Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975571#Comment_120975571

It's not the same outcome, because we have lost Henderson and Fabinho. That team yesterday is worse than the team we finished last season with. It might have some nicer younger players, but it is even more structurally deficient and easy to play against.

I personally find the lack of realisation of how bad that performance was far more toxic. The people preaching positivity now will be just as miserable as everyone else once the thing actually happens. Now is the time to call out what we should be doing, rather than complaining about it after the fact like everyone else once it's obvious and inarguable.

mosstin

And why is it that we're desperate to sign two players who have to be 'convinced' of the project? **** that.

McFly85

I presume the plan(if you could call it that) would be Lavia straight into the team, with himself and Bajcetic being our 2 DMs for the season, whenever he comes back from injury.

Both talented but raw and lacking experience. Hopefully he can hit the ground running but it definitely feels like a risky approach.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975598#Comment_120975598

All I’ve heard from Lavia is that he wants the move to Liverpool.

Chelsea might pay more but I cannot imagine he’d push for a move there when they’ve literally just signed someone in his position on an 8 year contract.

Ferris_Bueller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975571#Comment_120975571

Haha relax man. Losing both Fabinho and Henderson still leaves us light for bodies and I don't think Lavia right now is ready to be the sole holding midfielder for 50 games this season. I'll still be happy to sign him but you do feel we still need someone who can play that role, from what I'd seen of Lavia briefly last year I didn't feel he was a complete destroyer/sitter type.

mosstin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975623#Comment_120975623

https://twitter.com/JacobSteinberg/status/1691010818349928448?t=zMNGtZKsUnJGbeJzyPvDrg&s=19

Nope

LuckyLloyd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975604#Comment_120975604

If I was being uber cynical I would say it's a correct approach if the expectation is an extended period out of the CL. Bring in younger prospects with upside on long term deals that gives you the space to transition the remaining stalwarts from the 2022 team over the next couple of windows (VVD, Thiago, Salah will likely be moved on next summer without CL football). This helps stabilise things financially, but it also makes us more attractive for a young up and coming coach to replace Klopp also - where they have young and talented players who can be developed to work with.

If we intend to halt this slide and get back in the European Cup, we need a very significant addition to the middle of the park.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975498#Comment_120975498

Reports after our last bid on Lavia were Southampton wanted in excess of £50m.

I don't think he's worth the initial £45m bid.

Vicxas

If Lavia even stops the rot in defence I’ll be happy. He’s raw yes but if he even comes in at 50% potential and builds through the season I’ll be delighted

giveitholly

IF we get lavia and can only sign one more player,would posters prefer another defensive midfielder or a LCB?

awec

Ignoring the ridiculousness of this transfer saga for a moment, I don't think Lavia is going to solve any of our problems.

He's 19 and is going to come in to the team as our first choice DM, into a side that has very high profile defensive issues, where he needs to provide protection for full backs who bomb forward. And he has to do this without having any more experienced players to learn from.

It's a very tall ask.

This signing made more sense before we sold Fabinho, but I think right now Liverpool need someone a bit more experienced.

Utopia Parkway

This whole Lavia/Caicedo episode has basically been 101 on how not to do a transfer. We've made a complete pig's mickey of the whole episode which we are now desperately trying to salvage by paying over the odds for Lavia. And even he might still prefer Chelsea and it would be hard to blame him.

opinionated3

The times saying now that lavia prefers a move to Chelsea. This is shocking stuff from Liverpool. Are they not talking to player reps before agreeing fees??

Widdensushi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975809#Comment_120975809

Hopefully true, it's a bad deal.

facehugger99

I won't be sorry to miss out on Lavia for the kind of fees that are being quoted - it's barmy money.

McFly85

Honestly wouldn’t be bothered if he chooses Chelsea. Hugely overpriced and unlikely to make the team significantly better.

In an ideal world we could get him in as backup but we need a more experienced player right now, and I really don’t see us getting Lavia and another DM.

Huge few weeks coming up for the transfer committee then!

Vicxas

If not Lavia. Then who?

Im panicking a little

awec

Lavia going to Chelsea would bother me because he's going to be a great player in a few years IMO. Caicedo and Lavia will sort Chelsea's midfield for a very long time.

I'd happily sign him, but not for the price being quoted, and not to come in as first choice immediately.

The club would need to have a few more irons in the fire, because the no-value-in-the-market or "we tried but won't just sign anyone" garbage will not cut it this year. We needed a DM in May, we then let Fabinho go, there can be no excuses.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975853#Comment_120975853

The names doing the rounds are Fofana at Monaco and Sangare at PSV.

Sangare allegedly has a release clause of €37.5 million but I think Fofana would suit us better(and cost significantly more).

Both would be a better “right now” signing than Lavia.

