The Unreliable Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 1)

[redfanman]

@DanLFC

Was Jota better than any of our front 3 when he signed?

If he isn’t better than our first 4 then by default he is 5th…

[Notasuperfan]

I guess he is looking to be replacing Veratti in PSG or bernardo silva/KDB at man city!

[aussielad]

Bah, was about to add possibly going to Man Shitty but your edit beat me to it

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

Some bad math going on. €6m is not £260k a week. £260k a week is £13.5m a year. If (and it is only rumours) Gavi was after €6m per year that works out as £97.5k per week. Which appears to be lower than Thiago, Henderson, Fabinho, Keita and Ox. Milner is probably still on more. Hardly greedy.

[Draexnael]

Not sure Saka would be replacing Salah personally. If Mo left we’ve already got his replacement in Mane, Diaz and Jota, with Gordon waiting in the wings. Mane played right forward for years until he moved over to the left to work with Salah.

Saka would come in to rotate with them. Initially probably a downgrade but Saka is a quality player who would become great under Klopp.

[Kopstar]

@aussielad

Gavi refusing extension at Barca. Wants similar deal to Fatsi and Pedri (6M Euro per year) but Barca offering less. That works out to a bit over £5M or 260K per week. Very good talent, but at such a young age that is fucking ridiculous

[ZinedineBiscan]

Didn’t you get the memo that we switched to a five-month year?

[Kopstar]

@ZinedineBiscan

Didn’t you get the memo that we switched to a five-month year?

I got it last week, at the end of December.

[DanLFC]

@Draexnael

Saka would come in to rotate with them. Initially probably a downgrade but Saka is a quality player who would become great under Klopp.

Agree. In fairness anyone in the world would be a downgrade on Mo at the moment but as the long term replacement I think he would be ideal and really fits the mould of players we target.

[DanLFC]

@redfanman

If he isn’t better than our first 4 then by default he is 5th…

The first four wouldn’t exist as it is currently because the scenario is based on one of those 4 leaving.

[DanLFC]

@Quicksand

You said if Mo goes, (and you hope he doesn’t) that Saka is the one you would want replacing him.
That’s mentioning him in the same sentence.
He might have more goals than a lot of players but he isn’t Liverpool quality in my opinion.
Its not about comparison its about whether any potential signing is actually good enough.

Your free to not rate him just as I am free to do the opposite jeez it’s a hyperthetical scenario which I’ve said I hope doesnt happen why are you reading so much into it.

[ILLOK]

@DanLFC

@ILLOK

Saka to replace Salah?

He’s a good young talent who I like a lot but definitely not to replace Mo. He’s absolutely miles away from Salah’s level and it’s far too much pressure for a kid.

Liverpool and Arsenal are at very different levels. At Arsenal he should be one of their main men. Here, a player like Saka should be 5th or 6th choice at best (though with Gordon and hopefully Carvalho, no need for a player like Saka).

Really 5th 6th choice your rating him on par with Origi and Taki and comparing him with a child with a couple of senior appearances and a player from the championship.

I get Arsenal aren’t world beaters but think your massively under rating his ability tbh.

I rate Saka, more than others in here it seems, but he isn’t a starting level player for us (unless we’re aiming to get worse I suppose).

I stand by what I said, he’s a 5th or 6th choice player for our current level. That’s hardly underrating him, it’s quite high praise really, but he isn’t fit to replace Salah. He also comes across as quite timid and shy, replacing Salah in a team expected to win is a hell of a lot more pressure and expectation than playing for Arsenal.

[Klopptimist]

The thing about replacing players is not to. You see unless we replace Gerrard and Suarez with better versions of those players we’ll never win the league.

[aussielad]

I blame google. That is what their calculator told me.

Nope, no fault of my own, it is definitely googles fault

[DanLFC]

@ILLOK

I rate Saka, more than others in here it seems, but he isn’t a starting level player for us (unless we’re aiming to get worse I suppose).

