So what do people realistically expect to happen in the summer.
Seeing as we made a profit of about £15-20M last summer, how much do we have to spend? Hazard a guess at £50M plus whatever money we can generate from player sales. Assuming we are in the champions league (
) we will need to add quality and without moving too many players along. Here's my wishlist ...
Goalkeeper - no change. mignolet strong finish to the season, good back up in loris, more critical areas need strengthening.
Right back - no change. trent to push clyne hard for a starting place next season
Left Back - sell Moreno - buy a starting left back such as Bertrand or Jonas Hector to go straight in and improve our defence and buy an understudy such as Sessegnon/Chilwell/Andrew Robertson, someone satisfied to not start but 'one for the future' / worthy of a place in defence when called upon. Spend £20M + £10M
CB - Lovren and Matip is looking a decent partnership - the problem is cover. Klavan is not reliable and Lucas tries but is not a CB, not height wise and not positionally when defending. Spend £25M on a replacement for Sakho to compete with Lovren and Matip, Michael Keane gets my vote - low risk, chance to step up a level - not keen on the idea of spending the reported £50M for Van Dijk, doutful that he would chose us over some of the other clubs reportedly interested. Either ditch Klavan and keep Gomez as 4th choice or keep Klavan 4th choice and send Gomez on a PL loan for first team experience.
DM - high priority - agree with some of the posters on here who say we need a kante or a wanyama type destroyer to protect our defense. this could be Emre but unfortunately he Can be very unreliable. All the talk is Naby Keita, assume he is first choice if we can get him but Klopp will be lucky to steal him off of Leipzig now they have champions league football next season. Spend £35M
Left Attacking - wide and fast winger required - coutinho will move into the centre at times next season to wreak havoc as per west ham game last week. julian brandt / keita diao or another. £25M
Right Attacking - no change. Mane fit hopefully terrorising defences
Strikers - not priority with Firmino first choice. Origi, Ings, Woodburn as cover
Players OUT: Sakho - £20M - decent CB but i cant see him ever playing for klopp again. big sam will offer £20 in the summer - maybe someone bigger will come in for him from abroad - price could rise if a few interested
Moreno - £8M - not a good defender. we'll have to take a loss on what we paid for him to move him along
Sturridge - £25M - not sure who'll buy studge and it will be sad to see him go but hes not reliable at all and a dead weight in our squad - if we can get a decent fee for him he is gone. even when fit he is not first choice anyway with klopp selecting firmino ahead of him and at times origi
Markovic - £8M - done himself no harm playing at hull recently, scored some goals - surely now's the best time to find him a new home
5M - some squad / younger players that are not quite of the standard required
Total Sales = a fairly conservative £65M plus the £15M from last summer = £80M
Players IN:Michael Keane £25 or another CB to compete with Matip & Lovren
Bertrand / Hector £20 or another first choice LB
Robertson £8 or another second choice LB
Naby Keita £35 or another first choice DM
Julian Brandt / Keita Diao £25 or another first choice wide left attacker
Total Purchases = £115M
Net Spend = £35M New Contract - for Lucas - because he loves Liverpool
Lineup for Next Season:
Attacking:
Mignolet
Clyne Matip Keane Bertrand
Naby Keita
Coutinho Lallana
Mane Keita Diao
Firmino
Bench: From Karius, Trent, Lovren, Robertson, Can, Hendo, Milner, Wijnaldum, Origi
Defensive:
Mignolet
Clyne Matip Keane Bertrand
Naby Keita Wijnaldum
Hendo
Mane Coutinho
Firmino
Bench: From Karius, Trent, Lovren, Robertson, Can, Lallana, Milner, Keita Diao, Origi
Is that too many midfielders? - Sell Emre if a big bid comes in. He's improving but not a consistent performer
