I could see anything from 0-4 forward changes in the summer, for different reasons. I would say Gakpo is the closest thing to a sure thing of being here next season. You could make a case for pretty much any of the others leaving, for different reasons.
Salah - contract expires.
Nunez - Slot might prefer the transfer fee to reinvest in a player he fancies more.
Diaz - needs a new deal on better terms, or he might be sold. Good player, but the raw numbers aren’t all that good, and Slot might prefer to reinvest the dough.
Jota - probably stays, good player, injury prone, so it is unlikely anyone would give us enough to tempt us. And if he stays, great, as he is a good player.
Chiesa - we are taking a long time working with him to get him up to speed, but between now and the end of the season he needs to show us why he deserves to be here next season. Obvious quality, but he needs to show it.
We need those too. But not reinforcing the forward line this summer would be crazy - even if Mo signs he’s got ACN and we can’t just expect him to repeat this season.
Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal are targeting Liverpool’s 28-year-old Colombia forward Luis Diaz, who is also interesting Barcelona . (Todofichajes - in Spanish)
We were linked with him before he joined Tottenham; I’m sure that if our interest had been real, we’d have “done a Diaz” and secured him before he went elsewhere.
He’s a quality player, but his injury record is a tad disconcerting.
Same applies to Isak: class but apparently fragile. And, given that Liverpool’s opponents are given carte blanche to foul our players at will, they’d both probably pick up even more injuries here.
VdV is incredibly fast, but he has been getting injured quite a bit. I don’t know if it is an unlucky phase, but what I do know is there is a long list of players who have overly relied on pace, only to be way less effective once the hammies start twanging.
Huijsen just looks so accomplished in all aspects of the job. It is ridiculous to say that, as he is so young, but he is taking to it like a duck to water and the eye test just says he has what it takes.
Depending on how much the defense evolves in the next year or two - is Virg signing a new deal? is Trent? is Konate going to end up at PSG? is Gomez going to move on to try to play more regularly? - we might be uncomfortable having too many youngsters back there.
Hato/Kerkez
Huijsen
Quansah
Bradley
Hypothetical line up, and while there’s a lot of talent there, you probably want some more maturity in there too.
Sounds like PSG is poised to swoop for Konate according to some outlets. If we lose both Van Dijk and Konate that’s both our starting CB’s gone by next summer. That is a big concern and will need top tier replacements on defence if it happens.
Nunez is most likely to be sold if we can recover a big chunk of his fee. We can reinvest that in Isak.
Diaz has been rumored to Barcelona for a long time. I don’t mind selling to them and reinvesting in a young up and coming player in their early 20’s to develop behind Gakpo.
Salah. I really hope we can extend him. But if we can’t that’s going to be the biggest LOSS in terms of finding a quality replacement. It’s gonna be hard without our Egyptian King, running down the wing!
