Summer transfer thread

[Insidious]

We need two more midfielders and a forward to add to the konate signing.

Henderson
Thiago
Fabinho
Jones
Milner
Ox
Keita
Grujic
Woodburn

We play with a midfield 3 so having 6 players with good injury records (or a 7th if you don't) is ideal to me. If we sell Grujic and Woodburn we are still sitting on 7 players there - so to bring two midfielders in would require moving 2 more on (Ox, Keita?) otherwise we would be much too stocked, don't you think?

Ideally we could bring in Hakan Çalhanoğlu - his fitness record is insanely good - has made 30 League appearances or more in something like 8 of the last 9 seasons.

Grujic+Wilson out, Çalhanoğlu in, move one of Ox/Keita on to make room would be a nearly "dream" scenario in terms of midfield business.

Would just leave the attack left to bolster. The Euros and the unique circumstances of the post-lockdown market will complicate things of course.

[ianlfc]

It's a number 10 we lack, someone who can beat a man, run with the ball and create plus score 10+ a season . Hard to find I know but a Grealish type Player. (Or bring little Phil home !!)

[Kev0909]

Sid milner is getting on, jones isn't good enough yet keita and ox are about as reliable as a goldfish grujic won't be good enough and always gets loaned out for a reason obviously doesn't impress enough and Woodburn?? The guy that does ok in league 1?

So really to start a must win game frankly we have 3 midfielders who you can depend on, heck we was short at times this season because frankly ox& keita especially are a joke.

And I agree with Ian with the front 3 not firing as much as previous it's a obvious lack of goals in midfield, and someone to run at a player, - this didn't use to show as much but obviously the front 3 was on fire then.

Shouldn't be down to salah to bail us out (or allison) every time when we need a goal.

if we actually want to challenge, we need more but if we've settled for making top 4 year in, year out again then fair enough! probably will be the case under FSG sooner or later, unless something changes.

[Insidious]

Sid milner is getting on, jones isn't good enough yet keita and ox are about as reliable as a goldfish grujic won't be good enough and always gets loaned out for a reason obviously doesn't impress enough and Woodburn?? The guy that does ok in league 1?

So really to start a must win game frankly we have 3 midfielders

I don't have much quarrel with that assessment.

But in terms of squad places, wasted wages etc. it would be extremely inefficient to have 8 or 9 midfielders on the books. I very much doubt Edwards/FSG will want to risk bringing someone in unless/until we have freed up a couple of slots via a sale or two.

If we get Grujic and Woodburn out (hopefully via sales, not loans) we've 7 on the books still - if we ship an extra one out (for example's sake, Keita moves on) and a player with a good injury record is available (for example's sake, Çalhanoğlu comes in) then we'd be at 7 players, knowing that Milner likely doesn't play in 22/23 brings it down to 6 for that season, where you ideally move the most injury-prone player on (Ox in this scenario) to accommodate a transfer or a promotion from within.

If it were down to me and we could "magic" the notion of opposition clubs having the money/will to take players off our hands, it would look like this for 21/22-

Henderson
Thiago
Fabinho
Çalhanoğlu
New signing
Milner
Jones

with Keita, Ox, Grujic and Woodburn all departing for reasonable fees.

I just don't think it will pan out like that.

[Kev0909]

Probably not, but like the attack it could do with some young blood apart from jones, they're no young chicks anymore, obviously not past it yet but still..

Even henderson is picking up his fair share of injury's in recent seasons so i wouldn't even say he's 100% reliable

100% need someone for me, even if it means the likes of milner leaving, probably could do with a couple of youngsters that are decent to be fair as a rotation/squad option, maybe better than Jones if possible.

Would be happy with the same in attack, to eventually replace / come in for one of the outgoing players due to age/wanting a new challenge / selling em while we can get decent money blabla

I just think this squad needs freshend up with some new young blood, otherwise in a few years it'll be a problem, plus it has got a bit "stale"

Konate is a good start the CB position should be sorted now really, unless freak of nature strikes again. (even then i'd still ship matip out for a young lad) but this isn't footie manager or fifa

I think I knew when we signed thiago, we wouldn't keep wij, and i said many of times he is his replacement, hopefully we get someone else though because the rest of the midfield is frankly trash (squad options) apart from the odd good game.

[Insidious]

I just think this squad needs freshend up with some new young blood, otherwise in a few years it'll be a problem, plus it has got a bit "stale"

Don't think it's awful, but yes, it could easily drift and we don't want to allowed that.

Will lay out roughly where we are in terms of age profile - I appreciate one or 2 players may not be a natural fit in terms of exact position and that one or two may move on or be replaced or be deemed surplus to requirements or not-good-enough, but just wanted an approximation of where we are. I haven't included Milner due to his age making his a position that "obviously" needs filled at some point in the very near future.

