Tsimikas, Thiago and Jota - great business in terms of incomings.
When it comes to sales Klopp and Edwards disappointed - probably because they waited too long.
We now have a packed squad with players we can not even register for PL and CL. Out of the League Cup which means that some players won’t even get a minute until the end of the year.
Harry Wilson should have been the first player to be sold. He’ll never make it here and doesn’t fit Klopps style of play.
despite his injuries there was always interest in Shaqiri. Why did we hesitate? And then leaving him out of the League Cup which cost us that game.
Origi said goodbye to the club on the night we received the PL trophy. He played very few minutes last season and this year we brought in 2 attackers who are above him in the pecking order. Why is he still here?
why did we wait so long until making Grujic available?
I don’t think we can choose who we sell first, or at least I don’t think we have so much power over so many things.
I didn’t see any hesitation really, it was always said that those players could leave if the offer was right.
When and where did Origi say goodbye to the club?
I think they were all available to leave (maybe not Origi, we can’t let everyone go in the same window), but the offers were obviously lacking (or were not good enough) in a specific summer where clubs probably only bought what they felt they really needed.
We were also more active later in the window, it was like that. We needed time to analyze what would happen and how much we could spend.
It’s obviously not ideal, but it’s a weird season/year anyway. Klopp said he will manage. It’s more tricky for those individuals. Klopp can make it work in training sessions, it’s them who will likely lose half a season or a full season on possibly nothing, or not much. We’ll see what happens in January.
Where I can question the club is only it’s calculation. If Grujic spends a season here, there is no injury crisis and he plays basically no football… what does that mean for his value next summer? But I’m confident we’ll still sell them on good terms for us.
I’m not quite willing to go so far as to say Klopp and Edwards disappointed when it comes to sales. Maybe there weren’t the deals out there for the players? Often we have threads on here along the lines of “I will take x million for him” and so on and so forth, but whisper it quietly… maybe even the lower amounts we as fans might accept were not even offered?
So… more loans? Maybe.
Or keep the players, knowing that the games are coming thick and fast, and one or two might be needed at some point, due to injury, fatigue, covid…
And if not, another transfer window will open up again in a few short months.
I think the lower amounts were offered but the club have developed a reputation as being hard arses when it comes to demanding fees for players bought from us. Even with the pandemic it could have harmed our reputation in the long run if we’d caved on prices. Take Wilson, could have got a fee worth up to £16m depending on if all triggers were activated, more than some on here were willing to take, but the club let it be known it would take a deal £15m guaranteed and up to £5m in add ons. Not too far off what was offered, we could have backed down on demands but didn’t. For one thing I don’t think we were as desperate for cash as was portrayed (mostly to help negotiate the Thiago deal from the looks). For another all the players we wanted to sell will still be under contract next winter and summer when we can look again.
So happy that Gini stayed here for this season but I don’t think he will sign an extension and would have no problem with that.
IF he signs that extension than I can see us making a move for Depay on a free. Pretty sure they are looking to play together and a club like Juve could be looking to sign them both on a free next summer.
Other than that I am hoping that Upamecano and Aouar will be our top targets next year.
Without Wijnaldum (and Milner and Ox) Fabinho would have to move back to midfield full time and we would also have room for Aouar.
I have been reading on a Dutch football site that Sergio Romero is unhappy being at United, now that would be a good back-up goalkeeper for us so I would buy him.
butland was linked to us before, however spuriously, so it was more convenient, back before i remembered that we don’t play again until october 17, and wanted the psychic comfort of a potential championship solution during the next adrian shitshow
i never thought butland was any good, and don’t expect a move, but if they think davies or somebody else can do better than adrian, fine by me
Need a centre back, reserve goalkeeper and a forward. Possibly a midfielder as well if Wijnaldum goes. Would look at Haaland or possibly Sancho. There might be a few other options as well for up top.
Regarding centre backs who do we go for? Gomez has been great for the most part the last few seasons but this year he’s been somewhat disappointing. With Van Dijk injured, Matip a little injury prone the need for a centre back increases.
Upamecano and Kounde are both options. Haven’t seen enough of them but they’re young and highly regarded. Upamecano obviously with the release clause but perhaps the club can pay a little premium to sign him in January. Need quality.
"If we were to buy a younger CB for Klopp to develop, to iron out creases, smooth over rough edges etc. who would people pick?
Im thinking guys like Tobido, Ferro, Ramagnoli, Tah, Ajer etc. guys that have natural skills or traits that might match up to what Klopp needs from a CB but not quite putting it all together so may be under the radar. Young but with experience.
I think a Klopp CB needs to be good in the air (usually means height), comfortable on the ball, quick. I think there’s a lot Klopp can teach and improve with players but there’s got to be something to work with. I’ve tried to think of some players who have potential to fit although I might be wrong with some/all of them, I’m not an expert.
What do others think? Any other suggestions for the shortlist?"
And clarifying why I think that type of CB;
“Unless we are signing a CB to come in and be a defacto starter from day one (like VvD, Alisson, Salah, Mane and Keita, the only one it didn’t work perfectly with) I don’t think it’ll be a rated player who is on everyone else’s radar and lips. It’ll be someone like Jota I think at this stage. Young but experienced, able to do a job as cover as is but with the right traits that mean those at the club think he can become more further down the line. That’s my idea anyway. Jota wasn’t a starting player at Wolves he was showing too much inconsistency for them to rely on him. I’m not attached to the idea of Tah I just think he’s someone who ticks most of the boxes of what Klopp needs and there’s potential there for Klopp to turn him or one of the others I listed into a monster of a CB within a year or two. That’s not to say Klopp can do that for any player and I might well have listed any of the ones I did incorrectly. There’s got to be a foundation there of appropriate skills and attributes combined with the right mentality. But I think we’ll bring a CB in this window, the winter or next summer at the latest, he won’t be an impulse buy, we’d have watched him for some time so current form won’t matter, he won’t be on the radar of the top clubs apart from us and the signing will probably be questioned in some quarters. Then within a year or two he’ll be considered world class. Only thing that might stop it is if Fabinho is doing so well there they make it a perm switch and get a CM that fits that profile instead. For now it’s a Lovren (CB)/Fabinho (CM) replacement as strictly cover, in the short term it’s a Matip (CB)/Wijnaldum (CM) heir as someone actively challenging for starts and in the long term it’s someone to take over Van Dijk or Henderson as one of the first names on the team list when available. So they have to be quite young obviously.”
