I hope we resist the urge to buy Slot’s former players. One is fine I suppose, as a new man might need a canny acquisition he can trust as he settles in and gets to grips with it, but it strikes me as unimaginative to go in for several Feyenoord players.
We have scouting and stattos and data and all the rest of it. We know everything about every potential player we might sign. How odd if it turns out that the solutions can all be found in the Feyenoord squad!
(This comment is a general one, aimed at a few lazy links to Gertrude and Wieffer, maybe one or two others).
I think the Geertruida links would make sense only if Gomez was leaving, as he can also play RB, CB, and DM. Otherwise, yeah, it’s a lazy link. Slot and Hughes might not necessarily want a direct defensive utility player replacement, and with Geetruida being at the West Ham vs LFC game, it was a naturally lazy link to go with.
I think that Liverpool as a club is way past “let’s get our new coach’s former players” ethos. If we get a Feyenoord player, it will be because he was extensively scouted for the past few years and because his performance data checks out. That said, it won’t stop the press from being lazy.
I’m equally interested and frightened about how this summer pans out, to be honest. We were close to winning the title this season, even if we didn’t play well at times and had the mother of all injury crises, rivaled only by other injury crises we had after 2020. One would think that we’d do an Arsenal and invest heavily into one or two game-changers in the positions that need strengthening. Which, in fairness, is what we did in 2018. and what I kind of expect this summer. Any top class centre backs out there for the taking?
What most new managers do and I’m sure that Slot will come in and say ’ I need a certain type of player or we won’t be able to play the football I want’
Thiago at Bayern and Gündogan at City for Pep.
Jesus at Arsenal for Arteta.
Xhaka for Xabi.
Looking forward to see what type of player it will be for Slot and at the same time that player might be an indication on which current players could struggle under the new head coach.
You know I’ve been mentioning him for quite a while but I genuinely don’t know if he’s good enough for a team that aspires to win trophies or how he compares to Quansah and Konate… I’d be over the moon if he was our next world class centre back, obviously, but I genuinely can’t tell whether it would be the best to keep him or sell him and invest in someone else, hence my question.
Or maybe we should disregard the defence completely, looking at our recent defending, and just buy the attackers who will turn those wasted 5-on-1 counter-attacks into goals.
If we end up selling Darwin Nunez as rumored than I would buy Victor Osimhen to replace him. The guy is a truly clinical striker.
If Matip leaves as we think he will because his contract is expiring, we need a new centerback. Hincapie, Scalvini, or Nuno Mendes could make good replacements. Unfortunately I don’t think Colwill is really possible.
It can be a combination of factors, but the market will obviously be an important one. It was said that near the end of last summer, Chelsea tried to get him. We’ll see what happens on the striker scene in the next couple of windows. He might get one more chance under Slot before a “final” decision. One thing apart from focusing on his football, he’ll need to learn how to ignore social media abuse. Without defending it, there’s not much you can do. And it’ll be the same whether he’s at Liverpool or another club.
I think it would be pragmatic to get in another player to challenge for the number 9 position, Nunez and Gakpo have both been underwhelming this season and Jota injured, be sensible to take action. Ideally someone who can play on the right as well to tick two boxes.
As you point out, we have 3 already. I don’t think its pragmatic to add a 4th, even if all 3 can play other roles (although all are most comfortable on the LW) and so cannot imagine it happening without moving on one of the current 5.
I think this goes for most of our positions within the squad, particularly with the emergence of several promising players graduating from the youth set up. Despite Matip and Thiago moving on, we still will probably need additional players to leave to free up the spaces for potential new signings,
It will be crucial for Bajcetic to have the right loan, where he sees plenty of action at a good level. Even as a gangly kid, pre injury and breaking into the team, his level looked fine for the Premier League.
Obviously it was only a start, and his body needed to grow more, but if he is to go on loan, it has to be right, and I’d say that will be tricky. Maybe a promoted team, and if he’s not playing enough, he comes back to LFC?
Yeah I don’t think Baj will get a lot of minutes next season coming off that much time out. A loan to the right club/situation is a good idea, I think.
Could Bajčetić actually drop down a level and play regularly? Hull wouldn’t have been a bad option looking at how they helped get Morton and Carvalho back on track but they sacked Rosenior, so they might be off the list but there are probably other clubs looking to bolster their ranks with such a talented young player, even if it’s just on a temporary basis. Same goes for Doak, I’d say.
I can’t remember where I brought up about Bajcetic’s injury record, but he’s missed an awful lot of football and training time. Missed 6 months in 2022, then had a run of first team games with us in 2023, and then concurrent long-term injuries, resulting in over a year of football and training missed.
I do wonder if maybe the club will keep him around for 6 months, see how he reacts to youth games, training, and maybe the odd first team appearance, and decide whether to loan him out in January 2025.
