The Unreliable Rumours Discussion Thread (Part 1)

Also, no club will part with a good player halfway through their own season.

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Arenā€™t lots of clubs (particularly in France) very short of money meaning we might get a CB in cheaper than a usual year? Really want to win it again this year so the team can have a double celebration bus tour around Liverpool when hopefully weā€™ll be able to attend! CL and FA Cup win as well this year would be appreciated please! :grinning:

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Works in theory but in reality it wouldnā€™t be that expensive buying a CB that would be an improvement on Phillips who, at various times, is currently somewhere between our 2nd and 4th choice CB. Williams has more potential than Phillips but yet again an upgrade on his current ability levels is not that expensive either. Patience, I think someone is coming itā€™ll just be a particularly difficult time to negotiate at the moment. Thereā€™s no point arguing too hard about why it wonā€™t happen when it may well still happen. Even Klopp kind of admits we are trying.

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Covid 19 will have cost us over Ā£100m I reckon. Thats a good CB right there and a back-up. We really cannot dismiss the impact as you say.

Any major purchase will be financed against the future so even if we buy everyone will be bitvhing and moaning in the summer :wink:

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Coronavirus and the new entry requirements following Brexit do significantly further complicate what is already a very difficult window in which to bring in the right players.

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Sure, but when you are skint, you are skint. No way around it.

Edit: I donā€™t want to pretend that we are truly skint. Thanks to the massive TV deals, thereā€™s still enough to pay the astronomical player wages (hopefully). But thereā€™s just no way that the club will lay out Ā£ 50 millions on a new player right now, just to fill a temporary gap.

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Itā€™s not a temporary gap. Matip will never play a full season, and the juryā€™s out on Gomez. That leaves us with VVD and a converted midfielder. Itā€™s generally accepted that top teams need four first team centre backs. Even without this hideous injury wave we needed a new CB.

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Who will turn thirty in July and isnā€™t guaranteed to make a full recovery from the injury anyway.

Thereā€™s a possibility he wonā€™t be the same player when he does return, not because of his age necessarily (people donā€™t just fall of a cliff once they hit 30) but due to the nature of the damage. His age means that we may well need to look for his long-term successor.

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Why would it have to be anywhere near that?

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Because a lesser sum brings you a lesser player, or maybe a good youngster who isnā€™t ready yet to play week in week out.

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Not with our recruitment. There are plenty of good, young, CBs who seem like they could fit our playing requirements quite well that probably wouldnā€™t cost half that. In fact the only CBs who would are very high profile ones and mostly either wouldnā€™t fit our playing style, pass the attitude test or have worrying injury records.

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Any ideas?

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Iā€™m not sure there are actually. There seems to be a real dearth of quality centre backs out there, and even the good ones are shite, if you know what I mean. Weā€™ve got the best one, and heā€™s miles ahead of anyone else.

So I think the question the club have to answer is whether there is anyone who presents a better option than Williams and Koumetio, Hendo if necessary, to the extent that itā€™s worth spending a serious lump of money in them.

In a lot of ways, this is a real test of the clubs transfer operation. We know they like to plan long term, and we know they will stick to the plan come what may. At what point does a crisis become such a crisis that you have to go out try and sort it with a short term fix. They do not spend money on solutions that are not perfect.

Does the club dig in and get through the rest of the season with Matipā€™s limited availability, Hendo filling in, and using the kids. Or do we go off plan and buy the best of whatā€™s available?

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I think itā€™s lazy to say that. Was Robertson a proven quality LB? Gini CM? Matip CB? Hell even VvD, Mane and Salah had question marks over them. We are turning into snobs and unless there is a player equal to what we have now we arenā€™t interested. But nearly our whole squad would have been rejected on their pre-LFC standing based on that. Their are loads of young CBs out there that are better CBs than Phillips, Williams and Henderson. If we pick one well matched to our style of football it could be a monster of a signing. Or at worst a Klavan or Shaqiri level signing that gets us out of some temporary shit till we can address it better in the future.

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I asked already: any ideas? So for you, looking at the above, itā€™s rather a youngish CB with a high ceiling than a confirmed superstar?

This club has one of the worldā€™s best scouting system. So, if they donā€™t move for one of these alleged young CBs this month, it will mean one of two options:

  1. there are no young CBs deemed significantly better than the likes of Phillips, Williams, Koumetio.
  2. there are, but they would be too expensive for our current financial state, and thatā€™s it.

I guess weā€™ll see what happens before the end of this month, eh?

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When you say Virgil had question marks you lose all ability to argue anythingā€¦ Sorry.

We are heading into a country wide lock downā€¦ Football might get put on holdā€¦ Fans still not back in stadiumsā€¦ Revenue utterly gutted for everyoneā€¦

And youā€™re bemoaning signings, fuck me, perspective.

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Cancel the transfer window. Play a game everyday. Last man standing wins the league.

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Iā€™m calling it now. Well in Gini

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Militao would be great. An aggressive Brazilian defender with good enough size. If we donā€™t get Botman, Militao would top the list for me. Heā€™s more experienced too at age 22. Botman will probably be cheaper but not as ready for the Prem as Militao imo.

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