I don’t think that selling an unfancied and, to put it mildly, inconsistent Quansah (with a first refusal or whatever it is called) and replacing him with one of Europe’s biggest CB talents was a mistake.
In hindsight, I think the plan was to enter the season with Van Dijk, Konate, Guehi and Leoni (and sell Gomez). Crystal Palace made a mess when it comes to Guehi and Leoni got a season-ending injury on his debut, so we are where we are at the moment.
I just hope the recruitment team gets it right in the summer - Konate and Gomez need to be upgraded. I’m ready to be disappointed but I’d really like Guehi to join us for multiple reasons.
I think the mistake @kopstar is referring to is in not prioritising the signing of the Guehi deal and thereby closing it before allowing Quansah to leave.
My interpretation might be completely wrong but I got the impression that Guehi was supposed to be Gomez’ replacement (homegrown, Prem-proven), while Leoni was supposed to be Quansah’s replacement (i.e. talented, young CB who would be the fourth option).
It wasn’t just a first refusal. It was a set fee and a pre agreed contract with Quansah himself. I’ve never heard of anything like that before, and that suggests that he wasn’t unfancied.
I think there was a recognition that Quansah had the potential to become a great centre back, but it wasn’t going to happen sitting on the bench. He had to go to make that next step up, but it was arranged in such a way as to make it very straightforward to bring him back.
In hindsight he would have got game time here but that’s only with the benefit of knowing that a) the move for Guehi that looked in the bag would collapse b) Leoni would do his ACL on his debut and c) Konate’s form would drop of a cliff (and it maybe wouldn’t with Quansah breathing down his neck)
That sounds like it is quite likely true, but having Gomez around means that you accept he will be missing much of the season injured and his form at CB hasn’t been particularly good for quite a while, so having a 5th CB on the books may make sense in that situation and as we didn’t have anyone ready in the youth sides ready to step up, keeping Quansah until an alternative is signed is also sensible.
The club had deals on the table for Gomez and were clearly willing to let him go, so it is again a little baffling that the club didn’t prioritise the Guehi move having decided to make a bid. The fee we were rumoured to be willing to pay for the young CB who left to go to Real Madrid was much higher than that for Guehi, so it’s not like there wasn’t money available to make a higher bid.
The Quansah sale was agreed in June. The Guehi offer was only formally agreed the end of August once we went back to them offering an additional 10% sell on fee offer in response to Palace asking for an £5m in bonuses to be added to the £35m offer.
Regardless of the details (I never saw that reported) the club clearly thought that we were getting another centre back. We didn’t decide to move for Guehi in August.
The mistake might have been overconfidence in thinking that deal was done, or that we had Palace over a barrel with the contract situation.
It’s easy to talk now what we should’ve done, some things are not possible.
We cannot put pressure on Liverpool to get Guehi done as soon as possible and at whatever cost and then expect, what, that Leverkusen or someone else will necessarily be there waiting for Quansah on deadline day? Or that we can sell Quansah whenever we decide to? It doesn’t work like that.
Things have to align, different parties have to agree, timing has to be right. There is not only Liverpool in this world, other players, people and clubs also have their pre-seasons, goals, aspirations for the season, etc.
Shit happens with deals sometimes and there is not one and only guilty party why the deal for Guehi fell through. I mean of course, they technically pulled the plug on it and I can understand why. They had a messy summer with lots of uncertainty and I don’t think it was expected that Marc would sulk, he continued being a pro and put performances in.
When I said “unfancied”, I should have made it clear that I meant “by Slot”. I wish Quansah nothing but the best, and I honestly hope he will have a great time at Leverkusen and come back to Liverpool and play out his best, trophy-ladden years here, but I don’t think club made a mistake in arranging such a deal for him, while bringing in Leoni.
That said, let’s not forget that he’s not been the same confident player since his error at Old Trafford. I felt like that was a sliding doors moment for his Liverpool career - that was when he started having notable errors in majority of the subsequent matches for Liverpool, leading to his departure.
The way it looks to me like right now, I don’t think Palace would have accepted a much improved offer on the final day because of internal politics. Maybe they would have accepted one a month earlier or so but I’m getting the feeling that Glasner’s fit was enough for Parish to cave in to his demands - and Glasner will likely leave anyway and everything they’ve done so well over the past three or four years will fall apart.
Glasner’s fit was due to the lack of quality in the options presented to him in the final days of the window. Wind back the clock a few weeks before that deadline and it would be easier for Parish to persuade him that the club could bring in suitable replacements. Also, Glasner had said himself that at least one of Eze or Guehi had to leave that summer because of the club’s finances. We had an opportunity to do that deal first, we chose not too.
It was also reported that Palace asked a day or two before deadline day to take Gomez on loan as part of the deal but we refused.
Yes but I think a few of their best players precede him. They had a great run but Olise and Eze left, Guehi will, too, and Mateta has already been reported as having second thoughts about extending his deal there (and everyone wants Wharton).
Hopefully Guehi is willing to see out his Palace contract and join us in the summer.Missing out on him is going to sting especially if he goes to another PL team.
He might go to City and play straight away. But then when both Dias and Gvardiol (even if he remains a LB option, but it seems this season they have moved him to CB) are back… question.
He might come to Liverpool now (I don’t think he will) and not necessarily play straight away. But he might next season as a replacement for Konate.
If we are not looking at another cb in January I think we are taking an unreasonable gamble for the rest of the season. We are vulnerable in the position, and one more injury could really snooker us.
What’s left to play for this season?
Champions League.
Finishing as high as possible in the Prem, in particular in the CL spots.
FA Cup.
That’s plenty of reasons to sign a central defender now. And then obviously, we have question marks over 2-3 of them for the long haul, so apart from the near term reasons for a signing, the long term case is crystal clear too.
If the best candidate we have identified is not available until the summer, I’m fine with waiting until the summer to sign him. But it is pretty clear we need two central defensive singings, so let’s get the other one in January.
I know I said his name before, but Ordonez, or a signing around that level. In other words, good enough to be part of the group right now as the fourth choice, but if Gomez gets injured, he steps up to third, and if Virg or Konate need a rest or some rotation, he may even go higher.
We just look vulnerable to me, and we don’t have to be.