Midfielders other than Bellingham

[MomoWASright]

"with no guarantees he will either leave Dortmund or pick LFC" - did they just realise it overnight? 😵😳

This is the key part. We’ve known for a year how much it’ll cost. The fee isn’t an overnight thing. It’s all to do with the structure of the deal. We want to pay over something like 6 years, they want it 3. It’s just a dance which happens all the time.

 

[Bradley]

Klopp was probably all in on him until Henderson, Fab and Thiago's transformation into mid-table plodders, seemingly overnight.

Now we need a whole new midfield rather than a cherry on the top.

 

[King Binny]

😛
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...ns-why-liverpool-are-not-signing-jude-bellin/

 

[keniget]

It’s embarrassing even if 90% of it is just media talk.

It was obvious a few years ago that our squad would end up in this position - if some average fans on a board could see it, why couldn’t the higher ups at LFC?

This whole Bellingham thing was never going to happen the way we’ve been going about managing our squad.

Bellingham will end up at City as KDBs long term successor.

 

[rubans]

News seems to be in general circulation this morning now.
What was the point of waiting apparently for our chosen target and then realising we left our wallet at home?
We could have just brought some plodders start of this season, saved our season and FSG could have protected the club’s value. I know will get told we are run by smart people so let’s see what we get.
Just signing Mount would be a very sort Hodge era thing to do post the season we had…

 

[binomial]

Nothing Bascombe has said is anything we didn’t already know a year ago.

No one knows this club and its history better than the fans, facts. We know hows its run from top to bottom including what FSG are about.

 

[Hansern]

The one thing we couldnt know was the Chelsea spending spree.
Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez certainly increased Dortmunds valuation.

 

[King Binny]

It’s embarrassing even if 90% of it is just media talk.

It was obvious a few years ago that our squad would end up in this position - if some average fans on a board could see it, why couldn’t the higher ups at LFC?

• 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.)

 

[Gary25]

Laughing stock

 

[binomial]

The one thing we couldnt know was the Chelsea spending spree.
Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez certainly increased Dortmunds valuation.

Wasn't the 130m touted before Chelsea signed those 2? Surely we should've known better that 84m wasn't even going to get his left leg.

In any case 130m is outrageous for a kid with 2 years left on his deal, if Madrid City PSG can and want to pay that....I say let them, we don't need to fall into that trap of overspending considerably for a player.

 

[MomoWASright]

• 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

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 was a clear indication we failed to learn from the 20/21 CB injury crisis. Being linked with Palhinha and Nunes months after their move 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

Without this being my usually condescending self, I mean this as a genuine question, but how much do FSG determine the playing staff?

My guess is next to nothing. They will set parameters in terms of budgets. The rest is down to those who are the day to day running of the club. FSG didn’t hand out contract extensions to Henderson and Oxlade Chamberlain. Two hugely wrong decisions. They didn’t say we just sign Thiago, another wrong decision considering he turned 32 this week.

Klopp & co need to take responsibility for this, and Klopp has done so to some extent. Neglecting the middle when spending cash on Diaz, Nunez, Gakpo and Carvalho is daft and mustn’t be repeated.

 

[Raz]

Laughing stock

We're a fucking joke aren't we! Thing is, we'll end up spending £150m on shite.

 

[Red Bird]

The one thing we couldnt know was the Chelsea spending spree.
Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez certainly increased Dortmunds valuation.

Really? I find that rather hard to believe.

 

[Best Believe It]

Just so I've got this right:

• We neglect the midfield over a number of years despite obvious problems (injury prone players, players getting older) because we're laser-focused on Bellingham
• As a result of the neglect we massively fall off the pace
• We therefore require big changes all in one go because of the neglect
• We choose not to go for Bellingham

That is squad management of the shittest level. I can only assume there are other areas of the pitch that need addressing as well as midfield (fullback? up front?) and that was semi-unexpected. Either way, it makes the club look like amateurs.

