The lad came through at Ajax, won awards as the best player in the academy, made his senior debut at just over 16 years old. He then played a multitude of midfield roles almost seamlessly. Ajax may not be the force they once were but being the youngest ever debutant for them is no mean feat.
Where is the idea he lacks football intelligence coming from? Heās on his third Liverpool manager in just over three years. He won Young Player of the Year two seasons ago with a very clearly defined role. That role seemed to change somewhat last season and now no doubt Iraola will want something different too.
Weāre very quick to denigrate our own players. Not just for performances but as people too. Really pleasing to see Gakpo starting to find form and prove some people wrong, hopefully Gravenberch does too.
I donāt disagree, yet he still could have stayed and been 2nd choice and with the way Konate played he should have got lots of game time if the coach believed in meritocracy.
However, I understand why he made his choice, to play regularly.
If you look at my posting I have always thought highly of Quansah and he seemed to be scapegoated far too easily, when half the time others were to blame.
I am on the fence whether he has the attributes that surpass what we now have, Jacquet looks very promising, Araujo has started well, Leonie is highly thought of and Ndukwe performed well in pre-season and is a unit.
With all the above I hope we donāt have to spend to bring him back and can use the money elsewhere.
In the end it was a pity he left in the 1st place.
I donāt think Jacquet is that cheaper than Quansah with the summer 2027 buyback clause.
As for English players, well, personally I donāt like the idea of an English club with basically 0 senior English players (or likewise, say, a German club with 0 German players). Other than us, my ideal club types has always been those of Bayern and Barca, not Madrid or Mourinhoās Inter.
I believe that having some senior English players around is a good thing for an English club, after all England has been top 4 national teams since 2021. Also, with the homegrown quota that will help a lot with squad depth and overall squad planning.
He never fit Klopp football. And since Iraola-ball has many similarities, especially the demands for moving fast, high pressing and recycling the ball fast, he is pretty much exposed and out of depth.
He is better in slower-paced, control-oriented systems.
I agree with many of your points, but a lot of the English players you suggest arenāt showing the necessary level to play for us atm.
For me, the English players that we require need to set the tone and level required, aka Milly and Hendo, but if we got someone overseas who has the same gravitas, then I would welcome them.
Rice would have been nice but he just wanted to stay in London.
[quote=āSportbilly1966, post:332, topic:6057, full:trueā]
I agree with many of your points, but a lot of the English players you suggest arenāt showing the necessary level to play for us atm.[/quote]
I think Alex Scott was showing the necessary level yesterday aginst Newcastle. Given the Bournemouth connection it would be easy to imagine us being in for him next summer.
There are no outstanding candidates right now. Maybe Anderson was but 130mil.
No secret im a big fan of Whartonāw talents but heās started the season very sluggishly. Not fit or wants away, who knows, but not making a case for us buying him.
And other than him there are not a lot of English players screaming ābuy meā right now. Maybe we should have picked up Spence but otherwise itās not a great set of options for us to pick up.
Honestly if I had only seen him this season I would not be interested. Canāt stand when midfielders stroll about and cruise rather than having that desire to get involved and make something happen.
Whatever the reason, I think it does highlight that heās not a sure thing. Few are right now it seems.
Over the past year, there has been quite a persistent rumour about Adam Whartonās desire to move back up North in addition to there being a gentlemanās argeement with Parish in order to facilitate the move for a reasonable fee. I remember seeing an interview that he conducted alongside his brother and getting the impression he was a bit of a homebody. It is conceivable that his form has been impacted by the fact that heās unhappy in London and he is pissed off that Palace have reneged on a promise because of how market developements has increased his potential fee.
Just going say Koumas is from Chester and Trey from Reading. If you arenāt going consider these lads as squad players youāll have to spend massively to top up your English/british quota.