Gini Wijnaldum (CM) - PSG

I see that too, obviously he’s a robust player.

I just also think we are not especially taking the mid to long term into account with the player, as it won’t be our concern.

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I wouldn’t say he’s fit, though.

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I’d argue he’s been playing because he’s the only senior midfielder that’s been available.

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I just don’t see Klopp thinking along those lines.

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Yes and no.

Don’t know the numbers but I believe Robbo played similar amount of games and minutes. There were opportunities to play Kostas or Milner. So similar treatment for Robbo and Gini.

In such a difficult season where we miss key players, with bad performances and results and everything going against us we should be happy to have 4th captain who never asked to be rested and never complained even if he won’t be here next season.

Gini is risking to cut his career short, risking to get injured a few months before he is out of contract and a few months before the EUROs (have to mention here that Netherlands missed out on the last World Cup and the last EUROs - so that might be the most important competition in his international career).

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He’s professional, yeah, we have to admire that.

But he’s certainly not the first player playing regularly with his contract running out.

He does have a bronze medal with Netherlands from 2014 when he was actually pretty much a regular starter. But yeah, the way his career also went so far, he’ll want to milk everything he can from these big competitions left and his next big contract in his career (which might be the first and last for him).

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Compare his attitude with Gareth Bale who confirmed that he is going back to Real to sit out his contract.

Done nothing all season and certainly thinking more about playing Golf while earning €30m a year than about the Club that made him big.

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Yeah, that’s a weird one. Real last season felt they could afford to do it, having about 12 offensive players on their books. Plus, Zidane is not a fan of him. I put more blame on Real in this case, who bloody gave him a 6-year(!) contract when they already had evidence of his injury problems back then.

Gini is being very professional, as was Emre Can when he was in his last season here. Can’t complain.

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Absolutely incorrect. We are running him into the ground simply because we have no other choice. FFS, even Milner got injured.

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The point is well made that we have limited choices in midfield, so Gini plays.
The point is also well made that Gini usually plays a lot anyway.
And the point is well made that Klopp cares about player welfare.

I agree with all that!

In addition, I also think that we aren’t overly bothered about overly playing him, as if he puts too many miles on the clock right now, it won’t affect the longer term for us as he’s off.

As a point of contrast, let’s consider Curtis Jones. The lad has missed a few games when most thought he would play. And he has also been subbed off early when his stamina and fitness is phenomenal.

Why?

I suspect it’s because we have the long term in mind for him. He will have many years in a Liverpool shirt to come, all being well.

Gini will not. I’m not saying we are abusing him, but we aren’t exactly managing him for the long haul either. Willing to admit I’m wrong in this, but it’s how I see it!

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Still hope he stays but the reality of it is he probably signed a contract with Barca back in January.

If I had entered into the last 6 months of my contract and my current club and they were showing no signs of offering a new contract or a contract that I wanted and another top level club came in for me offering me what I wanted - I’d probably have signed it already

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And if he is going to Barcelona, what a beautiful city to enjoy a stint as a wealthy, healthy, fella. Good luck to him!

Not certain it’s a done deal, but all signs appear to point that way…

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What do you guys think why our club did not yet confirm his departure?

Avoiding distraction and maybe a very small chance that he might stay??

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If he would have a pre contract agreement Barca would be the last club on earth to not leak this until now.

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There were some articles floating around a couple of weeks ago suggesting they were no longer after Gini. I don’t know how reliable those are. If true, could mean he is off elsewhere - but I’m going to cling to whatever I can in the hope he stays!

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Juventus are trying to cash in on Ramsey and Rabiot - two CMs they signed on a free. Wouldn’t surprise me if they are after Gini.

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You’d imagine he’d want his future secured. A leg break or an ACL going and he could find himself out the game for a year and at his age that could be that.

Pretty sure wherever he’s off to the deal is already in place.

Rory Smith made an interesting point on the recent TAW podcast. He suggested that FSG may be quite comfortable with letting him go given the difficulty of shifting high earning aging stars, especially in the current climate.

If Gini is looking for a significant rise and a four year deal then that’s a major investment in what will almost certainly be a depreciating asset. Given we already have Milner in that bracket, the captain approaching it and likely no market for Keita or Ox that would see a bid that would tempt us, Gini really isn’t an investment that makes huge long term sense from a financial perspective.

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Season going on, they don’t have to talk about it. In today’s world we’ll probably find out first through top sources. I don’t think the club have to announce anything really, it’s much more important that they’re prepared and are lining up his replacement. Maybe in the final game of the season Klopp or someone mentions it. His announcement might not come until after Euro’s. So nothing weird in my opinion.

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Not sure about Rabiot, but yeah, Ramsey is up for sale (weird transfer in the first place and it’s not easy to sell him with his age/injuries/wages). I think Barca will take Gini, but I also thought of Juve.

Is Ramsey still the highest paid British footballer?

Maybe the wrong thread but what went wrong at Arsenal that Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott and Ox have become so injury prone? Surely that’s not coincidence.

They were all so talented and tbh Ramsey had some world class games at Arsenal.