Girly Gal

A dm needs to have a defensive mindset, none of our current midfielders have that, they are all attack minded, so can't really play that role. I would have liked to have seen the likes of Matip or even Gomez tried their during the pre season to see if they could do a job there, even on a short term basis, as defenders their natural instincts should suit the role better than our current midfielders. It's too late now and too high risk to try this now that the season has started. All our dm needs to do is sit and protect the back 4 and give the ball to our more attack minded midfielders like Mac Allister and Sobo.

Our struggles to sign a dm can be traced back to not signing any midfielders last summer and beyond, trying to completely overhaul the midfield in one window was always asking a bit too much, this should have been planned out and completed over a few windows, starting last summer at the latest. Out transfer strategy is gone to pot!

Electric Nitwit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975877#Comment_120975877

Release clause, you say?

TitianGerm

If it's Lavia there needs to be a second player coming in to dovetail with him because he's going to have massive swings in performances because he's so inexperienced.

Adams would be a cheap addition who has decent experience. Nididi would be better again but not as good a passer but much more destructive.

I watched a few YouTube clips of Fofanna last night after seeing his name linked and he looks excellent but they always do 9n those types of videos. The last guy we got from Monaco wasn't half bad though.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975715#Comment_120975715

This is my whole issue with the transfer, I'm not bothered about the over paying because this summer has been absolutely bonkers with regards fees and Lavia does genuinely have the potential to be world class. But he's no where near that level yet...There seem to be an opinion forming that as soon as we get in a No.6 then our defensive woes will be exonerated. Adding in an inexperienced 19 year kid is not going to help us one bit in the immediate future!

Girly Gal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975877#Comment_120975877

Forget about Lavia and sign both

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975861#Comment_120975861

Chelsea could have a midfield trio of Enzo, Caicedo and Lavia over the next few seasons. That has the potential to be unbelievable.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975915#Comment_120975915

Yeah I hate to say it, but that will be absolutely fantastic.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975913#Comment_120975913

That would be the ideal solution to be honest!

IamMe33

How are Chelsea in for Lavia at 60m when they were struggling to scrape tpgether the excess for Caicedo to stary within FFP?

This makes no sense.

They should be out of the running for any further big transfers unless they sell big first.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975926#Comment_120975926

Its what we should have been doing in the background the last few season, gradually building on from our Gini, Hendo, Fab trio but for whatever reasons the club completely stood still on this. The same is going to happen with our defence, VVD is on our serious downward path, Robbo after years of busting a gut on the left has been on the wane since January last, we have no back up for Trent, and we still have Gomez and Matip as on our only back up options in the centre. Gomez is hopeless and Matip is 32 and out of contract in the summer. I'd love to know where the funds are coming from for that rebuild?

jones

Would 120m get both realistically? If so we need to be chasing that right now or Florentino Luis. Get two of those 3 and lets attack this season.

If Lavis prefers Chelsea now then let them have him if they can somehow manage to pay it (in fairness i do think we threated Lavia badly once Caceido came into the picture) I was all for paying Southampton the 50mil to get him in the preseason but now its 60m and there's a question over it being us or chelsea PASS. He's got massive potential but as others have said thats all it is now.

One thing is for sure we cannot go into this season with the squad as it currently is.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975941#Comment_120975941

Was is actually officially reported that the FFP was what was obstructing the Caicedo deal?

dogbert27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975941#Comment_120975941

Also reported to be offering Palace 46 mill for Olise

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975966#Comment_120975966

The Fofano deal would be tricky now, at the start of the summer there's rumours that 70/80m would be the fee. PSG were sniffing. But now, with the likes of Lavia potentially going for 55 and Caicedo going for 115. Throw in that clubs now know Liverpool have 111m somewhere and are in a desperate state, Monaco wont budge for anything less that 100m to us I'd say.

Girly Gal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975962#Comment_120975962

It's incredible the absolute lack of foresight and planning, even some of us fools on here were crying out for the midfield to be reinforced last summer ( really should have been earlier) yet the club stood still and did nothing. It looked at the start of the summer the club had finally learned it's lesson with the early signings of Mac Allister and Sobo, but, then nothing, absolutely nothing, no defender signed, no squad players signed, nothing. Only 2 players signed at this stage is poor form, both look like they could be great, but, we won't get the best out of them if we don't sort out our dm and our defence.

The frustrating thing is had we looked after our midfield over the last few years, we'd have paid just a fraction of what we will have to spend to sort this mess out, plus would have avoided last seasons shitshow and most likely another poor season coming up

antimatterx

Michael Edwards coming back would be the signing of the summer. We need him back so much.

brevity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976007#Comment_120976007

This is what is driving me crazy the most. It's so unbelievably frustrating. So many missed opportunities.

Like, the blueprint is there, why didn't they follow it.

It would nearly make you want to pack the whole thing in...

