The Unreliable LFC Transfer Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 3)

When Salah goes toAFCON frimpong will more than deputise for him and it would be interesting to see Bradley and him on the same side of the pitch.

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More than deputise for one of the greatest players of all time?

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Tbf Slot has said he’s planned to have Chiesa here next season. The rumours around him are more to do with he fact he wants game time and wants to play for Italy in the world cup next year

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I think the expectation of that is Slot would only legitimately want him here next year if there was an expectation that he’d be able to contribute more, and surely enough that concerns about the Italy team dissolve. So the questions are

  • how much stock should be put in Slot’s public comments? Are they a reflection of his real position or more political (protecting his transfer value)?
  • Assuming they are authentic, does Chiesa buy them and see a path to getting enough game time?

A huge part of me would be really disappointed in him leaving as there is clearly a good player in there, his attitude has been top notch, and for most of the season his absences were easily explainable for reasons other than Slot not rating him. But it became harder to hold onto the position that he had a part to play with as little as he was used in the meaningless games.

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Agree.
Partly cause there’s a good player there and mostly the fact that he’s got a banging song which can’t stay out of my head.

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Re game time, he will have a favourable chance when Mo’s off at the AFCON. His natural competitor would be Frimpong in that slot I imagine.

I also think that Slot learnt a very valuable lesson last season regarding the requirement to rotate more to keep the team fresh for the greater demands in the English game. He’s said as much himself, so we may start seeing Mo rested for ā€œeasierā€ PL games when we have midweek CL action also. Or Mo being hauled off before the end of the game, which is always…fun.

I’m with you, it would be disappointing if he leaves, and as Sith says, a banging song to boot.

All that said, if he’s transferred out, I imagine it’s at a higher fee than we paid for him. We’re at a bit of a win win I feel.

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Yeah, plans are one thing, Chiesa’s wishes are something else.

He will surely not want a similar situation like last season. Either he stays and plays more or he goes. I think he’s closer to leaving than staying.

Italy look at Chiesa as one of their key players when he’s fit and he’s not even playing enough to be in their squads.

His reputation is surely still pretty high in Serie A as well. No way he will remain a Liverpool 5th or 6th forward for a long time, it’s not enough.

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This is my concern as well. Credit to club for being able to develop a lot of these kids to the level where club can make a significant profit on them while giving them the opportunity to play football at a high level but I’d like to see more of them breaking into the first team. The place seems cursed with injuries, though, a lot of these kids are getting some rather serious ones just as they are about to kick on.

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That’s where a 2 club model helps.

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What I don’t get with Chiesa thing is even after the title was wrapped up he only got 70 odd minutes (8, 0, 63, 0) in four games. That 63 minutes against Brighton was about 60% of his total league minutes for the season.

Slot can say he wants him around but even with nothing on the line he barely played him.

I’d be happy letting him go back to Italy and picking up a young developmental type player instead. Or just give Doak the spot in the squad instead even if you don’t think he’s a long term option.

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When finished our transfer window last summer, I said we have on paper the best attack in the league.

Not liking a struggling Nunez (though 18 goals and 15 assists was pretty good in 23/24) aside, look at the 6 players we had assembled for 3 forward positions:

All internationals, all at least posing some sort of danger in their own way, all at least mobile if not fast, all can score goals and almost all of them can play in at least one position.

Reputation wise, that was an impressive little group.

With Chiesa though, I thought he could be more delighted with the move here than us.

And I felt it might be hard to keep all 6 happy for a long time.

Whether it’s 5 or 6 (I don’t want 4 or 7), I hope we keep striving for having that sort of quality and depth going forward.

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We did just win a title with 4 academy players in the first team squad. I dont think we can reasonably complain about not seeing enough get their shot. I just think that in this present moment out best kids are likely not developed enough to provide much support this coming season.

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DiMarzio says that Napoli are negotiating with Chiesa’s agent. Not sure if this warrants a thread on its own, though, but there are more and more reports of Chiesa leaving Liverpool this summer.

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Hope he stays to be honest. We can file under Litmanen, Sahin if not. Players who could have lit us up, but just didn’t get the chances.

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I think I didn’t express my thought correctly - it was more of a lament over their misfortune with injuries, rather than lack of quality or chances afforded. I don’t have data to compare that amount of injuries to their counterparts at Man City, Man United, Chelsea etc. but I have enough reasons to worry about their long-term prospects looking at the amount and severity of injuries these lads are suffering. Even Jones, a well established first team member now, has had his fair share of injuries that got me thinking if he’d ever be able to consistently play for Liverpool.

File under ā€˜was maybe worth a gamble but not good enough’

Go ahead and start the thread.

I do think he’s leaving fwiw although I would want him to stick around this season considering salah has the Afcon.

We don’t know that because he never got the chance to prove himself.

If we do end up selling him, it’ll be a shame and a waste, especially if he ends up at Napoli with that prick, Conte reaping the benefits of all the work the club physios and himself put in.

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People seem to forget when making this point Slot was seeing him day in day out in training. Thats more than likely where the reluctance to play him comes from.

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There were also a number of comments from Slot early last season about taking our time to get his fitness levels up to where the rest of the squad was at due to struggling with injuries post knee surgery, and would likely befit from the time focusing on his fitness this season, so there is a strong chance that he wasn’t in the best and needed that extra time to get his body right.

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