Liverpool FC Forum

The inconvenient truth for Liverpool: world class players no longer want to move to Anfield

Chris Bascombe 3 MARCH 2017

At some point over the next few months, Jurgen Klopp will sit with his recruitment team and hold Anfield’s annual ‘what are we going to do now?’ meeting.

Discussions about how to improve the squad for next season are frequent, of course, but there comes a point when decisions must be taken on the number of signings required and the calibre of player who can be lured.

Recent results have left Liverpool’s support in no doubt what is needed. The idea of another transitional season, accommodating six or seven emerging players who must learn the demands of English football while the club copes with the additional demands of Europe, sounds suspiciously like the makings of an all-too-familiar campaign in 2017-18.

They need a proven goalkeeper. They need a proven centre-back. They need a proven striker. They need bigger squad. And they needed it in January.

The transfer strategy of Fenway Sports Group is well documented, if rather simplistically interpreted.

As this week’s annual accounts have demonstrated, Liverpool do not have the resources to outbid Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City and the buzzword since 2010 has been ‘smartness’.

Instead of paying £80 million for an established midfielder, Liverpool have been searching for those players who can be developed and whose value will soar to such a level with top class coaching.

This approach has been the subject of repeated appraisal and re-appraisal during the course of seven years.

Rather than represent anything especially innovative, it is exactly what every other club with fewer resources than the mega-rich clubs aspires to.

Each time Liverpool’s strategy is explained, and you hear or read perfectly reasonable and lucid accounts about how it is far better to find the next big thing for a fair price and lower wage than blow the budget on a superstar, you can’t shake off the idea of the other 95 per cent of the Premier League thinking ‘what exactly do you think we’re trying to do? Stand aside while you buy the world’s best youngsters?’

Critics of Liverpool’s policy have argued the club has effectively relegated itself in the transfer market, underestimating their name to compete with mid-table clubs for mid-table players. With the exception of one Luis Suarez-inspired campaign, the result has been a succession of finishes just above mid-table.

The policy might be pragmatic and – if executed well – can lead to signings such as Suarez and campaigns like 2013-14, but such years are exceptional, freakish even. And no sooner do they happen, Barcelona or Real Madrid intervene as they did with Suarez in 2014 and Xabi Alonso in 2009.

But for all this, there is a rather less palatable truth Liverpool are coming to terms with which has nothing to do with strategy, nor refusing to pay huge fees and salaries for proven international footballers.

Despite the criticism, there is plentiful evidence of Liverpool trying to sign world-class players over the last seven years.  The most sought after stars are showing no desire to move to Anfield. That, more than any pre-meditated decision not to target such individuals, is the hindrance facing Klopp this summer.

The list of those who Liverpool tried and failed to sign somewhat contradicts the idea the recruiters are overrated, or that FSG will not spend significant amounts on coveted stars.

Diego Costa, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Willian, Mario Gotze and Leroy Sane are just a few of those Liverpool approached.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was linked with a move to Merseyside but eventually moved to Manchester United.
Liverpool are adamant the financial package at Anfield was equal to, or in some cases even more than that offered by Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Manchester City.

We would need more detail about each individual case to verify this. Many understandably suspect the modern player will always go to the club offering most, but if Liverpool's version of events is correct the inconvenient truth is too many of these players do not want to move to Merseyside.

By reputation, Liverpool should be sniffing around every top class player on the market. They should be monitoring Antoine Griezmann. If Manchester City can’t guarantee Sergio Aguero a start every week next season, Liverpool should be thinking he can be the striker they have missed since Suarez left.

Yet to even reference these names in connection to Liverpool seems laughable, devoid of credibility given recent history. Not because FSG would not pay the fee – there is no evidence they’d stand in Klopp’s way if he told them it would transform the side – but because no-one will believe Griezmann and Aguero would move to Anfield ahead of Manchester United or Real Madrid.

