is there a comparision that can be done between gravenberch and bellingham ?
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Gravenbergh is having a so so season with Ajax.
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Was always hoping we will go for him in the next 2 years but here he acts just like the next Alli, Barkley, Maddison, Grealish…
Some will say it’s nothing but imo he failed the ‘character test by Klopp’ here already.
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I think a lot of Liverpool fans are getting carried away with the idea that Bellingham is Liverpool-bound and so they’re already defensive of him.
Given that we already have a good teenaged midfielder in Harvey Elliott, a homegrown youngster in Curtis Jones and are in the process of signing another young midfielder in João Carvalho (then we have the likes of Morton, Clarkson, Balagizi, Mabaya etc and who knows what kind of plan the club has for them) then I find it very hard to believe we will consider dropping £80m on another young midfielder, especially one who isn’t currently playing at an £80m level.
He ain’t signing for us anytime soon.
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It’s just FOMO.
Despite this type of transfer being totally contradictory to what has been successful for us and in line with the mistakes other clubs have made, this one is different, honest.
The obvious thing to do here is lay the groundwork and attempt to buy him in a couple of years when he’s better and cheaper.
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Jude fails to control the pass but rips into his team mate. Wasn’t the best of passes but his control wasn’t great either.
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If that’s an example of the way he behaves towards team mates, I don’t want him at the club. It’s one thing giving someone a bollocking, but he overstepped the mark there.
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Not a good look at all for Jude, but I won’t throw a young man (boy really) under the bus for a heated rant during a disappointing arse thumping.
Also not sure he would be worth the price, as I’d rather a more defensive minded young mid. Tchouameni at a bit less, or even Koopmeiners at millions less would be better business, IMO.
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Feel we’re being a bit precious here. There are reasons to not want him under the current circumstances, but THIS doesnt seem like that when everything else about him seems like he’s got his head on straight.
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I remember people wanting Jack Robinson out of the club because he shouted “Fuck Off!” at Suarez when Suarez took a shot instead of laying Robinson in 1v1 
He was just communicating in one of Luis’ love languages.
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So Sweeting, through your analysis who is the closest ‘clone’ to Thiago?
There is no one even close. Fabian Ruiz has similar numbers (but lower) in possession, however his defensive numbers are nowhere near Thiago’s.
Guimaraes is the closest and he’s pretty far away.
Thaigo’s overall score was 1016.
2nd place Rodri was 893.
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In other words, Thiago is one-of-a-kind center midfielder?
Let’s use another player as a benchmark. Why don’t we use gini wijnaldum instead?
Because Thiago was viewed as an evolution for the side. I don’t think we would be looking to go back to a Gini style player would we?
Thiago is a one of a kind player that the world might not see ever again. He is not one of the top 10 midfielders in the world for nothing.
Thiago is the ultimate end game for our tactical evolution.However, such players will not suddenly appear in the world un-noticed. If we use Thiago as the benchmark, we will never find anyone that is anywhere remotely close to Thiago’s ability.
Gini was more of a middle-step to Thiago. By using Gini as a benchmark, we might possibly find someone that can be a good deputy to Thiago while being developed by us.
I think by using Gini as a base you’d be starting far too far away from the areas Thiago excells at. Gini was a ball retainer and recycler and a pretty good one to be fair. Thiago is a ball winner and ball distributer, neither of which were strengths of Gini.
Edit: Think we would have more joy creating our “new” Thiago internally from Elliott or possibly even Jones.
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Thanks for that Sweeting. I didn’t think there would be anyone else around like Thiago. Such a shame he is injury prone.
Let’s also not take these stats as the only truth out there. There is also the context of the team they play for. Stats are important and helpful, but as long as you use them in combination. This is one filter.
Of course there are players of the style of Thiago, or similar. He was brilliant and is still pretty good, but he’s no unicorn. And it’s not like we’d necessarily need a “Thiago clone” to replace Thiago.
Thing also is, yeah, he’s always been a little bit underrated without the ball, perhaps understood too much as a “creative player only”. Some of his pressing stats from Bayern were better than some of our dogs of war midfielders under Klopp.
However, I don’t think we’ll be looking at another mainly creative midfielder this summer.
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I think all it shows is that if you want to get someone with the overall contribution that Thiago brings then you probably can’t shop in the U26 market. Given that Thiago’s experience contributes greatly to the influence he has then that isn’t so surprising.
Maybe his best comparison in world football right now would be someone like Matteo Kovacic? By reputation I’d also say Verratti but I don’t watch PSG play domestic football - life is too short.
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