That didnāt happen either. The data team presented Mo and Brandt as the best two options available to them. Jurgen was initially excited about Brandt for obvious reasons, but the data team had a clear preference for Mo. He was younger, meaning he was on a trajectory with likely a higher peak, and going to be cheaper, because he came with a label of already being a prem failure. So they put a presentation together for Klopp to argue why Mo was the best fit available and Klopp said great.
Graham gave an interview only a couple of weeks where he directly addresses this story - the presentation pitch bit starts around 8 mins in, but the bits before there are interesting as well. He explicitly says Jurgen had the final say, as he always did, and had he have chosen to go with Brandt it would have been fully backed by the data team. He was just convinced by the argument they made to him about Mo being the best choice, which Graham puts down in part to the confidence theyād earned with their success in the prior summer.
Did I ever tell you about the time I caddied for the Dalai Lama?
So I jump ship in Hong Kong and I make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas.
A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them Iām a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, baldā¦ striking. So, Iām on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galungaā¦ gunga, gunga-lagunga. So we finish the eighteenth, yāknow, and heās gonna stiff me, yāknow? And I say, āHey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know.ā And he says, āOh, uh, there wonāt be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.ā So I got that goinā for me, which is nice.
I like Ekitike but not for the rumored 100m euros. I feel heās probably worth closer to 70m euros (ie 50-55m pounds). But we have competition from Chelsea for his signature so his pricetag will likely get boosted by that. Iām guessing he will cost us closer to 65m pounds or 80m euros if we actually try to sign him.
I donāt know. If heās the right player then the fee (assuming we can afford it!) is really less important than the impact he can make. Darwin would not be worth keeping around longer if he was āonly 40mā instead of 70m.
So weāre replacing one of our established first-team players with someone unproven in the league and who would be playing on the wrong side?
(Lukeba is left-footed)
If we splash out big on a central defender this summer, itāll be Virgilās eventual replacement. That player will start off as third choice CB and will step into the starting lineup when either Ibou leaves next summer or Virgil starts to decline.
Obviously, theyāll get plenty of game time this season, but I mean as the undisputed starter.
