Summer Transfer Window 2016

[Tes]

It is quite obvious Klopp believes he can work on Moreno and improve him - so we shall see.

Brave or foolish? We shall indeed see.

[Tes]

maybe he can't easily get hold of the specific left back that he wants.

maybe he is biding his time.

maybe the guys we wanted, refused to come to Anfield.

All good points, Dude. My only worry is that Edward's right and Klopp thinks he can sort Moreno out, going by the players we've bid for, and been linked with. Ben Chilwell being the prime example, however we've also allegedly bid £16.5M for Milan's Mattia de Sciglio, but he's holding out for Juve to come in for him.

As this is such a long running problem, maybe we ought to open an academy just for full backs, with left backs being given priority. 

[the dude abides]

All good points, Dude. My only worry is that Edward's right and Klopp thinks he can sort Moreno out, going by the players we've bid for, and been linked with. Ben Chilwell being the prime example, however we've also allegedly bid £16.5M for Milan's Mattia de Sciglio, but he's holding out for Juve to come in for him.

As this is such a long running problem, maybe we ought to open an academy just for full backs, with left backs being given priority. 

 

one aspect I have been impressed with, this summer - is how well we keep the media in the dark re our targets and our offers.

e.g. we found out, only in hindsight recently, that we had made significant offers for two players....offers that were turned down.

thus I suspect more has been going on re a new left back, than we are privvy to.

Klopp is a very astute manager.  He knows the issues.

[the dude abides]

Liverpool Set to Make Improved Bid for Joao Mario as Real Madrid Consider Pursuit

​Liverpool are set to make an increased offer for Sporting Lisbon and Portugal midfielder Joao Mario.

The Merseyside club are believed to have had a £33.5m bid turned down by Sporting for the Portuguese midfielder but are expected to go in with another offer as Jurgen Klopp looks to fill the hole left by Joe Allen's depature to Stoke City.

[the dude abides]

Klopp is definitely making our midfield far far more attack minded.

Not for him the endless square balls, and endless triangles.

We are filling our midfield with threatening, attack-minded, hard-working, goal-scoring midfielders.

This could be a very enjoyable season ahead.

He needs to get the team to gel, and to find a balance.   

With no balance, we could be looking at Keeganesque results - 5-4, 4-3, etc.

[Tes]

Can's not disciplined enough, or yet reads the game well enough to be the defensive linchpin in midfield.

Good midfield defensive cover will also help Matip settle in better, and with us being so thin on the ground, even thinner after Milner's injury, at full back, then an athletic defensive midfielder who can sweep up in front of the entire back four, really is needed.

We need at least one full back, as we can't expect Gomez to keep covering, once fit, and neither Randall or Wisdom (if he's not sold) are good enough, if Clyne did have to be shifted across as an emergency left back.

[Tes]

Thinking about the likes of Benteke and Markovic, where we obviously overpaid for them, and Klopp really doesn't want them, it makes sense to be 'flexible' and do everything possible to offload them before 1st September.

What I don't understand is why we seem to be holding out for such high fees. I know we want the most we can get for any player, as does any club, but as we're at the start of Klopp's reign and these are 'legacy issues' left over from Rodgers' time, surely we're better off getting what we can for them, saving on their wages, removing the difficulty of the manager having to include players at training sessions that he knows he's not going to use and the effect of that on the players themselves and any ripple effect their morale could have on the squad as a whole.

So even if we use the £32.5M and £20M (widely reported transfer fees) figures, Benteke's value (if we amortise it) is £32.5M divided by length of contract (5 years) multiplied by remaining time on contract = £26M.
Likewise, Markovic's value is £12M (having originally also signed a 5 year deal).

So looking at those two valuations of £26M and £12M respectively, and factoring in that we quite obviously overpaid for them (and you can't just expect the next buyer to overpay also to make up for the fact that we were stupid enough to), then surely offers of £25M and £10M wouldn't be so bad. When you consider Markovic's two below par seasons since joining us, £10M isn't really lowering his valuation by maybe as much as it should be. 

It's hard to see how Benteke's value is £32.5M, when you consider it wasn't really that high when we signed him anyway, and he's not performed as well at our club as he did at his previous one.

We can either let them go for sensible fees this Summer, or we continue paying them for another year, getting no use out of them and value for the wage outgoings, and then take an even bigger hit on the their fees next Summer.

[Tes]

Balotelli accepts Chievo, but...

http://www.football-italia.net/88978/balotelli-accepts-chievo

"However, the problem of his wages remains, as his €6m per season salary cannot be covered by Chievo, and would need to be partly paid for by Liverpool."

