ducavis

In a market where Eze & Xavi Simons are available, we signed Joao Pedro.

Players like Saka and Salah don’t get benched or need a rest. If he goes there he will be picking up 5-10mins every game, and the odd Cup game. There is also the England/World Cup angle where he will be playing backup to his competition for an England place. If Arsenal & Newcastle are his options, he will opt for Newcastle. He has better chances of getting game time out there

This again! Sell to who though? The ones currently in our “bomb squad” have little or no interest. Put it this way; Gittens is probably a £25m-£30m player max. At that price a few other team might have been interested. We have baked in a £25m-£30m on what we anticipate his talent might be in 3yrs time. At the £55m price we paid, there was no competition. He was on £50k/w which is around what a top 4 European team will pay for a talent. Problem is we have now bumped this to £100k/w, with zero competition for his services. If in 2years he is a flop; the starting point for his value decline won’t be £55m but the £25m-£30m which is his true worth. Any buyer won’t come in at £40m. A bigger problem will be the £100k/w wages. That is why we are struggling to move players on. At £100k/w there is a very limited market; probably 4-6 clubs on the continent who won’t be interested in a flop. The English market is where we would most likely find a buyer, but none of the top 6 clubs would buy a player who has flopped with us. The other clubs in the PL that can pay that fee want a sure thing, not a gamble. What you end up with is a player on a ridiculously long 7yr contract with no buyer.

Let me give it a try; 50 players GK: Sanchez, Jorgensen, Penders, Slonina, Petrovic, Kepa* RB: James, Gusto, Acheampong LB: Cucurella, Chilwell, Veiga, Wiley CD: Tosin, Badiashile, Colwill, Sarr, Chalobah, Fofana, Disasi, Gilchrist, Anselmino CM: Fernandez, Essugo, Santos, KDH, Caicedo, Lavia, Chukwuemeka, Paez, Amougou, Ugochukwu, RW: Estevao, Madueke, Neto LW: Gittens, Mudryk, Sterling, George AM: Nkunku, Palmer, Pedro, Kellyman, Felix, ST: Delap, Jackson, Guiu, Washington, Datro-Fofana, Broja

Anselminho is still around. Would be shocked if we sell 5 players this summer. Chukwuemeka isn’t going anywhere; club wants £40m, he is on £90k/w which is way too high for his talent level. He will probably stay at Dortmund on loan again. Kepa has already left for Arsenal for £5m. No one is paying the £25m ask for Ugochukwu; club made a real mess of his signing. Paid way too much; never invested/committed to his development. Should have developed him instead of signing Amougou & Essugo. Think there was a press briefing that the club don’t want to loan out Penders because they are scared of losing him if he goes out on loan? Already seems a mess; Could have left him at Genk for another season to play Europa, or sent him immediately to Strasbourg to play Conference league. Can see him going the way of Slonina; clearly talented but wrong club for his development.

In a World Cup year? He is looking for a starting role, and is Liverpool bound if they can find a buyer for contract rebel Konate. We currently have way too many 10 CBs on our books, and I reckon Sarr is “experienced CB” they were after. Club was never serious about signing a quality experienced CB because those cost money & big wages. They are after a LB who can play CB but good luck with that. Common sense says the already have Veiga, and no sensible player is coming here to play backup to Cucurella who Maresca won’t rotate, and while Badishille is still on the bench.

You keep forgetting that in the interim they have also signed Gittens for £55m. Pedro doesn’t actually play LW. He plays as a CF or in the hole as “10” so I don’t get the signing. He is either coming as a backup to Delap & Jackson, or as a backup to Palmer & Enzo who has been awful as a “10”. Can imagine they have at the minimum 2x his £50k/w wages, so he is another one like Gittens that doesn’t improve us. Just a sideways move.

Same Marmoush who scored 7 PL goals in half a season?

They don’t want to buy him though; they see him as 15min-25min depth, and want him on another loan deal. They have already paid £28m for Jobe Bellingham who plays in the same position.

Fernandez is not a “10”. He might stat pad against poor sides but he will get found out in this role against decent teams

He isn’t going to play 4-3-3 though, and he has said he hates marauding “up and down” fullbacks.

Why wait till the end of Club World Cup to negotiate a better sponsorship deal? Any savvy partner would want the global exposure. I reckon they are struggling to get anyone to cough up what they want. It will be an easier sell if we had any marquee players or globally marketable players but then kids.. There is also an argument that the football sponsorship market has peaked. Utd currently don’t have a sponsor for their training kit. Spurs haven’t still sold their stadium naming rights, and Juventus recently signed a 10yr Adidas deal for the same amount they were paid for their prior 8yr deal.

Agree! Not sure a winger without pace can thrive in the PL.

How will he get game time though? He is 3rd choice RB behind James, Gusto & Caicedo, and 5th choice RCB behind Fofana, Tosin, Chalobah & now Sarr. A season long loan to a West Ham, Coventry or one of the relegated PL teams will be brilliant. Agree on George but I don’t think it’s a physical issue; if Yamal could hack senior football at 15yr, and Saka who he is a doppelgänger of at 17yrs, there is no reason why he can’t hack it. His problem is a lack of momentum; if the manager persists with him and trusts him, he will figure it out on the pitch.

Konate has another Madrid free signing all over him like Mbappe, Rudiger & Trent. If Liverpool can’t pay him what he feels he deserves, there is zero chance we are in the conversation.