Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

noodler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379752#Comment_120379752

Sure.

We need to buy at least two midfielders though, probably three.

And him staying gives us someone to fill in at RB if needed as well.

I agree no point in him staying if he'll never contribute but he's given more than Jones, Keita or Ox this season. Setting the bar low I know but I would be concerned about the large numbers leaving being fully replaced.

mormank

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379429#Comment_120379429

Well thats exactly the point and why he does actually have a say in where he goes. Madrid can offer 1 billion for him but if he refuses to agree personal terms he wont go there.

Talisman

The European competition we qualify for will determine the transfer budget but there is a definite need to sign players that will be available to play regularly. There's something seriously wrong when a 37 year old James Milner is called upon regularly because most of the midfielders in the squad aren't available. Had Bajcetic been rotated rather than the first midfielder on the team sheet, his season probably wouldn't have ended so prematurely.

If Southampton get relegated then the likes of James Ward-Prowse, Romeo Lavia and Tino Livramento are worth enquiring about.

Chelsea also have some talented young players which they will need to move on because the days of being able to send a squad of players out on loan for a season are coming to an end.

Signing a utility player who has the ability to fill in a few different roles would also be a positive development for the squad.

GiftofGab

Don't think it's a coincidence that Bellingham and Trent met for dinner then the rumor that Bellingham is unlikely to go to Liverpool started circulating. Think Bellingham is now telling folks that his preferred destination is City or Madrid.

giveitholly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380230#Comment_120380230

So you reckon Bellingham arranged a dinner with trent to tell him he is going to either city or Real? Why would Bellingham feel the need to tell Trent what his future plans were?

Robert2014

Personally I would prefer if we move on from Milner. If we are in a win now mode, I'd keep him but we are in a rebuild so we should rebuild. We can use his place to bring through Morton or another midfielder and use his wages too. I'd love for him to join the coaching staff and make use of his knowledge and experience but playing wise we should move on.

Utopia Parkway

It'll be Nunes (who can't get in the Wolves team), Mount and a Milner extension. And you'll like it.

Girly Gal

Disregarding the fact that we couldn't afford him anyway, I'd seriously question Bellingham's mental state if he chose to sign for us over the likes of City or Madrid. We are in dire straits right now, and if the club invest poorly this summer we could be for a few seasons.

Ottoman_1000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380536#Comment_120380536

Don't understand your take on Nunes, he has been very impressive for Wolves this season and has started pretty much week in week out for them. He would be a massive improvement on what we have in the middle currently!

Mount however, no thank you...

Infoseeker1975

Biggest concern for me is the departures of the backroom staff; Edwards possibly wanted a break or just saw that the FSG model wasn't going to work or something else internally, then Ward was appointed and almost straight away he resigned and is likely to take on the same role with Ajax. It just does not sound right.

In terms of transfers, who is driving this if Ward has left, well he is there till the summer though I imagine he is not 120% focused.

I just hope that whatever the budget is that the transfers are completed as soon as possible.

FFP is not being applied, the model for FSG was entirely based on this and for sustainable running of clubs it is the right model versus what is likely to become a Middle Eastern league with no financial boundaries.

brevity

I go through phases of complete apathy and immense frustration.

This gif sums up my feeling.

Girly Gal

I can't see the club spending what's required to get the team competing for the major titles again. We are going to revert back to a top 4/6 side which is very disappointing considering our position this time last year, how the club have spiralled out of control so quickly is unbelievable. Even United at their worst still had money to spend, it was spent poorly, but, it was always just a matter of time before they stumbled in the right direction, we don't have that luxury under FSG, and look like falling further behind.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380766#Comment_120380766

Financial Fair Play is gone, it has been replaced by a sustainability model. Essentially the club's revenue determines what they can spend on wages.

2023/24 : Clubs can spend up to 90% of revenue on wages.

2024/25 : Clubs can spend up to 80% of revenue on wages.

2025/26 : Clubs can spend up to 70% of revenue on wages.

Clubs can also record losses for up to €60M over a period of 3 seasons. There are also sanctions for having outstanding debts for transfers.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380558#Comment_120380558

It's supposedly his boyhood dream to play for Liverpool. What a sucker! 😀

Infoseeker1975

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380910#Comment_120380910

Is there any reason to believe this will be enforced?

What you specified above in terms of % says it is on wages - do you mean all costs related to players, e.g. transfer fees, agent fees, signing on bonus and wages?

machiavellianme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380910#Comment_120380910

Some clubs can't fill their stadia, yet seem to top the wage charts. FFP was a joke but this looks ludicrous.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120381255#Comment_120381255

It's all staff and players wages, agent and transfer fees.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120381303#Comment_120381303

Time will tell, but the idea behind it seems sound. All clubs which participate in UEFA competitions will be financially monitored. The intention is that by 2025, each club's accounts will be checked every quarter. This will enable UEFA to act upon any breaches before the beginning of the next season.

