I saw some calculations last night that suggested it was about 8 million pounds difference between two positions, so it’s probably thereabouts. That should be enough to, I don’t know, cover Mbappe’s wages for one whole month!
£2m according to this article.
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Well ladies and gentleman… We now have CL football to offer to entice players that were on the fence about joining us.
Those same Players from every league around the world saw our resilience, passion and heart of a champion to come back and take 3rd place. Who do we Buy!!! …
Let the guessing games begin!!!
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There’s also the market pool element of the Champions League based on league standing. First 40%, second 30%, third 20%, fourth 10%. All adds up.
"The estimated available amount will be distributed in accordance with the proportional value of each country TV market represented by clubs taking part in the UEFA Champions League (group stage). The different market shares will be distributed to the participating clubs from each association.
Half of the amount representing the value of each market will be paid in proportion to the number of matches played by each club in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League.
Half of the amount representing the value of each market will be split among the clubs based on their performance in the previous domestic championship."
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Now that Lille has won the French Ligue, I am pretty sure their star players will be up for sale at certain prices but having said that, other than PSG, the other players from other clubs had never commanded ridiculous prices. So from Lille, considering our need to replace Gini, would Soumare be a good target? Seems strong on the ball, some good skills with the feet, not sure of his stamina and injury record.
There is of course Botman in CB who has been linked with us before.
Jonathan David as a forward option seems interesting, he was very good already in Gent and moved to Lille and won the title in the first season and scored a good number of goals. Still young. However, having just moved for 30mil Euros a season ago, not sure Lille would ever let him go now for anything less than double that.
EDIT: not that we will be interested in Yilmaz, but what a journey he had, moved to China, back to Turkey, then at 35 moved to Lille and then played a key role in winning the league.
Could we pull a rabbit like this for ourselves again this coming season, abit like how we signed Milner? Aguero? (Not that its highly likely he will sign for Man City PL competitors)
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Pep mentioned yesterday he’s close to signing for Barca.
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Oh really? Not surprising. Never expected him to stay in the PL anyway, with the legendary status he achieved in Man City.
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Out:
Adrian
Karius
Davies
Matip
Wijnaldum
Grujic
Ojo
Wilson
Shaqiri
Woodburn
Origi
Awoniyi
Firmino
In:
Konate
Javi Martinez
Lamptey
Camavinga
Jaoa Felix/Lauturo Martinez
Squad:
GK: Alisson, Kelleher, Grabara
Def: TAA, Lamptey, VvD, Gomez, Konate, Kabak, Phillips, Robbo, Tsimikas
Mid: Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Keita, AOC, Jones, J. Martinez, Camavinga, Milner
Forwards: Salah, Mané, Elliott, Felix/L. Martinez, Jota
Neco and Rhys out on loan.
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Javi is finished at this level. He’ll probably go back to Bilbao and end his career there.
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Liked the squad except the midfield. Just a bit concerned about having Ox and Keita both again as midfield options going into next season again. Hendo isn’t guaranteed to be fit throughout and Milly might not be able to cover as much as well, very high chances of being thin in that area again. Also is Ox going to be a midfield option going forward or more as cover for front 3?
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Lyon asked for some pretty hefty fees when they were producing talent and challenging for titles. As did Monaco (Falcao & Lemar!).
We are kind of in a difficult position with our squad.
Klopp we know likes a small squad because he likes the playing group to be more ‘personal’, and doesn’t want to have to deal with all the conflict of a bunch of unhappy players sitting on the bench.
The issue is that we are currently carrying a large number of injury prone players - players that are not fringe players but nailed-on starters. The likes of Hendo, Gomez, Ox, Matip, Keita. Maybe it’s the pessimist in me but I am also concerned about Virg. There is a much higher incidence of reinjury after recovering from an ACL. The club needs to take it slow with him. Not sure him trying to play 50 games next year would be wise.
Gmps = games missed per season due to injury averaged across the number of seasons they’ve played in a first Division.
Full backs
Robbi, Trent, Tsimikas, N.Williams
Full back positions are solid and no need for additions
Center Backs
VVD, Kabak, Phillips, Williams, Davies
Excluded
Gomez (22.6 gmps)
Matip (10.1 gmps)
I think Philips will get some games the coming season. But we are still very light in this area even if Kabak stays. From Virg to Kabak to Phillips? That’s far too weak for my liking. We need another addition here, which IMO Klopp will be loathe to do after purchasing two CB’s already in the winter.
We have also been setting up differently this season to account for our inexperienced CBs. Will Phillips be able to adapt when both full backs are playing less reserved and are bombing forward regularly like we are used to? It’s no coincidence that assists are much lower this season. I think Phillips can adapt if partnered with VVD - praying that he’s his old self and isn’t one of the 50% that never reach pre-ACL-injury levels.
Midfielders
Fab, Thiago, Jones, Shaq, Milner
Excluded
Hendo (7.7 gmps)
Ox (14.1 gmps)
Keïta (9.4 gmps)
Too many of our midfielders are injury prone. Keita is exactly the type of player I would like to see in there beside Fab and Thiago but it’s just not happening due to injuries. I see us needing 1 maybe 2 players here especially with Gini gone.
