Was watching the latest Anfield Wrap video earlier and they said links to Ollie Watkins have resurfaced. Looks like via Neil Jones;
Personally, I think he’s alright, but I’m not sold on him. Doubt we’d get him for less than £40m either.
I’d rather see another season out of him to be fair.
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I think they paid 30 odd for him so 40 is probably a bit low. Can’t see it.
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So newest rumor is Ollie Watkins. Will probably cost at least 40m cos he’s English. Is he worth it? Can he be the next #9 for LFC?
I don’t see value in Watkins at this point. For top Prem clubs like us we can buy these players, and the Patson Daka’s of this world, as they are about to make the step up. We know about them, but coming to Liverpool, to sit on our bench, and play here and there, instead of going to the likes of Villa or Leicester, might not be the best move for their development.
But to buy them after looking good for a mid ranking Prem team is not a value proposition, unless they turn out to be world beaters in their position, like VVD.
Right now Watkins is decent, but would be too expensive for what he brings. Unless Villa do some sort of swap deal, Wilson and Origi for example, I can’t see us shelling out the 50M or so they would probably want. And swap deals are very rare.
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Would prefer Tammy for a No.9. But Watkins plays a touch deeper, false 9ish.
Neither really appeal compared to Mbappe.
Harvey Barnes links again too, unsure on him. Just a bulkier Dan James.
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Abel Xavier
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Neil Jones has never really had any kind of in at LFC, his best period was when James Pierce would feed him the riskier, more speculative and more controversial pieces that James wasn’t willing to risk running with whilst he had an in with Brendan.
Neil Jones doesn’t even get the brief when we are about to sign someone let alone when we are assessing possible targets like he likes to make out and pretend to be a knowledgeable source on. He’s just looking what’s out there and guessing. People on this forum sometimes have better accuracy rates.
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I don’t think Malen’s been linked properly with us, but just to throw it here, Romano says that Dortmund’s first incoming moves after the sale of Sancho would be Malen and Halstenberg.
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Watkins seems a good, hard-working striker. Misses a lot of chances but gets into right positions and bags a good few in the end.
However, at this stage of our Klopp journey and with all our challengers improving I would love us to make a Torres/Suarez-type gamechanging signing. Not Watkins. Wishful thinking I know
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He also wouldn’t get the time he needs to round out his game here.
I’d hope we are looking for a more flexible type of forward, someone who can play both sides… Salah easily can transition more centrally for example. It gives much more opportunities for minutes, whereas Watkins is really just a no.9 and we don’t play 442 so never a need for 2 no.9’s.
He also can’t get into the England team ahead of Calvert-Lewin, both similar ages and Calvert-Lewin is a cart horse…
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I think this speaks to the problem of recruitment at Liverpool. At the level we are at, the pool of players who would genuinely improve us is actually quite small. Are they don’t come cheap.
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I wouldn’t be disappointed if we went with Watkins. I remember mentioning him after we played AV in April. Perhaps not quite good enough but worth a punt imo. I respect the general view he’s not good enough and hasn’t the complete skill set required however he was the most interesting candidate I remember from last season.
Watkins is a good potential but Villa will not let him go for less than 60mil. They are in control with the contract length and he is not worth anything near that, so I guess it’s out.
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No thanks to Watkins just feels like an Andy Carroll buy great at a mid table club where he has minimal competition for his spot and expectations are low and there is very little pressure to win consistently but would struggle when there is real competition for positions and pressure to perform every week.
He’d be under the microscope here especially given what we would have to pay to get him think there is vastly better options out there.
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It’s only a few games but I thought Kalvin Philips has done his value to bigger clubs alot higher with his performances for England. Is he a good fit for us? NV noticed him for Leeds but seem to be getting good reviews from his England games
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Watkins, Daka, Abraham, Bamford - maybe we are really in for a CF.
Would still prefer Tammy over the others but Klopp could probably do his magic on any of them (know Daka is gone).
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Just been reading up on Ollie Watkins, he’s from the town were I grew up. They claim he supports/ed Torquay United which is worrying however he went to the Exeter City Academy which gives him mega brownie points. He’s done really well in his career however at 25 and still early in his AV stint it’s probably better to look elsewhere even if he is a very determined lad.
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Or maybe we’re just going to hold onto Div…
Hoping this is just us fishing for some interest and getting our valuation out there but £1 a month for 6 months does seem on the cheap side.
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