On Jones…
Pretty good talent, already passed the test of certainly meriting a place in this first team squad. Wouldn’t say he’s already better or much better than some other English midfielders. We’ll see how long he sticks here and what can he accomplish. That will also partly depend on us as a whole, where we are post-Klopp. Next mission is just to work on every part of his game and fight for more minutes.
On contracts…
Not everyone can get anything. Nobody can get anything. Do that and you end up in the shit situation Barca are in, getting old together and with a massive wage bill. It’s the time of big decisions the next 12 months or so and some decisions might be painful. The unfortunate bit is that this is happening in this climate and we do have our financial limits or simply a way of doing things under these owners.
It is worrying but my major concern is how lack of a certain type of signing might have a long term impact on club’s fortunes, rather than just the next season. Too many important and difficult decisions to be made at once that influence the signings, for me the biggest are:
- does club sign another midfielder to replace Wijnaldum or does Klopp stick with his current options, mainly Keita and Jones
- do Henderson, Keita and Firmino get new contracts
- is it really possible to replace Origi and Shaqiri with one player who will actually contribute goals and assists off the bench
I know that a lot of Liverpool fans would be up in arms and that club would become the laughing stock of rivals if that happened but I honestly wouldn’t mind Origi (and Shaqiri) being replaced with a right-sided player like Bowen (even if Elliott is already here, it seems that we’ll be seeing Klopp experimenting with his role) and a defence-minded midfielder like Bissouma arriving.
That type and profile of player, not to mention the age bracket, would help keep the side on the “young” end. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Edwards was already talking to Dortmund about Bellingham, with a view to signing him in a few years, whenever that might be, if he continues improving at this rate.
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I would, simply because he isn’t actually that young. He’s maybe one and a half years younger than Origi, or already older than Mané was when he came to us. For the numbers he’s putting up, he doesn’t seem all that. I personally would prefer someone younger with more raw potential rather than current ability, bringing them in with the view to having them replace one of the front 3, rather than having someone in purely as a squad player.
I’d be a little more excited if he was a couple of years younger with those numbers. At least, if it doesn’t work out we can still repackage him as yet to hit his peak if/when we sell him on, or get more useful years out of him as a squad player. As it stands unless we get significantly more money selling Origi than we would pay for him, it’s a simple exchange of players, if at that.
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‘We’ have in the past. That We are only asking for a CB (done) a midfielder and an attacker is quite unique and a testamount to where we are as a team and a squad. Our main worries are fitness and age not quality. We’re in a good place. No doubt it could be better but it could be and has been a lot worst. 
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I wonder if our current situation has anything to do with a lack of interest in Shaw and Origi. Obviously some rumours but nothing red hot serious. Especially in Origi.
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Maybe we just need to cull a few because basically our team is well stocked for the year. Now our injured players are back.
What we are doing this summer isn’t anything out of the ordinary. It’s what the approach we have built over last decade dictates. We aren’t driven or distracted by what others are doing. We have our own set priorities, and we are taking care of those.
First priority was to get a quality CB and we acted decisively to get Konate early. Now our priorities are to offload the fringe/surplus players and tie-up the key players. We are doing just that.
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Hello Mr Edwards press officer
That was all very clear and forthright but the question on everyones lips is
How much money is there in the kitty? what is the priority once those fringe players are off loaded? Are you talking to Mbabbe? … How much coffee have you drunk this morning? and I must insist on that one. 
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I will address only the valid and important question. No coffee, I take tea and by 3 PM I have two cups already. 
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Can’t say I’m at all worried about our incoming business yet.
If we’re after a centre mid and a forward type as the rumours suggest then it’s highly likely neither of them would be expected to start on day one. Getting someone in who will immediately displace the players we have is unlikely and therefore missing pre-season, whilst not ideal, is not the end of the world.
There’s a good possibility those players might have been at the Euros, Copa America or Olympics anyway and therefore not available for some or all of pre-season. So even if they come in just before the window closes, they’ll have chance to settle and be eased in.
The one area we did need someone to probably start on day one was centre back and Konate has been here from day one of pre-season and is getting game time alongside the guy you’ll expect him to play alongside.
The one concern is perhaps the speed of the outgoings. Neil Jones suggested we’d see movement on Shaq last week and yet nothing has happened on that yet. Minamino, Origi and Karius are still floating about. No obvious advances on Neco Williams or Nat Phillips if they are indeed available. I know stuff can happen quickly but the longer it goes the less I think we’ll get for these guys or the higher the chances we end up stuck with them or sending then on loan.
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I think outgoings were always going to be slow as the players we have available are not the sort to have teams beating down the door for. It probably pays buyers to wait it out and see if they can get better deals.
The market does seem quite quiet though.
Latest noise is that Kabak could be released from his contract or at the very least a sub-£5m fee could see him leave.
While I get there is no room for him here right now, could be worth buying and then loaning him for a season or two then keeping him in the squad once Matip leaves or let him go for a profit?
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It’s a strange one, got a weird feeling once Phillips goes we bring him in for really cheap.
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What I don’t understand is why other clubs haven’t snapped him up already. He is good player with high ceilings and the price, even before the latest slump, was filthy cheap.
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We don’t really have the squad space for him though do we?
That would tie into rumours like @Draexnael 's above - if clubs believe the player is coming here and has no interest going anywhere else, they won’t bother.
I dare say there is a lot of clubs keeping their powder dry waiting for prices to drop as selling clubs become more desperate to move players on.
I cant see us signing any players unless the likes of Shaq, Origi, Phillips etc move on. Could be a busy deadline day this window. Villa could be our best mates they could use a Cb like Phillips and an attacking player to replace Grealish they may be interested in an Ox or Naby or even big Div
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Did we have one of the best sides in Europe back then?
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We’ve already bought a £40m centre back so doing nothing is not on the table now.
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Was that when we reached two Champions League finals? Yeh, we were really shit then.
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The last few windows our club has been water tight.
For many of the incoming players there was no rumours, until coordinated leak maybe 24 hours beforehand.
Just like before it’s a good thing that that we are in the dark.
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