (which is what Southampton have done until now).

But I do think there is a happy medium. We should be more clever given the resources we have.

 

[FoxForceFive]

Agreed. I don't expect us to become Sevilla, Porto, or Southampton in our approach towards signings. I also recognize that it is 100 times more harder trying to get the right signings to take us from sixth to first than go from fifteenth to sixth (which is what Southampton have done until now).

But I do think there is a happy medium. We should be more clever given the resources we have.

Agree with that entirely. With the resources it seems Klopp has currently though I suspect this is the most pragmatic approach, take basically a year off signing players to bolster the savings, then get players much more likely to get us challenging again.

Hopefully whilst this is all happening we're also trying to improve scouting networks etc.

 

[redhorizon2]

Madrid star Jose Gimenez: He's keen on Liverpool or Man Utd move

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/fo...n-Utd-transfer-news-Manchester-united-footage

 

[rurikbird]

Agreed. I don't expect us to become Sevilla, Porto, or Southampton in our approach towards signings. I also recognize that it is 100 times more harder trying to get the right signings to take us from sixth to first than go from fifteenth to sixth (which is what Southampton have done until now).

But I do think there is a happy medium. We should be more clever given the resources we have.

Last summer we strengthened the team enough to jump from 8th to 4th while achieving a negative net spend. That is clever.

 

[peekay]

Last summer we strengthened the team enough to jump from 8th to 4th while achieving a negative net spend. That is clever.

I was commenting on the transfer strategy we have in the last 5-6 years and not just last year in isolation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[rurikbird]

I was commenting on the transfer strategy we have in the last 5-6 years and not just last year in isolation.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

Oh, I see. No argument from me there, then.

I think a good model for us to follow is Spurs rather than Southampton. BTW I think it's no coincidence they took a step from a promising team to a really good one roughly around the time when their current pair of CBs got established. That's been a real key for me and not so much Kane or Eriksen/Alli etc.

 

[Frogfish]

People keep talking about taking the next step, that isn't going to happen by gambling wholesale as per the 4 players in the OP. Although we need 5-6 positions upgrading I'd be OK with 4 addressed this Summer so long as they are high quality actual improvements to the first team and not just gambles on potential.

United have gambled on potential with Lindelof, Chelsea have gambled on potential with Rudiger, both of whom are considered good but inconsistent at their relatively young ages, but they can afford to do so as they already have established players in those positions. You won't see United gambling on potential for their new striker, nor Chelsea for theirs. City have bought established stars for the first team or players already considered world class 'starlets' (Jesus - and that's already paid off). Arsenal have bought two established, and proven high quality, players.

Are we going to even maintain 4th if we don't match the quality of those transfers ? Damn right we aren't. We can debate, and have disparate views, on what VVD's real standing as a CB is, but the fact is whatever we think enough people in the game have called him 'world class' (or 'potentially WC') to give him credibility at least. There is no doubting Naby Keita either considering he's done this for two seasons now, inc. the major step up from the Austrian league to the BL, and he still took it by storm. Nobody doubted Kante for a minute when he went from Leicester to Chelsea.

There are no guarantees with even established world class players, they can still flop, United have had a handful recently, but the chances of us having a team (and a squad) capable of challenging for the PL and CL are invariably higher the more established and proven, the players bought.