The Three Amigos

[miller0863]

Agree with all of that

[Insidious]

I do think Van Dijk and Salah are staying - I'm 40/60 on Trent - think him departing is more likely, but I don't yet feel it's"nailed on" that he departs and can imagine him waiting to see what terms Van Dijk and Salah get before he weighs up his options and bargaining position. As much as I'd rather he extended than depart, I don't think he will be as important to Slot as he was to Klopp, so I feel his loss would arguably have the least impact of the three.

It's easy for us to say "just extend, 3 year-deals, improved wages" etc but the club has to decide whether Van Dijk and Salah are going to be worth the wages and the contract length they'll want at the ages and physical states they're going to be at, which isn't all that simple. Players typically reach a stage where they are providing a depreciating level of output and you don't want players that aren't at their peak on huge wages.

Imagine they extend for 3 years.

25/26
26/27
27/28

I'm very confident that both Salah and Van Dijk would be excellent in 25/26 and (probably) 26/27, but many of us (?) I imagine would be less certain about the 27/28 season for example. They'll still be very good players - of course they will - but will they be Premier League-winning, Champion's League-winning level? Tough call - and paying lads in decline the bulk of £700k-per-week (combined) wouldn't be desirable if that came to pass.

Trent is at a different spot in his career, so with him it's closer to "does he or doesn't he" want to stay.

I suspect Van Dijk gets done around the £300k-per-week mark and Salah around £400k-per-week. Length of contract will be the sticking points in negotiations you'd think - our risk-averse policy lends itself to 2-year deals, whilst the players will want 3-year deals.

One thing that would be mad to do would be to lose all 3 in one go. Sourcing replacements at their level would be next to impossible (plus very expensive) and in doing so you eat into the funds you want to use for future-proofing other positions.

Onto some of the boring stuff we fans (thankfully) don't have to sweat on too much - it'll be quite intriguing to see where the club's next published accounts are for wages and the ratio of wages-to-revenue.

Published accounts to date have shown the ever-increasing growth of our wage bill over last 7-8 seasons or so. To be expected with our success for sure, but it's good to see we aren’t hesitant to spend money on wages and keeping our best players around - the "paying the bills" Klopp has referred to in the past.

UEFA have new rules around the corner for us though and there is going to potentially be an attempt to reduce the wage bill somewhere to ensure safe compliance. The club will likely face accusations of penny-pinching as and when we find ways to do this, but we can't outright ignore the fact that from 25/26 onwards - next season, which is bloody soon - the "squad cost" (wages for players, coaches, transfers and worryingly agent fees) can only be 70% of a club's revenue. We won't have the easiest time juggling big wages AND big transfer fees AND paying agents for contract renewals, which is an area where we spend quite a chunk of change. Something will give somewhere (not sure what yet) and it will be interesting to see where it comes and the justification for that call.

We’ll be comfortable enough for meeting these rules I'd guess (and it IS only a guess) but I don't envisage massive amounts of flexibility either for us to spend how we wish, as we wish. So the possibility that we end up paying 2 players (Van Dijk and Salah) funds in the £300-400k per week region in 26/27 or even 27/28 as they are (maybe?) in physical decline with reduced performance levels that impact the team will undoubtedly have an impact on our ability to spend elsewhere and I imagine finding the sweet spots where wage renewal crossed with contract length is done "right" is such a massive part of the thinking with the Salah and Van Dijk deals.

Hopefully all sorted approaching Christmas and nice, re-assuring pictures of lads signing contracts to make the festive spell all the happier.

[miller0863]

Surely the current wage big is considerably reduced this year compared to last. Too early to show in the accounts but it must be so, with Ox, Matip and Thiago leaving

[ianlfc]

I'd look over it if their performances had dropped but Mo especially is playing brilliantly as he has his whole career. Virgil is also playing well and both seem to have huge presence within the squad. Trent I'd also hate to see leave but his mate in Madrid isn't the flavour of the month over there at the minute so that could also sway his opinion on moving.
If any Mo would be the biggest loss.

[Insidious]

Surely the current wage big is considerably reduced this year compared to last. Too early to show in the accounts but it must be so, with Ox, Matip and Thiago leaving

You'd think so, certainly - but it's a bit trickier to know where we might be with squad cost, as it includes agent fees. We have had seasons where we paid about £20m in agent fees just for getting some contracts renewed and players signed and it's a "hidden cost" if you like that gets overlooked. Imagine for example we renew Van Dijk, Salah and Trent in one fell swoop (which is what I want, in case anyone reading misunderstands) and what that may cost in agent fees - and that it's £20m let's say -that alone would eat up a good chunk of any money "saved" from not spending on some of the names mentioned.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if we seek to tweak things a bit by aiming to reduce our wage bill a little and utilising some of that money instead (in time) towards transfer fees as our leadership group of Alisson, Van Dijk, Robertson, Salah, Trent gradually departs in the coming seasons - but that's speculation on my part.

[ianlfc]

Surely the current wage big is considerably reduced this year compared to last. Too early to show in the accounts but it must be so, with Ox, Matip and Thiago leaving

Just googled red sox players wages theyre paying a fella Rafael Devers (no idea) $300,000,000, 10 year contract which works out roughly £440,000 grand a week for 10 years.

So big John needs to put his hand in his pocket.

[miller0863]

I just don’t understand how we are apparently sailing close to the wind on spending rules, when just about every other club in the division is outspending us and has a fraction of the commercial income. It doesn’t make sense. Our income has rocketed in recent years and while I understand our wage bill has increased, there are several clubs who on the face of it are way out of kilter compared to us, in spending re income.

[sydenham red]

How are you reading the “club needs to show it matches his ambition,” line?

I mean, if it’s about signing up Mo and Trent he has a point and if it’s about bringing in top level reinforcements he also has a point.

Its gotta be about the club retaining vvd and mo because there's only the winter xfer window left between now and his contract expiring. We've rarely spent big in it anyway and if he's expecting the club to buy a world class left back to replace Robbo eg in Jan then I'd be pretty sure he gonna be disappointed.