At the risk of moving the conversation away from Gini/Thiago, if anyone has a sub with The Athletic, I highly recommend reading today’s article:
It sounds like Edwards is just the tip of the iceberg as far as our pioneering approach to analysis and recruitment goes.
It’s amazing how much slicker our operation is compared to United’s and Chelsea’s ‘stick a pin in it’ approach.
Trust in the club, they know what they’re doing.
The Thiago/Gini debacle is quite frustrating.
We have so many games in a short space of time (1 every 3 days sometimes) and lets not forget theres an international triple header coming up. Ox is permanently injured.
Keita, Shaq Henderson, Fabinho and Milner all missed a few games due to injury (in Shaqs case 3/4 of a season) so its not like our midfield are like our front 3 who hardly miss any.
Yes we have lots in midfield but its rare they are all available at the same time - plus we have lost Lallana.
@ZinedineBiscan is it possible to copy paste the article, if it’s not that big. It’s behind a paywall.
Another mod like @Hope.in.your.heart might be able to confirm, but I’m pretty sure TIA got in trouble before for people posting articles behind paywalls. It’s theft, basically.
Free articles are ok if you link to it where the author is credited, and don’t try to pass it off as your own work.
We will know more at the end of this month when we have played Leeds and Arsenal at home and Chelsea away. Furthermore, the Thiago/Wijnaldum saga probably will be solved by then.
Patience young grasshopper, patience and this is coming from one of the most impatience people of these boards. 
Understood. Appreciate the explanation.
Can we buy Thiago now? 
Where is the Tribus money, John?
Watch this space…
And there I was thinking we’d left the punupmanship at TIA
Actually, we’re trying to avoid making mistakes that Arsenal have made in handling out huge contracts to the likes of Ozil as their deal was running out, who they now don’t know what the fuck to do with.
There is the Ozil situation, and then there is the Aaron Ramsey situation.
I feel like Gini falls under the Aaron Ramsey category of player and contract situation.
Why? Because it suits you? If Wijnaldum is holding out for £400k per week then good luck to him on ending his career elsewhere.
Or do you think we should agree to any terms rather than risk losing players for free? Perhaps Ramsey was emboldened to demand excessive wages because he’d seen the club cave to Ozil?
I’d rather the club stuck to its guns, like it did with Can. It’s much better long term.
I do not think we should agree any terms or cave, i like Wijnaldum as much as the next person, but when there is a player like this sometimes it comes down to being straight and cutting it.
Can was a different case in which he knew for a long time, he was going to run down his contract like alot of other players and then leave to Juventus on a free.
Wijnaldum is a key member of the squad and therefore we should already be looking at a sucessor or have a sale plan for him so we can move on.
I will admit easier to say than to work it into practical appliance here. Besides anyway, we can only wait and see what the club decides. My only thing with the Wijnaldum thing is it would be nice if we could get something for it thats all.
The club doesn’t decide to receive a bid. If we haven’t received a bid yet – and Barça appear to be publicly speculating about low-balling us – what exactly do you want the club to do?
Wijnaldum’s contract situation is known to other clubs. He knows he has an offer from the club, who would prefer to re-sign him – but not at any cost. Under a certain threshold the player is more valuable to help us retain our title, and we can safely assume that threshold is the product of conversations between Edwards and Klopp.
As much as it would break my heart to see Gini go, I think we have to acknowledge that the club has a lot more information that us. They know what kind of contract to offer him, what we’ve got the scope to do, and crucially what kind of numbers he is getting in terms of what his effectiveness over the the next few years is likely to be.
I would imagine Gini is looking for a four year deal that will take him toward the highest earners at the club, and while Gine at 29 might be worth that, they’ve also got to consider if Gini at 33 is.
Here he is explaining space!
Mind blown!
In other news, I’m happy with fsg as our owners
I really like this post, and well written.
Part of the problem with fans is that we often think that everyone always wants to stay with the team we support. I think Gini has enjoyed his time here, but may have always have Barcelona on his brain, and now would be his only real time to go there and be productive.
This is a business… Gini has a contract and he’s always honored that (just as the club have) and he’s been a great professional. If he doesn’t like the terms in the contract that is offered, that’s his call, and if the club doesn’t want to give him what he wants, that’s their call too. It will work out and I can’t see either side being offended here as both seem reasonable.
I feel fairly certain that Wilson and Grujic will move this window. The one that has surprised me is the lack of offers for Shaqiri. But who knows.
I would also like to repeat what Prolix said about leaving pathways to the Academy Graduates. Not many will come through and be stars, but hopefully every couple years you can get a starter or regular sub. If you can get a “star” like Trent … that’s massive. We couldn’t afford to buy Trent right now if he were on the transfer market. Well we could, but we probably wouldn’t.
Is that all the ticking off he is going to get?