Let's Talk Centre Backs ...

[Frogfish]

Our current roster being VvD, Gomez and Matip plus Phillips, Davies and Kabak we have on loan.

Before continuing let's just add that I can't see any youngsters, including Rhys & Koumetio, being part of the first team squad next season.

We seem to be very close to signing Konate with personal terms agreed, even the RBL boss Minzlaff has stated that he has a release clause (which seems to be around 35m Euros).

So starting CBs VvD and Konate? If we decide to settle with 4 CBs I can see the other two being Gomez and Phillips and Matip let go for a small fee. If we look back at this season (and we make the CL) and decide we need 5 CBs then maybe Kabak now comes into consideration too.

For me I'd go :
VvD
Konate
Phillips
Kabak

Gomez seems to be injury prone and lacks aerial presence and Matip's injuries are just overwhelming and we could recoup much of the fees for both Konate and Kabak with fees for Gomez, Davies & Matip.

Alternatively Gomez has the pace that suits our high line.

The 4 CBs above should see us with a settled CB core for the next 5 years.

 

[737Max]

Philips has 2 years left on his contract. I imagine Kabak will go back to Schalke. Rhys Williams to go out on loan and we will probably sign Konate. The million dollar question now what happens to Ben Davies?

 

[Frogfish]

Philips has 2 years left on his contract. I imagine Kabak will go back to Schalke. Rhys Williams to go out on loan and we will probably sign Konate. The million dollar question now what happens to Ben Davies?

Ah thanks yes it seems 2024 ... and I had totally forgotten we had Davies !! Opening post updated.

 

[Modo]

Philips has two years left on his contract. He signed a deal in 2019. 4 year deal apparently.

I want 5 defenders.
We should keep Matip.

 

[Modo]

Philips has 2 years left on his contract. I imagine Kabak will go back to Schalke. Rhys Williams to go out on loan and we will probably sign Konate. The million dollar question now what happens to Ben Davies?

Ben Davies will probably be loaned out or sold.

 

[The Nomad]

You lost me at roster..

 

[Frogfish]

You lost me at roster..

noun : list, listing, register, schedule, agenda, calendar, roll, directory, table.
Maybe if I'd use rota you'd be less confused 🙄

 

[Dreambeliever]

VVD
Phillips


Gomez
Matip
Kabak

 

[Frogfish]

VVD
Phillips


Gomez
Matip
Kabak

If Konate is a done deal as it seems then you are going to need to revise that somehow.

 

[The Nomad]

noun : list, listing, register, schedule, agenda, calendar, roll, directory, table.
Maybe if I'd use rota you'd be less confused 🙄

It was a joke... it sounded very American that's all.

 

[Hansern]

We'll sign Konate, and then have VVD, Gomez, Konate, Matip and Phillips next season. Williams to go out on loan.
Kabak wont be bought and will go back to Schalke. Rumoured to be a transfer target for Leipzig.

 

[Richey]

Under normal circumstances four CBs should be enough. We shouldn't really let this freak season scare us off from that, but I guess there must be some concern about how well Gomez and Van Dijk recover.

If we are confident with that though, and assuming we do sign Konate, then I would say we go with Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez and Phillips.

Williams will probably go out on loan, it doesn't look like Davies will ever play for us and it looks like Kabak will probably leave. It is a shame about Kabak in a way, as he looks pretty good, but we probably can't afford to buy both him and Konate.

As for Matip, I would reluctantly let him go. Obviously a good player, but too injury prone, which I wouldn't expect to improve given his age, and now that Phillips has stepped up, we probably won't need him. We are always going to play Van Dijk if he is fit, if we spend a lot of money on Konate, he is likely to play a fair bit, Gomez and Phillips are going to want a bit of game time now (and are both relatively young) so it is hard to see how Matip fits in, especially given how unreliable he is.

 

[Judge Jules]

If Kabak isn't signed, we'd better be sure about Gomez and/or Matip's fitness. For me we'll be cutting it a bit fine otherwise.

 

[ibromurph]

As well as they've played. Phillips and Rhys have still made many mistakes that have simply gone unpunished, against WBA/Burnley... so I think it will ultimately be:

VVD
Konate
Gomez
Matip
Phillips

With no guarantees over the fitness of Virg/Gomez/Matip. We might end up starting the season with Konate and Phillips at CB.

 

[StevieM]

A lot of this is predicated on VVD, Gomez and Matip being fit for the start of the season.

I think it would be madness to not sign one or even two CB’s - given we don’t know when the 3 will be back or what sort of shape they’ll be in when they do.

