Summer Transfer Window 2017/18 - Rumours & Signings

[BaZ87]

Well, there's value in securing him for Manyoo and to stop him signing for any rival.

Yes, I mentioned that in my next post but just how many clubs will be lining up to sign a striker of his age, currently recovering from a very serious injury and pay him a significant wage?

The fact that Utd have signed him now is for the very reason you mentioned but I can't imagine they (or anybody else) would have paid him a significant amount until he's fit enough to play.

 

[BaZ87]

Thats just plain stupid

I didnt say every league winner would be better, and whats more I didnt even imply it (but thats never stopped you from completely twisting a meaning - surprise surprise)

Thats doesnt mean that the Invincibles or the treble winners didnt have a better season, and therefore a better EPL than a single player who didnt win anything (after all its a TEAM game, an individual accolade count for squat).



never disputed that , only the "if not the best ever" was the highly amusing part

You didn't say x or y had a better season you said the treble winners would disagree. What was the reason for mentioning treble winners if you weren't suggesting that because they won the league they were therefore better? Again, you have the weirdest logic ever Frank.

And yes, I know it's a team game - that would explain why an individual could have a far better season in a team that finishes 10th than an individual in a team that wins the league by 25 points.

 

[BaZ87]

Dembele to Barca is officially done now. £97m possibly rising to £135m.

 

[BaZ87]

All the talk before the season ended was that VvD agreed to join us subject to us making the CL. Why would he join Arsenal?

well balls in coutinho's court now. wonder if he'll throw all the toys out the pram and sakho himself or man up and play. I mean sakho is paid £100k a week and cost 18m and klopp refuses to play him or sell him for less than 30m. coutinho is only on 150k and cost us less, yeah he's worth tonnes more but if he wont play then screw him, let him sit on his arse until he breaks.

He'll go away with Brazil, get a few minutes under his belt and be back in training. Assuming Barca don't offer us £150m of course.

 

[BaZ87]

Simple. Arsenal are a bigger and better club.

Yes we are not in the CL this time the first time in twenty something years, big deal. We will be back in CL next season.

When did Liverpool last win the premiership?

I'm not sure the 'when did you last win the PL' line works when you've not won it yourself for 13 years

And as I said, CL was his motivation. Arsenal aren't in it and if he wants to play in it you'd assume he'd want to have a go at winning it too and my local pub side has more chance of ever winning the CL as Arsenal do.

 

[BaZ87]

When was the last time Arsenal won the CL?

 

[BaZ87]

It looks like we could be set for an exciting end to the transfer window for the first time in years. So many players futures up in the air, so many clubs still wanting and needing to do business and bucket loads of cash burning holes in some deep pockets.

One possible transfer that I didn't see coming is a possible exit (maybe just on loan) for Origi. He's not even made the bench of our last 2 games and seemingly now 4th choice for us in the centre forward role. I've not seen the press-conference myself but Klopp was supposedly asked about Origi's future and replied with something about depending on arrivals he may have to look at moving players out. And to add fuel to the fire Jason Burt is reporting that we've made enquiries over a €60m move for Lemar.

I'm not sure how likely that particular deal is given how many players Monaco have already lost but it's the type of deal that could make sense for us. As things stand our front 3 options are a little unbalanced - we've got 4 centre forwards all covering Firmino for the central role but have no direct cover for Salah & Mane. We have Coutinho (assuming he stays) who's likely to play more in midfield than attack and then Firmino who's obviously our first choice central forward - another wide option wouldn't go amiss. Given his age and the stage of his career, I suspect it would be much easier for us to accommodate somebody like him than a Draxler (for example) who would expect to be first choice.

 

[BaZ87]

That would be a very odd move for lemar in my view. He's an exciting young player that wouldn't get that much game time unless mane or salah were injured and I assume he would want as much playing time as possible. There isn't any reason for him not to wait until next summer before moving and Monaco don't need to sell.

As I said, I can't see Monaco selling him after losing half their squad to PSG and City but I don't think it would have been a bad move for the player though.

Regardless of injuries, he'd have still got plenty of game time. Clearly Salah and Mane have started the season well and would be first choice but there will be spells in the season when one or the other aren't quite at it and you only have to look at the opening 5 games this season to see that Klopp's going to rotate our line up a lot - it's only down to a lack of options that we've not seen many changes in midfield or our wide players (although Salah was left out in place of Sturridge vs Palace).

Lemar is the type of player (in terms of ability, age and status) that we need. He's good enough so that he'll provide genuine high quality competition/cover for what we've got but isn't quite at a level where he'll expect to be the first name on the team sheet. As above, he'll play more than enough games - take Origi as an example, he wasn't first choice and despite us playing fewer games than we will this season, he ended up making 43 appearances last season.

 

[BaZ87]

Obviously it's possible and if we do sign another forward people are going to put 2 and 2 together and assume Coutinho is off but I'm not convinced it's as straight forward as that. I've always said that in an ideal world we need another wide attacker - if you look at the balance of our front options, we've got Firmino + 4 strikers for the central role and just Mane, Salah & Coutinho (who is also doubling up as a midfielder) for the wide roles. It makes a lot of sense for us to replace a striker in our squad with another natural wide player and Klopp was asked specifically about Origi's future yesterday and said it's possible that he could leave depending on who we bring in.

