Six forwards?

[Insidious]

I'll likely heavily edit this tomorrow when I can get at a PC, but given that we had 6 forward options for the 24/25 season, with most of them being pretty decent players and us now missing one through the most tragic of circumstances (we won't forget him) I wonder what might be possible for the 25/26 season and whether we can find ourselves with six forwards again, of similar collective footballing quality (or better?) whilst managing our finances - whilst also entertaining the idea of whether or not too much change could be detrimental?

Last season, each position had depth -

Salah/Chiesa
Jota/Núñez
Diaz/Gakpo

If we assume that Wirtz is playing behind this as a 10/8 rather than as a false nine, I wonder can we manage six again?

- Salah goes nowhere.
- Chiesa seems not to be rated by Slot, but we may get a surprise here?
- Jota is tragically gone but never forgotten.
- Núñez looks set to be sold, though it might take Saudi to do it given financial limitations in Italy.
- Diaz wants out of to receive wages we seem unwilling to give.
- Gakpo presumably stays.

The right-hand side seems to need the least immediate work, so I'll keep comment on that sparse.

The central spot we are mourning one player, while the other will be sold. If Isak is a genuine target and if Newcastle will let him go, it surely takes £130m+ to get it done. Though I wonder if sales of Elliott and Morton (would we get £60m for both?) might be a way to eat into that massive fee, with potentially another £40m-£50m for Núñez? Suddenly the fee looks a lot less daunting.

If we do make an Isak pursuit more feasible, could we then do business for a back-up in Mateta? I won't speak of "replacing" Diogo as that is utterly inappropriate, but I will say that I'd like a central striker and a back-up that can cover - and with centre-forwards always at a premium, it may make sense to break away from our tendency of signing players at 26-or-under for the sake of 2-3 years of service until we can "go again" with forward investment.

On the left, I look at the Diaz situation and Bayern having made a bid, whilst also casting a glance at Real Madrid's alleged £86m asking price for Rodrygo, who is 24 to Diaz's 28 - something that would bode well for future-proofing. Could we get Bayern to part with £66m? For me a £20m net spend to get a forward who is high quality and under-25 seems a no-brainer, but I appreciate some may feel that it would be too much, too quick.

Would be some combo of lads though, if it came off -

Salah/Chiesa
Isak/Mateta
Rodrygo/Gakpo

-Would this much change be too much?
- Would it decimate team chemistry, or would you be excited about a future where Isak, Rodrygo, Wirtz, Kerkez, Frimpong, a new centre-back (?) and Mamardashvili can come through together in the coming years to compliment lads like Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Gravenberch and Gakpo who are already here?
- Can we even afford it, or attract the players?
-Have you your heart set on holding onto Diaz?

I must say I'm excited about the possibilities, but we need to get the balance right and we could so easily create more problems than solutions for ourselves if we misjudge the succession in our attacking unit - and that's before we even discuss the other glaring area of the pitch that needs addressed very soon, perhaps in another thread - and that is centre-back.

Hopefully a positive update on one of Isak or Rodrygo as the window progresses, as matches will come around soon enough.

[teesred]

Myself and a pal were talking about these issues yesterday. We don't need 6 forwards we both agreed in and also shared concern about too much change in the team.
If rumours come to fruition we could have half the first team starters as new players. That could be something unbelievable when you look at the level of quality which has already been added and could yet still be added but it could also have a stuttering and detrimental effect.

Fully agree with you Sid when you say it's exciting, this could end up the best transfer window in our history. Fingers,toes and balls crossed.

[LFC-DPG]

I like the idea of Rodrygo but I doubt he’d want to move from Madrid

Even if he did come I’d imagine his wages will already be three times what Diaz is getting paid so you could end up with the £20m + £200k a week for a 24 year old. That sounds like it could be very expensive over a 4 / 5year deal

[teesred]

I like the idea of Rodrygo but I doubt he’d want to move from Madrid

Even if he did come I’d imagine his wages will already be three times what Diaz is getting paid so you could end up with the £20m + £200k a week for a 24 year old. That sounds like it could be very expensive over a 4 / 5year deal

Aye I wouldn't be shocked to see him stay at Real.
Plenty of players would rather stay there and have limited game time and trophies than go elsewhere and play regularly.
Difficult to see much wrong with it when it's Real.

[Insidious]

I like the idea of Rodrygo but I doubt he’d want to move from Madrid

Even if he did come I’d imagine his wages will already be three times what Diaz is getting paid so you could end up with the £20m + £200k a week for a 24 year old. That sounds like it could be very expensive over a 4 / 5year deal

£20m (the net spend if he cost £86m and we sold Diaz for £66m) plus £200k-per-week would be roughly £72.5m for 5 years of service from Rodrygo - which would bring him up to the age of 29.

He might want higher wages than that (which we don't necessarily have to offer to him, we could always look at alternative targets) but I think I'd take that pretty happily.

[Steveo]

The beautiful game

[CCTV]

Personally I'd keep Darwin with Jota departed.

And I'd sell Diaz and move on.

Diaz is looking for a big pay rise on his final contract, but for me, the fact he was known to be drinking/partying instead of attending the funeral for Jota is poor form.
I mean, fair enough going out partying/drinking but you can't have that shit out there in public.

That's my tuppence. I think Nunez is probably done under Slot.