Moreover, paying £60 million for one player would obviously impact on Klopp’s resources to strengthen other areas of the team. Liverpool can afford to pay this much for a player, but would it make sense when so much more needs fixing?

This is the dilemma Klopp faces this summer as he seeks those players who will make an immediate difference while also ensuring he corrects what has undermined the last three months of this campaign – lack of strength in depth. Liverpool’s bench on Monday was as frightening as the performance against Leicester.

The number of names linked with the club is expanding by the week. It is an exhaustive list based on several factors including age, fee, salary and – of course – necessity as Liverpool wait to see if they are in the Champions League, Europa League or miss out on Europe entirely.

But also, it is a list that must include a key question, which has become more prevalent in recent times.

“Will this player REALLY want to play for Liverpool?”

Not even Klopp’s charisma and famed powers of persuasion can alter that fact.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/201 ... nger-want/

Sad reading but probably true. Puts even more emphasis on CL football so that at least we can offer that.

We don't need world class players to succeed...We need to have a much better scouting system and a much better business managers...Take Sanchez for example we held the trump card with Suarez yet we managed to fck the Alexis signing god knows how...People are not doing their job either in leveraging what we have or looking in the right places..it's not all about splashing 50+ at players.

Well, it's only true to some extent. Some of those players mentioned would surely have come of the club had been increased their offer.
Just an excuse to not cough up the money imo.

Reg » Sat Mar 04, 2017 11:10 am wrote:The inconvenient truth for Liverpool: world class players no longer want to move to Anfield

Chris Bascombe 3 MARCH 2017

At some point over the next few months, Jurgen Klopp will sit with his recruitment team and hold Anfield’s annual ‘what are we going to do now?’ meeting.

Discussions about how to improve the squad for next season are frequent, of course, but there comes a point when decisions must be taken on the number of signings required and the calibre of player who can be lured.

Recent results have left Liverpool’s support in no doubt what is needed. The idea of another transitional season, accommodating six or seven emerging players who must learn the demands of English football while the club copes with the additional demands of Europe, sounds suspiciously like the makings of an all-too-familiar campaign in 2017-18.

They need a proven goalkeeper. They need a proven centre-back. They need a proven striker. They need bigger squad. And they needed it in January.

The transfer strategy of Fenway Sports Group is well documented, if rather simplistically interpreted.

As this week’s annual accounts have demonstrated, Liverpool do not have the resources to outbid Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City and the buzzword since 2010 has been ‘smartness’.

Instead of paying £80 million for an established midfielder, Liverpool have been searching for those players who can be developed and whose value will soar to such a level with top class coaching.

This approach has been the subject of repeated appraisal and re-appraisal during the course of seven years.

Rather than represent anything especially innovative, it is exactly what every other club with fewer resources than the mega-rich clubs aspires to.

Each time Liverpool’s strategy is explained, and you hear or read perfectly reasonable and lucid accounts about how it is far better to find the next big thing for a fair price and lower wage than blow the budget on a superstar, you can’t shake off the idea of the other 95 per cent of the Premier League thinking ‘what exactly do you think we’re trying to do? Stand aside while you buy the world’s best youngsters?’

Critics of Liverpool’s policy have argued the club has effectively relegated itself in the transfer market, underestimating their name to compete with mid-table clubs for mid-table players. With the exception of one Luis Suarez-inspired campaign, the result has been a succession of finishes just above mid-table.

The policy might be pragmatic and – if executed well – can lead to signings such as Suarez and campaigns like 2013-14, but such years are exceptional, freakish even. And no sooner do they happen, Barcelona or Real Madrid intervene as they did with Suarez in 2014 and Xabi Alonso in 2009.

But for all this, there is a rather less palatable truth Liverpool are coming to terms with which has nothing to do with strategy, nor refusing to pay huge fees and salaries for proven international footballers.

