Who would you buy?

The Albert
1175

Sell Origi, Grujic, Wilson, Woodburn, Minamino, Ox, Shaqiri, Ojo, Awoniyi.

AM/WF - I’d love a young player like Neto, Goncalves, Sancho (lol no chance). Sarr might be an option as Klopp apparantly likes him. I don’t :wink:
CB - Botman, Carmo, Car
MF - Depends what type of midfielder Klopp wants but Bissouma, Sanches, Neuhaus all look like decent options
CF - If we want a top class striker like Mbappe or Haaland I would think Firmino would be moved on. If not I could see us getting a player like Daka

Obviously with no CL money and Covid not fucking off any time soon, buying players will be difficult.

1176

Possible First Team Squad next season:

GK: Alisson, Kelleher
CB: VVD, Gomez, Matip, Kabak, Davies
RB: TAA, Neco
LB: Robbo, Tsim
CM: Hendo, Fabinho, Thiago, Jones, Keita
FW/CF: Salah, Mane, Firmino, Elliot, Jota

For CB, I think we will only buy someone if Matip leaves or Kabak does not come good and we do not trigger the purchase clause. For the fullbacks, I think we are pretty good there in terms of options unless Neco wants to leave for more first team plays.

I think CM, we need to buy someone here basically to replace Gini and its not as easy considering the fitness level and stamina and hardworking nature of Gini. Personally I like Szoboszlai but he is not the kind of CM we need, probably if Keita leaves but to replace Gini, someone like Denis Zakaria might be good with a decent bid. Gini does not lose possession, does not look quick but manages to get past players with short bursts of speed, strong. I think Zakaria looks the part but I am sure the club has scouted more options.

For forwards, I think we should sell our fringe options like Shaqiri, Ox and Origi. And buy one player here. With our current main 3, add in Jota and a very good potential Elliot, another top player coming in would give us very quality options. People talk Mbappe etc but I think we just never is a club who buys flavour of the month. Mbappe is very very very good so is Haaland but the bidding war will be crazy, nothing short of 150mil will do even if his contract is up in 2022. Perhaps someone again under the radar, hardworking, mobile, scores and assists, someone like Andre Silva, Donyell Malen etc

I don’t think we will have a complete overhaul nor we should. We still have a world core of players but adding two great options and some luck with injuries will see us challenging again.

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1177

Save Premier League GIF by Liverpool FC

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1178

  • we will need to replace Adrian - probably a free transfer.

  • sign Kabak or another CB.

  • sign a #8 - preferably one with goals in him.

  • and a CF

After a full season without fans I’m expecting our kitty to be smaller than last year (£78m for Jota, Thiago and Tsimikas).

But sales could increase the kitty.

Outgoings:
Adrian, (Phillips), Gini free

Sales: Karius, Grujic, Shaqiri, (Minamino), Wilson, Ojo, Origi, Awoniyi

In the current situation I wouldn’t expect the biggest fees for the sales. Maybe Saints will make a real good bid for Taki.

1179

One can dream, right.

If we sign Kabak - financially it’s a good deal.

Bring in Draxler on a free as a #8 - but he can also cover a few other attacking positions.

And spend the fucking rest on Haaland.

That’s it.

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1180

Oops forgot about him but in a normal season i would not expect him to play too much but he is more than just a player to us of course.

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1181

Do people think the jury is still out on Kabak?

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1182

I would think so, too early to judge him after 3 games? For good or for bad, he seemed to perform pretty well in that one CL match but not so good in the PL games. If he comes good, then we would get him, a 21 year old, for a very good price, if not, then we don’t lose much financially.

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1183

Agreed. Far too early but I also feel there is pressure on him to really improve quickly. Perhaps too much but we’ll see. Not every dat you get a cheap trial like this so we may as well use it as best we can.

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1184

Yeah, I don’t think the club have made a decision yet. They’ll have to soon, because usually now is the time when we prepare our priority summer signings. Plus, the longer we don’t know if we are top 4 or not, that complicates our summer business even more. It was a real indicator to me that they categorically didn’t want the obligatory option and were prepared to walk away from him if Schalke didn’t accept only the option to buy. It is how it is. He’s got a few months to try and earn himself a move here. But should be no disaster for him, I believe he’ll get himself a move away from relegated Schalke anyway. It only depends where. So he’s got more reasons to be motivated until the end of this season.

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1185
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1186

Proper number 10. :joy:

Send him to Turkey. Battle of ex-#10’s.

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1187

Duck Dynasty’s Isco!

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1188

Other clubs are in the same boat not a pot to piss in be highly unlikely much is generated through sales.

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1189

Taking a slightly different perspective on it, Kabak is a nice little safety net for us that gives us a few months to speak to the likes of Caleta-Car, Botman etc and both gauge their willingness to join us even if, worst case, we finish outside the CL spots, and also are able to hammer out an acceptable fee with their clubs. If the answer to the above is no, then we still have Kabak available for a decent price, but if it’s yes then we can let him go and bring in our preferred option.

In fact, having him available for a set £18m isn’t a bad bargaining chip when speaking to those other clubs, maybe keeping the asking price for those players down.

If Kabak smashes it out of the park from here on in then the decision becomes a bit more nuanced, but it would be slightly surprising if it becomes a no-brainer for that reason.

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1190

He could prove to be a good enough option (not only now, but also longer term with his age) for that price, yes.

But my worry is that he could be good, but not quite the improvement we were/are after, basically a better/more consistent/fit for longer periods partner for Virgil. Some time down the line, maybe. But I thought we planned for something more serious straight away.

We buy Kabak par example and I’m not sure we can easily move around and sell some other players with years on their contracts, some who are already of certain age and have injuries.

Take Matip par example, he’s currently on a deal that takes him to the age od 34. Could be pretty difficult to find a buyer for him in the near future. Exactly when we want it and on terms we more or less want.

Getting players in and out is often more tricky than fans imagine when we calculate every penny we could ideally squeeze out each summer. It almost never happens like that.

1191

Kabak was a reasonable deal. Low cost loan, he comes in to play, and will presumably see lots of action during the remainder of the season, as we aren’t exactly teeming with options back there. If he does well enough, we will sign him up I’m sure. But if not, there are other options.

It’s as good a situation as we could engineer, under the circumstances (would have been better at the start of the month not the end though, but on the other hand we can’t possibly know all the variables with numerous lines of inquiry playing out on various cb options).

Anyway, with Kabak the whole thing works like an extended trial. Good luck to the lad.

PS - I would like to see Davies too

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1192

I do, he did nothing so far to impress me, hope he will but his (lack) of speed and him being 1.86 is not something I would look for in a CB.

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1193

I understand where you’re coming from. I certainly like the fact that there’s a robust look to him but there are a few concerns. I still think its early but in reality we may have to live with it unless Davies and Phillips can step up.

For me Phillips hasn’t done much wrong but there is a pace issue there as well.

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1194

Yes, no clue how good or bad Davies is but I’m curious.

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