Thread: Summer transfer thread

  1. #1381
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    According to Liverpool Echo:
    Liverpool are close to the signing of Olympiacos left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas after agreeing a £11.75m deal and pulling out of talks with Norwich over Jamal Lewis
    https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/kostas-tsimikas-liverpool-transfer-how-18742067

    BBC reporting interest in David Brooks of Bournemouth (been out most of the season with ankle injury but returned at resumption of season after lockdown).
    Strange one that - not much difference between him and Harry Wilson in terms of transfer value, age, position, nationality and stats.

  2. #1382
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    we are champions.. ok moving on
    Cleaning up the Scots since the 13th century

  3. #1383
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    Quote Originally Posted by RedNoodle View Post
    We should be fully able/prepared to spend £20m+ on 'backup'. We're currently the PL, CL and WCC holders, not some club where £20m is the total value of their squad. Until we start being fully prepared to spend reasonable amounts on our squad, we're going to struggle to compete on multiple fronts, never mind being susceptible to having our season derailed should one or two of our key players be missing for a few games.
    What counts as "multiple fronts" for you Noods?

    We got a Champion's League final, the next season a Champion's League win with being one win away from topping City in the same year (ie very nearly won a Double) and this season we finished 18 points ahead of a sports-washed team and but for errors in extra-time in a knockout tournament could be in the Champion's League quarter-finals in the same season we won the big one.

    Essentially we have put in pretty good challenges (this year's Champion's League run being the "worst" of the 6 attempts at an "Elite" trophy in those 3 years) for the biggest two trophies for 3 seasons running now and we will likely make that a 4th. I think that's fantastic work.

    So is it being more competitive in the League Cup and FA Cup you'd like?

  4. #1384
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    Think it's pretty clear the cups don't matter to the owners as they don't bring in any sort of meaningful cash.

    What I think Noods means is that we're an injury or two away from barely limping into top4 and exiting the CL in the groups.
    Etiam si omnes, ego non

  5. #1385
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    Quote Originally Posted by Balinkay View Post
    Think it's pretty clear the cups don't matter to the owners as they don't bring in any sort of meaningful cash.

    What I think Noods means is that we're an injury or two away from barely limping into top4 and exiting the CL in the groups.
    Ah I see.

    76, 75, 97, 99 - I think we are fairly safe on the Top Four front, especially with the combination of our medical department and youth players breaking through. Should one of the front three get injured there is a choice (depending on who stays of course) of one of Origi, Minamino, Brewster, Elliot, Shaqiri. Would I like an even better option? Naturally. But justifying the agent fees, wages etc of someone who will hardly play and throws an obstacle in the path of Brewster or Elliot is tricky.

    Midfield (depending on who stays/arrives) we have options of Henderson, Fabinho, Ox, Keita, Wijnaldum, Milner, Curtis Jones, possibly Grujic, possibly Wilson, possibly Alcantara.

    Defence (again, depending on who stays/arrives) Left-back we have Robertson and seemingly Tsimikas, Milner at a push, right-back we have Trent and Williams, centre-back we have Van Dijk, Gomez, Matip, Hoever, Van Der Berg, a possible arrival, Fabinho at a push, even Wijnaldum played there once.

    Goalkeeper we have Alisson and Adrian.

    Majority of our players (likes of Shaqiri and Matip not so much) we have excellent injury records, complimented by our improved strategy when it comes to reduced pressing and better game management, excellent dieticians, excellent medical staff.

    Can imagine Noods and I having to agree to disagree on this one, but I don't see a massive issue, particularly if a centre-back comes in. Indeed, on the rare times we are missing a couple of key players, we manage to get the job done - Barcelona can testify to this.

  6. #1386
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    We do, but at the same time you can see where he's coming from (assuming he means what i think he means). VVD and Mane being out for say three months each would easily cost us 15 points. Considering I'm not sure cross the 90 point anyway, we really are in a top four scrap, especially when you factor the likes of Chelsea, United and Arsenal probably improving significantly.
    Etiam si omnes, ego non

  7. #1387
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    Quote Originally Posted by RedNoodle View Post
    Nope. It's just FSG's modus operandi. Covid 19 has just given them a ready made/perfect excuse not to 'spend' much.