I stand by what I said, he’s a 5th or 6th choice player for our current level. That’s hardly underrating him, it’s quite high praise really, but he isn’t fit to replace Salah. He also comes across as quite timid and shy, replacing Salah in a team expected to win is a hell of a lot more pressure and expectation than playing for Arsenal.

Fair enough if thats your opinion I think he could make an immediate impact myself, obviously not at Mo’s level prob only Mbappe or Haarland could replace his current output but as a realistic option, that we could afford who wouldn’t annihilate our wage structure I think he’d be a good option and could grow into that level of player over the next couple of years especially under Klopp.

[Notasuperfan]

£97.5k per week seems ok-ish though! However, the caveat is that he must sign a 6 years contract with us…

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

@Notasuperfan

£97.5k per week seems ok-ish though! However, the caveat is that he must sign a 6 years contract with us…

…and still only just turning 24 at the start of the following season!

[Quicksand]

Fine we can have differing opinions on players.
You commenced the conversation with me, I just reponded.
No harm done.

[AnfieldRdDreamer]

@DanLFC

Fair enough if thats your opinion I think he could make an immediate impact myself, obviously not at Mo’s level prob only Mbappe or Haarland could replace his current output but as a realistic option, that we could afford who wouldn’t annihilate our wage structure I think he’d be a good option and could grow into that level of player over the next couple of years especially under Klopp.

Depending on what happens with other forwards coming in and going out I could see a real good role for Saka here. But not sure it would be worth the cost and there will probably be more immediate concerns needing addressing.

For me definitely here next season are;
Midfield; Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson, Elliott, Jones and Morton.
Attack; Jota, Diaz, Gordon.

I’d say that leaves 1 or 2 midfielders and 3-5 attackers needed.

First we have options from players currently here that could be kept but most of them really needed their contracts extending or selling in the summer;
Midfield; Milner, Keita, Ox possibly Minamino.
Attack; Salah, Firmino, Mane, Origi and Minamino.

Looks odds on Carvalho will be added too either as an attacker or midfielder.

It would be best to extend the deal for at least one of Salah, Mane or Firmino in that priority order.

It’s possible that we could maybe get Salah or Mane extended and decide its not worth selling Firmino and let him run his deal down. Carvalho could be used in both Midfield and Attack and Minamino kept and used the same way.

Then Midfield would just need one, more defensive option, adding. And maybe 1 or 2 attackers adding. At that point (with Salah or Mane, Firmino, Diaz, Jota, Carvalho/Minamino and Gordon) I could see someone like a Saka being added to come in to challenge the two starting wide forwards to keep them on their toes and offer cover along with Gordon. Allowing Jota and Firmino to be more our options at CF and Minamino and Carvalho offering cover between them across attacking Midfield and Attack. I think I might still want to see a more traditional CF option too if cheap enough, maybe one young with range to his style like Hlozek or cheap like Toney if Brentford go down.

That’s the only scenario I can really see a Saka deal making real sense and even then unless there is more going on with his contract I think he’d be too expensive an option. But just for arguments sake it would give us something like;

DM: Fabinho, Boubacar Kamara, Morton, Henderson
LCM: Thiago, Jones, Kamara, Morton
RCM: Elliott, Henderson, Jones, Carvalho/Minamino
False 9 (optional): Firmino, Minamino/Carvalho
Wings: Salah/Mane, Diaz, Saka, Gordon, Jota, Minamino/Carvalho
CF (optional): Jota, Hlozek.

That wouldn’t be awful. And considering Kamara and Carvalho would be free signings enough would come in from sales to definitely pay for it. Just probably better business we can do.

[Limiescouse]

@DanLFC

Obviously more than just stats to a player but doesnt really show a player being significantly out performed and Sterling often played up top for us that season where Saka plays from wide.

I dont have much to add on the Sterling vs Saka debate, but the bolded bit is an outdated way of looking at it.