Liverpool transfers in/out and rumours 22/23 + Contracts

[redebreck]

I think an ideal situation (in my opinion anyway) would be for the club to rebuff any bid now and let them know it's too late for us to get a replacement, but that we will be receptive to a bid in the January window.

(if they're willing to go past £200, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be back with a vengeance with another bid in the January window, anyway).

That will give the club plenty of time to target and find a replacement and start the groundwork for an early signing to get them here as soon as the window opens and allow Mo to leave then.
Hopefully we'll be in good standing for any CL places and title challenge race to be able to carry on from that point but in the meantime Mo gets assurances that the club won't stand in his way for a January exit, (hopefully) he plays a blinder of a first half of a season to put us in a great position, and come January he leaves with everyone's blessings, while we figure out what to do with the rest of that £200 or £250 Mill for the summer transfer window.

The obvious worry is that they won't stop at just Mo.
Either they or some other Saudi club is undoubtedly going to be back sniffing for Allison or Van Dijk next, and we could be in danger of becoming a selling club real quick.


I think Mo's departure is inevitable.
It's just a question of whether we can delay it for January to give us time to get a replacement, and if not then, then almost certainly next summer he's gone.
Just start planning accordingly.

The other obvious downside with this situation (aside from Mo actually leaving) is if we let him go and get some odd £200 Million for him, every club we go to try and get a replacement from is going to quote us silly money ridiculous transfer fees because they'll all know we're flush with cash.

another thing is, who would be good enough (and available) for us to bring in?
answers on a postcard to John Henry at FSG.

[redebreck]

This is a concern for me too.
I genuinely wouldn't be shocked to see us have to pay something utterly ridiculous for a player like Olise. He looks a great prospect and looks like he's fit our style/system but a price of 80m or something would be crazy. Same for Bowen at WH.
That will likely be the situation we end up in as anybody who's already at a similar level ( aside from someone like Mbappe I can't actually think of anyone) is out of our range due to wages I'd say.

Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton looks decent.
Wonder what chance we'd have, now that they now have Ferguson?

[teesred]

Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton looks decent.
Wonder what chance we'd have, now that they now have Ferguson?

Ferguson is an old fashioned out and out striker whereas Mitouma plays wide left, not sure if plays right side but he does look really good.
Ferguson is already linked with Utd.

[CCTV]

This is a concern for me too.
I genuinely wouldn't be shocked to see us have to pay something utterly ridiculous for a player like Olise. He looks a great prospect and looks like he's fit our style/system but a price of 80m or something would be crazy. Same for Bowen at WH.
That will likely be the situation we end up in as anybody who's already at a similar level ( aside from someone like Mbappe I can't actually think of anyone) is out of our range due to wages I'd say.

Replacing Salah

Left footed, hitherto always fit, goals & assist machine, pressing machine, physically strong for his size, tracks back, a big following on social media, Global/LFC/Arab/Muslim icon, Egyptian King and butter wouldn't melt in his mouth...
Saying that he's not a prolific headerer of the ball with only 7 of his 188 goals for LFC coming from his noggin....

Could be a case of adapting our system to the pool of talent at our disposal when he does eventually leave/retire.

Sobozla is the best qualified in our squad on goals & assists playing Right Midfield and Right Wing to replace Mo.
With all hopes on Nunez starting to bang them in more regularly.
It is unlikely we'll get another quiet like Salah as he even stood out above his 2 compadres in Bobby & Mane for Goals & Assists.

[jozza800]

Always in motion a club is (apologies for my Yodaism).

Selling Mo tomorrow or in January may indeed hamper our chances this season. But £200m would go a long way to be allow us to strengthen for future seasons.

If Mo was 26 and had 4 years left on his contract it would be a totally different scenario. The truth is we're only 18months away from him being able to speak to other clubs for nothing...

The other thing that is frequently mentioned, is that he can't be replaced. This will still be true in 18 months time...

We're not going down the superstar model, we buy fixeruppers and make them superstars. We're not going to replace Mo with like for like (ie Mpbappe etc...). But I can see us bringing someone for about £40m/50m and them doing well.

As long as the money is reinvested into the playing squad (like Cout's was)...

[Crimson Dynasty]

another thing is, who would be good enough (and available) for us to bring in?
answers on a postcard to John Henry at FSG.

This guy seems worth a look (points down)
Although, I think he plays on the wrong wing

He really skinned Trent repeteadly for the sport of it (low bar; I know, I know...) the last couple of times we played Brighton and they trounced us over both times largely based on his forays down that flank.

Brighton could be our new Southampton
(feeder club)

Kaoru Mitoma at Brighton looks decent.
Wonder what chance we'd have, now that they now have Ferguson?

[justme]

Liverpool were willing to swap Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez, 24, for Portugal winger Joao Felix this summer but the 23-year-old snubbed the Reds, Manchester United and Aston Villa to force through a loan move to Barcelona from La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid. (Mundo Deportivo - in Spanish)


You have to admit the Spanish media love to make up anything . in other words just LIE through their back teeth.Bit immature of them,so a bit like joke strap when he does the pretendy Scottish speaking

[Insidious]

another thing is, who would be good enough (and available) for us to bring in?
answers on a postcard to John Henry at FSG.

You don't try to replace him like that - it's next to impossible.

You try to soften the impact of his departure in that position by getting someone who can do a lesser version of the role and try to improve the squad overall using the resources provided by the sale.

So for example (hypothetical) with Salah leaving for £215m, you try to acquire a left-footed, forward-thinking player and you probably try to get them at the 22-26 age bracket we have had such success with and where players often have 100-150 games under their belt to have "proven" (as much as they can) their potential value to us as a buying club.

A player who might some of the above criteria is Johan Bakayoko. He doesn't replace the unquantifiable total package of Salah's availability, work ethic, finishing ability and capacity to get an assist - but he does eat into it a little.

Then you have money left and you use that money on potentially problem areas, such as the acquisition of a top centre-back and a top full-back, also in that 22-26 age bracket.

By the time you're done, you've lost some goal/assist output, but decreased your average squad age, invested in potential that can grow beyond its current footballing capacity as they haven't "peaked" yet and (hopefully) improved your defence enough that it goes some way to "cancelling out" the reduced goal output.

Easier said than done, but you get the premise.

[Nineteenx]

Williams from Bilbao or Chiesa

[Insidious]

Williams from Bilbao or Chiesa

I like Inaki Williams, but at 29 years of age I would be hoping for younger and I think he was got 10 League goals or more in only 2 of his 9 seasons there - would really be wanting better output.