......................................Alisson(28)
......................................Kelleher(22)


Trent(22).................Gomez(24)..........Konat e(22)........Robertson(27)
N. Williams(20).........Matip(29)............Van Dijk(29)......Tsimikas(25)

.......................................Fabinho(27)
.......................................Jones(20)


...........................Thiago(30)............. Henderson(30)
............................Keita(26)............. .......Oxlade(27)


.............Salah(28)................Firmino(29). ...............Mane(29)
.............Elliott(18)................Minamino(2 6).............Jota(24)

All in all I don't think that's too bad. Again, speaking purely in terms of age -

Goalkeeper - absolutely fine for a few years yet.
Full-backs - absolutely fine.
Centre-backs - if Matip left in the next year or two and was replaced with someone 26-or-younger, 3 of 4 of our centre-backs would be 26 or below. Age-wise, for that position, that's really grand.
Midfield - Fabinho, Ox, Keita are all of good age and Jones is a baby. Getting one in younger than Henderson or Thiago in the next year or two (24-28) would be welcomed - Çalhanoğlu would fit that.
Forwards - the back-ups to the front three are all of perfectly good ages. If we were relatively ruthless then getting one of Firmino or Mane out for a younger player (22-26) within the next year or two (while they still maintain high value, rather than being 32+) would be wonderful and we could use the funds to progress the next cycle.

[Kev0909]

Do you think Elliot would be a good enough backup for Salah at the moment? if salah was out more than a few weeks? he's still very young and raw, could be better if he went on loan again if he's not going to play much here, for his development as real games are a lot better.

Miniamino? will he even be here? he couldn't get starts for a average southampton most of the time.

you have a lot of faith in Ox& Keita i'll give you that

but apart from that I'd agree.

Don't think we need loads 2-3 players will do. real competition for Firmino, and a midfield not full of crooks, that's all I ask.

if we actually want to challenge, we can't rely on Elliot Ox or Keita.. even Jones and defo not .Minamino

[miller0863]

If Salah is out we need someone to score goals, I think Elliot will be more of creator than a scorer and at 18, he’s not ready to cover for Salah. Jota scores goals but boy does he need to work on his all round game.

[Insidious]

Snip

Not said to be cheeky/sarcy in any way - "Will lay out roughly where we are in terms of age profile - I appreciate one or 2 players may not be a natural fit in terms of exact position and that one or two may move on or be replaced or be deemed surplus to requirements or not-good-enough, but just wanted an approximation of where we are. I haven't included Milner due to his age making his a position that "obviously" needs filled at some point in the very near future."

and

"All in all I don't think that's too bad. Again, speaking purely in terms of age"

I was really speaking quite strictly in terms of age only. Accommodating other factors in the same post would have made it very messy.

Totally take your points mind. To answer your questions with my personal thoughts -

Elliott - If Salah were out for a while I'd hope Jota plays, with a slight reshuffle. I think Elliott is absolutely fine as the "6th" player in a 6-for-3 scenario. Wouldn't have him play coming in from the right for 10 League games in a row or anything, but if Jota (4th player) or the 5th player (whoever it is) are fit, that shouldn't be necessary and he can get opportunities in domestic Cups, last 10-20 minutes of matches and such.
Ox and Keita - Klopp is said to have faith in Ox. Their injury records have left be disillusioned with both players, much as I would love them to work. In a "Football Manager" scenario I'd sell both and have 2 players incoming with better fitness records, but we can't make buyers appear with the sort of cash we would want. In the event that Dortmund or West Ham links to Ox are genuine and they coughed up enough, I'd have Ox depart and Çalhanoğlu come in, which solves "half" of this problem and the age profile (the main focus) remains the same, with Çalhanoğlu being a 27-year old to replace 27-year old Ox, but you upgrade the injury record side of things.
Minamino - Ideally I'd be selling Minamino, Origi and Shaqiri and using the bulk of the funds to make a "Jota" signing, someone who costs between, let's say, £28m and £40m who can get a lot of "last 25 minutes" snippets of match time and semi-regular starts for rotation purposes. Whether we get those funds is highly questionable. In terms of age profile (Minamino is 26) I'd be looking for a 23-26 year old player, so it would stay the same (age) or slightly upgrade (younger player) - I think there's a player in Minamino, it's whether or not he is the "right" player for us and the gut says no. I know Myanmar are walkovers, but Taki getting 2 goals and 3 assists in one match hopefully makes someone out there weigh him up.

[LEGS]

It's a number 10 we lack, someone who can beat a man, run with the ball and create plus score 10+ a season . Hard to find I know but a Grealish type Player. (Or bring little Phil home !!)

Aouar or De Paul are best bets for us price wise around £30m.

Both good ages as well at 22 & 26.

I dont believe for one minute we arent signing at least one CM.