I’ll take liberties with this idiom (which I still haven’t learnt to use properly) and say: “I hope the half that regards his fitness record is nowhere near reminiscent of Matip.”
Wijnaldum is gone, one of AOC or Keita will likely go as well, so I imagine there’s logic in strengthening the midfield by getting midfielders to play there first and foremost! Phillips will likely make way as well and Davies will likely head out on loan for game time (please let it be Brighton…). Maybe Klopp is planning to let Neco go out on loan and use Gomez and Milner as cover at RB? I’d hate it but it’s not like he hasn’t done it before. Maybe the club have learnt that fitness issues of centre backs are more serious than previously thought? Matip is the obvious candidate for reduced playing time but I’ve read about Gomez’ injury, it was said to be one of the most dangerous that an athlete can suffer and that recovery rate isn’t high.
In that case, I could see Klopp going for unprecedented depth at CB and buying both Konate and Kabak but that’s really stretching it. That said, Schalke are going down, would it be impossible to have Kabak on loan for another season while they are in Bundesliga II?
I think with Schalke going down, they are not only hoping for money for Kabak, but are probably counting on it. I think Kabak goes somewhere this summer. With recent events, probably somewhere else. I don’t know who he was linked with last time, maybe Milan or some similar club.
I was talking to one of my LFC-supporting mates the other day, who has really high hopes for Kabak, and told him that I didn’t expect him to stay at Liverpool and that he will likely become a rather good player at some other club - in time. I wouldn’t put signing him past a club like Dortmund or Sevilla but I also can’t guess whether Edwards has a plan for him in his 4D transfer chess. They’ve already banked some money for McKennie, I really was surprised to see them loaning out their two young assets without any obligation to buy. Strange club…
That’s exactly right. I posted something similar when we talked about Konate a few months back and someone raised the injury concern. I understand why people would be nervous but this is a great move if it happens. I’m all in for the player.
If we sign Konate though we might need to sign cover for the new head of recovery and performance. Otherwise the guy will be run into the ground harder than Bobby Firmino trying to keep all these injured players in check.
I can’t remember where i heard or read of it, but it was suggested a year or so ago that Summer 21 was intended to be our big summer window for recruiting. It’s probable that the events of this season may have steered things in a different direction to what we were expecting but perhaps the aim will still be to spend a lot, just on different targets to what we were expecting.
I think it’s important to bear in mind that this would also have included various assumptions about which players we’d be open to selling and for how much. Selling at least one of the front three by the end of this summer would almost certainly have been a major factor in the club’s thinking here.
This is almost certainly to have been impacted by the last twelve months.
Yes, quite likely - I think it is still possible the club may have been considering to buy without selling one of the front 3 - but the expected market value of players like Origi, Wilson and Shaqiri will have probably fallen quite a bit over the last 12 months.
I think our CB lineups will be VVD, Gomez, Matip, one of Philips and Davies and one of Kabak or whoever we decide to buy along the lines of young but already at a good level, preferably as good as Gomez if not better. I don’t think we will buy 2 CBs with huge investments like Kabak and Konate. We might if we move Matip on, which does not seem likely.
Klopp could also be looking at playing 3 at the back also, so losing a midfielder doesn’t hurt as much and Robbo/Trent would get more freedom as wingbacks.
They’ve already banked some money for McKennie, I really was surprised to see them loaning out their two young assets without any obligation to buy. Strange club…