I still feel this isn’t going happen.
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Would love it to be a smokescreen for Edmond Tapsoba, but the dreaded AFCON would then enter the equation.
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I feel it’s too open for us, wouldn’t be surprised if he is on the list but I think we are still considering Kabak.
I would assume Matip’s injuries aren’t great, regardless I expect Phillips and Davies to leave.
It’s nothing to with being good enough.
The only reason why we’d be happy to say goodbye is his chronic injury problems. If he was reliably fit, nobody would be having a conversation about moving him on.
No-one is going to take him for exactly the reasons we’d be happy to see him move. You can’t have it both ways.
Football clubs are not run by fucking chumps. Even the ones that aren’t the best are not going to drop £10m and 100k a week on a player who can’t put three games together.
If a player of Matip’s ability is so injury prone that we looking to get shut, then he is so injury prone that other clubs are going to be avoiding him like the plague. That’s logical.
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We own his contract. That makes the thought process about how he can fit into your squad different than if you’re looking somewhere for a solution for your CB problems.
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Problem is it’s even hard to manage his game time as that third game will always result in an injury.
I think Matip will remain with us. Wages too high for someone else to take on the risk, and why would we pay him to be elsewhere? Might as well stick with him at that point and take whatever he can give us - which won’t be much, not because of his quality, but because of his injury record. Giving him a handsome new deal seemed a little misplaced, but that’s where it is.
So… what else? VVD to return as the kingpin. If we buy Konate he may well go to the top of the class alongside him. Kabak solid and decent, and may get in the conversation to partner VVD, but at the least, if we buy him, a dependable option with years of improvement ahead of him. Gomez? If he returns as good as before he will fancy his chances of being the regular partner for VVD. Some question marks over his big injuries, and how good he will be after this one.
Philipps? If we buy Konate and Kabak, sell. He has shown himself in the shop window and there will be suitors. If we only buy Konate and don’t complete the Kabak deal, keep Philipps, especially with question marks over long term injured players returning.
Davies… making up the numbers. Might be sold. Might keep as a league cup sort of option. Yet to see what he can do in a red shirt.
Williams? If we buy Konate and Kabak, sell. But he has done well and exceeded expectations. Mind you, the lack of pace tells me he won’t be anything better than a back up at Liverpool, whereas in the right set up, he could be a solid Prem defender elsewhere. Maybe the right loan will help maximize his value?
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I see us ending up with 5 CBs in the first team next season. VVD and Gomez will be the top 2 in the team. I believe we might sign one of Kabak or Konate definitely as the one pushing the top 2. And we will not get many better 4th or 5th choice than Matip especially with his dodgy injuries, he would play those roles well. I believe we will look to move 2 of Davies, Philips and Rhys with Philips, Davies, Rhys in order of preference for retention. If we manage to get a good sum for Matip then I guess we will get BOTH Konate and Kabak or such combination of other players
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I know how much talk there is on Konate it seems obvious he’s our main target but I’m wondering if we are being “Lewised”?
Lewis was all over the papers with our bids and as a target but turned out we were after Tsimikas first and foremost on the quiet and Lewis was the alternative, used almost to drive the Tsimikas bid down as much as anything else.
Actually with the release clause maybe it’s more like Werner, who everyone was convinced was our main target and we didn’t sign because we had no money but turned out we’d been watching Jota for a long time and signed him for much better terms and he was a much better player for us.
Konate also like Werner has a clause and if we really want it we can just do it. But maybe our alternative (and possibly higher priority) target is someone else? All this public talk may be putting pressure on another club who want/need to secure the deal of their star CB coming here. Maybe someone like Botman whose club are in severe dire straits and desperately need funds?
Will be interesting to see what happens. If Norwich had accepted our lower bid for Lewis I’ve no doubt he’d be here instead of Tsimikas and Werner not so demanding on wages and his club open to flexibility on payment structure maybe he’d be here instead of Jota. I don’t think these are false targets but I think it’s negotiating dark arts to let certain things be known publicly whilst the vast majority of activity gets kept quiet.
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So where’s the lean? I heard he already had his medical.
Maybe he failed
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I’m still mystified by the fact that there’s so much certainty around a player when it’s only April.
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Ibrahima Konaté | ‘His new club will not be Liverpool’ – Imminent Reds deal dismissed, currently ‘not an issue’
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Watched us last night and was like fuck that for a game of soldiers.
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Wouldn’t blame him lol
The only hole in that story is that Liverpool doesn’t have to ask any permission of the club they can simply trigger the players release clause.
Seems odd Ornstein would simply write the tweet he originally did only for it to be bad intel.
Sounds like the leaking of intent to sign him has made some other club/target behave in regards their negotiations and something is now resolved. At least that’s my guess.
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Wasn’t it Ornstein who said we were trying to sign another Suarez in Uruguay which the club have never admitted to?
Not sure if he is all that reliable.
Dunno. My main point was about that report. Confusing to read and I don’t think it was accurate.
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Well, we could activate the clause but it will only be applicable from a certain date. Until then we would need permission to approach the player - which could be what the call was meant to establish.
Also, presumably the clause would call for payment in full, while we might want to see if we can spread payments which would necessitate communication.
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