Strong rumours Arsenal are signing Zubimendi…
Are we not interested?
if rumours are true that arsenal have landed zubimendi for next season , that is a hell of a midfield filled with depth as well
But does nothing to address their actual issues. He’s essentially an upgraded Jorginho, who is out of contract in the summer.
For us I think the situation has changed with Zubimendi knowing in the summer he’d be arriving as the first choice #6. Now he’d come and arguably wouldn’t even be a starter, so the proposition likely looks a little better for him at Arsenal where Partey and Jorginho leave in the summer. Rice moves to an 8, Odegaard as the 10 and Zubimendi is the unquestioned 6.
We know he’s quite a cautious guy and I doubt he wants his move away from Sociedad, who he has been obviously reluctant to leave, to be for anything other than a guaranteed starting role.
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probably push rice to the 8 position is my thinking… its a good midfield
Their 4th dm in last 5 years.
Cb and dm addicted.
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This is his third season since we signed him. He’s literally come in at the age of 16, spent some time with the youth team, made a cup debut (i.e. what Danns did last season), and then in his next season, made a few more appearances, before losing the second half of his season to injury. He then went out on loan to Middlesbrough, and is getting rave reviews for that.
Nothing to do with him nor his prospects.
He’s done that far more than any other player we had in his age group bar Bobby Clark, who did at least have the whole of last season to contribute. Until his injury, Doak had far more of a contribution.
He’s at least 2 years younger than those names, and not to mention, in his first loan spell.
When he was 18??? Most of our current team were relative nobodies at the age of 18.
I don’t know what’s gotten into you but this is thoroughly uncharacteristic negative (and blinkered) from you.
They are spending money on the wrong thing. They should spend on ball research so that the ball can fly in the way they want it to.
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Don’t be daft. There is no need to make this personal. I just don’t see a pathway for the lad. I want him to do well, but I think the odds are stacked against him.
A big problem he has is that he is exclusively a right winger. That’s Salah’s position, and that’s a problem. If Salah stays, then he isn’t getting much of a sniff, and if Salah goes there is going to be a pressure to replace him with more than a twenty year old lad from the academy who has just done a year on loan at Middlesbrough.
There is talk that Liverpool would deal at £30m, which probably means £25m. I bet they wouldn’t take £25m for Trey Nyoni.
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Arsenal’s obsession with midfielders is like ours with forwards.
Saka out, Jesus out, Trossard stoned, Havertz…yeah.
Oh I know, sign Zubimendi!
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It’s a bit brutal, but I’m with Mascot on this one. There’s a certain window, as your star is rising and circumstances come together, but if you miss it, it is so hard to get it back, as everything moves on.
For young players - talented young players who have a chance to make it here, often it is an injury at a crucial time of development, and it is so difficult to get back into the Liverpool reckoning after that.
Kaide Gordon was highly touted. Got an injury. Or more. Didn’t really get back into the reckoning. He’s now on loan at Norwich and very few, or probably nobody, would say he will make it here.
Stefan Bajcetic - brilliant player. So good! In fact, as a youngster there were times when he was the best player on the pitch for us as he was breaking through. Very special. We all thought he would be a sure thing. Then injury strikes, and now it’s a toss up as to whether he makes it back here. He might, as he is a special player, but that’s not a given.
Ben Doak. Lots of buzz, doing so well. Gets to the fringes, gets injured. It’s a setback and he misses crucial development time. To be fair to him he is doing well on loan, such that Prem teams are offering real money for him. He will likely have a good career but it is doubtful that it will be with us. The door hasn’t closed on that though, not yet, so let’s see.
Anyway, my general point is we operate in very rarified air at the top. A heck of a lot of things need to come together for talented young players to break through into our set-up, and not just break through, but stay with us afterwards for a long time.
It isn’t impossible, but the odds are very small.
Most will fall short, but that doesn’t mean they won’t do a good job elsewhere, and make a very good living from the game.
My take on Doak is we should sell if we don’t think he will make it to the very top with us, but we should protect our interests with a sell on, just in case we get it wrong. I am struggling to think of a young player we let go who we were wrong about.
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It’s not a personal attack. I genuinely feel as though your response is a lot measured.
I’m saying the word “blinkered” specifically because you seem to not be acknowledging that he’s still a really young player, and on the exact same pathway that the other players who have made it out from our academy have undergone.
