Don’t know who. But want a fairly young but experienced addition in midfield.
Our midfield is fragile. And not convinced with Naby and OX… But if I had a choice would keep OX over Keita as he is more versatile.
This new addition should be able to legitimately challenge Hendo and Thiago OR even a Fabinho for a starting place.
Agree with acquiring young players for the future… But we still need to win now and take advantage of our key players still being in their primes.
I’m kind of looking towards next summer already, when it comes to midfield additions. We started a second string trio vs Norwich, brought Elliott and Fabinho off the bench - and we have three more, where two of them will be regular starters and the third most likely will get plenty of minutes. It’s not bad is it, in terms of numbers.
It’s rarely clever to rule anything out, but if Klopp sees all those players as genuine options, and we consider how he has answered questions about this in press meetings lately, it just seems most likely we don’t buy now.
So then it becomes interesting, or at least sort of fun, to guess who the possible target(s) for next summer could be. I have a good feeling about Neuhaus at Gladbach, there’s been enough media noise to think maybe there’s real interest from Lfc. Looks like a player that, good age as well. Supposedly there’s interest from Bayern, which could complicate things. Someone to watch though.
All the so called experts are citing Gini going as a major issue for us but gloss over the fact City’s most important one is now 36.
Would love Jude Bellingham but we probably would not see him anytime sooner than 2024. His contract has now being extended to 2025. He was bought for 25mil. If he continues this kind of form and if Dortmund is willing to sell in the next 2 seasons, it will surely trigger an auction for his services from the world’s biggest clubs which I am not sure our club likes to get involved. If it comes to a year left and he has no intention of extending the contract then I think we will stand the best chance as the price would be attractive for us and I am sure we will be one of the most attractive options for him.
Agreed. The point isn’t that at 29 Mane is finished. It’s that at 29, we need to be considering how and when we replace him. Someone at the age Doku is, brought in now, might be ready to take his place in 3/4 years,
The problems with this are that at 32 Mane might show no signs of slowing down, and Doku playing second fiddle might not be able to kick as he could if he were starting somewhere.
I think Bayern Munich are a good example of how ageing wingers can be used well, without killing off youth chances. Both Robben and Ribery played till well into their 30s, and provided vast experience and were manged well, a bit like Milner is now at Liverpool. The other factor will be whether Mane/Mo want to go play in Spain or elsewhere, if they feel they’ve achieved what they set out to here.
Good example, though it must be said that’s a rare one in football at the top level. We’ll see how it evolves over the next few years.
I’d say one of the major issues is escalation of earnings. Will Mane keep extending contracts without them including increases? If they do include increases what do you pay the young up and comer as he develops and gets better and better?
I think the evolution needs to happen a little different and it’s started already in my opinion. So we had Salah, Mane and Firmino but we added Jota who looks all set to be at the same level. So now he’s established at some stage one of the older 3 can move on and a new player brought in. Ideally it’s a top star which sees no drop off. But if need be it can be a Jota style signing who may take a season or so to turn 3 stars plus 1 back up into 4 stars. If its that level player they could be brought in now before one of the 3 move on. But when you have 4 legitimate star options again that’s when you can look at who next needs to move on.
From what we can see, which isn’t much, the contracts are heavily incentivised, and therefore the take home reflects how well the players perform, or how often they play. Therefore, hopefully, we don’t end up in a situation where we are unable to bring through the youth. I’m quite confident in FSG/Edwards keeping things steady without compromising the youth element, which is where FSG are trying to maximise (Kirby move, Klopp etc).
I’m talking more of the example given of us buying a young wonderkid a few seasons away from being ready to be the main man and him slowly developing and taking over from Mane as he gets older. Yeah sure as Mane started playing less his bonuses wouldn’t be triggered as much but his base salary still would have been increased at least once or twice to get him to sign on for that process/those years. I don’t see how that realistically works on individual basis. If you look at it as a whole area like the whole attack then maybe but man for man that’s going to dramatically increase our wage bill which isn’t small fry already.
We will see it in practice with the younger players (Curtis/Elliot/Ibou) in the coming years, along with hopefully another player brought in before the end of a window in their late teens/early 20s. These players should slowly develop and take over from the then older players in a season or two. I don’t really see it as an issue, as the club comes first over players, and players are allowed to leave if they aren’t happy with extension terms (Gini). I very much don’t see the club being bent over and screwed by the players.
I don’t see this as an issue. A significant increase in earnings at 32 would most likely be bonus related rather than base, unless the clubs income and wage structure has changed significantly. He would also be getting a bonus for signing a new contract. The young up an comer again will be getting paid according to their contribution and value to the squad.
Assuming Mane agrees to a new contract now, that will probably be a 3+1 year deal, potentially tying him in to being here until he is 33.
Some talk about Haalands 2022 release clause in German media today. €75m (£63,75m) release clause but can rise up to €90m (£76,5m).
Guessing it depends on how many goals he scores, winning the league, cup…
How much Raiola wants, how much his Dad wants, etc…
Still dirt cheap if he maintains his current form.
The Haaland transfer fee may seem low at £64mill but once his oldman and Raiola add their £40mill selling commission,plus his 5 year wages and signing on fee,Haaland is costing a minimum of over £200mill to whoever buys him.
Mbappe on the other hand will be around half that,with no transfer fee or Raiola tax.
Where does all this about his father demanding lots of money come from? I’ve seen people mention it here and there. Raiola, sure, he always gets his.
His father got 10mill Euro’s from the sale to Dotmund,it’s also reported that him and Raiola will get around £40mill out of the next sale of Haaland,his father must be some kind of agent or manager as him and Raiola have been all over Europe trying to push his sale.
All right, thanks 
I would love to see Haaland here, but I can’t stand the agent and father around the deal, milking it for all it’s worth.
That side of football needs urgent reform. Far too much money is going out of the game to hangers on.