The commercial contracts signed by clubs will be examined to ensure they are real contracts with third parties paying fair value. Fair value will be determined by benchmarking and employing external agencies to advise on whether deals are being done at real market prices.

dogbert27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120381803#Comment_120381803

"All clubs which participate in UEFA competitions will be financially monitored. "

Is this why Barca and Juve were pushing for the Super League?

dogbert27

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120380921#Comment_120380921

It's Gvardiol's too! Sign them both 😃

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120381973#Comment_120381973

I think access to large tv money deals was the main incentive for the Super League. The American club owners were very keen on introducing a salary cap for the new league, that would certainly have benefited all of the clubs that weren't state owned.

Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) have been making noises about the PSG project coming to an end in 2024. It could be a coincidence that PSG's owners are looking to sell the club and acquire a more sustainable one. The nett spend of PSG since 2012 is reported as €976M and UEFA has repeatedly reviewed their partner/sponsor contracts with Qatar based institutions. There was a €145M a year sponsorship deal with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), after investigation by UEFA the value of the contract was reduced to €58M. The Qatar Airways sponsorship deal was exposed as a sham and revised down to €5M. The Qatar National Bank (QNB) sponsorship deal was also found to be overvalued and the contract wasn't renewed when it expired last summer. A new contract would have been valued by UEFA under the new regulations.

Sappy404

I'm not sure why the Ornstein stuff got such attention. It was state-the-obvious stuff; FSG have never done bidding wars. 'Real and City have more cash' isn't news.

It is and always has been the case that Bellingham would only sign for Liverpool because it's his preference. That likelihood looks slimmer and slimmer now, but not because of financial reasons.

rob316

Meh I'm blue in the face from saying the club need to forget about Bellingham, even if we won the treble I'd still rate our chances of getting him low. It'll be Mason Mount and the wolves lad. We need numbers, blowing our budget on 1 player isn't wise.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120382937#Comment_120382937

I think we really need three players for midfield. Bajcetic and Morton are both 19 and need time to physically develop. Milner and Henderson have been good servants but their days of running the show for 90+ minutes are limited. Thiago needs to be used sparingly and Fabinho needs to straighten himself out. Elliott and Carvalho are not midfield players and Jones is a passenger.

A new midfield trio that have the elements we require would relieve the pressure on the young players. Thiago and Henderson would also benefit by not having to make themselves available to play because the others aren't up to it.

If we do sign Bellingham, then I would be very surprised if he has a sustained impact in his first season. The Premier League is a lot tougher than what he has experienced in the Bundesliga. He might have a positive start to the season but there will be no 4-6 week break at Christmas to recharge the batteries.

mormank

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120382937#Comment_120382937

Did I miss something? What makes you think we are getting Mason Mount? I'd actually be quite ok with that as he is English and we are low on homegrown players and he is about as good an English midfielder as would be possible for us to get. Oh and isn't he good mates with Rice? I'd love to get both in from a purely footballing point of view.

Having said that as an Irishman I'm not sure I would want to be seeing Rice play week in week out cos I would constantly just be annoyed about how he snubbed the Irish national team.

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120383303#Comment_120383303

Strongly linked in the media and he's on the way out of Chelsea, the old 8 year contract at 24 isn't too appealing.

Riesen_Meal

https://twitter.com/dmlynch/status/1638146156478824449?s=20

Sick of this stuff now and it's not even silly season 😂

rob316

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120384050#Comment_120384050

Its the most overhyped transfer I can remember. He better be the 2nd coming of Stevie G .

If hes willing to come and will take the 150k-200k less a week in wages than City will offer, fair play but he'd be an idiot.

BillyHasMates

I would hope we are not focusing our efforts on Bellingham. Would much prefer we got 3 midfielders for similar money to what he is likely to cost. I am not excited about Mount at all, although he does tick the homegrown box which seems likely to be a big factor on who we try to bring in.

Have said it before but would love to have McAllister from Brighton. Reminds me so much of Wijnaldum when I have seen him play. Would take Keita's place in the squad.

mormank

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120384064#Comment_120384064

So Virgil Van Dijk is an idiot in your estimation? And Mo is an idiot for not moving to PSG or whereever for a million a week or whatever he could've gotten?

steve_r

Excelllent post on Reddit running through potential signing for the whole squad as well as statistical analysis on where players regressed this year

https://www.reddit.com/r/LiverpoolFC/comments/11xlzp1/which_players_should_liverpool_sign_a_hopefully/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1

brevity

Bye Arthur

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1638249544231325696?s=20

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120384134#Comment_120384134

MacAllister would be great - but I'd say you'd be looking at close to 80 million for him now. World Cup winner, has already shown his quality in the PL, and signed a new contract in October.

martyos121

A very lucrative gap year for Arthur. Hope he “found himself”.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120385154#Comment_120385154

You'd imagine you wouldn't have a hope of getting him for £80m, Brighton wouldn't take that for Caicedo in January and MacAllister is a better player.

