we’ve had Anderson Arroyo on the books for a long time, shuffling him around Loans.
You’d think the club would get him a workpermit. He doesn’t need to be good enough to play for Liverpool. But getting him a workpermit would allow him to atleast have some loans in England
Yes, reportedly changed for this season.
I hate transfer jigsaw puzzles. Having to sell in order to buy slows player acquisition down to a crawl. Seems ages since we signed Sobo. I have mixed feelings about Hendo moving on but my advice to Fabinho is bite their hands off for that reported deal! The sooner the better for all parties involved I’d guess.
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Basically the choice for Fabinho’s replacement is one of four options.
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Young exciting player with promise but relatively inexperienced at the top level. Includes the likes of Lavia, Andre, Florentino, Kone. Price range seems to be £30m-£50m
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A more experienced type but very mid in terms of quality. Amarabat, Phillips, Koopmeiners, Palihina, those type. Price range perhaps a bit cheaper than the young lads.
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More of a CM type that we might look to play a more conservative game than perhaps they’re used to. Thuram and Gravenberch the names being mooted. Perhaps the cheapest option of the lot.
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Jordan Henderson backed up by Bajcetic.
Not an ideal candidate out there really but think I’d rather risk a younger player who’s used to playing DM and overpaying a bit than shelling out a similar fee on an “okay but short term” fix.
Question is, which of the young options do we feel best about and how ridiculous a fee could we have to pay with clubs knowing we’re now shopping with a real need rather than just “nice to have”.
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Not looking as though Henderson will move, so he will probably take the Fab role… with Baj getting some game time when Hendo misses out
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Genuinely hope not.
Hendo at 6 was never as good as Fabinho at his best.
@Sweeting has a different take on how midfield might look, with a true 6 not being essential, hope he is right if we are not in the market.
I don’t think we need to sell to buy a midfielder. The problem is we are overstocked there. So unless Fab leaves I don’t think we are signing a mid.
The Fabinho role badly needs an upgrade. I think everyone can agree with that. Offloading him and freeing up a squad berth must be a priority. He’s served us well in the past but last season his form fell off a cliff - amongst others - but time is not in his favour and we need to get back into the CL. To retain him would hold us back. Sad but true.
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Think he hardly got a rest with Ox/Thiago/Keita/Jones injured most of the time and Hendo not at his best Fab had to do so many things. VVD was also just back from a serious injury. This season he might get back to his best. 40 million is correct value as far as I am concerned and it’s not that we are fleecing Saudi here. He is on par with Casmeiro and United paid 60 million for him. If his legs are gone then it’s a good deal but only the club will know that. If there was a 20 million offer for Thiago i would say take it and bring in Lavia. With Fab i am not 100% certain as the midfielders linked to us at CDM aren’t great. I just hope we get someone out of the blue like Szaboszlai if Fab leaves.
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I am not sure whether we are looking at this guy. But he looks like a very good fit of all the midfielders we have been linked with who aren’t worldclass even in highlights reel. This guy Got the pace, ball control, neat tackles and passing range. Andre Trindade. If he can replicate that in premier league thats world class.
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Good analysis of the types of options, cheers.
For me, I would go with a young player, Lavia would be the one, and the cost would be £50M. We can try to negotiate it down a bit, or offer a loan deal or something to lower the cost, but if Southampton won’t budge I’d pay the money. I would hold my nose at the amount, but then quietly I’d be happy that the unexpected dough for Fabinho pretty much covers it.
Lavia is the one for me. Strong, good in the tackle, fast, decent on the ball. He would have more to his game than a traditional 6 as he progresses, and would be excellent alongside Trent.
Whatever adjust period will hopefully be helped by us retaining one of our veteran midfielders, but even then, Mac and possibly Curtis Jones are more versatile than most think.
Lavia, and a concerted effort at Colwill and jobs a good un. Young, hungry, on the up, ready to stake a claim in the next great Liverpool side being assembled by Klopp. Bring it on.
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I think LFC would let the transfer window close before they will pay the £50m for a 19yr old without many games under his belt… and that lack of game time to me, is what Jurgen might be concerned about. They may go back in January, if he is still there, and test the water with Saints again with a low ball offer though.
If we don’t bring anyone in, it is 6months until the next window and Jurgen might see how our new starts and old guard manage until then.
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Doesn’t matter how experienced the next midfield singing will be - integrating two new starters will be difficult enough. Making all three work out from the start of the season on - I’m not sure how that will be possible.
If that’s the plan then we better hurry up and bring someone in.
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It’s not certain the new guys will get significant game time at least initially.
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They might have to at this rate
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I think McAllister will start the first game.
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All of Fab, Hendo and Thiago look certain to be leaving until summer 2024.
Will be interesting to see if we bring in two new midfielders until then. Surely depends on how all the other 7 midfielders (including Harvey and Morton) do.
If there’s no adequate DM available this summer we might decide to replace Fab with a versatile one now (Thuram?) and bring in a specialist in 2024.
It’s not a foregone conclusion that intergrating new starters will be difficult, for all the talk of Robertson and Fabinho taking a while to settle there have been a number of other players under Klopp who’ve hit the ground running.
I could quite easily see our midfield consisting of 2 (if not 3) new starters against Chelsea, and being a big improvement over what we saw for 80% of last season.
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Mac and Szobo start against Chelsea. Any other midfield sognings will be younger players who aren’t immediately in the line up.
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Presumably with Jones and hybrid Trent? If so, makes sense. The friendlies will be a pointer to this too.