Hand on heart I reckon he’s off to Madrid, they are clearing the decks in anticipation.
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100% this. And I think possibly Camavinga too.
Bale and Modric contracts are up next summer too so that would clear another £600k odd from the wage bill and open spots for both of them in the team.
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That’s what I think as well. Had a look at their ins and outs the last two years; apart from Alaba there’s basically nothing in. Meanwhile they’ve raised a lot through sales. Covid is one reason, you’d think, partly it’s been done like this to stay afloat. But also, like you say, it looks like they’re creating salary space.
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They spent massively in 2019 and big in either 18 or 17. Sales and purchases now balance out over the last 4-5 years I think.
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I think Salah can play at a high level to his late 30s, like Ronaldo and Messi. He has similar work ethic and levels of consistency. Not sure about Mane or Bobby. Hopefully the succession planning has been discussed for a while now
I think Bobby is possibly the one who stays around longest. He isn’t reliant on pace, he probably isn’t as highly courted as the other two and so selling him wouldn’t make as much money for us to invest. I’m kind of hoping we bring a CF in the next year or two and slowly transition to them being the main man and Bobby being the back up.
Salah I think we try and keep until his mid-thirties.
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we really just need to start banning posters …
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as per previous…ban.
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I feel too much of his game is built on being energetic and athletic. We already had a frightening look at how much he can struggle with that when he had no fans to get his adrenaline pumping. I’m not as confident as you and kind of worried the drop off will happen sooner than later and be much sharper than with the other two, who will still be fine players even when they do slow down. Maybe move more central for them two then, AM for Mane, CF for Salah? Agree on how long I can see with Salah I think chasing records with us and the Premier League is a huge motivator for him that the other two don’t really have.
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He’s extremely football intelligent though, Firmino, both defensively and offensively. It’s probably the main reason why he has held on to the position for so long, if we’re picking one. When the attack is set up the way it is, with the main goalscorers wide/ahead of the centre forward, it’s difficult to imagine a better player to have as the connector.
And I don’t think he’s any more reliant on intensity/physicality than the other two, for me it’s more the other way around. I thought his supposed drop-off last season was hugely exaggerated, didn’t know that was a ‘thing’ until I started listening to podcasts and logging onto this forum again.
I’m not quite sure what Salah and Mane are without their explosiveness, but the good news is I think we’re years away from finding out. “Machines”, to quote Pep Lijnders.
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That might be so however he’d been ‘dropping off’ for the 2 seasons before that. That last season was just when it could no longer be ignored.
Personally I don’t think it’s all on him, I feel if we look at the changes in the way he plays he has been asked to pick the ball up from deeper. I can not remember where on this forum but the same video was on the LFC facebook account where we saw the ‘old’ Firmino doing what Firmino does best, it’s worlds part.
Yeah I can see where you’re coming from on that. The drop off last season needs to monitored this season to see if it was temporary or something more permanent. With fans back and him perhaps not having to start every game with Jota getting some more time centrally im hopeful we see him a little fresher and more enthused again now fans are back.
No doubt Mane and Salah will be fine players for a while to come but if we have to start looking at succession planning then I think Mane is the most likely to move on first, providing Mo signs his new contract and is then tied down for the majority of what’s left of his career at the very top level.
Firmino is probably the one we get the least money for if we sell any of the three. Mane will still carry a strong value and therefore selling him helps with maximising the budget to find a replacement. We also already have Jota as a right footer who plays off the left and he’s up to speed with how we play. That means a Mane replacement wouldn’t necessarily need to be someone to start from day one as Jota is the first piece of the succession puzzle. It could be that we actually replace Mane with a striker that pushes Bobby down to more of a supporting role over time.
That’s how I’d approach it but I could be completely wrong and it’s all obviously based on ideal scenarios and no one pushing for a move or their form or fitness taking a sharp nose dive in the next year or two. I’d certainly feel more comfortable if at least one more piece of the succession planning was in place before Klopp’s time here starts to come to an end.
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Well I wasn’t suggesting binning any of them off right now.
I think it’s plausible all 3 can play at a high level for a while, but I would be genuinely surprised if our first choice front 3 for the 24/25 season is the same as we have now.
And if you have a chance to sign a 22 year old, goal a game player, then you can’t not do it because the players you already have would probably be okay for a couple more years.
If you can conceivably bring in Haaland and Mbappe while losing a 30 year old Bobby and either Mane or Salah for a net profit, then you should certainly explore that possiblity from both a business and footballing point of view. As footy manager as that sounds, as things currently stand, it’s not impossible, just not probable. But while it’s possible, there’s no harm speculating on it.
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I am starting to think Halaand is a better prospect that Mbappe.
I’m not sure if people have seen the you tube videos of Halaands post game interviews but they are funny as fuck.
The boy likes to say “shit”
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From the Summer Transfer Thread…
Ok, connecting everything to Shaq, but does this suggest Shaq is now on? If the trigger for them moving was getting money from selling Cornet (now a LB) then wouldnt them buying a LB indicate that is happening?
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Yes, he’s Norwegian, we are uncultured swine. No rules against swearing on tv here…
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Who are these injuries that tweet suggests Klopp wants to keep Woodburn around for?
Just intrigued because the only things I can see is Thiago and Hendo are close and Fabinho will probably miss due to his dad passing away.
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I read them as meaning injuries now and those that may yet to come. Jones is also currently injured don’t forget.
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Jones is back isn’t he?
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