Midfielders other than Bellingham

[Red Bird]

You knew last summer that Chelsea would sign Enzo Fernandez for 120 mill in January? Ten times his transfer fee from July 2022 after only playing in Europe for 7 months. These transfers moved the goalposts further in terms of valuation for other players.

Not necessarily on Fernandez but Chelsea overspending isn’t news. I don’t also believe that’s the reason why Bellingham’s fee is that high anyway and he’s not the only whose fee has rocketed after a half decent season at a European club. We should be wise to that by now.

Fortunately those whose job it is to keep an eye on these things seem to be acknowledging they ballsed it up. That’s a start.

 

[Donavan Ried]

• Age profile of the squad
• Injury woes over the past few seasons esp. in defence and midfield
• Injury proneness of the likes of Thiago, Keita and Ox
• Contractual issues (mainly contract expiries)
• No. of games + international tournaments the players have to deal with in recent seasons

"By failing to plan, you are preparing to fail." Was then 29 yr old (2020) Thiago our last central midfield signing for the 1st team? Panic €4.5m loan signing of Arthur (not forgetting his wages) was a clear indication we failed to learn from the 20/21 CB injury crisis. Being linked with Palhinha and Nunes months after their moves to their current club is another.

What irks me is how some journos/fans kept referring to the (over-)achievements of the team (no. of games played, finals reached etc.) as a reason/excuse for FSG's passive attitude towards squad planning. (Still don't think Edwards, Ward and Graham leaving in succession is pure coincidence.)

View attachment 2599

So much for the 250m this summers window and the promise to back Klopp in the transfer window from John Henry

 

[MomoWASright]

It’s April for fuck’s sake.

 

[King Binny]

His contract expires in 2025.

If he really wants to play for us he can just wind it down another year and join for a more affordable fee next summer. He's still only 19 I think?

To me this whole saga is a reminder that to some degree we were just lucky when deciding to wait for Van Dijk back in 2017. It worked out perfectly that time, but it's always a risk.

And Konate to a minor extent (vs then Jan's bringing in Kabak and Davies) - thus bigging up the stance of "waiting for the right player".

 

[binomial]

Yeah, April of 2023.

Promises we've been hearing for 3 years.

 

[King Binny]

 

[peterhague]

And Konate to a minor extent (vs then Jan's bringing in Kabak and Davies) - thus bigging up the stance of "waiting for the right player".

Yeah, the reality is there's rarely ever a consistently right approach. Real world situations are complex and involve all kinds of trade offs that you can't predict.

 

[MomoWASright]

Yeah, April of 2023.

Promises we've been hearing for 3 years.

And spent £250m-ish over those 3 years.

 

[bluebell]

@rurikbird
If we are going for Mount, here's some analysis.

 

[peterhague]

Yeah but we got Gakpo.

 

[MomoWASright]

Yeah but we got Gakpo.

 

[KopRed]

Glad this has been put to rest so we can crack on with other realistic targets. It was never going to materialize anyway.

 

[Bradley]

Mount is one that has shown he's got a bit about him at the top level. If we can get him for a decent price I'd be confident Klopp could help him move up a level. And he's got that Salah sort of thing, not the first pick, didn't 'make' it at Chelsea and has something to prove.

 

[Hansern]

 

[rubans]

Start setting up camp at the Mount Hill or just the Mount I guess.

 

[binomial]

And spent £250m-ish over those 3 years.

Mane Neco Taki Davies Wilson Shaqiri Awoniyi Grujic Lovren.

Recouped how much in sales? At least half. So we effectively spend 50m a year on transfers....how is that supposed to help us?

No go look at the likes of Arsenal Chelsea Utd and see the difference.

 

[Hansern]

We see this kinda stories from our end as well when bad news come out..

 

[MomoWASright]

Mane Neco Taki Davies Wilson Shaqiri Awoniyi Grujic Lovren.

Recouped how much in sales? At least half. So we effectively spend 50m a year on transfers....how is that supposed to help us?

No go look at the likes of Arsenal Chelsea Utd and see the difference.

It still stands at £250million ish which we spent stupidly. It would’ve been more had we moved players on at the right time.

 

[binomial]

It still stands at £250million ish which we spent stupidly. It would’ve been more had we moved players on at the right time.

Course it would've, bit irrelevant now...the club failed to act.

Wasn't spent stupidly because Gakpo Nunez Diaz have all contributed & even if we didn't sign 1 of the 3 and signed a midfielder instead we wouldn't be much better off.

 

[MomoWASright]

We would be shit loads better off.

 

[binomial]

Nah, when you spend what we do every signing has to be like it has been the last 5 years, on point. Thats fantasy world I’m afraid, we’ve been very lucky to have a world class manager that has made all these signings work.

Say we had put the Gakpo money on a midfielder, what midfielder for 40-45m would’ve made a huge difference for us? Factor into account our front 3 after Jan would’ve been Carvalho/Firmino Nunez and Salah.

 

[MomoWASright]

I’m not going to speculate on players because I’m not a scout. The likelihood there isn’t a £50 million midfielder better than Henderson and Fabinho seems to be absurd.

 

[jan]

Mount is one that has shown he's got a bit about him at the top level. If we can get him for a decent price I'd be confident Klopp could help him move up a level. And he's got that Salah sort of thing, not the first pick, didn't 'make' it at Chelsea and has something to prove.

Wasn't he their player of the season once or twice when they weren't shit?

He's obviously dropped a bit out of favour (probably form too) under Potter and amongst all the new signings chaos but that team has been completely dysfunctional anyway. Seems like a decent sort too. Fucking hate his goal celebrations tho

 

[rubans]

And spent £250m-ish over those 3 years.

And Arse have net spent more. In fact twice over ours over 3yrs.
If we want to improve then we have to look at our rivals too especially the current top 4 as it is a massive factor.

 

[binomial]

All the teams above us bar Brighton are above us because they've spent more than us.

 

[MomoWASright]

And Arse have net spent more.
If we want to improve then we have to look at our rivals too especially the current top 4.

We need to look at ourselves. We’ve been knobheads with transfers and contract extensions. That’s why we are in the mess we are.

Even without spending money on selling Keita, Ox, Hendo, Origi, Wijnaldum, etc, we have spent a lot of money from a position of strength.

 

[rubans]

We need to look at ourselves. We’ve been knobheads with transfers and contract extensions. That’s why we are in the mess we are.

Even without spending money on selling Keita, Ox, Hendo, Origi, Wijnaldum, etc, we have spent a lot of money from a position of strength.

We have to look at what we are spending too, the long term rivals have spent a lot more. It’s a big factor.
Our rivals manage contract extensions too like Saka renewal etc.

 

[MomoWASright]

We have to look at what we are spending too, the long term rivals have spent a lot more. It’s a big factor.
Our rivals manage contract extensions too like Saka renewal etc.

They haven’t invested in the ground or training facilities either and reaping the rewards.

Do our rivals give bumper deals to elder players in the squad? I wouldn’t be arsed if we had Saka and gave him a deal. Just those who are hitting that cliff.

 

[binomial]

Owners have already been repaid by the club on their investment of the ground.

 

[MomoWASright]

You mean that one that hasn’t been finished yet?