Forwards
Bobby, Mané, Salah, Jota, Origi, Minamino
There may be some that think we need another player here, but I think we are well covered. We have seen that with Jota we can cover pretty much any injury and modify formation as needed.
So I am moderately worried about the centre back situation. And seriously worried about the midfield situation. You would think even with injury prone players that some will be available when others are off, but we know from experience luck always has them available at the same time and injured at the same time. Can’t rely on a good number of our players staying fit.
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True too…but Lille had some financial issues last few years, maybe some good players at reasonable prices to be had this coming summer…
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We definitely need to add players, whether to what scale, might differ from fan to fan and definitely Klopp and team have their own ideas what to add.
From my point of view, we have pretty much a good view of the options we have for new additions in CB. Our squad has two very experienced CBs in VVD and Matip. Gomez is just one step lower in terms of experience but definitely higher than Philips and the other options.
For CB, its definitely fluid especially since Philips has more than proven himself worthy for at least a squad role but whether he wants to settle for that or go be first choice in a lower team etc remains to be seen. But if Philips stay, I would see our options as this coming season:
CB - VVD, Matip, Gomez, Philips, Konate/Kabak/Any other player good enough to compete with that starting position
But if Matip and Philips leave, then I expect Davies to step in to take over Philips as 5th choice and one more player in Konate/Kabak/Any other player to replace Matip.
For Midfield, we definitely need to replace Gini. While we have options out on loan or in the youth, not sure those are good enough at the moment. So we definitely need someone in the same mould of Gini or Hendo to come in. Someone like Soumare or Bissouma? But that would definitely be the only addition for midfield for me.
For forwards, we might want to add in a player if there are value deals.
To me, the definite must add are the CB and the CM and forward if a good player is available at a good price but not more important than the CB and CM position.
I’m not so sure he’ll be sold considering he came in 6 months ago on a 5yr contract.
Now as it was mid season is that actually 5.5 years or 4.5 and journos have rounded it up to class the half season as a year? You have a better understanding of contracts and law so am interested in your thoughts
That just maximises his value to the club. If he is good enough the club don’t need to worry about new contracts for a while. If he was viewed as a player to loan out or sell, the club again are under no contract length pressure from doing so.
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I appreciate that there remains considerable financial uncertainty, but at the same time it should be recognised that the owners have a choice as to whether to facilitate some investment in the squad or not.
Our club is part of a group that has access to resources, they’ve seen the good times and they have to decide how to handle the bad.
We clearly need investment, you have to evolve a squad year in year out and address clear and obvious issues.
The centre back crisis was not a freak event, it was very likely after we sold Lovren and relied on Matip and Gomez alongside VVD.
We have yet to see how VVD is after his injury, also how Gomez is after yet another injury. Personally I don’t think he’s top class anyway, he’s fragile mentally and for me Phillips has much more of a winner mentality and character. I do not see Matip being any more available in future than he has been the last year.
It’s not sufficient to say we have three senior centre backs in Matip, Gomez and VVD. We do not as two of them are out nearly half the time. We have the equivalent of two senior centre backs in Matip, VVD and Gomez in terms of playing time.
Personally I’d loan out the two Williams lads, use Gomez as back up to TAA until he’s proved himself, and ensure we have VVD plus a new quality centre back, Phillips, and either Kabak or Matip.
Midfield needs tweaking, Gini’s gone, Keita needs to move on, I’d push Oxlade in the forward squad.
We are losing a third of our midfield appearances with Gini, so our esteemed analysts need to recognise that in their planning or next season we’ll have a midfield injury crisis instead of a defensive one. Fab has his fair share of injuries, Hendo is injury prone, Thiago has been known to spend time out each season too, Milner is ageing, Jones is no Foden.
Up top the front three have looked like themselves lately, but our conversion of chances to goals was always less than it should have been in the good times. We also lose two of them to the African Nations Cup next mid season if both Mane and Salah stay. Oxlade and Jota are good options as cover and rotation up top, but I suspect we’ll sell Salah and that’s half our goals gone.
I also worry about the keeper situation, because of Becker’s worse than average availability for his position. Much of the Villa debacle was on Adrian. We possibly need better back up.
As we sit here today we have an injury prone defence, we’re losing a third of our midfield appearances and might lose half our goals.
We have the basis of a squad good enough to compete if we sign the right players, but a belt tightening summer might see us remain in a fight for top four rather than the title.
Most of Klopp’s seasons here have seen a slump mid season, about the time continentals have a break, so for me that suggests we need to be carrying a slightly bigger and/or less injury prone squad going forward.
In addition to genuine rotation options, we definitely need forward impact options off the bench and midfield legs off the bench.
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Considering our injury record, we need him…
This season, Iñaki Williams featured in all 38 games for Athletic Bilbao in La Liga. Same in 19/20. And 18/19, 17/18, and 16/17. He hasn’t missed a fixture in over 5 years!
Fixed it for you.
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I don’t like Foden, he’s a cocky chav, but he is a top quality player.
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