    We're the fourth most valuable football 'brand' in the world, not a non league team who don't have a receptacle which they can empty their bladder into.
    Your God dam right Noods. I know a lot of fellow reds don't like us bitching about FSG. Fact of the matter is, looks like this is going to be another transfer window, with very little happening. Easy way out to use this SCAMDEMIC, reason for counting our pennies. I could not believe the price of our new shirts £69.95 bearing in mind it's all made in sweat shops for peanuts. £69.95 for a shirt I'm not keen on and if we're not going to improve our squad, sod it. We can't expect to go into a new season and hope our key players don't get KO for a long time. We need a player who can play anywhere up front to rotate with our current front three, to keep them fresh and on their toes. Salah and Firmino looked way off it by the end.

  8. #1388
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    Wouldn't taking the best centre-back and best attacker out of most sides be detrimental to them though unless it's a "sportswashing" club?

    Just don't think we can justify bigger transfer fees/wages on expensive backups, especially if it eats into what I will lazily call the "later money" - at some point we will need a first-teamer again and I would like us to be ready and able to buy said player and afford said player's wages, rather than "ah, we spent 20% of that last window on someone who got 11 appearances, 7 of which were from the bench" - if Tsimikas goes through and he is on, let's say, £50k a week we would essentially have swapped a 4th-choice centre-back for a 2nd-choice left-back who is younger. Maybe I am overly-optimistic but I love how we utilise our funds - it's all very shrewd, very sustainable and statistics-based.

  9. #1389
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    Quote Originally Posted by Insidious View Post
    Wouldn't taking the best centre-back and best attacker out of most sides be detrimental to them though unless it's a "sportswashing" club?

    Just don't think we can justify bigger transfer fees/wages on expensive backups, especially if it eats into what I will lazily call the "later money" - at some point we will need a first-teamer again and I would like us to be ready and able to buy said player and afford said player's wages, rather than "ah, we spent 20% of that last window on someone who got 11 appearances, 7 of which were from the bench" - if Tsimikas goes through and he is on, let's say, £50k a week we would essentially have swapped a 4th-choice centre-back for a 2nd-choice left-back who is younger. Maybe I am overly-optimistic but I love how we utilise our funds - it's all very shrewd, very sustainable and statistics-based.
    Evidently it's really detrimental even if you are an oil rich country's PR strategy - just look at City. But you'd want that not to be the case. We can't be too reliant on individual players and competition within a squad is healthy. Gomez could use some for instance. City have recognised the error of their ways and have just spent 41m on a CB who might not be first choice.

    Like I said - I broadly agree with you, especially on this particular transfer - don't see any reason whatsoever we should be spending much more on backup. Especially when said backup isn't likely to have to transition to a starter as Robbo's got a good five years left in him. The next left back we sign ought to be of a higher calibre, not this one.

    Though I would like another top attacking option to come in. Werner would have been ideal, especially as at least one of the three amigos will have to be fazed out at some point in the not too distant future.
    Etiam si omnes, ego non

  10. #1390
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    Quote Originally Posted by Insidious View Post
    What counts as "multiple fronts" for you Noods?

    We got a Champion's League final, the next season a Champion's League win with being one win away from topping City in the same year (ie very nearly won a Double) and this season we finished 18 points ahead of a sports-washed team and but for errors in extra-time in a knockout tournament could be in the Champion's League quarter-finals in the same season we won the big one.

    Essentially we have put in pretty good challenges (this year's Champion's League run being the "worst" of the 6 attempts at an "Elite" trophy in those 3 years) for the biggest two trophies for 3 seasons running now and we will likely make that a 4th. I think that's fantastic work.

    So is it being more competitive in the League Cup and FA Cup you'd like?
    Multiple fronts = every competition we are in e.g. not having to bin off the domestic cups every year.

    We have been very fortunate in terms of injuries to our key players, yet on a few occasions where we have lost just one such player for a very brief period it has proved fatal e.g. Henderson in 2014, Salah in the 2018 CL final, and Alisson this year against Atletico Madrid.

    I want us to have a squad capable of challenging on all fronts, every year, as well as one that can cope with one or two of our key players being absent for any length of time. Those things come about by having a deep squad full of quality, not one where you are one key injury away from disaster, or one where the drop off from the first XI to the players on the bench is quite large.

    I can probably close my eyes and cross the road outside without being hit. Would it be wise to keep doing that and to expect not to come unstuck at some point? Of course not. Yes we've done well, but to expect everything to keep going smoothly ad infinitum is asking for trouble.

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