Depth becomes a money sink if it includes players who are not going to play. Taki the cup king didn’t even get on the bench for the FA cup final. The idea of moving on a group of players who are not even on the fringe is to make room for one or two new players who might compete for minutes better and give us more effective depth, even if it means a player or two less in the first team. Maybe if we had that we could have spread the burden of those 63 games out across the group more equitably so we didnt find ourselves crawling down the stretch the way we did.
FWIW, I like Taki and am not ready personally to give up on him as I think there have been a lot of extenuating circumstances that have made his adaptation challenging. But also at this level you have to take your opportunity when presented and he done so only fleetingly. My perspective on him is not based on a desire to see him leave, but only an acceptance that it possibly makes sense for all parties, and i the context of our squad and what moves we would benefit from making, it definitely makes sense for us. I dont know who was next down on our list behind Luis Diaz for forward targets, but whomever it was if he was to come and make anything like the impact Diaz has, then we would be significantly stronger next season for having that new player than if we were last season with Origi and Taki.
Believe we paid about £10m for him via a short term release clause when Haaland was available for ~20m but he was felt as more suitable and it was described as a ‘sure thing’ as even if he didn’t work out we’d be able to resell him for much more…
Hopefully we won’t see any more opportunistic ‘good value’ signings (like Taki and Shak) and we stick with our much more successful bought for purpose approach.
Best of luck Taki and hope you score lots against cheaty and help your new team take points off them. You did your job and helped in the cups, YNWA.
Why? They came in, made great contributions on our way to winning things, and were good options at a time when no one were going to displace the front 3.
Haaland was a no-go for Liverpool when he was leaving Salzburg. As Klopp said himself: as soon as Dortmund came in with their complete package (starting spot, CL, regular top 4 team, good league, good playing style for his qualities), nobody else had much of a chance.
And yet when we played the final of the competition in which his performances played a big role in our progression he did not even make the bench. You may think he deserved more games, but in the opinion of those who make those decisions that is his reality. This is what his performances earned him. In the context of why he might want to move (n (the context of this part of the discussion) that is a pretty clear and understandable motivation.
Again, I like him and would be happy for him to stay, but I understand why he’d be ready to try something new and can see the advantage to us for giving him that opportunity - move on a couple of fringe players who struggle to make the bench and replace with a single player capable of challenging for a starting role.
Surely he knew before he signed he was only ever going to be used as a bit part player (in the league anyway), if he does end up leaving he should feel proud of what he’s accomplished here.
He’s a hell of a finisher and hope he does carry on playing in the Prem.