Jude
I think the conversation about the challenges moving on unwanted players assumes too heavily that Klopp has given those players that message and that it was clear about their prospects. Weāve heard the stories about how Klopp has the talk with players who have fallen out of favour and I think there it too strong an assumption that the likes of Naby and Ox got the same talk he gave to the raft of players he inherited and wanted to move on. At least to me, it seems pretty clear that at least a portion of our challenges moving on some of these players has been Klopp doesnt necessarily view them as surplus the same way he did with other players who have moved on.
I would bet that many of these players would have heard him say that other players are ahead of them in the pecking order, but heard that theyāve still got a chance to reestablish themselves. These are players heās come to trust for what theyāve done for him, not the players he inherited who didnt fit what he was looking for. I would bet good money that has impacted how these conversations have been had and received.
Yep, which is what I said. The difficulty is overstated. In some cases it canāt be done. This is a quick summary.
Thatās a bit of a problem though. Jurgen needs to ditch the Ruth and bin these guys off earlier. There is no way Naby and Ox hadnāt been given enough chances to be axed last summer and Thiago is now in that category this summer.
I agree. I hope if it did have any impact on decisions over the past couple of seasons this season will have forced his hand
Go to the market and try sell a rotten apple.
Probably could juice it?
Oxlade-Chamberlain wasnāt that great a signing. Never been that special a player. Suffered injuries at Arsenal and this only continued. The fee involved was rather high as well, roughly Ā£35m to Ā£40m with one year left. Outside all that he signed a new contract. So calls into question a few things.
WTF?? This and the Jude poverty are not good portentsā¦
Edit: oh thatās from 2019, thank fuck. Ox was expensive when we got him, especially with his injuries and only one year on his contract, and definitely has been a disappointment. Glad heās not staying!
He hasnāt just signed that contract, that was the one he signed a few years ago and is now expiringā¦
The new contract ends this season
Every window clubs sign players whoāve had injuries or may be on a downward trajectory. They also sign players with bad attitudes, who have caused problems or just arenāt that good.
This summer someone will take a punt on Ox and Keita, both will probably have to take pay cuts but will pick up nice signing bonuses instead. Thereās no transfer fee but they arenāt āfreeā, these clubs will be investing in them.
The question for me is have we actively tried moving them on or has the hope been theyād turn around the injury issues and form to warrant us trying to keep them? Given the contribution from each of those two this season, less than 11 full games between them, weād have been better off taking Ā£10m a piece for them last summer.
Do we really think no one would have taken a punt at that price that would be of a level that would interest those players?
Iām inclined to think theyāre here because Klopp wanted them to be and itās just not worked out. If thatās the case we do have to question that level of loyalty to players we could be pretty confident wouldnāt give us what we needed.
One could argue that the āchanceā of Ox or Keita playing 20-30 games this season was worth way more than the Ā£10m sale price. Hindsight is 20-20 of-course.
Thatās why I said I could sort of see the thinking.ā
I slightly scratched my head when we signed him, and I wasnāt especially overjoyed, but I could sort of see the thinking. Maybe we could unlock a marauding central midfielder, using his pace and power to break the lines, shoot, and influence the game inside, rather than being shunted on to the wing like at Arsenal.
Anyway, itās fair to say he started to show something at Liverpool, but it was over quickly and a bad injury put paid to that.
At that point Iām always charitable to a player. Good luck to Ox. I see him in the lower reaches of the Prem, and there should be a few clubs who would take him on.
And one could argue expecting either of them to play 30 games this season is somewhere between fanciful and blind wishful thinking.
And if there was no expectation of them signing new deals then itās some very short term thinking to keep them around hoping we might get a squad role out of them. Itās not like either have played particularly well the last couple years.
Do we have evidence of solid offers received?
Otherwise we are criticizing something that didnāt happen.
Thatās a bit of a problem though. Jurgen needs to ditch the Ruth and bin these guys off earlier. There is no way Naby and Ox hadnāt been given enough chances to be axed last summer and Thiago is now in that category this summer.
We wanted to give Naby a new contract but talks broke down and I think with his injury issues again this season we are doing the right thing by letting him leave.
Do we have evidence of solid offers received?
Otherwise we are criticizing something that didnāt happen.
No one is saying we did or didnāt. The discussion is whether we looked to actively try and move players on or were happy to keep hold and see them walk this summer.
We donāt have to sit by the fax machine waiting for an offer to come in should we want to move players on.
Donāt believe everything you read on Twitter mate.