First there’s the situation if Inter would even sell.
Then there’s his contract situation, we had more of a chance before he signed his new deal last season.
Then if he would be leaving, there would probably be better options.
I’m not even sold on the theory that Bellingham will happen this summer. But the difference here is that he’s more likely to leave Dortmund and Liverpool would possibly be more of a lure right now than for Barella. The advantage in going for Barella of course, is that the price would be cheaper. But I don’t think it raises chances that much.
The contract situation doesn’t really change much, it enhances Inter’s position but doesn’t neccessarily lessen the chances of him leaving…like Coutinho being sold the season after he signed on, if the moneys right they’ll sell…same with BVB, do they sell Jude if they don’t get offers over 100m?
I’m not saying there’s no chance Inter maybe cashes in on Barella this summer. I don’t know enough about their financial situation. If the €50m (I assume it’s euros?) depends on CL or not. They could raise the amount by selling another, or a combination of other players.
He’s a massive player for them, especially when you look at who starts alongside him in midfield these days. Calhanoglu and Mkhitaryan. Bastoni will also be tricky because they already know one of the main 3 CB’s will leave (Skriniar on a free to PSG).
I feel there’s more chance that they maybe sell Dumfries and another ‘lesser’ player or two to raise the money they need.
If Barella really goes, of course you’d be interested, but I wouldn’t fancy our chances among the favourites.
I think Barella is more the player we hoped Naby would be. He doesnt have obvious eye catching attacking quality, but his ability to get forward, win the ball and play with a high tempo would help us create attacking situations as a team. It’s a quite unItalian way of playing from what I have seen of him (I know Sacchi was an early proponent of high press with Milan, but it always seemed a lot more controlled than the modern version), which is why I have been surprised with the statistical comparisons to Gini. Because most of the defensive areas where he stood out were not based on winning the ball or applying pressure, but more on plugging gaps that forced teams to play the ball into other areas where other teammates might be favoured to win the ball in.
It’s an example of how the eye test dont quite match the profile of the player the stats suggest, even though both independently tell positive stories about him.
Im a bit hesitant to jump on the hype with him, but I did think it was interesting how much Lallana was raving about his ability and game smarts in his recent interview with Graham Hunter
I think Mac Allister is more like a Gundogan in terms of style. More playmaker/controlling type, but who also has a knack of popping up in goalscoring positions. Like Lallana said, also someone who can in theory play all ‘3’ midfield roles if needed.
Nunes seems more athletic and faster to me, although technically also clean enough. But different. I wondered if he’s one of the alternatives if we don’t get Bellingham, but the latest is that we want both.
I think we want a left and right sided no.8 or did a few months ago… I wonder if a no.6 has come into the discussions since January.
Bellingham would be your right sided no.8, leaving the left side open - Not sure if Mount, Nunes, Mac Allister etc. Have played their regularly.
We might even go 4231. I appreciate this gets mentioned a lot but fans but never in reality but it does appear we are buying players more suited to that type of system - Gakpo, Nunez, Diaz even Carvalho would all fit it nicely.
It’s clear that we want fresh blood in those #8 positions, yes.
As for the #6, I’d wait to see reports if we’re even looking (and then able) to offload Fabinho in some way, either through a sale or loan. Sources haven’t gone further than Fabinho leaving is a ‘possibility’. Still a lot of time for things to change and evolve.
Mount has played much more as a #10 than #8, so positionally he’s one zone higher.
And the formation, I don’t know, I still don’t see anything particular that suggests we’re going to change our main formation. Carvalho doesn’t look ready for us right now, so it’s hard to see a player like that commanding a change of structure and a player like that to play the most difficult position on the pitch in Klopp’s words.
Other players, I think they can do both really. While Salah is here and we want to get a regular starter from Nunez, it’s hard to see us going 4-2-3-1. Doesn’t suit Mo and he’s still our main goalscorer.
