Rafa "If you want to buy Gerrard and Carra these days you are looking at Ā£200mā¦Ā£180m for Gerrard and Ā£20m for Carraā¦ 
Unbelievable what goes on behind the scenesā¦
Not sure where I fully stand on airing dirty laundry in public. Itās interesting in a way, and it doesnāt harm anything currently, as itās all old news. Still, Alonsoās star is rising, and it is possible he will be a future Liverpool manager, so the Arsenal agreement perhaps doesnāt need to be said. Might be a little barb from Rafa, who probably suffered from slightly worse PR in relation to the man he actually is.
Maybe I need to listen to the longer piece, but it doesnāt seem to change anything about the story we all already knew. If anything it shows how much more fucked about Xabi was by the club to ask him to go and find an exit for himself and then once he found one still require him to do something that would make him much less valuable to the club trying to buy him in a way that would risk the move collapsing.
Feel for Carra there, fighting a losing battle trying to stop Rafa rambling and going off on his 500th tangent 
Some interesting tidbits though around Alonso, the āfactsā press conference and picking his recent clubs.
Andre Wisdom signs for Derry City
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2024/0821/1466065-former-liverpool-defender-wisdom-joins-derry-city/
https://x.com/FCRBS_en/status/1826563715325673636
https://x.com/RedBullSalzburg/status/1826598114024927291
https://x.com/RedBullSalzburg/status/1826577710841270543
This thread is going to be very lively this season.
Iāll be watching Carvalho, Clark and VdB with interest.
Were we maybe a bit too hasty in selling him?
I wonder if a season loan to Brentford might have been better to let us see how he handles the Premier League at a club without the weight and expectation that comes with pulling on a Liverpool shirt?
Don @Nikola strikes again. Imagine if Chelsea had such a poster 
Thereās no impetus for Brentford to give him regular minutes if he was taken on loan.
If he is good enough to imrpove their team they surely wouldnāt have him sitting on the bench would they?
Whatās going on with Thiago? Some tax issue means heās got to stay in Liverpool? It seems like any time a player arrives in Barcelona weird shit happens.
Maybe give him a coaching role?
Iām guessing itās related to the tax year in the UK being April-March whereas in Spain it is January to December. I thought double taxation laws accounted for these, but obviously not. It sounds like he needed a better accountant.
A complete side track, but I was just reading through Hansard to see my new MPās maiden speech. Itās all rather dull but he mentions Alan Hansen:
As a football fan, it would be remiss of me not to mention one of Sauchieās favourite sons: multiple European cup winner, Scottish internationalist and respected pundit Alan Hansen. I know that the House will join me in expressing relief at his recovery from a recent health scare.