FIXED!
Looks we are going to spend all summer chasing someone, and then finally give up, and sign Melo again.
Midfielders other than Bellingham
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Looks we are going to spend all summer chasing someone, and then finally give up, and sign Melo again.
Lobotka just extended his contract with the club until June 2027 last week so he's probably one of the names that can be struck off the list.
Khephren Thuram for me.
Fingers crossed
https://www.lequipe.fr/Football/Article/Transferts-liverpool-fond-sur-khephren-thuram-nice/1399543
[article]Liverpool are pushing to sign OGC Nice midfielder and France international Khéphren Thuram (22), according to a report from L’Équipe.
The son of legendary French defender Lilian Thuram is set to attract interest from Europe’s greatest clubs following a breakout season with Les Aiglons. Thuram’s consistency, physicality and energetic style has earned him his very first France call-up and a place in Ligue 1’s Team of the Year. The outlet reports that Liverpool have been in talks for weeks and have opened negotiations with their Nice counterparts over the signing of Marcus Thuram’s younger brother.
Following the departures of James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita, the Reds are planning a complete revamp of Jürgen Klopp’s midfield. Liverpool are reportedly targeting the signing of two box-to-box midfielders whose strong points are physicality and transitional play. A meeting is said to have already taken place between Liverpool and the player’s entourage. The latter is reportedly keen on the prospect of playing under Klopp’s guidance.
However, Liverpool will face still competition from other clubs. Nice are currently not keen on selling, and L’Équipe have previously reported that Les Aiglons value their midfielder at €60m, whilst the player himself said during Sunday’s UNFP awards that he was “happy” at Nice and wanted “to grow” at the club. But the uncertainty surrounding INEOS’ takeover bid of Manchester United may change the southern club’s stance.[/article]
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"Of course I'm not going to Liverpool [emoji1787]
See you at preseason boss!“
What the fuck is this shit ? - why is Mac 10 sleeping around ? I don't like this.
I think you misnamed the player... if you did that on Twitter, you'd be cancelled. Anyway I've corrected it for you
Kudus is a pipe dream. I would like him pls, but I'm a mild realist
Not that bullish on getting both but would definitely be a nice pairing.
It's signing day and Khephren is eagerly waiting in the AXA Centre reception area, but strangely Klopp isn't there. He gets a glass of water though, which tastes funny. Starting to feel a little giddy.....
He wakes up to a jolt in a brightly lit room. It's white, round and bare. He can barely make out the silhouette on the other side - Isn't that Kouadio? Why is my my man lying there on the floor? Just chatted to him last week night....we were so excited about reuniting.....Suddenly a voice rings out. It's Schmadtke, that strange man with the unnerving humour and a voice like a villain in a James Bond movie. Always had a bad feeling about him.
"Hello Boys, welcome to what could be your new home. Well, FSG has just informed me of my budget. Unfortunately we can only sign one of you, and the committee is undecided. I guess you'll have to help us make our decision. Next to each of you is a knife and a crowbar, you know the rest. May the odds be ever in your favor."
That phrase "good enough" worries me. It kept cropping up during the barren years before Klopp arrived, when we signed any number of players who were described in that way here and elsewhere, only to find ultimately that they weren't "good enough" to get us to where we needed to be. If we're going back down that road, we need to be a lot better at it than we were in those days.
But he’s not better than Tchuoaméni, so Real’s valuation is fine and Dortmund won’t get more than that, I’ll wager.
In fact the phrase “good enough” was used at the end of last season when we just failed to clinch the quadruple and the season prior when some had pointed out the need to strengthen key areas. It wasn’t and we’re paying for it dearly now.
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Interesting discussion and some good points, but I think in the end he veers too far into the #10 territory. Musiala/Wirtz etc are not the profile we’re looking for at all.
I think in Gakpo we already have someone highly technical who can potentially play that #10/8 hybrid role at least in some games (as he showed in the last game vs Southampton), thus allowing Nunez to start up front regularly once he
Basically I think of Thuram as someone similar to Curtis Jones at LCM, but hopefully better. A player who will protect the ball like Gini or Thiago and progress the play, while chipping in with a few goals. And at RCM I would love to sign someone super mobile and with bags of energy who will make lots of runs in front of the forward line, but also get back in a hurry to put out fires. Barella is currently the best of this type of players on the market; need to see more of Kouadio Kone to understand if he can also be moulded into this type of player. Szoboszlai is another possibility.
This is the potential "box midfield" next season, as I currently see it:
--------------[DLP]Trent/Hendo----[DM]Fabinho/Bajcetic/[MacAllister]/Thiago------
---[RCM][new midfielder]/[MacAllister]/Elliott-------[LCM][Thuram]/Jones/Gakpo
DLP – long passing and playmaking, roaming instead of holding the position, so others need to compensate.
DM – defensive partner with keen positional sense to plug gaps left by their partner on the right. Definitely needs to hold position at all times, so pace not important.
RCM – as I said, mobile and with bags of energy who will make lots of runs in front of the forward line, but also get back in a hurry to put out fires.
LCM – if the RCM needs to run like a dog, the LCM in Klopp's system is more cat-like; someone to keep possession, make good decisions with the ball and be ready to drop into the midfield 2 at any point to help with build-up or for protection. Needs to be physically big and strong to win lots of duels even while not being very defensively-minded.
Last thing I will say is that while Thiago can certainly be useful in this system, he is becoming almost redundant with Trent as the main playmaker. Seeing how the squad is shaping up, he might want to leave for somewhere where his skills will be more essential to the team structure.
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I don't think we will sign 3 new mids.
MacAllister will be the new RCM, and we'll get a new LCM to compete with Jones - one of Gravenberch, Thuram or Kone probably.
Yeah, I’m not sure whether it will be 2 or 3 myself. You could make an argument that we definitely need to replace 3 midfielders in Milner, Keita and Ox plus ideally displace Hendo to squad player/rotation status and also give competition to Fabinho and competition/cover to Thiago. Even with Trent now boosting our midfield ranks and the development of Jones and Bajcetic, is 2 new midfielders enough to accomplish all this?
If we do bring 3 new midfielders this summer, Thiago will likely look to leave.
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As @rurikbird said in his post above, I dont see a role for Thiago if we are moving forward with the TAA hybrid or regular role. Playing both TAA and Thiago will leave us too exposed. He has only one year left on his contract. I think we are moving forward without him.
Not sure if serious or taking the piss - have you seen our midfield recently?
Keita
Thiago
Elliott
Arthur
Bar Fabinho, which big boy midfielder has Klopp recently signed? He signed Grujic and shipped him.
Wijnaldum wasn’t big either.
Henderson was pre-Klopp and isn’t very big.
Is that not where Kone comes in?
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