There was an interesting point made on the Wrap yesterday about Contract renewals. A lot of the spine of the team are coming towards their last two years
At the end of this season Van Dijk, Salah, Mane, Henderson, Fabinho, Firmino, Keita, Ox and Shaqiri (Last three probably a bit more dispensable) all enter the last two years of their deals. Gini expires this summer. Milner next year.
Then at the end of next season, Trent, Robbo, Thiago, Gomez and Alisson will need new deals.
Obviously we might decide to cut a few of those lads before the renewals need doing, but in general weâre going to have to put a lot of money into keeping this team together. Over the next two years. And a lot of those contracts (Iâm thinking Van Dijk, Mane, Salah, Fabinho, Alisson, Firmino, Hendo and Thiago) are going to need to be massive, given their age and the status in the game they have grown to.
Thatâs exactly what I think as well, at least as far as transfer money for new players is concerned. There wonât be any new incomings in January, thatâs for sure.
A lot of those mentioned are going to be the wrong side of 30 by the time those contracts need renewing. Wouldnât be surprised to see a few of them at an impasse, maybe something similar to Gini atm.
Thatâs why I was surprised with the last transfer window, now I would be even more surprised. Signing a Jota equivalent level CB is a unreasonable ask from a financial perspective.
To be honest it was said last time and then we committed on Jota and Thiago.
I think it is there if Klopp wants to use it upfront, it really depends if our targets are there, I think reinforcements are needed in defence, though you wonder if Matip for 3 weeks is a bargaining tool.
I do expect to bring someone in but he will be a stop gap.
I think we have the money if the right player for the right price becomes available. Got to trust Edwards to carry on doing good work.
Clearly the books wonât be looking good given Covid. But the market will reflect that, and there will be clubs that need to offload players to keep the club finances in the black.
Would also be helpful if we can offload a couple and bring some money in - Big Div being the prime candidate to bring in a few quid.
Why? We havenât done significant shopping for several seasons now and most/all the planned payment instalments for past purchases have probably been met or coming to an end.
I get the feeling that that was deliberate prudent financial planning to spread the payment over a few seasons rather than it was forced on us. I mean, because of the lack of income, why wouldnât we not want to pay later if we could negotiate it.
Itâs normal to spread a transfer fee over 3-4 instalments, however there was something about the way we approached our business this summer that makes me think we havenât much cash.
We bought Tsimikas early on, but only after selling Degsy for a similar amount.
We waited a long time for Thiago, before agreeing to (IIRC) a ÂŁ5m down payment. Then bought Jota for a down payment of ÂŁ10m with Hoever going in the other direction for about that.
I genuinely think there is not very much money knocking about, or the club are trying to be very careful, not knowing when revenues are going to be back pre-COVID.
Other teams, like Everton and Spurs. Loaned money to fund their moves.
This for me. The owners are very careful business men. Thatâs not to say funds arenât and wonât be in the bank just that they are being cautious and not using them if they donât have to. Iâd say sorting a deal this Jan for a CB comes under a need.
We have lost the matchday revenue due to COVID and maybe some assorted commercial revenues (ads inside the stadium etc.). So we have lost a sizable chunk of our revenue and we havenât taken any loans to finance the operation. Itâs bound to have some impact on our purchasing power.
