Thiago Alcantara (CM) Bayern Munich

Probably one of those deals that will happen at the end of the month.

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The same can be said about every team though.

If Chelsea lose Werner, Havertz, Chilwell, Zeyich or Azpliqueta, they’re fucked.

If the Mancs lose Fernandes, Martial, Greenwood, Rashford, Wan Bissaka, or Smalling they’re fucked.

If Man City lose De Bruyne, Ederson, Aguero, Sterling, Mahrez or Jesus they’re fucked.

If Spurs lose Kane, Dele, Bergwijn, Son, Moura or

Also, to carry on with the FIFA/Football Manager analogy, in the game you can just go for it and build teams as you wish with no real consequence. Not like that in real life…

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For me the question that has never been answered, in the midst of all the background briefings by the club of friendly journos is, why do we seem to be the most adversely impacted by Covid?

That is the part that continues not to make sense to me.

We were the first, or one of the first to seek to use public money to finance furloughing workers until a public outcry led to a reversal.

Why is LFC, champions of Europe, England and the world, seemingly the most adversely impacted?

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United only need to lose Fernandez and they’ll be fucked. And City would only need to lose Laporte - the rest of their defence is so shit they end up having to drop Fernandinho in to cover the defence leaving their midfield open to getting hit on the counter

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It has been answered, repeatedly, including by posters here to you directly when you asked the same thing last time.

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They probably only need to be given a few less penalties and they are fucked.

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https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1302860434886795264

We aren’t the most impacted, just perhaps the most honest (City offshoring wage expenses) and least reckless (not spending through debt acquisition).

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They cope quite well when they lose their biggest names.
Remember when Howard Webb retired?
They just carried on.

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They haven’t won the league since. Coincidence? :thinking:

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We’re not the most adversely affected. But we are unwilling to take out bank loans when future income is uncertain.

Other clubs spending is being fuelled by a bank loan. Leeds, for example, have spent over £100m, but it’s all on the club now in the form of debt.

These loans loans are being taken on the understanding that football will be back to normal soon. I don’t think it will be, to be honest.

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I agree with you Mascot but the question does remain why all the other clubs are willing to take this risk? What will happen to them if the revenue shortfall persists, even beyond this season?

The short answer is that the oligarch/state-owned clubs will continue to spend freely, especially as FFP appears to be worthless, and everyone else will be fucked.

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You’d have to ask them. They’ll all have their own reasons why they are borrowing. For Leeds I imagine they are desperate to not find themselves in the championship again. Everton are trying to claw themselves into the top six. They may have also promised Ancelotti they’d make funds available when he took the job.

To change the question around and ask why we aren’t willing to take on that risk, there are a few possible answers. We know that’s not the way the owners like to work. Debt isn’t bad per se, but in this climate, with no guarantees over future income, it could become a problem. The club is already in debt (albeit interest free) for the infrastructure improvements FSG have committed to. It could also be that we just don’t need to take on that risk. We’ve already got the best team. We’re not trying to chase anyone down or close the gap. We are the gap.

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Yeah it’s not nice, is it? Covid-19 and the economic consequences play out against an open competitive field. It wasn’t easy already with these cheating mega-money clubs around, but now it has become even more difficult. Everything seems to go against those who try to play the game by the rules.

We are thus affected, while the cheaters on the other hand can go away with everything in this time of crisis. It’s frustrating indeed. That being said, I can fully understand that fsg want to stay prudent. Many clubs could go bust accordingly to how the situation evolves. Taking up massive debt against their clubs seems to be a reckless way to proceed right now for some club owners.

Of course, if everything goes back to normal very quickly, everyone and his dog will retrospectively abuse fsg about their lack of courage… :roll_eyes:

But as Mascot says above, it’s up to the other clubs to close the gap on us, while we have Kloppo who believes first and foremost in bettering what we already have, through training. That’s why fsg’s prudence is doubly understandable at this point.


Edit: I should add to the above in regards to the Thiago saga, that the only thing I absolutely don’t want to see happening, is Gini leaving to Barca while we miss out on Thiago. That would leave us clearly weakened with the new season beginning now.

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Instead of asking why the other clubs are being financially reckless, we are questioning why our club is being financially prudent.

I have been laid off my job just 2 weeks ago and this economic hit is real and yet we expect our club to behave like it is immune to the real world. Maybe they are being super careful, but this is the right way to ensure we minimize the need to lay off people and borrow unnecessary money.

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I feel it will be a shame if this doesn’t happen. It will feel like a missed opportunity but given the circumstances it is understandable.

I suppose one way of looking at it is that we have an 18 point buffer to play with with the existing group of players. Of course adding one quality player doesn’t guarantee maintaining that, it simply buys you an opportunity to stay where you are as your opposition gets better at answering the questions you pose.

I think a key for this season will be whether Klopp can introduce some subtle changes into the way we play to keep everyone guessing a little.

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That’s a like for the point, not your personal circumstances - hope you can bounce back quickly!

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Thing is - is this deal at £25-£29m putting LFCs future at risk? Doubt it.
Wilson and Gruic will be gone come Oct for about £18-20m combined.
Would buying Mbappe for £200m? Yes.

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I thought Grujic and Wilson would be gone already, so maybe we’re being a bit over confident that the market is there for these lads.

It looks like Liverpool want to sell them, but clubs are looking for loans or much reduced fees. I don’t think buying Thiago and therefore advertising we must now sell these kids is going to help us to get the money we need.

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Besides, we need one of Grujic and Karius to leave to open a slot in the non home grown category. Buying Thiago without selling either will offer any interested party a free hand for these players.