Bascombe confirmed today that Klopp is looking to add a young defender before the start of the season. I guess what’s left of the budget may command that. A CB might come last, when/if we get Lavia or whoever, see what we can raise more or less and then see who we can bring.
1 Like
Yeah.
I don’t think Lavia is particularly subject to sales (perhaps Phillips) but I assume a CB might be.
I don’t really want to sell anyone this summer bar perhaps Phillips who deserves a chance to go and play some regular football. At times over the past couple seasons we’ve been threadbare in places so im in no rush to move anyone on now the lads whose contracts were expiring have gone.
The Europa League gives us a chance to give some of the squad players game time they may otherwise not have gotten so im happy enough carrying a big squad. Kelleher, Tsimikas, Gomez, Jones, Elliott and Nunez should all be pencilled in start all those games when fit to give other lads a rest for the Premier League games.
No idea why we’d be looking to move Matip, Fabinho or Henderson on right now given we’ve spent a year lamenting not having enough suitably fit options for centre midfield. We might get one more midfielder at a push so selling your only senior DM, your captain or your third choice centre back seems unnecessary and frankly risky given we don’t know how the new lads will settle.
Only senior players I’d be open to letting go would be Thiago and Kelleher. Thiago I could live with if that was necessary to facilitate the arrival of another midfielder. He’s a luxury we can’t afford to carry. Too expensive for too little time available. Kelleher I’d only let go if he was pushing and we were comfortable with Jaros stepping up confident of securing a homegrown second/third choice option.
Don’t see us getting anything for Matip and with Gomez likely needing to spend some time at right back this season I think we could carry Matip, Gomez and one other in additon to the starting pair of Konate and van Dijk. He’s off next summer anyway so start planning for his replacement then rather than forcing us into needing to bring in yet another this summer.
1 Like
Sure, there’s the EL and it will give us a nice opportunity to heavily rotate in the group stage. Liverpool in the EL next season is a bit of a shock on paper (nobody saw that coming around the corner this time last year), we should be very strong candidates (if not the main ones) to go all the way. But there’s also the day to day, which is the whole season. I believe we can have a much shorter squad than last season and still have enough quality and depth to go relatively comfortably into knockout stages. It also helps some of our best and most meriting talents from the Academy to get a few games or minutes. Hopefully have a better season with injuries also, that goes without saying.
Zeno Debast please, or someone like Piero Hincapie.
when was the last time LFC sold their captain??
2 Likes
My friend who follows bundesliga exclusively (well stays in germany) says that Hincapie is someone who needs a couple of years for a transfer to a bigger club to make sense.
He’s in a good club for him to grow now getting regular matches. Doubt it makes sense to pick him up. FM does say that Hincapie is a beast of a CB but life isn’t always FM
Timing for sure is a telling factor but who decides when the time is right? The guy’s played on the grandest stage with his country and performed well…2 full seasons under his belt at a big club in their own right…if you wait another year or 2 you could risk the transfer fee going up. Reminds a bit like AlexiMac.
We signed Ibou at a fairly similar age, Gomez a lot younger and both grew at bigger clubs…don’t see why that should be any different with someone like Hincapie.
Doubtful we’ll see Kelleher or Phillips leaving this year.
Fair point. Wait for him to run down his contract and Bayern may well tap him up on the cheap.
his contract is until 2027, he’ll be 25. if he’s THAT good he won’t last that long.
2 Likes
We’ve actually got a fair history of moving on the club captain. Souness and Rush were both club captains in their final year. I’m pretty sure Barnes and Ince were as well. Neal had the captaincy taken from him in a situation similar to where Hendo is now and was moved on very shortly
5 Likes
Hendo’s contract expires in 2025, so it’s not his final year. he won’t be sold, look at the aforementioned article regarding home-grown.
Now, imagine we sell him, as was the proposition you were questioning. What would the year just gone have represented for him?
1 Like
2022/2023 also not his final year.
Not sure where you’re going with this, but unless he picks up a career-ending injury he’s not going to leave us before 2025. between his captaincy of 8 years and our homegrown requirements and him having to agree to a sale, it just won’t happen.
2 Likes
I am directly answering your question of when we have ever sold our captain by giving multiple examples of players who were captain one year and then out of the door at the end of the season.
So typical Jack. He has named eight players one of whom is already sold and another sent on loan. 
1 Like
except your version of “final year” and mine are two different things completely
He’s still not leaving.
Final year was my choice of words that I thought was clear, representing that one year they were club captain and before the next season they had been moved on. You’ve picked up on that and twisted it into something incomprehensible
So lets start again - have we ever been in the situation Matty is suggesting where we sell or move on our club captain. The answer is yes, a surprising number of times even just covering relative
recent history.
Disclaimer: this does not reflect the opinion of the writer on the status of Jordan Henderson
1 Like
Although, in fairness, that article is over a month old.
1 Like