Do you mean pissed or pissed off?
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As pointed out above, would the deal have cost us £75m at that point? Would we still have got Ox late on in that summer window had we spent £50-£75m on van Dijk? We’ll never know but it’s a reasonable assumption to suggest the influx of £140m might have had some bearing on what we subsequently spent. I didn’t think anyone would even be able to argue against that but hey, here we are.
What is irrefutable is the windows/seasons we have the biggest outlay happen to be the ones in which or immediately follow significant sales. It’s either a complete coincidence or there’s a clear correlation between large value sales and a significant spend above our normal level. I’m inclined to think it’s the latter given every piece of evidence during FSG’s tenure points to that being the case.
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When it comes to transfers I take what the journalists say with a pinch of salt, as I don’t believe they really know anything more than we do. They only report what they club gives them.
All of that said, I do find it interesting the “Liverpool must sell players to raise money” campaign is in full swing. And it has the masses quite riled.
I personally don’t have a position on “sell to buy” but I just want to point out, we were told by The Boss himself at the end of last season that finishing Top 4 and qualifying CL was going to have a “massive impact” on what could or could not be done in the transfer market this summer. The squad qualified CL so I am fully expecting signings. Again, simply going by what Klopp himself said.
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I don’t want to get into the fine details of the clubs finances (cos unless you know them,theres no point in surmising and i don’t know fuck all about them tbh) but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out we aren’t flush with cash (and if we are then it’s being hidden to keep costs of fee’s down or to make a big move on a top player/players at a later date).
With losing money to Covid the arse end of 2019/20 and the whole of last season (roughly £100mill in match day revenue) plus tv rights,building a new £50mill training ground,still paying off the main stand and now the new Anfield road end being rebuilt,owing £60mill+ on Thiago and Jota (which admittedly get paid over time but still a debt on the club),these are massive sums of cash FSG have lost and still have to pay for.
That said,they aren’t going to massively overspend on players this summer and load more debt onto the clubs books,when thats not how they work (even if they can).I’ll be very suprised if we bring in more players without selling first,especially after forking out £36mill on Konate.
Finances will play a role… but equally the headcount - having too big a squad will affect morale and team cohesiveness.
We can’t just jettison players who want to stay or not register them. Klopp isn’t the type of manager who would freeze a player out without good reason.
Similarly we don’t like to sell cheaply, and a couple difficult windows seem unlikely to change that.
I still think one or two players will be sold… then a few others will be loaned out. But the majority of fringe players will likely stay.
Hence I would only expect… one more major signing and likely not as big a name as most people would hope.
with this, I present to you “RedBird Capital”
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Then eventually the club will fall apart. The good players we have won’t be able to keep us competing forever without good players coming in to strengthen us. They’ll get older and some will leave even if we are at the top, and especially if we start falling down. We can’t be a club that let’s good players leave if they want when there are matching offers whilst also never forcing players who aren’t good enough to move to other clubs. We will do like we did with Flanagan, Sakho, Lucas, Ings. When we have players we no longer want/need here we will pit pressure on them to move on. The idea that Klopp can’t be ruthless like that isn’t backed up by the evidence.
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Depends what you mean by that. Klopp won’t go full Mourinho and act like a complete cunt to players he doesn’t want, making them train alone, slagging them off in the media etc.
Partly this is because he’s a nice guy, but it’s also because his efforts to build team spirit and togetherness among the squad are not helped by players think Klopp is going to turn on them when they’ve served their usefulness.
He will suggest players move on, let them know that they aren’t part of his plans. But if a player doesn’t want to leave, he won’t basically bully them out of the door.
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And yet players who passionately have wanted to stay have left under Klopp. And the issue with us having so many surplus players isn’t due to Klopp being reluctant to force players to leave, it more seems to be example after example of deals that have failed because we’ve stuck to valuations and been non negotiable on them with clubs that haven’t quite met them. If players like Lucas and Flanagan can be persuaded to move on I don’t think anyone bar Alexander-Arnold (who I can’t see us ever wanting to leave) being more passionately motivated to stay. You’re right Klopp will never be a Mourinho type, but Mourinho is the most extreme example possible, every club he’s at he singles someone out to make the sacrificial victim of his politicking and imposing authority over the squad. Quite often the player in question is actually a good one that doesn’t deserve it. Jose just always does it. Klopp doesn’t have to be that extreme but he’s also no pushover. Players who aren’t good enough are metaphorically shown where the door is we then, as a club, just don’t let them go through it till someone pays the price.
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How many players passionately wanted to stay and were jettisoned? Yes, probably some are told they are not in our plans but we haven’t forced them out.
On one hand, we’ve offered Origi to others - even agreed deals - for him to turn them down and he has stayed and fought for his place.
Others like Harry Wilson prefer to stay but have been pragmatic about the situation and the need for playing time and has been loaned out as of yet. We haven’t forced players out. Encouraged them to leave… but not been ruthlessly forceful.
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With Origi it seems a problem with our pricing. At the price we’ve had him top teams cqn afford him but want better. Lesser teams competing in Europe haven’t been able to afford him but would happily take him as a squad filler option (the first alternative attacker type, think Jota here). The clubs that have been able to afford a non guaranteed starter at those prices have been UK teams that don’t make Europe and as such Origi seamed to turn his nose up and stay. Now as we lower the price we would be willing to accept better teams might get interested or able to complete the deals at those prices. That way Origi may get a move to a CL team or a team in EL able and willing to win it.
Sakho and Brewster were forced out though both got offers and deals away.
Klopp is a normal guy not a perfect one.
You said ‘when players are reluctant to move on, we need to put pressure on them’. That just isn’t Klopp’s way.
99% of the time, players will leave if they aren’t getting enough football. If someone comes in for Shaqiri, he isn’t going to dig his heels in and demand to stay. There is no need for anyone to be a bellend. As you’ve said, the only thing that stops deals happening is our valuation of players.
I really think we’re going to have to knock down our valuations. The club seem to expect to pull in 100m for the fringe players. It’s just not going to happen.
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having said that i love a good stoush…not that its in anyway productive now…i think the Sahko one was Klopp laying the ground rules early…and not that its in anyway a positive…
but, …yknow… love a bit of handbags…juicy
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It’s Friday. Woke up with the feeling that some ‘big’ news (ins or outs) will be leaked today.
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Twitter ITK:
‘A source in Germany confirms that Liverpool FC will complete their second signing today’. #Neuhaus # LFC
@Fabrizio_Romano
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Buying Van Dijk wasn’t dependent on selling Coutinho. At all. It may have allowed us to meet Roma’s valuation for Alisson but it’s worth remembering that the financial year in which we sold Coutinho we would actually have pretty much broken even if we hadn’t.
As for who I’d buy…
Forward: Lautaro Martinez
Midfield: Bissouma/Neuhaus/Saul/Bellingham/Camavinga/Goretzka happy with any of those midfield options
RB cover: Lamptey
GK cover: Onana
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Brewster wanted to leave.
After being pushed by Klopp!
He wasn’t pushed. He just wanted more first team action than he was getting.