Look at our academy graduates with more than double digit appearances in the first team from the beginning of the Jürgen era until now (cut-off chosen because I think it’s roughly around the time when such pathways became largely standardised):
- Sheyi Ojo – bought at the age of 17, went out on loan after 6 months with us, spent the next (calendar) year being out on loan before being recalled and given first-team appearances. Then suffered a back injury causing him to miss his next season, and being sent on loan repeatedly until his contract expired.
- Trent Alexander-Arnold – speaks for himself, no loans because he came into the team and performed right away.
- Ben Woodburn – spent two seasons around the first team before going out on loan, but again being sent repeatedly on loan.
- Curtis Jones – spent pre-season with us in 2018-19, before making his debut in the FA Cup for his sole appearance that season. 12 appearances across all competitions in 2019-20.
- Harvey Elliott – spent 2019-20 with us, making 2 league appearances and 6 cup appearances and flitting between the first team and the youth team, before going to Blackburn on loan.
- Neco Williams – made his debut at 18 in 2019-20, 6 league appearances out of 11 total that season, and 6 of 14 the next season before going on loan.
- Rhys Williams – sent out on loan to 6th tier Kidderminster Harriers in his first senior season before then making 19 appearances with us the next season.
- Tyler Morton – made debut with us, playing 9 games with two league appearances, before being sent out on loan twice and then being retained for this season with loans and bids supposedly being rejected this past transfer window.
- Conor Bradley – as above, made his debut with us with a handful of cup appearances, before being sent out on loan to League One and then coming back to make regular contributions off the bench.
- Stefan Bajčetić – made his debut with us, played 19 games, before being injured the next season getting only a handful of games, and then being sent out on loan to Austria.
- Bobby Clark – made his debut with us aged 17, playing only two games and then another 12 the next season before being sold.
- James McConnell – made his debut with us aged 19, playing just 10 games. Was supposed to be loaned out this season if not for injury, if I’m not wrong.
It’s been the rare example (just Clark, really) that they’ve been let go in some way or another before 20, let alone after an injury.
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Nope.
You don’t know this.
Yes they have.
I’m hypothesising.
In your opinion. I support the club, not Richard Hughes so I don’t care about a business person possibly getting their nose put out of joint. Not like he’s proved anything anyway.
You’re the one talking about how Hughes would get offended. No one else has said that.
And structure matters because our success wasn’t built on arbitrary decisions, but you do you.
Its a deal for the summer.
Clearly he just didnt want to join us so weve wasted all summer on it.
The mountains of North London should appease him.
Anyhow I saw 10 games of him after we tried to sign him and if I’m honest I wasn’t that bothered.
He’s also got a Lego man haircut.
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Good points here. The more I witness Zubi’s path the more convinced I am that the mentality will be an issue at a top top club. I think he’s a class player and would’ve no doubt been a solid acquisition; however, he’s always been a big fish in a small pond. Arsenal need a starting 6, and it does make their midfield “better” on paper, but I really question if that is there best use of 60M euros up front…. There problem are goals…. He doesn’t score many
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I would assume a lot of his goals are penalties too as that’s what I noticed in the games I watched.
Number 6’s can go under the radar and we certainly need options in that middle mind you I wonder if we want someone more versatile considering the way Grav has come on.
You appear to be referencing my comment about Hughes putting in his resignation, and so for clarification I too have no affinity for Hughes personally, beyond the reality that Liverpool are best served by a happy and successful Hughes. My point was to highlight the actual job responsibilities of the two men to call bullshit on the story.
Do bosses sometimes step over their direct reports to do high profile bits of their job for them? Sure. Very rarely in well functioning organizations/teams though. The whole thing just appears like an account engagement farming
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It was no slight on you, just don’t want words put in my mouth.
Fully believe it’s all rubbish anyway so kind of regretting starting this now.
I’m not sure the point you are trying to make here, but it notable that the two biggest successes from that list were not loaned. They were dropped straight in a young age.
The loan pathway (which I’m not disputing exists) has been more often used to get players experience and exposure to facilitate a sale, rather than a squad role at Liverpool.
From the list of players you mention, three of them have gone on to have a squad role at Liverpool (Morton, Bradley and Elliott). Of those I think it’s a little disingenuous to mention Elliott, as I think he was bought for a decent fee wit the first team in mind.
The majority of those players are either no longer at the club, or their futures are very much in the balance