The club will have already been tracking his potential replacements well before now. Nunez for example was being looked at back in 2018.
Oh I do hope so…we need to keep the momentum of the team going…
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In Keita and Elliot we have two players who did well last year as the right sided ‘8’ and there are arguments for them to start ahead of him in plenty of games.
Towards the end of last season we saw Henderson either play as the DM or start big games on the bench and we were absolutely fine, we won pretty much every one.
There is no longer a need to run Henderson into the ground in that positon, so there’s no reason he shouldn’t be the main competition for Fabinho.
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I hope you’re right!
To be honest, if somebody told me that it was possible for Liverpool to pay 80 million pounds to extend Keita’s deal and make all seven first team midfielders injury-free for the next two years, I’d be over the moon. That brittleness, especially in Alcantara’s and Keita’s cases, is the main reason why I’m worried about our prospects next season.
That said, I hope that the five-sub rule will play into Klopp’s hands and reduce the risk of injuries. I also hope for more competence from PL refs. Look at me, all optimistic.
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Also, IF we were to move someone from defence into midfield, it will be Trent that gets moved forward
If he shows consistency in his output then maybe but his actual underlying numbers were pretty average. I think he’s a good candidate for regression and West Ham would be quite clever to cash in now.
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I think that’s why he was let go easily enough. The boss and other staff knew he was on the decline, so were happy to let him go. At the time I wanted to keep him due to his availability but seeing his PSG form, it was the right decision. We as a club seem to be very good at knowing when to part with players as none of them seem to kick on or maintain their level post-Liverpool.
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resident spic, bahaha settle down there caballero.
Unless Ox goes I don’t see us buying a midfielder this summer.
And I only think Ox goes if he pushes for it and we get an offer that makes it worth our while to have to dip back into the market. I can’t really see that happening personally given his wages, injury history, form and the kind of fee we’d probably want.
If Bellingham really is our main target and we don’t think it’s do-able this year then I think they’ll be perfectly happy to let Ox see out his deal rather than push him out the door. If we do that we’re only going to have to go get someone who’d be seen as more of a squad player rather than a starter just to replace Ox whilst we wait for Bellingham next year.
It’s a risk as we’re also going to have to do something significant next summer to replace Mo if he doesn’t sign a new deal. The fact Mane has got himself a £300k+ a week contract elsewhere and that’s not even on a bosman makes me think Mo will be confident of getting what he wants from someone next summer, even if that’s a lower salary than he wants from us but balanced by a whacking great signing on fee.
A major midfield piece and a major piece for the forward line with no big sales would require a hefty transfer budget to be available. You’d also probably need another midfielder too given we’d be losing Ox and Milner. You’d hope there’s a plan and we’re not just kicking the can down the road but that feels like a lot of work for one window. To me it still makes sense to get one of those midfield pieces in this summer and then let Ox go if he’s not here for the long term.
The other worry is putting all our eggs in the Bellingham basket like it appears we might have done with Tchouameni. If he opts to stay with Dortmund or go somewhere else then at that point we’ll have to look alternatives, we couldn’t wait another season for the right one to then be available. We’re then onto second, third, fourth choice options despite having waited a year to make our move.
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Wouldn’t mind that but Klopp is a manager who looks to solve the future problems as well. At this point, It would be better to give more chances to Harvey, Curtis etc. Not saying that Klopp didn’t bring back old players at Dortmund , but I don’t think he will do so now.
Agree Rab. Would love to offload Ox, Neco and Phillips and bring in someone Klopp may actually play in our injury prone midfield
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I think it’ll be
2023: Centre Midfielder
2024: Right Winger
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With so many positions to potentially fill, I suspect we might bring someone in in January to stagger the incomings.
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We generally don’t look to make signings in the January, it makes more sense to have deals done in the summer. Where January signings are made it is out of necessity or opportunity.
I know we have done January business but it’s not ideal. Not everyone is going to be a willing seller. Might cost you more to do a deal mid-season and there’s no bedding in period during pre-season.
Also doesn’t make sense to wait if we could do it now, to be trying to sell Ox mid-season or to carry an extra body for that latter half of the season if Ox isn’t going to be here long term.
Personally I think Ox needs a move more than we need to keep him. It’s a long shot but a couple good months playing week in week out for a mid table club could see him back in contention for the World Cup squad. Would only need a couple injuries for him to be back in the conversation if he’d been playing well.
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Does that mean a year without Mo or his replacement?
As for January purchases, hey get a bad rap because they are primarily done by clubs who need something and dont have their shit together. It is that which drives the bad decisions, not that it was a January purchase. For clubs who know what they are doing, they can incredibly valuable if they are done like Diaz and Virgil, where they are players you knew you wanted and were just taking an opportunity to land them early.
You also have to look at the Vidic and Evra examples are why they can be so valuable. Neither player was particularly good in their first half season after arriving in January, but what would expect from replacing half of your back line in January and throwing them together immediately? By the August though they hit the ground running and cantered to a fairly comfortable league win with both players contributing massively.
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A year with no one able to play RW seems a bit unwise unless you’re hoping that Jota or Elliott can cover.
I wouldn’t like to see that personally.
Yes I could see us having a year without Mo’s replacement - relying on Jota, Diaz and Darwin as the starters with Firmino and Carvalho the primary rotation pieces, maybe using Elliott wide right at times. Kaide Gordon and Matuesz Musialowski potentially being some depth there too.
We don’t usually like to make more than one big purchase per year unless we have a big sale. I could see an expensive midfielder and expensive winger being spaced apart by 12 months.
Sorry, I know you’re more knowlegable than me (who isn’t?), but we are competing for the highest honours in club football, and it’s hard to see us standing much of a chance with a cobbled together team. Jota hasn’t ever looked like Mo’s replacement on the right.
Maybe JK has a secret masterplan, it wouldn’t be the first time, but if not that seems reckless.
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