Bissouma doesn’t seem to be drawing the number of suitors he was last summer. Is that court case still hanging over him?
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He was released on bail and then just before the AFCON this was not extended and he was released but under investigation. Wouldn’t surprise me if the case is dropped but Spurs are still taking a big risk.
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Gut feeling says we’re done in terms of significant signins. In midfield it seems likely to me it could have been Tchouameni or nothing this summer, which has been reinforced by a couple of the Liverpool journalists mentioning the midfield isn’t necessarily a priority this summer. I think even Paul Joyce tweeted it.
Things change obviously, and there’s still so much summer left for things to happen. But at the moment it feels like it would be because of opportunity rather than anything else.
Why would we consider spending a fortune on him if it wasn’t a priority?
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Because he was available? The next lot of names on the list may not be on the market until next year for example…
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Good question. Maybe he was the priority, rather than the position?
The player was a priority, not the position. One could argue it is probable that if we had signed him we would not have gone in for Darwin.
5 subs can be used, but can still only 9 for the bench. That is 20 players for a match day and by my counting, including kids who don’t have to be listed in the A group, we’re closer to 30. That results in senior players routinely not even making the bench on a match day and one senior player not even getting registered in the second half of the season. So I accept your general statement of the perils of a squad that is too small, but that is a bit of a strawman in the context of the discussion. This squad is already big and there is a good amount of trimming that can be done before you even start flirting with the region of having a squad that is too small.
I am not advocating for anyone specifically to leave, but just stating my perception that in addition to the exits we already know about (Origi, Karius and likely Mane) we will still try to find exits for as many of 3 or 4 other players. This will be done because we feel like we cannot make use of them and shouldn’t be taken as an indication we’re preparing for an another signing.
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I don’t think we were considering anything like what Real eventually agreed to pay for him.
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I have a sneaky suspicion that we might sign Sangare. Big unit. Mid priced release clause. Looks like he is stepping up a level. Would not preclude us going big in midfield next summer.
We have numbers, but not durability. A few getting older, small injuries mounting up a bit, and presumably that will be the way it goes from now on.
Perhaps we will be in for Nunes in midfield, now that we are onto the Portuguese market. Then again we have Jones, Elliot and Carvalho as attacking types from the midfield.
I think we need a unit for now, and Sangare fits the bill. Then our young attacking midfielders to keep growing. Add a World class all rounder in Bellingham next summer? Jobs a good un. Next gen midfield in place.
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There will be a midfield signing more because of the increased workload and then the 5 sub rule.
We seem to have numbers , but not enough durability in the midfield.
Henderson , Milner , Thiago , Fabinho , Keita - Cannot be reasonably expected to be fit and injury free for 70 odd matches in a mid-season world cup especially considering that 4 out of the 5 will be picked for international duty.
Then the likes of Elliot / Jones / Morton - who will be required to come in and do the job and while two of the three might have a break out season , IMorton in all possibility will not be playing more than 10 matches this season (Mostly the FA / League cup ones)
Even assuming for a change in formation and playing a double pivot in a 4-2-3-1. We still would do better having another midfielder come in. But if we continue to play with the 3 midfielders , it becomes an absolute must.
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A unit with pace and agility would work for me!
Same here. I think that Klopp will try to clear the decks a bit first, settle the group in time for the pre-season as there are a few players who are not expected to be at the club come next season. Given how he always wants to give chance to every player in the pre-season, it might get a little crowded there with Nunez and Carvalho coming in and loanees returning.
That said, I expect Mane’s, Minamino’s and Neco’s departures to be completed relatively quickly, maybe even before the end of June. Phillips’s future looks more difficult to resolve, he always seems to play well when he’s playing but no one wants to actually pay a transfer fee for him. Oxlade-Chamberlain will probably also take time to find his next club, which I hope he manages to do as he doesn’t strike me as someone who’d want to sit on his arse for a year and pick up wages and it would be nice to actually recoup some money that has been spent on him. We’ll see what happens with Gomez, I expect him to leave but journalists say that Ward will discuss new deals with him and Keita.
As for that new midfielder, I think that Joyce is right and that Klopp will wait for another year. I think that Curtis Jones is on a year-long audition for his Liverpool future as of now (provided Keita extends), his position in the squad seems the most vulnerable at this moment. So, Klopp’s staff will have a year to identify that new midfielder and a replacement for Salah, who’ll run down his contract (maybe Firmino does that, too, but with Nunez and Jota here, maybe we’re not vulnerable in centre forward area).
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If Carlsberg made fit footballers… oxymoron?
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Not really. If Carlsberg made footballers that’s exactly the shape they would be
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Are you saying the bench size itself hasn’t increased? If so, I prefer this. I would rather the bench size reflected as closely as possible to the number of subs possible. If nothing but the fact that having someone on the bench keeps them out of a reserves/U21’s/whatever game for that weekend, and footballers need to play football.
https://mobile.twitter.com/empireofthekop/status/1537356264283455490
Can’t believe we’ve offered £100m for this guy
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It’s $100m actually.
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I heard it was Rp 100m
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