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again - we need to maintain 8 senior home grown players to register the full 25 player squad for the EPL.

I reckon Davies & Phillips are going nowhere. Davies will be used to fill out the squad - might release him in Jan if the 3 injured come back.

Kabak, I believe, can still be registered as a youth player next season - so he doesn’t need a squad slot - and worth the £20m he’d cost.

Konate, takes the current spare overseas spot.

That means we’d start next season with Konate, Kabak, Philips & Davies as the senior CB’s

I don’t think the other 3 youth players are ready yet - so keep or loan.

Gomez, when he comes back - can also fill in at RB if need be

 

[Markeh]

Imo however good they are we have to address the fact that two of the main men at centre back are really injury prone (Gomez and Matip), we can’t risk their injuries syncing up again.

If that happens we’re relying on Virgil, he and Nat are never getting a rest and we’re back to dipping into midfield to cover knocks.

 

[Dreambeliever]

If Konate is a done deal as it seems then you are going to need to revise that somehow.

He starts at the bottom and works his way up

 

[Modo]

He starts at the bottom and works his way up

He's still only 21 years old, so yeah. He's not in a position to demand anything.

 

[tomasjj]

Kabak got injured at the wrong time.
This might tip the decision towards not signing him.
Good player though.

 

[Shay_K]

He starts at the bottom and works his way up

I bet you say to to alllllllll the boys.

 

[rubans]

Kabak got injured at the wrong time.
This might tip the decision towards not signing him.
Good player though.

That’s just our season as a summary, got injured at the wrong time...
How is it possible to have 5 defenders out at the same? Is that a record?
Plus Williams, must have the longest start up time for any player ever, even with a 20 yrd head start, he will lose a 40 yrd sprint.

 

[dantes]

Because other defenders get injured, are stretchered off, treated, recover, and are back in a week or two. Our defenders get injured, and Dr Nick Riviera makes them jog up and down the touchline, so as to visually diagnose them, nonchalantly says yeah boss everything's fine, they play the rest of the game, perhaps several games for the next month, until they eventually break and undergo life-saving surgery at which point Dr Nick Riviera rules them out for the season.

 

[Richey]

I’ve mentioned it before and I’ll mention it again - we need to maintain 8 senior home grown players to register the full 25 player squad for the EPL.

I reckon Davies & Phillips are going nowhere. Davies will be used to fill out the squad - might release him in Jan if the 3 injured come back.

Not sure on the exact rules but my understanding was it was more about having no more than 17 non-homegrown players rather than having a requirement to have 8 over 21 homegrown players. If that is the case, we just can't have more than 25 players who are over 21 and, of these, we can't have more than 17 who are not homegrown.

The non-homegrown players that we have are Alisson, Adrian, Van Dijk, Robertson, Tsimkas, Fabinho, Thiago, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah, Mane, Origi, Wijnaldum, Jota, Keita, Minamino. I would be surprised if we start next season with all of them.

We have an awful lot of under 21s registered, as we are allowed to do, so it depends which if any of these are turning 22 as well. If Davies has no future here and any of them do (granted, I can't think of any and can't be bothered to look at their ages) then the rules may force him out rather than making it more likely that he will stay.

 

[StevieM]

Not sure on the exact rules but my understanding was it was more about having no more than 17 non-homegrown players rather than having a requirement to have 8 over 21 homegrown players. If that is the case, we just can't have more than 25 players who are over 21 and, of these, we can't have more than 17 who are not homegrown.

The non-homegrown players that we have are Alisson, Adrian, Van Dijk, Robertson, Tsimkas, Fabinho, Thiago, Shaqiri, Firmino, Salah, Mane, Origi, Wijnaldum, Jota, Keita, Minamino. I would be surprised if we start next season with all of them.

We have an awful lot of under 21s registered, as we are allowed to do, so it depends which if any of these are turning 22 as well. If Davies has no future here and any of them do (granted, I can't think of any and can't be bothered to look at their ages) then the rules may force him out rather than making it more likely that he will stay.

It’s a bit of both - max 17 non-homegrown and min 8 Home Grown if you want to register a full 25 strong squad.

You can register less - but why would you.

I don’t think there’s a limit on how many U21’s you can register - i think the only “new” U21’s that need registering are Woodburn, Wilson, Liam Millar & Adam Lewis - possibly Grabara.

I mean, we registered Joe Hardy despite him being out injured all season - can’t see him getting registered next season

Kabak, Nico, Rhys, & Jones don’t need to be registered.

And Minamino is registered with Southampton - Matip is them one you missed.