If we end up spending big on a forward & a midfielder then I'd start thinking that Barca have made us a mega offer for Coutinho and he's off.

 

[BaZ87]

but if emre can gets resigned and keeps playing like this as an attacking midfielder then little phil wouldn't be missed that much.

If you're simply comparing to last season then maybe - Coutinho barely played a game in midfield last season so we'd have effectively swapped him for Salah and possibly Lemar. However, the aim of this summer was to improve on our squad and have more and better options.

The midfield yesterday was outstanding and in games of that type we don't need and probably won't play with Coutinho in a midfield role. It's the games where teams turn up with 10 men behind the ball (West Brom's, Burnley's Utd's etc) that we needed to improve from last season and seemingly the plan for that was playing Coutinho deeper to get him on the ball more and unlock deep defences. If we were to lose Coutinho without bringing a midfielder in that can do that job then he would be missed imo, no matter whether we sign Lemar or another attacking/wide midfielder.

 

[BaZ87]

I love Firmino but him playing in a midfield role terrifies me. His calmness and willingness to back himself in tight situations is fine when he's doing it in the oppositions half but I wouldn't want him twisting, turning and trying little flicks on the edge of our box.

 

[BaZ87]

I have no worries about his effort and willingness to defend - even in the number 9 role he's often our best defender or at least makes plenty of tackles & interceptions. As a number 10 in a 4-2-3-1 then I have no problem with Firmino but if we're going to play a 4-3-3 for the most part, which I think we will, then I'm not sure about Firmino in midfield. Coutinho's proven he can play in midfield in a 4-3-3 during the 13/14 season.

The obvious other problem with Firmino in midfield is he's your first choice centre forward too. Yes Sturridge is a great alternative but how sure can we be that he'll be fit when he's needed.

 

[BaZ87]

As I said earlier, it's possible (although everybody reporting the bid are maintaining that Coutinho is still not leaving) but it could simply be a change of focus on our own transfers.

For example we were in for Keita for a similar amount earlier in the summer (when Lallana wasn't injured) - had that deal happened then Coutinho is probably seen 80% as a forward and 20% as a midfielder. Without signing Keita (or another midfielder) and Lallana being out for a few months, Coutinho suddenly becomes needed in midfield much more and therefore potentially leaves you short in attack.

Like I said to Mark, if we end up signing a forward and a midfielder then it's looking more like Coutinho could well be off.

 

[BaZ87]

I think it's going to be VvD or nothing.

 

[BaZ87]

Liverpool have signed Keita......next summer!

Didn't see that coming but it's being reported that we've agreed a deal with Red Bull and Ketia is having his medical now and will complete the move next summer. It's reported that we've paid more than his release clause (which kicks in next summer) so that we definitely get him.

 

[BaZ87]

Undercover medical - supposedly it took place in Wilmslow.

**** knows what this means re Coutinho. Ideal scenario would be to sign Lemar and agree a deal with Barca for next summer.

 

[BaZ87]

Who's this?

 

[BaZ87]

I suspect it was just a random sighting. Nobody that has itk in their name should be listened to and he doesn't say he was being signed for next season which anybody with inside information would have known.

Why would he have a medical now if he's joining next summer? Surely they'd want it closer to the time?

Because although he won't actually join next summer, we're signing him now. You're not going to sign a player and then have the medical afterwards. Obviously it's not ideal to commit £50m+ on a player 12 months in advance but we obviously are so desperate to land him that we're willing to take that chance and pay a premium on top of his release clause to make sure nobody else can sneak in and pinch him.

 

[BaZ87]

Good we get him but imo it's daft we agreed to loan him back, a player and position we need now yet we put if off? Daft logic

Huh?

I think you've misunderstood the situation. Leipzig have point blank refused to sell him this summer, even after we were willing to pay well in excess of his release clause which kicks in next summer. Leipzig know Keita isn't signing a new deal and that they're going to lose him next summer anyway and we obviously felt that come next summer there will be huge competition to sign him. All that's happened is we've agreed a deal to sign him next summer - we guarantee that we get our man and Leipzig get a small premium on top of the fee they would have sold him for next summer anyway.

We've not put anything off. We've just accepted that there's no possibility of getting him now and put a deal in place to make it certain that we get him next year.

 

[BaZ87]

But you can still cancel the deal right? Like we pulled out of the Ljajic deal?

It's very likely that there will be some sort of break clauses in the deal but I'm sure Liverpool would have to pay some sort of penalty fee if they didn't go through with the deal.

They will almost certainly carry out another medical next summer to make sure something new has popped up but given that they'll be penalised if they pull out, it makes perfect sense to carry out a medical now before agreeing to any terms.

So we are in essence giving them a loan, I get your points I do.

I just don't agree with how we're having to do the deal. Has any one credible to the club on this side confirmed if the Lemar / dijk rumours that have picked up as likely to happen? *

Giving them a loan would suggest that we have a choice in the matter, we don't. We cannot sign him this summer as they're point blank refusing to sell him to us now. We have a choice of signing him now but him not joining until next summer or waiting until next summer and trying to sign him then, risking other sides coming in.