My advice would be, if we are linked with signing a player, don’t believe it. If we’re ruled out of signing a player, don’t believe it.
By all means we should discuss the merits of those we are linked to, but what will happen will happen, and months of pants wetting everytime some journo has a column to fill and a deadline to meet isn’t going to make any difference to that
We will most likely sign 2 or 3 midfielders in the summer, and (unless they are also crocks) we will immediately be better off than we were with Ox and Naby because chances are those two would be unavailable anyway.
Even if they don’t seem like perfect fit, if it gives us the opportunity to not play Elliott into the ground, and use Thiago and Hendo more sparingly and hopefully increase their availability in the process, then that will improve us too. And perhaps just because they don’t seem like a perfect fit, doesn’t mean they won’t work out. Remember when Mané was too inconsistent? Remember when Salah didn’t make sense because we already had Mané on the right? etc etc.
This time last year, wiser people than me were saying we can sign two better midfielders than Bellingham for the price he would go for. That is still true. And just because a name is mentioned in the paper, it doesn’t mean that that is the player we are going to sign.
Why do you do this to yourselves year after year after year?
Don’t think there is anything to it either. Gallagher and Mount are not the answer to having us challenge for league titles again. I’d be worried for our future if we went for either as starters.
Depends on the budget. Rumours of £100m and Caicedo or Mac Allister would take up most of that. It’s frustrating that the transfer market is so fucked as getting those two and Bellingham would be an amazing summer and they’re all gettable.
The easiest clickbait in football journalism and for twats on twitter right now is “Liverpool interested in midfielder [insert name here]”.
The world and his wife know we’re shopping for multiple options in that area of the field and so any link will have some fans clamouring to have a read and voice an opinion.
It gives us something to talk about at least but I wouldn’t put too much stock in any of it right now. It’s no coincidence that all the “ITK” accounts like Graeme Bailey seem to all be talking about Gallagher in the last 24 hours. One of them cooks something up and the rest hedge their bets and follow suit. It’s very very rare if ever you see those types and staunchly refute the consensus of the others but nearly everything any of them say comes to fruition. Shows none of them have any real inside info.
Saying all that, I hope the Gallagher link isn’t credible. Smacks of the type of player Newcastle or Everton would normally overpay for based on half a good season on loan at a club of their level.
Even more frustrating because this time last year Macallister had about 15 months left on his deal so a strong show of interest and he’d have been ours for peanuts. Signed a new deal since, obviously.
Likewise if we’d gone after Caicedo at the start of the summer window he was probably gettable and not for a huge amount, but since his worth has grown and he’s also signed a new deal.
If we genuinely wanted Nunes, signing him last summer would have improved our season and taken a significant amount of frustration away.
That’s what bothers me most. It wouldn’t have taken much to have got the players were now desperate to pay HUGE sums of money for.
Not an expert but I like the player. He has lost his way at Bayern a bit, and has been on the bench, so if we get him for a reasonable deal, we might make them choke as he blossoms here.
Tall, good physical presence, fast, very good at running with the ball, taking it from deeper, can break through the lines, decent progressive passes too.
He plays on the left side in a midfield three, but is young enough and flexible enough to do whatever Klopp wants to coach him to do. But I think left of a midfield three for us.
Slight downside is he hasn’t taken it by storm in Germany, but their loss could very much be our gain if we sign him.
Ugarte at the base and Caicedo on the right and jobs a good un.
Nothing confirmed but as ILLOK says, his agent would have properly fucked up by not getting one considering how in demand he is and he could have left on a free come summer.
Before signing his latest contract extension, Mac’s contract didn’t have much left I think. Now it’s up to 2025 with a +1 option. Almost surely leaves this summer, I think his father already confirmed he’s going to play somewhere else next season.
As for the City links, it would make sense if Gundogan is leaving.
City need to replace Gundogan, and Bernardo might finally get his move.
Mac Allister is a plug in and play replacement for them, exactly the type of signing Guardiola likes to make. Would be surprised if they weren’t interested.
