Theoretically Quansah did that last season, no? Although it’s more the case that he was the break glass option, and then he became effectively the first-choice partner to van Dijk towards the end of the season. I’d say that’s the ideal situation we’d have.
I definitely prefer the academy as opposed to bringing in a stopgap, but I suspect the main motivation of not doing the latter would be to avoid too much churn in a settled squad, especially when we changed manager at the same time…
I’d forgotten that we had Matip to begin with. Bringing them through the academy makes good sense provided they are getting regular game time and are not out of their depth, of course.
Given the number of younger players who would otherwise be on the fringes of the first team going out on loan, I’m guessing it was also a deliberate choice to have a slimmer, more settled squad for Arne to work with.
Otherwise we have 3 left-backs out on loan (although I think all 3 were injured at the same time at some point, and I believe Chambers and Scanlon are still injured), and 2 right-backs too. I think Nallo has made the bench quite a few games, so that’s centre-back covered too.
Hmmm…not the most unrealistic news and in all honesty, the price reflects the current form. Let’s see whether develops
Does the source even qualify as “unreliable” instead of “completely made up”?
Let me guess, it will be a loan deal with us covering all his wages til the end of the season, then rinse and repeat til his contract expires and they sign him on a free
There was an obligation to buy at 40mil. Not sure the club would entertain it, but just stating if true, it’s a deal that reflects his current form.
I think it is a repeat of a recent Sports Illustrated piece. AC Milan supposed to be interested. Loan fee now. Guaranteed sum in summer.
It probably reflects his current value, but personally I would keep.
One bugbear I have is these things are always reported as Nunez cost us 85M. I thought it was a good deal less, as the initial fee, with add ons taking it up to a potential 85M?
Which is to say we’ve probably put 70M into him in transfer fees, and on the books he is probably worth 40M after depreciation against the portion of his contract that has expired.
So if there is any merit in the AC Milan deal, it’s about a break even sort of deal for us, which isn’t altogether terrible as his form has been spotty and he is in and out the team.
I personally see so much potential, but it’s fair to say he has to score more, and on the evidence of his time under Slot so far, Nunez hasn’t exactly grabbed it with both hands.
I’ve added DaveOCKOP as an unwanted source, so any further posts that originate from that account will be deleted.
As for Milan reportedly looking to sign Nunez, that rumour originated (at least to my knowledge) from a portal called MilanTMN, I first saw it four or five days ago. I’ve never heard of that portal, for what it’s worth.
Actually for Nunez, the stats doesn’t seem to reflect a problem, he does not have the worst stats. However, he just doesn’t seem to get into that flow with the rest of the team sometimes. I always have a soft spot for players who are hardworking and humble and gets singled out at times so I hope he stays and kick ass but from a club perspective, they cannot be begrudged taking on a move especially if they have a replacement in mind
Oops. Never read that site before, I just pasted the first link after I googled that news. Noted!
I agree the numbers aren’t terrible, but it’s fair to say we are all hoping for more. I see the hard work and the speed and physicality. There’s a lot to build with if he stays, and I hope he does.
As for the news outlet, it was in Fichajes Italia, and also as a piece in Sports Illustrated by Neil Andrew. I doubt they are in the same orbit of reliability as Joyce or Ornstein, and I suspect it’s just rumor, it’s the season, but if there’s any substance, it will start to get legs.
Happy to sell Darwin for 40m but that happens in the summer not some sort loan now option. We are in with a good chance of only our second league title in 35 years; any club wanting to buy our players in January can fuck right off.
£21.34m of the £85.36m is in add-ons. The first £4.3m will come after Nunez makes 10 appearances. A further £8.5m will follow after 60 games with the final £8.5m to “depend on the individual and collective performance of the team throughout the contract.”
First two add ons were the easy ones and were completed quite early in his time here. The rest was so-so, because we haven’t won anything other than a League Cup (might change this season) and failed to qualify for the CL in one season.
I don’t think we’ll be too hard on a fee. Of course, we’ll have our own conditions and limits. But if we have a serious buyer and it’s also a good chance for Nunez, it might be in the interest of all parties to do it. Time is money.
Could be rubbish for now, but I’d be more than fine with the fees mentioned so far. We might start seeing more serious links as we approach summer.
Considering what happened to the last Liverpool #27 to go to Milan… Maybe not.
That’s Milan’s problem.
Yeah, same here. It’s a big hit but hopefully when that money is properly reinvested, some other player(s) will make up for it. Nunez isn’t a bad player, I’d be surprised if he didn’t do well in Spain, for example, but he’s just not a good fit for this Liverpool team.
Sort of but not really, but maybe yes depending on the point being put forward.
He was brought in alongside Matip in the 16-17 window when we already had Lovren, Gomez and Sakho on the books. But Gomez had missed all of the previous season with his ACL injury and was not expected to be back until the second half of the season and we would officially excomunicate Sakho within a week or so of Klavan signing, so that first season he was really only part of a 3 man group.
The following season we started the season on paper with 4 CBs and would add Virgil in Jan, but even though Gomez was back to fitness that year he played pretty much all his football as RB with Clyne picking up a long term injury in pre-season and Trent having only just broken into the first team. Klavan would be moved on the following summer, but by which time Trent was firmly established allowing Gomez to go back to being considered as primarily a CB leaving us that group of 4 we’d then go on to win the big prizes with.
What that says is probably what we’re still talking about - that if you dont have someone like Gomez you probably need to go and add an additional player.
I guess the 5 million will be paid over 20 years seeing as its an Italian club
And only if he plays 1000 full games for them