Summer transfer thread

[scientificred]

And here is Soumare, to be fair, the lads a beast and just 22 years old, like Gini he never looks like scoring and wouldn't score much, if at all, he would get assists in our side with his longer passing from deep and driving the ball forward, and he is French, so no Afcon complications, shame we can't hijack Leicester's deal, 20m for a player who's a beast, will only get better and absolutely offers what Gini did for us in that role, but with a greater range of passing, greater pace and more strength, power and height, actually, he might get goals for us at set pieces given the delivery of our full backs. Might be as well sacking off Bissouma, nicking Brenny's target and saving some money for the Ajax lad Gravenberch next summer

Gini played a different role for us and without complaint but he scored fairly frequently for a midfielder with his previous clubs and has continued to do so for the Dutch national team.

[Nineteenx]

Gini played a different role for us and without complaint but he scored fairly frequently for a midfielder with his previous clubs and has continued to do so for the Dutch national team.

I know, but we need a player who can play the role Gini used to who is younger, has room for growth and development and can play the passes (switches and longer balls on the counter) that many of bemoaned Gini's inability to play and who will surely offer us greater possibilities at attacking and defensive set pieces and we do need a player who can play LCM RCM and No6, because Fab and Hendo's short to midterm injuries the past 2 seasons and Gini's departure leave us without a player to cover the No6 position, I don't think we can risk not having one

I'm not knocking Gini at all I know he played a specific role for us and had other talents if used in a different set up, that's why I thought the world of him, now we need someone who can take on his role, offer us the same control and solidity Gini did, but with a bit more in the passing department for how we play, preferable not a player who has the Afcon issue, which is my reservation with Bissouma

Longterm i think Gravenberch is ideally what we want and need in that role, but he's not going anywhere for another year

[Insidious]

Just realised this thread is 432 pages long.

How many Aquilani-is-fast-improving threads worth of material is that?

[justme]

Did Aquilani ever improve?

[Insidious]

Did Aquilani ever improve?

Didn't quite fulfil his potential - and there was certainly a time he was highly rated in Italy - but never fulfilled his potential.

I suspect he will have huge regrets and a sense of bad luck about 09/10. He played very well in the Europa League semi-final against Atletico (them again!) and gets us an equaliser before half-time, having been assisted by Benayoun, who (likely riding on the high of the assist) ends up scoring what could have been our winner early in extra-time only for Forlan to ruin things.

Alberto probably views that game as a crossroads. We get through that game (with him having played well) and we beat Fulham in the final and he (maybe) gets more of a chance with the club. Never really panned out though.

Loan at Juventus (Kenny actually said he still had a future with us at one stage while he was on loan) then a loan at AC Milan, then 3 seasons at Fiorentina (he was excellent in his first and not bad in his second) and then he had 4 clubs in 4 years.

A pity really. There was definitely talent there, but his head wasn't quite right (wasn't he said to have a bust of Mussolini in his room?) and injuries ravaged him somewhat, plus, in terms of temperament, I don't think he ever got over it not working out with us. Was weird that he was "replacing" Alonso as he was, if anything, more in the "Lampard" mould - had that knack of arriving into space having evaded his markers and getting an opportunistic goal.

Speaking of goals - here are his Fiorentina ones.

[Nineteenx]

I expect some very good news on our incoming and outgoing transfers and for deal to be tied up early this summer by Edwards

I remember where we were when FSG came in and the work in the community they fund, so I have more time for them than some, but:

Many of our issues this season were the result of their failure to reinvest more of the funds generated by the team Jurgen put together on a shoestring net spend compared to almost all other Premier League clubs and certainly those looking to win the prizes this team has

For me a big part of the great VAR robbery of 20/21 was down to their attempted power grabs and their being seen as the ringleaders for the forthcoming ESL proposals

I think they have some making up and building bridges to do this summer, a lot of making up to do, and I don't expect to hear lost revenue through Covid excuses, the team generated the money we now desperately need for 3-5 high quality signings this summer and they didn't put enough of that money back into the team, so they've had the money we need this summer and didn't use it appropriately, so no excuses

[Insidious]

Amidst the talk of transfers (and we do need a few incoming players) I hope we sort Mo Salah's contract out as a matter of priority.

[Nineteenx]

Amidst the talk of transfers (and we do need a few incoming players) I hope we sort Mo Salah's contract out as a matter of priority.

Absolutely, I will be doing an end of season update to my VAR thread, 5 very clear penalties not awarded, Everton, 2 at Southampton, 1 v Chelsea, 1 v the filthy, given his penalty conversion rate, in robbing us of points, they also robbed Mo of yet another golden boot

[shminkyred]

We'll be offloading Keita, Shaq, Oxlade, Minamino, Grujic, Wilson and a couple more youngsters, that'll bring in a few quid

oxlade???he was looking good b4 the injury.... and can actually score from midfield

[Insidious]

oxlade???he was looking good b4 the injury.... and can actually score from midfield

I like Ox a lot, but if I thought the fee from his sale along with another player (let's say....Shaqiri) could help fund someone who is more available fitness-wise (and thus can contribute more) I would be all over it.

Shaqiri - 22 appearances in all comps, 1 goal.
Oxlade - 16 appearances in all comps, 1 goal.

There's surely a player out there who is younger (Shaq 29, Ox 27) and who could cover their 38 combined appearances in all comps via better fitness, at less than their combined weekly wage. I know it's a different position to Ox's, but to give an example, Alexander Isak (Real Sociedad) for example is just 21 and has 33 goals from the 87 appearances (all comps)he has made over the last 2 seasons in La Liga. He'd cost less than we would get for both of them and his wages could potentially be less than ONE of Ox/Shaq's wage packets - we could develop him and if he becomes excellent, he becomes part of the main set-up and if he doesn't "quite" get there we sell while he still has age on his side, at say, 25 years old.

If Ox sticks around and Klopp wants that, I'm happy with it. He's a really nice fella by all accounts and I have fond memories of 2 goals in particular against Man City. But if we can upgrade on him, we should - Ox is 28 in August and simply isn't fit enough for long enough.