I know that Keita performance wise is better, but we have Thiago in the midfield, then we have Curtis jones coming up. Then we also have our other midfielders and who knows who else. AOC when on his day can impact the team, in a positive light. I think either way, if Wjinaldum doesn’t sign his extension, then I could see us keeping both Keita and AOC. But if you ask me , it makes more sense long term to keep AOC. Don’t forget positional flexibility as well which AOC has.
TBH of our current signings, its AOC who has actually made the least impact IMO. We love players who scores goals, and that sticks in the memory. But Keita has been way better than AOC and more consistently IMO. There was a patch when Ox looked good but he’s never impressed in a sort of way where you know this is it, that’s our attacking midfielder position sorted. Neither has he particularly impressed at any of the forward position.
I have still not giving up on him mind, and I really hope he comes good. But injuries are always his problem, and has been throughout the career. He’ll have to impress and work really hard to be a consistent starter here. Or he’ll have to accept midfield is not where his future will lie here, which is the reason he came here in the first place. And will have to reassees his best position.
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Fair enough but I see Keita and Jones as the advanced midfielder, Thiago and Wijnaldum as the “facilitator” midfield position and Henderson and Fabinho for the 6.
Personally I don’t really rate AOC as being able to get ahead of Jones or Keita - they’re simply better footballers than him, despite him offering a bit of a goal threat, as both Keita and Jones have shown that ability too. Chamberlain doesn’t have anything like the pace or the pressing ability to be in that role for me.
I also don’t really care about his flexibility, I thought he was awful playing out wide last season.
Keita has been playing better and has far more potential, I’d be really disappointed if we considered letting him go - especially if that meant AOC got more game time that he does not deserve on current form.
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Kieta is a much better player than Chamberlain, if one is going it’ll surely be Chamberlain first. West Ham would give us a fortune for him.
Chamberlain is in between positions - not quite enough cutting edge to impress out wide and not good enough technically to play in the middle. If we get rid of Shaqiri this summer I can see Chamberlain playing wide right at times. For me, he’s playing for his Liverpool future.
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Really excited about this signing, hadn’t even considered Jota up to now, but the front 3 will definitely need to be rested more often this season and sadly when Div comes in there is a big drop in potency. I’m sure Klopp will wring every ounce of potential out of Jota and he will make some important contributions this season.
Together with Thiago, this is the little freshening up I feel we really needed this season.
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You may think I’m splitting hairs but you’re suggesting a signed sealed and delivered agreement a year in advance? Or a player expresses a desire to leave if club X approaches us which has a terrible amount of uncertainty before weget into negotiating a transfer fee, and then negotiating wages for a WC player? Im not sure either Real or Barca have a ‘whatever it takes’ budget any more. Do we sign a player a year before in this latter case? Especially one for £30m?
We’re spending 45 million, yet we were not prepared to pay a similar amount for Timo Werner? This makes me think that we were never really interested in Werner, it was all media bullshit.
Anyway, last 24hrs should make Paul Merson shut his big gob.
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I wonder whether for this season we’re carrying one more centre mid than we perhaps normally would due to the fixture congestion and the unreliability of Keita and Ox’s fitness.
Next summer I still think Gini might be gone. There’s been talk he’s had good talks but nothing actually on signing a new contract. We could well still see him leaving on a free next summer. Possibly Ox too if he’s not getting much game time and I’m not sure how much of Milner we see this year so I wouldn’t be surprised if he retired or moved on next summer. Especially if he gets to walk away with another League and Champions League medal in his collection.
I think you may be right. The Thiago thing was dragging on forever but I think you could tell we were interested when it went quiet.
I hadn’t heard a dickey-bird about Jota until yesterday and that is clearly how FSG prefer to operate.
In terms of Werner, he is clearly a talented player and Klopp obviously appreciates that. However I suspect that once the club mathematicians got hold of his stats something didn’t add up for the club.
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People often forget about Ox’s contributions to the side . I will admit he is not as technically gifted as Keita is, but he has been a physical presence for us in the team and a threat to other teams. At one point he was terrorising City’s defence.
His injuries have curtailed him somewhat, but his contributions have far outweighed the bad games he has had. Again maybe he could be sacrificed so Jones will be able to usurp that role, that can also happen and quite frankly , if that happens I would not be mad. I like both players Keita and AOC and I just think AOC has that physique and power that can be counted on at times.
I like Curtis Jones so if it means he has a better role and AOC needs to be sold for it, I’m all for that.
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Certainly an informal agreement can be in place a year in advance, with some tightening of the deal as it gets closer to being finalised. I’m pretty sure for example Madrid are working with PSG right now over a deal for Mbappe to go there next summer. Ronaldo left Utd in similar circumstances.
One of the reasons we missed out on Sanchez was because Wenger had been talking with his camp at least a year in advance. Coutinho signed a new contract with us because he and our club had signals from Barca they wanted him the following year.
The club would be willing to buy in advance of a player leaving, if it believed that the player is likely to go. That used to be something the club did back in the old days. I dont know if the club see Jota being that player though. If Sadio or Salah go next summer, maybe we still go for Sancho if he is available then and Jota continues as depth.
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Fixed it for you
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We wanted Werner but Leipzig wanted the money upfront. Wolves have accepted taking 10% over the first 12 months and the rest later on.
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Finding out he is a football fan is really endearing. Learning that when he is not playing he is watching football. When he is not watching football he is playing Fifa, and when he is in bed and his wife is sleeping he is playing football manager 
. is just great.
Compared to some players where its a job, he is one of those players that lives and breaths the game.
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delighted with both new arrivals. Club done well to kinda keep it low key
I remember reading in the Athletic a piece about what the club look for in new players. It might have been geared more towards youth players (can’t remember exactly) but it still applies - Ljinders was quoted as saying it’s important that players love football, it’s something they actively look for.
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Agree entirely. I didnt mean to imply concern over the cost,it was more a reaction to the idea that came up that we went for Jota because Sarr had become too expensive. I get the implications of the way the deal was structured, but I don’t know this is a case of settling for a second choice.
For me the biggest challenge he has is overcoming the Ings effect. The expectations are so high for our front three that whenever anyone else steps in, ever, the standards they are required to hit for the fans to think them worthy replacements are insane.
It’s more like a Jedi mind trick, as after Edwards is done with you you still end up saying thank you.
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He is going to be a father soon, that might change a bit his priorities. 
Already is,isn’t he?
I wil never understand why we decided to give him a big new contract before he had even come back from his last bad injury.
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