If Madrid goes in for Bellingham, we might end up like another Tchoumeni situation.
I think with most of the players we go for, we are definitely not going to be the only party interested. What we will offer to the club is a reasonable amount and to the player a reasonable salary. We will not compete in a bidding war nor pay obscene wages. And therefore its really up to the player to tell his club that he will only consider us. That would be the only way we will get players like Bellingham.
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And Fabinho was always slow 
His style works with two other high energy midfielders, then he can use his long legs and remarkable anticipation to win back possession. When the other two can’t do that, he looks exposed.
He looked his best when we had near prime Hendo and prime Gini. Between the two of them they covered miles of ground at a rapid pace.
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Yeah. Klopp demands quite a lot from those two midfielders. As Trent and Robbo push on they are required to tuck in and be able to close the space they leave. We get caught quite a bit when, for whatever reason that doesn’t happen.
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I was at Anfield a couple of times during the 19/20 season and remembered how quickly Gini and Hendo recovered space time and time again! Any potential danger was snuffed out immediately and with a minimum of fuss. We don’t have that throughout 90 minutes any more
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And I think here is the problem and why we look so open… Milner hasn’t the of legs Gini, Henderson is taking longer to get back to full fitness where he does have the legs, Thiago covered with clever positioning but is injured, Keita has a habit of not tracking runners and Jones/Elliott are still learning.
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Yeah which is why I think Jones and Elliot aren’t getting the minutes they may elsewhere. And also why (imo) why Gini is struggling at PSG. He was a fantastic hole plugger, who did so much unseen and off the ball. Go to a side where it’s all about ability on the ball and demanding constant possession I suspect the press and subsequently the fans have got on his back.
I think Klopp is right when he says we need the right player, not A player.
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Totally agree with you @koptician and @Draexnael. We have needed new blood in midfield since Gini left. Feels like Thiago was hoped to give us two high volume years before we hoped the likes of Elliot and Jones would either be ready or we could re-enter the market but as he hasn’t provided the quantity to go with his quality, and Keita and Ox have also failed to do so, we really needed another midfielder last year. I think now we really need two signings by the start of 23-24 and I fear Bellingham’s price tag will be prohibitive given where else we need to strengthen.
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midfield (Ox/Millie) midfield (Keita) and forward (Bobby) next summer
Tightoldgit
What players get younger? 
Ones with dodgy African passports.
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Millie has played plenty already this season. That can’t happen if we want to compete for trophies. That’s the reality of the situation.
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Milner perhaps but as Cynical points out Elliott will start to come more and more into the team.
Firmino won’t need much replacing as you have Jota. In fact Carvalho is another that will grow over time.
I do think if you clear the CM you do need two but I don’t think we need anything elsewhere. Potentially another option up top but we will see.
The likelihood is the one up top will be a youngster or taking a step up like Origi or Minimo. In fact it might be the case in CM, though potentially we could be looking at starters from the off.
I do think a lot depends on Elliott this season and Jones to a lesser extent. Elliott especially.
I’ll probably get slaughtered for saying it but I’d definitely at least be enquiring about Declan Rice.
He has the ability to play as a #6, or with someone else holding he is able to play as a #8 in a manner that Henderson used to - ie. get around the pitch, cover the gap that TAA leaves but can also get further forward to help out in attack as well.
Would he be expensive? Yes.
Would he have to get used to the PL? No.
Could he provide some balance to our midfield? Imo yes.
Added to that he is a good on field leader, something that we’ve criticised the team of not having when Henderson hasn’t been there barking out orders for others to follow. And he’s young enough to have a long enough career with us to justify any expensive expenditure.
I do really like the idea of Bellingham and would actually like to see both playing together with someone like Fabinho behind them but if you asked me who I think would offer us more for the way we play I think Rice is far more suited to what we’ve known from when we were able to call our midfield successful (something I’ve not done since a couple of chelsea games a year or so ago when we were just bullied and out-hustled in the middle of the pitch).
I personally think our success recently has been in spite of the midfield rather than the midfield being a cause of the success.
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Didn’t Moyes say Rice would cost £150m?
Besides, why would the player want to move from one relegation candidate to another?
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I’ve read what Moyes said.
I would imagine the West Ham board would be happy to accept a decent offer. Obviously even if it wasn’t near £150 million it would still be high due to the being English tax however we’d be getting an on the pitch leader who is well accustomed to the league and who I believe would fit what we’ve been asking from our midfielders.
Tbh I mentioned a younger Henderson earlier but I’d actually think he’s closer to the Roy Keane of Forest or in his first few years at United (not saying he’ll be that good but love him or hate him Keane was world class) due to the fact that he can and does get up and down the pitch to contribute at both ends.
And like Keane I really think he could settle down as a great #6. He’s much, much better than anyone else we’ve got there if anything happens to Fabinho.
Maybe as important as anything else he could contribute to trying to solidify that right hand side if he can do the covering for Trent that Hendo did for years there.
At the moment I don’t think our midfield is contributing anything to our attack or our sefence. They’re currently just something to be passed around.
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What happened to all the interest in Bowen and Rice two world beaters according to some.
Too expensive