 

[bluebell]

Just so I've got this right:

• We neglect the midfield over a number of years despite obvious problems (injury prone players, players getting older) because we're laser-focused on Bellingham
• As a result of the neglect we massively fall off the pace
• We therefore require big changes all in one go because of the neglect
• We choose not to go for Bellingham

That is squad management of the shittest level. I can only assume there are other areas of the pitch that need addressing as well as midfield (fullback? up front?) and that was semi-unexpected. Either way, it makes the club look like amateurs.

Don't forget we operate a sell-to-buy model but allow players to leave for Free. 5 players at the end of this season will leave for Free. We seem to be putting players before club

 

[MomoWASright]

Just so I've got this right:

• We neglect the midfield over a number of years despite obvious problems (injury prone players, players getting older) because we're laser-focused on Bellingham
• As a result of the neglect we massively fall off the pace
• We therefore require big changes all in one go because of the neglect
• We choose not to go for Bellingham

That is squad management of the shittest level. I can only assume there are other areas of the pitch that need addressing as well as midfield (fullback? up front?) and that was semi-unexpected. Either way, it makes the club look like amateurs.

If we end up signing three midfielders for £120 million + then it would be sensible and we’d still look amateurs. The whole whoring ourselves to him will be stupid.

 

[Hansern]

Really? I find that rather hard to believe.

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.

 

[keniget]

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.

If it did, not by that much. Bellingham was always going to cost 100M plus.

 

[MomoWASright]

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.

It’s too early to tell. Only if other big clubs follow suit. Chelsea could be a club who went crazy whilst the rest remain relatively sensible.

 

[dmishra]

Neil Jones listing Barella, Mount and Koopmeiners as other targets

 

[Hansern]

If it did, not by that much. Bellingham was always going to cost 100M plus.

The fee is now reportedly 150 mill without agent fees etc.

 

[Hansern]

It’s too early to tell. Only if other big clubs follow suit. Chelsea could be a club who went crazy whilst the rest remain relatively sensible.

The Pogba deal had a similar effect.

 

[bluebell]

Thiago Alcantara's contract ends in 2024, use cash plus swap to get FdJ and Gavi. Pay Gavi £10m signing on fee, he will move. For me, the most important type of player to sign is a CDM like Thuram or Kone. FdJ, Gavi, Kone/Thuram, Barella/Neves, Alex Scott, Ndicka, RB - we have then future-proofed the MF for 3 years at least and addressed CB and RB issue

 

[MomoWASright]

The Pogba deal had a similar effect.

Abramovic coming in had a similar effect. But the Neymar situation didn’t change the transfer market. I still think it’s too early to tell. If you see Real, Bayern, City, PSG etc doing the same then Chelsea will have distorted the market.

 

[King Binny]

Enzo Fernandez's fee was Benfica's insistence on getting the amount equivalent to his release clause + time left on contract (2027) + Chelsea's urge to get deal done before FFP changes are made. Bellingham's contract expires in 2025.

 

[binomial]

Lets just get Mount and Gallagher in on loan over with and end the whole disappointment now.

 

[jan]

We're dickheads again so looks like everything's back to normal

 

[MomoWASright]

We’re only dickheads if we don’t end up signing him.

 

[Hansern]

Enzo Fernandez's fee was Benfica's insistence on getting the amount equivalent to his release clause + time left on contract (2027) + Chelsea's urge to get deal done before FFP changes are made. Bellingham's contract expires in 2025.

They still pulled the trigger and signed him. If you are Dortmund you obviously take note about what your generational talent is worth in the current market. I e valuation now being 150 mill. If they get it or not is another story.
I still think we can get a deal done but it will be up to Jude and only wanting to play for us. If not then a bidding war is what makes us lose out.

 

[peterhague]

This all feels like a big let down primarily because it's pretty obvious that Bellingham is very keen on joining us.

Adds to a long list of players who've wanted to play for us, but never could.

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.