Despite the criticism, there is plentiful evidence of Liverpool trying to sign world-class players over the last seven years.  The most sought after stars are showing no desire to move to Anfield. That, more than any pre-meditated decision not to target such individuals, is the hindrance facing Klopp this summer.

The list of those who Liverpool tried and failed to sign somewhat contradicts the idea the recruiters are overrated, or that FSG will not spend significant amounts on coveted stars.

Diego Costa, Henrik Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Willian, Mario Gotze and Leroy Sane are just a few of those Liverpool approached.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was linked with a move to Merseyside but eventually moved to Manchester United.
Liverpool are adamant the financial package at Anfield was equal to, or in some cases even more than that offered by Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and Manchester City.

We would need more detail about each individual case to verify this. Many understandably suspect the modern player will always go to the club offering most, but if Liverpool's version of events is correct the inconvenient truth is too many of these players do not want to move to Merseyside.

By reputation, Liverpool should be sniffing around every top class player on the market. They should be monitoring Antoine Griezmann. If Manchester City can’t guarantee Sergio Aguero a start every week next season, Liverpool should be thinking he can be the striker they have missed since Suarez left.

Yet to even reference these names in connection to Liverpool seems laughable, devoid of credibility given recent history. Not because FSG would not pay the fee – there is no evidence they’d stand in Klopp’s way if he told them it would transform the side – but because no-one will believe Griezmann and Aguero would move to Anfield ahead of Manchester United or Real Madrid.

Moreover, paying £60 million for one player would obviously impact on Klopp’s resources to strengthen other areas of the team. Liverpool can afford to pay this much for a player, but would it make sense when so much more needs fixing?

This is the dilemma Klopp faces this summer as he seeks those players who will make an immediate difference while also ensuring he corrects what has undermined the last three months of this campaign – lack of strength in depth. Liverpool’s bench on Monday was as frightening as the performance against Leicester.

The number of names linked with the club is expanding by the week. It is an exhaustive list based on several factors including age, fee, salary and – of course – necessity as Liverpool wait to see if they are in the Champions League, Europa League or miss out on Europe entirely.

But also, it is a list that must include a key question, which has become more prevalent in recent times.

“Will this player REALLY want to play for Liverpool?”

Not even Klopp’s charisma and famed powers of persuasion can alter that fact.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/201 ... nger-want/

Bascombe is a bitter little man who never passes up any opportunity to twist the knife into Liverpool since he was vilified for leaving the Echo to write for that despicable rags Sunday paper .......  I wouldn't glance at a f*cking syllable that c*nt proffers to print, and I'm kind of surprised you would Reg 

RBG, are you saying that it's not true? Whether you like Bascombe or not, the lads not far off......

Whoever is writing the articles I feel the club needs more like it as there definitely seems to be a rather familiar pro Liverpool stance on pretty much everything else you read.

It may be utter paranoia but certainly the Echo,and call me crazy but fan outlets such as Redman TV, may well be influenced by FSG, I wouldnt put it past them as they try to protect what they have without too much fuss, and lets face it our fans are capable of inflicting a lot of damage on them.

We are generally really careful, reasonably well run club, but there is absolutely plenty of room for improvement.

The training ground overhaul is a start but we really need more football people with influence, I thought this is why Klopp had been brought in, not just to improve the team but the club, root and branch, however right now his remit seems fairly limited and he may well be happy with that.

Reg » Mon Mar 06, 2017 3:34 pm wrote:RBG, are you saying that it's not true? Whether you like Bascombe or not, the lads not far off......

I'm saying I haven't read it Reg,  hence my assertion that ' I refrain from throwing a glance at a solitary syllable that c*nt proffers to print' and before I get the he was only trying to better himself argument lets not forget the ***** left for a tabloid that employed MacKenzie. I mean obviously I cant stop the more forgiving of  posters reading his column, but posters expecting me to is definitely something I can put the blocks on.

If its not the truth now it will be soon if we dont win something...