I’d be surprised if we did start with all the non home grown players registered too - but all this talk of selling Gomez, Ox, Davies and Milner possibly retiring - they can only be replaced by other homegrown players - so if they get moved on, we end up either registering players that aren’t likely to play or we register a smaller senior squad - and we’d still need to shift other players to bring in new players.

We know Adrian & Gini’s Contracts are up - so that’s 3 non-Homegrown slots to fill already.

I think we’ll hang on to Davies until Jan.

I think we’ll shift Ojo, Awoniyi, Minamino, Grabara, Woodburn, Lewis, Hardy, Millar, Grujic, Origi either Shaq or Keita and either Wilson or Ox.

Hopefully that’s enough to secure the funds for Konate, Kabak, Bissouma, a reserve GK on a free and a forward to challenge Bobby.

Hopefully we squeeze another year out of Milner.

 

[peekay]

I think we will hold on to both Matip and Gomez. Matip because of his age, injury record, and wages will be difficult to shift for a good price. Gomez, we will not sell because of the home grown quota.

Davies will be sold to Celtic or some other PL club or championship club with money. I have loved Nat Phillips development this season and hope he sticks around but would not be surprised if he is sold to raise money. There is also this doubt if he will turn out to be another Origi.

If our defense is VVD, Konate, Gomez, Matip, fifth defender. Due to Matip and Gomez's injury records, the fifth defender could very well be the third choice defender by December.

In addition to Gini replacement (Bissouma?) and a forward to challenge Bobby, we also need a Keita/Shaq replacement - An attacking midfielder who can dribble and unlock banks of 4 and 5.

 

[Richey]

It’s a bit of both - max 17 non-homegrown and min 8 Home Grown if you want to register a full 25 strong squad.

You can register less - but why would you.

I don’t think there’s a limit on how many U21’s you can register - i think the only “new” U21’s that need registering are Woodburn, Wilson, Liam Millar & Adam Lewis - possibly Grabara.

I mean, we registered Joe Hardy despite him being out injured all season - can’t see him getting registered next season

Kabak, Nico, Rhys, & Jones don’t need to be registered.

And Minamino is registered with Southampton - Matip is them one you missed.

I’d be surprised if we did start with all the non home grown players registered too - but all this talk of selling Gomez, Ox, Davies and Milner possibly retiring - they can only be replaced by other homegrown players - so if they get moved on, we end up either registering players that aren’t likely to play or we register a smaller senior squad - and we’d still need to shift other players to bring in new players.

We know Adrian & Gini’s Contracts are up - so that’s 3 non-Homegrown slots to fill already.

I think we’ll hang on to Davies until Jan.

I think we’ll shift Ojo, Awoniyi, Minamino, Grabara, Woodburn, Lewis, Hardy, Millar, Grujic, Origi either Shaq or Keita and either Wilson or Ox.

Hopefully that’s enough to secure the funds for Konate, Kabak, Bissouma, a reserve GK on a free and a forward to challenge Bobby.

Hopefully we squeeze another year out of Milner.

Ah, I see! Okay, makes sense. Thanks.

Yes, that is a good point about Gomez, Ox and Milner.

I don't expect us to sell Gomez anyway, but I certainly wouldn't be surprised if Ox and Milner were to leave. With this in mind, it might not be a surprise if we hang onto at least one of them.

You may well be right on Davies, but he doesn't seem to be anywhere near the first team at the moment. If we can make a profit on him in the summer then I think we will sell. It could be a case of keeping Rhys Williams for the first half of the season instead while we see how Van Dijk and Gomez get on.

 

[beejay]

Shame if we don't keep Kabak. At a push we should continue with the deal and send him out on loan. He can continue his development and increase his value or we bring him back if needed as and when.

But we are probably too broke to invest in the longer term, he will go to Liepzig and be sold for £40m+ in 2 or 3 years

 

[KopRed]

Matip is on big wages, 30 next year, not home grown and most importantly, injury prone. He will be the one i'll let go of.

We will start next season with VVD, Gomez, Konate, Kabak, Nat, Rhys/Davies which is just about right. If we are to persist with Matip then Kabak won't be signed.

 

[peekay]

I cant see the entire article but looks like Kabak wont be signed permanently and Klopp loves Nat Phillips

 

[The Nomad]

He doesn't offer much beyond this..

But with Liverpool unlikely to trigger their £18 million option to buy Ozan Kabak from Schalke following the end of his loan spell, there’s definitely still room for Phillips, especially given the uncertainty over what kind of shape and form those long-term absentees will return in. Williams would arguably benefit from a loan in the EFL to gain more match experience.