Enzokk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975941#Comment_120975941

You could say them spending so much on such young player would indicate they know they will not be allowed to spend for a few more transfer windows so they are stocking up while they can. I cannot understand how they are able to do this either when it is clear they are not paying any attention to FFP or the PL P/S guidelines.

SlickRic

what has happened is that the club has been caught not planning quite properly enough.

there is no way they ever thought we'd lose Fabinho and Henderson in one window. not a chance. and what has happened is that Lavia was going to be pursued as a 'future' player - the kind that plays a decent amount of games, but you can't hang your hat on.

but now the club is panicking because we literally have nobody of the correct profile to be a regular starter there.

it's bad, it's neglectful and it will cost us.

there should be a running list of names we can try and get for the here and now if we lose key players - i.e. there should be a list of potential Salah replacements, Robertson replacements, VVD replacements, Alisson replacements etc.

it's clear we've done none of that planning on any level.

Girly Gal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976062#Comment_120976062

It's really strange, because it's so obvious yet no one at the club seemed to see this happen. This whole Caicedo and Lavia fiasco is a right clusterfuck of the highest order ( both are way over priced), if we saw any other club at this we'd be breaking our sides laughing at them.

mosstin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976093#Comment_120976093

Our pursuit of Lavia has put me in mind of United's hapless pursuit of Fellaini back in the day. Moyes had just been appointed there and was aware of a release clause where they could buy him at a knockdown price. He let the release clause expire and then went and bought him anyway at the inflated price Everton then demanded.

That's us and Lavia.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976085#Comment_120976085

That’s exactly it. In a way how we handle buying and selling players feels like it’s done completely independently of eachother.

Midfield revamp was obviously the priority, and getting 2 first teamers with a highly rated young DM to be a long term replacement to Fabinho made total sense.

Then the club decided 40m for Fabinho was great business without ever really questioning what that meant for the actual team planning, and sort of just plodded along with the old plan, not sure of committing to Lavia as he was never supposed to be a starting player right now, before going to try and hijack another player.

So now we’re in a position where we’ve sold our starting DM and we really don’t know who we should sign as a replacement, and every other team will look to get us to pay through the nose, and we can’t really have any complaints about that.

noodler

I'm disgusted at the fee for Lavia.

However, again I'm just worried about bodies in the first instance so I'll take him if he wants to come.

If we could get two players further along in their development for 100m then I'd rather do that.

We need another signing in MF after Lavia.

Tusky

The Times is saying Lavia has chosen Chelsea.

opinionated3

This is mad stuff altogether.... Ian Doyle reporting that Liverpool have not made a bid and actually believe they he had decided to go to Chelsea anyway.

antimatterx

https://twitter.com/thesecretscout_/status/1691062033700069376?s=46&t=zdElaPjHqcB2gzssa9R_hw

...

dmigsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976238#Comment_120976238

😂 I doubt Jorg will get his contract extended.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120976339#Comment_120976339

Both of these lads would take that 111million and then some.

I am sceptical.

brevity

Stolen from Reddit:

1. Sell your only true DM without having any replacements lined up already
2. Know that Lavia's asking price is 50 mil but under bids
3. Continues to under bid and not move on to other targets if he does not meet your valuation
4. Tries to gazump Chelsea and puts in 110 mil bid for Caicedo that gets accepted
5. Caicedo publicly humiliates you and says he wants to only join Chelsea and Liverpool is basically a second choice
6. Lose out on Caicedo to Chelsea and pissed off Boehly who actually goes in for Lavia (even though fans think its a smokescreen)
7. Lose out on Lavia too (a player who wanted to go to LFC btw)
8. Now you lost two targets in embarrassing manner to the public eye and scrambling for your 3rd, 4th, 5th options

9a. Clubs will know that you have 110 mil and desperate so they will jack up the price

9b. Clubs will have already started their seasons already and with little time to find replacements they will jack up the price

10a. You either end up overpaying for a player that you could've gotten for cheap earlier in the summer and now has to take time to learn the new system (+ a new league depending on the player) while you already started your season

10b. Or end up paying cheap for a underwhelming stopgap that once again has to take time to integrate into the team

Bonus point: If you say there is "no right player in the market and the club trusts Bajcetic to become the DM"

Most publicly embarrassing transfer window to date. Cheers Jorg.

Sums everything up for me. An absolute circus.

Either they are playing the biggest game of misdirection ever or they are completely out of their depth at successful sourcing and buying the required players.

They are at this long enough. If someone's ego has got in the way of a system that was working then heads should roll.

Vicxas

Unless Jorg is paying 5D misdirection chess, we’re fucked.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120975208#Comment_120975208

Robertson headed the clearance, a clearance that landed to a chelsea player on edge of box, who had no one near him, leaving a man free on edge of box is not cool, especially when there are 6 Liverpool players watching on