Firstly, how is what he earns here relevant if he becomes a Chievo player permanently, as he is no longer a Liverpool player.

Secondly, Balotelli and his agent have to understand and accept that he won't be earning anything if he doesn't accept a move and accept a contract that runs beyond his current Liverpool one.
There's hardly a rush to sign him now, and a season in 'the stiffs', even if he's on a 'free', still won't have clubs clamouring to sign a player who's played no meaningful football for a season, and will have done nothing for the last three seasons.

He needs to look at José Enrique as an example of his future.

Why do players think that if they move clubs, because they are unwanted and classed as being 'surplus to requirements', that they should still earn as much, or in some cases want more, than they were earning at the club where they were no longer deemed as having  sufficient 'value'.
Just as a player's 'transfer value' drops, they need to understand that their earning capacity, or 'earnings value' also drops accordingly.

Thankfully Balotelli's contract runs out at the end of the season.

[Tes]

With Benteke's Palace move looking like it's back on, a Studge injured, and no indication of how bad it is or how long he's out for, do we need to consider buying another striker?

If Palace offer £27.5M + £2.5M in add ons, then I think we should take it. It allows us to save face (if we even need to), as the deal can be valued at £30M, and we get rid of a player deemed surplus to requirements, and we don't have to keep paying what is a very healthy salary to a player we'll be getting little or no use out of.
It does no good to training ground, squad or dressing room morale to have such a high paid, not used player around either.

[Tes]

Although we have a few attacking midfielders, I wouldn't mind us nabbing Nicolae Stanciu of Steaua Bucharest.

As he's rumoured to be available for £6M, he'd be worth the punt. He'd be an upgrade on Lallana, having scored 14 goals, with 11 assists, and he's already off the mark with 2 goals in the CL qualifier against Sparta Prague last week. As he's only 23, he's exactly the sort of player Klopp could develop further, and if Coutinho left next Summer, we've already got him partly replaced.

Apparently Chelsea are rumoured to be looking at him, but for £6M..........................

[Tes]

Whether it proves to be a comprise or not, we have to sign a left back before the window closes.

It doesn't matter whether it's an older, short term solution, that sees us through this season, but at least buys us time to try and find a longer term solution.

Watching Moreno, he just doesn't look as though he's got either the general intelligence or footballing intelligence to understand and put into practice the basics of being a defender, in general, and specifically a left back.

Having such a glaring weakness will erode confidence and belief, and make holding on to a lead much more difficult.
It gives opposition teams a point to attack.

[Tes]

Sakho's being linked with a move out of the club again.

I don't understand this, unless whatever it was he did to get sent home from the US tour, has Klopp believing he's just got too 'comfortable' at the club.

With Gomez still injured and Ilori at the Olympics, it would leave us criminally short. Even with them both fit, we would still look a bit lacking in depth.

[Tes]

We're being linked with a move/loan for Madrid's Fabio Coentrao (aka Mr Hamstrung) to replace Moreno.

Hamstring history - Jun 16 2014 to Jul 17 2014, Oct 8 2015 to Nov 9 2015, Dec 7 2015 to Dec 31 2015 and Apr 11 2016 to present (expected back end of October).

I've never rated his defensive side.

And his hair looks like something that should have been avoided in the 80s. 

 

[Tes]

Liverpool considering Bruno Martins Indi move in bid to boost defensive options

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-considering-bruno-martins-indi-8653067

[Tes]

From: http://www.dailystar.co.uk/sport/football/538905/Liverpool-transfer-news-Jurgen-Klopp-left-back-Alberto-Moreno

Klopp: "In my opinion, we could have avoided this situation and yes Alberto could have done better, that’s right. But I don’t understand what we are talking about.

We are talking about Alberto Moreno because he didn’t defend so well against Arsenal? I don’t understand the conversation, maybe I should read more newspapers.

The world is not satisfied with our left back or what?"


Journalist: But by the sounds of it, Klopp isn't keen to bow to public pressure and sign a new player after one game.


It's not one game, though. That may just be Joel Watson's interpretation of the situation, but this is an ongoing situation with Moreno, and his lack of the first idea about defending.

Klopp's either being deliberately obtuse to both protect Moreno and try and keep any possible signing from the media until it's completed, or he really does have a blind spot where Moreno's concerned, and possibly less time for the technicalities of defending outside of high pressing, than he does for the attacking side of the game.