Confusing reports about whether or not he’d sign an extension to progress there a bit longer. But the club might need to sell him now for funding with the France league finance situation. If he’s interested in developing more then Klopp is a good choice!
I just always assumed he’d go to Real because of Zidane (and the age of their midfield), but dont think I’ve seen anything concrete about their interest.
Anyway, a topic for a different thread.
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Guess we are making sure he is recovered from those 2 injuries.
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Might be getting measured up for an exoskeleton before he comes to a club that does to CBs what a potato masher does to potatoes.
Interesting news about Konate. If we are satisfied about injuries, and the club will obviously have way more info and expertise than fans on that score, then let’s pass comment on the rest of it, and trust the injury homework has been done.
As a player I see Great height. Good in the air. Excellent pace. Proactive in the tackle. Decent with the ball at his feet. Can bring it out into the midfield too.
There’s a hell of a lot to like about the player. I would be happy if we did it.
Beyond that, what about the other central defenders? Lots of question marks to be honest. Van Dijk comes back and is the lynchpin. Will he come back and instantly be at his best? Or will he need some time to play his way back into it? Gomez is an excellent Prem defender. How serious is his knee injury? Will he be the same? Matip is a very good player but we can’t get him on the pitch. The notion of selling seems fanciful, given injury record. Kabak has come in and done a decent job, very much being thrown in at the deep end and needing to get up to speed quickly, without the usual bedding in period. Philipps has exceeded expectations but will probably be sold? Williams has exceeded expectations too, but will probably be loaned and might not have a future at Liverpool due to pace?
Will we buy Konate and Kabak? Maybe! We bought two goalies at the same time. And we have bought two central defenders at the same time before. Was it Scales and Babb?
If we did buy both it will be VVD, Gomez, Konate, Kabak and Matip. Too many? Probably, if they are all fit. But with all the fitness question marks maybe we will complete both deals. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
We need a midfielder and a striker too. I hope we do all we humanly can to push for a good summer in the market, so we emerge from covid with momentum. I think the risks of being too cautious are greater than the risks of extending ourselves, relatively speaking. I’m not advocating recklessness though.
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If all fit… I like the quality and depth of VVD, Gomez, Konate, Matip and Kabak… Not to mention Fabinho in a pinch…
Add the midfielder and Striker… We should be seriously going all in for a treble next season.
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break the bank and go for David Alaba from Bayern M. This lad can play any position and he can shoot from distance and good/great with free kicks. He’s 28 now and as far as I know, is not injury prone.
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He’s terrible in the air, which appears to be something we are after.
Henchoz and Hyypia
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Kolo Toure (cover option who starts when others unavailable but good enough to not let us down=Kabak) and Mamadou Sakho (player that is in theory the new starter if all goes well even when everyone else is available = Konate). We also brought in Ilori that Summer too.
@RedOverTheWater I don’t think five senior CB is too many, given the context
- VVD, Gomez and Matip will be coming from a long lay-off and it’s not certain at what point they will regain full form.
- Matip is brittle and Gomez suffers a serious injury every other year.
- We don’t know how quickly Konate will adapt to the Premier League.
- We don’t know how high the ceiling is for Kabak.
- When fit, it will allow us to rest/rotate even the key players.
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Toure was at the end of his career and happy to be the option of the bench/experienced head. Kabak is 21.
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You still on your “players don’t want to be cover players” stance? You were campaigning thar for years regarding LB and a 4th attacker. No other club has trouble having players come in initially as cover. In fact neither do we. Its just some people think we do. Kabak for one will be a lot more open to the idea with no way of knowing when Gomez will be back to fitness and form.
Kabak can be confident that he can fight against the competition apart from Virgil. He can’t get any guarantees at this point in his career considering his quality. He’s still developing. I think in some positions and cases it’s pretty clear that you have a clear starter in your position, but in some others it’s up to the players who gets the shirt and who plays more often. But I still don’t see it; Konate/whoever + Kabak. I think we’re signing 1 CB this summer.
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Gomez can also play right back at a push. With a midfield that involves a Thiago the need for such a creative outlet on the right fullback position isn’t as great.
We’ve had Trent playing the right side of a back three at times this season (in possession). Gomez could do that.
Matip and Van Dijk are both 29… Central defenders usually mature around 24? So if you look at Konate and Kabak at 21 and need 3 years to be even at the start of what we’d call “norm” then Matip/Van Dijk are 32 and will need their minutes managing.
Looking at City our direct rivals - Laporte, Dias, Ake, Stones, Garcia… I appreciate Garcia hasn’t played much and will leave in the summer but for this season he is an option and I expect City to replace him with another young defender. So 5 if we can afford it is probably the depth we need.
I personally think there are big concerns around Gomez and the amount of injuries he’s sustained at only 23.
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I think Gomez’s days as RB backup are more or less over, at least under Klopp. We have Neco and probably Millie for one final season as a versatile backup player. On City, Garcia was always going to leave as he rejected any deal and wanted to go back to Barca. I don’t think they’ll sign a CB this summer, they have a settled 4 now with Stones being brought back to life.
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I think people are too over optimistic on when Gomez will return and how quick he’ll be back to match fitness and form. We might not see anything significant from him next season.
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We are almost certainly in the market for a quality a CB,but I wonder if we already have him in Kabak.
He is young and is looking pretty decent.
Konate would be nice but the injuries record has to be a concern.He is young and may overcome the issues,bit it would appear to be a bit of a punt!
Where have you heard that?
A lot has been made of Konaté’s injury record, both on this forum and elsewhere. I’m sure that all involved at the club will have done their homework, all the more so after what transpired with Fékir in 2018.
Once bitten, twice shy.
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