Which CM do you want?

I’ve heard Messi cannot renew at barca… :upside_down_face:

Bonus for him: he won’t face Robbo again in the CL (only out of public view in kirkby)

Do you think he’s an option? Played a couple times in preseason in mid (I haven’t watched games)… but surely just trying to get him minutes?

Surely he’ll play one of wide rolls if he gets minutes this season (I think…)

As said in another thread, that’s what Pearce thinks. Speaking personally I think he’s looked very good in CM, and it’s an intriguing idea. It mitigates his weaknesses - lack of truly explosive pace, not really a goalscorer - while emphasising his strengths - great vision, technical skills and eye for a pass.

Will be interesting to see which way it goes.

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But I could see his lack of physicality or defensive work mean he would be picked about as much as Shaqiri…

True, it might be something best tried in very particular midfield combos, and/or against particular opponents.

I think that’s a big assumption that just because he’s talented he lacks defensive work. I don’t know he’d have made the impression at this club that he has if that was true. It’s certainly a new responsibility for him, but there’s nothing to suggest it’s an inherent weakness.

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I dont want any of them…I’ve been saying from the end of last season. The only CM we should be looking to sign is Declan Rice. People laughed on here when I proposed it. Look at him now, without a doubt, the best #6 playing in the BPL. I said, sign D Rice, weaken a direct rival in West Ham, people laughed and asked if West Ham is a rival for Liverpool… West Ham is one striker short of being a contender for the league title, best believe. * shakes my fucking head*

I was hoping that we would at least bid for the kid when Gini left, no such luck. Well, we can forget about signing him now, the horse has already bolted…$100M+ to get his services now.

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Title? No, really no, give them 2 strikers and still, no, really no. Nice player thou, but would prefer Bellingham, unfortunately not available even at an inflated price, or Phillips.

Since you brought it up, a Patson Daka or Toney would do wonders for that club. I don’t understand our transfer dealings at all. We lose GIni our most reliable, athletic, midfielder and we don’t even look to replace him…we dropped points last weekend because we had no DM in the squad to stem the Brighton attack. It’s as if we cut off our nose to spite our face… the same fucking shit as last year.

Probably because I suggested it as well. Sorry I’ll just stick to mentionning Camavinga in future. :smiley:

Agree on Declan Rice. Great player and getting better. But you ruined it with all the West Ham winning the league nonsense

They wanted £100mil for him in the summer, so the horse bolted years ago…

Rice is a really good player. Of course people turn their noses up at that, he’s not a foreign teenager who you’ve never seen play before, and he plays for West Ham. He’s much better than a lot of these kids people want.

But he’s also too expensive, and not worth what West Ham will ask for. And no, they’re not one player away from winning the league, fucking hell.

I’ve seen suggestions of Kalvin Phillips? Nah. Probably not good enough and I don’t see how he’s suited to our midfield 3.

Bissouma is the best midfielder available and that’s been the case for a while. He’s one right move away from being spoken about as one of the best midfielders in Europe IMO.

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We can all agree by now that Rice is a very good player.

But… when we talk about specific roles, he still plays #6 in a double-pivot David Moyes central midfield. For England also mainly in a double pivot.

For me, there’s still a slight (but very normal) “wait and see” with him in terms of going to a top/proactive team and playing possibly as the single #6 pivot. I’m not saying that another Eric Dier will happen, but just that… I’d like to see him in a top team. Other than England (also different to club football).

Fabinho is not young, but that position is more or less his right now and for the near future (if he keeps his level, becomes even more consistent and nothing terrible happens).

On the question of the thread, for next summer, we’ll see how it evolves. Last summer I wanted someone similar to Gini’s style. Not someone who would necessarily need to come in and play 50 games, but have him competing for minutes, if our “next layer” isn’t great and we need to go back to basics.

Between now and the summer of 2022 there’s still a lot of time and possibilities. Though it seems to me like we will again try to sell Ox, we’ll have to decide what to do with Keita, but is this Millie’s final season with us, etc.

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Rice is also off to Utd next summer… Is my educated guess. Why they didn’t do it this summer is just more shite strategy from them.

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I’ve always viewed Rice as a possible world class centre back but he’s done just fine at DM for West Ham and England. Precisely the kind of player clubs like Man United and Chelsea use and while he might be a level below Fabinho’s best, he’s never injured, he’s more consistent than Fabinho and will only get better. No chance of Liverpool ever getting him, though, he’d be extremely expensive even without the English premium.

As for Bellingham, yeah, I’d love him at Liverpool but it would take him a while to get accustomed to Klopp’s football, he wouldn’t have the freedom he’s getting at Dortmund (and German league in general). Buying him, even if club could afford him, would probably mean that Klopp and co. aren’t convinced on Jones’ potential, though, which would leave me disappointed as a fan who likes to see academy products make it at Liverpool.

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Don’t see the relevance to Jones when it comes to Bellingham? Could easily have any of Jones, Bellingham or Harvey Elliott as two 8s in our 3 man midfield at any time.

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Jones doesn’t strike me as a player who will want to remain a squad player and a second fiddle to a younger, more expensive player. That said, I think that his development curve won’t be as steep as Bellingham’s or Elliott’s (provided he overcomes this injury), so I hope that both he and club will be patient enough. I’d hate to see him waste away his potential or move to another club in order to fulfil it.

I would love Bellingham, seem to have the right aptitude and attitude for us. However, with his contract only up in 2025 and if he continues the way he plays, he is not going to cost any lesser than 100mil pounds. Not that I think he is not worth it, but the way the club and Klopp operates is always looking for value for money. We bought VVD for a world record back then simply because we think there is no other player that we want, we absolutely need VVD. Same goes for Alisson when our Karius experiment failed. Would we ever be in a situation where Klopp or the club thinks we absolutely need Bellingham for 100mil pounds or more or would there be very good players that we can develop in a season or two for good value, like what we did with Mane, Fabinho, Robertson etc. Of course, if the opposite happens and we absolutely must buy Bellingham regardless the price, I would be excited too but I would hardly think so in my personal opinion based on the current situation.

We play 3 CMs and Jones can also potentially play in attack. Why would one CM in Bellingham being ahead of him be an issue?

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