Girly Gal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120385154#Comment_120385154

I was hoping we would sign him last summer as he'd performed well last season and I think he was in his final year of his contract, really was a missed opportunity, along with all the other decent midfielders we missed out on last summer that were going for good value.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120385240#Comment_120385240

That's what I was sort of using as the benchmark - Brighton rejected 70m towards the end of the January window when there was no time to get a replacement, so kinda thinking 80m for either of their two talented midfielders in the summer market might seal the deal. But yeah, could well be even more.

Unfortunately a lot of the higher profile guys that are being brought up won't be all that much cheaper than Bellingham himself. Need the transfer lads to do what they did last summer in identifying some quality players like Enzo Fernandez - and then actually go buy them before they get priced out of a move.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120385326#Comment_120385326

Grealish cost £100m and MacAllister is just as important to Brighton as Grealish was to Villa and I could see Brighton looking for a similar figure given he has a long contract in place.

I think Mount would be a great signing and would be delighted with him. Ward Prowse is another midfielder we should be looking at bringing in.

Other midfielders from possible relegation teams which could have a role for us that I'd consider would be Soucek (assuming Rice is gone to Chelsea and we couldn't get him), Ndidi (given his injuries but if he was over them I'd be definitely trying to buy him and have him come in and replace Fabhino given his form) and Soumare (more of a backup to Fabhino and hoping he'd recover his form).

If West Ham go down I wonder will we go back for Bowen as cover for Salah? Could be available cheaper than we were rumoured to be quoted last summer and he would be an excellent addition to the front line.

Lerma from Bournemouth might be worth a punt if he could be gotten cheap. Has been decent all season and can play CM and RB outside of his regular DM role.

Zak Flaps

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379572#Comment_120379572

it's not that I don't think he's worth it.

I can only assume from this that you don't watch the Bundesliga. Because if you did, you'd know that he's not worth near that. He's been average for months. That 6-1 result recently, half the team were better than him. He sucked against Chelsea in the CL. The hype around this guy amazes me. I'm not saying he's a bad player, but he is not a 120m player. I am hoping he goes elsewhere to be honest.

.red.

Ward-Prowse would be a good addition but at 28 I can't see the club going in for him, think he's a few years too old. He seems to have a good engine and can easily get around the park and be pretty much what we need in midfield but also have a bit of guile going forward, he's also probably the best in the league at set pieces. His contract runs till 2026 and with the English tax I don't see us paying whatever he'd cost.

There's is always the chance that he doesn't work out being a small fish in the big pond at a club with the hopes and expectations of Liverpool. For the right price then Id love to see him sign, but can't see it.

Fitz*

I always thought that JWP would be a good squad option. Could even rotate with Trent too, switching in game if needs be, like Henderson used to be able to do.

TitianGerm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120386590#Comment_120386590

If Southampton go down then he could be available for £30m or so and at that money I think he'd be a good buy.

Talisman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120386961#Comment_120386961

I doubt they would sell a player to us that cheaply especially the club captain. I have the impression that Ward-Prowse is a one club man. Over the past few years he has distanced himself from speculation about moves to other Premier League clubs (Arsenal, West Ham, Newcastle). He has 399 appearances, which places him third in the all time list of Southampton players. If he remains at the club for another season he will become #1 assuming he doesn't suffer a long term injury.

antimatterx

JWP would be a great signing

JimboJones99

I dont think he would be a great signing. What does he offer apart from a good free kick? That is a genuine question as I dont really know the answer. I'm not sure he offers us a good pressing ability. Is he very creative? Is he good at winning balls back?

He is 28 and only has 11 England caps. Southampton have generally sold their good players over the past number of years. Why hasnt a big club come in for him before now? I honestly think we should be aiming for better.

I'm starting to realise that FSG has succeeded in keeping our expectations low

martyos121

Not sold on Ward-Prowse myself. Very good technical player but we need more athleticism and pace in our midfield and that’s exactly what he lacks.

Wouldn’t sign him for his set pieces alone, look how far that got us with Charlie Adam.

Talisman

Monaco's Sporting Director is reported to have spoken to Liverpool.

https://twitter.com/GFFN/status/1638196550147997698

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120384718#Comment_120384718

It's a great write up and I think they're right that we need about 3 players absolutely minimum, but more likely to need more.

But I don't see us signing 5 or 6 players who are ready to slot into the first team. We aren't going to be dropping that sort of cash.

cj maxx

If Southhamton sell us a player they tend to get way over the top money. We were like their bitch a few years ago.

brevity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120387302#Comment_120387302

JWP, Saenchai and Buakaw would certainly liven things up in midfield.

antimatterx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120388322#Comment_120388322

We bought well from them imo.

Van Dijk, Mane, Lovren, Lallana, Clyne, Lambert.