smacks to me of what people do to get some liquidity. Inflate the prices and have an agreement with some other club to buy for some favours later etc etc…
I know I shouldn’t be tempting fate and it’s not what we want but I’ve just got a feeling this will still happen this window. In the current economic circumstances we can’t let maybe €30m go for free in 9 months. If it was Alisson or Salah and the options where Adrian or Shaqiri maybe our chances of success would be so reliant on the player. But with Thiago, Henderson, Keita and Fabinho it’s not even clear if Wijnaldum would be a starter for us anymore. We have a rapidly developing talent in Jones and Milner both needing games on top of that as well as possibly still Ox who won’t play in attack as much now Jota has come in. If he goes we can definitely cope. I think a CB coming in so Fabinho isn’t needed in defence would be the sign to expect Wijnaldum to move on now or in the winter unless Ox goes. I only really expect him to still be with us come Feb if he has signed an extension. Which I still hope he does. Ideally our CM in 433 this season is;
“Offensive” 8/hybrid 8/10; Balanced option Keita, defensive option Wijnaldum, offensive options Jones and Ox, emergency option Milner.
If Wijnaldum and Ox both stay I think Milner doesn’t get much game time and leaves next summer along with (as it stands) Wijnaldum. But this season is more clustered so maybe we can go with a stronger than usual side.
@AnfieldRdDreamer I think the financial aspect will be addressed by the sales of fringe players like Grujic, Wilson, Karius etc.
As for the team selection, Wijnaldum is ahead of Milner, Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; for varying reasons.
If you are considering about competing on several fronts, in a very congested season, it’s better to have a dependable player than money in the bank or players with uncertain form or fitness.
With only Barcelona showing any clear interest, I don’t think we will actively seek to offload Wijnaldum.
He’s only ahead of Keita for certain roles and tasks. Not for taking the game to the opposition from midfield I’d say he’s fourth in line behind Keita, Ox and Jones when that’s needed in midfield. Likewise when defensive stability is needed in midfield Fabinho, Thiago and probably Henderson are ahead of him. When we need a ball recycler and carrier or two Wijnaldum is in contention as first choice but as Henderson, Thiago and Keita can all do that job to various standards I don’t think the loss would significantly damage us. It would force us to adapt our game a bit but that’s already been talked about as something we need to do and why we bought Thiago in the first place. Don’t get me wrong he stays and he’ll continue to be an important player used a lot. Just we will cope fine if he doesn’t.
There’s also the thing that the spanish govt gave them money to tide over the Covid crisis. So any transfers that they do make, They are going to have to pay the same amount back to the Govt too.
So what might be a reasonable 20M for Gini might not be feasible now.
I’ll translate…We need an excuse that helps us save face because Gini rejected us. What, no money? Well I guess that’s more palatable than being rejected, ok let’s go with that.
2025 is a bit too much if true and we’re not even talking about money yet. Would take him until he’s basically 35, because he’ll be 30 in two months.
With his career so far, athleticism and clean injury record, I’d trust him until he’s about 33. And then when he’s 32 and in his final year, I’d decide what to do next with him.
He’s good, especially in the last two seasons, when his reputation as a working midfield went up. But he’s not that good, to give him any contract.
) in 2017