Just hope we get it done and not flaff around trying to think we’re being Machiavelli like.
Get the medical , get the contracts done and unveil him etc so at least we can welcome him properly to the club…before Brighton bids for him , to pass on next year to the chavs
I’ve done some quick reading on him and everything seems surprisingly positive. His age might be an issue but it’s between that of Henderson and Fabinho, so maybe there’s strong rationale behind it, and the price tag isn’t that big.
All the respectable Twitter analyst accounts suggest that he’s a diligent bundle of energy, virtually all of them praising the mental aspect of his game but not using that to mask deficiencies in his game, rather to suggest that he’s a leader, a strong character for both his club and country, with some skill and fight in him.
Why am I feeling this uneasy, though? I don’t think that it has anything to do with his age and the thinking “if he’s so good, how come no one else wanted him since everyone’s recruitment is better than ours nowadays”. After all, I love a feelgood story, especially those where a good guy who works hard throughout his life eventually gets the just reward for his endeavours. I really don’t care that he’s not Caicedo, Tchouameni or Bellingham, I’m not that arrogant - our best seasons under Klopp came on the back of signing a player from a relegated team (and it’s not like we were facing tough competition for their signatures).
I think that this “wrong” feeling stems from the timing itself. The season has already started, he won’t have passed Klopp’s summer preparations, he’s never played at a level as high as PL (I don’t think he’s played in Champions League either - so he’ll fit right in this season) and his transfer comes off the back of laughable pursuits of highly rated players ten years his junior on average. He seems more of another stick to beat the powers that be at our club, rather than a savvy addition. Had this happened two months ago or right after Szoboszlai’s arrival, I think that my feelings would have been vastly different.
So, if he’s reading this, he should know that none of us have anything against him and that we wish him all the best at Liverpool. It’s just that the circumstances surrounding his transfer indicate that one of the best aspects of our club from five or six years ago isn’t functioning anywhere near the level that is required to fight against the strongest.