Liverpool FC Forum

[kazza]

Players don’t just lose skill so the issue with Fabinho has to be carrying an injury or personal issues. He was world class and now he is average, that doesn’t just happen without a reason, he is still in his prime at 29.

[Tommy Smith]

I have seen Jude Bellingham playing for England, and he has performed quite well, however, I have watched him in the CL against Chelsea and he has been quite average, can't tackle, wayward passes, and can't score, I just don't understand what all the fuss is all about him, for £110 Million, he is not worth it at all. Some people have compared him to the S.G., Really he is not near S.G. when he was Jude's age. It might be a big mistake buying him for LFC. The club's owner's statement of today stated that they will remain in charge of the LFC and have pledged that they will buy new players in the summer, but ONLY REASONABLE BUYS meaning they won't spend madly as some fans expecting newcomers of 7-8 new players, this won't happen in LFC, we are not Chelsea, M. City or even Arsenal. some of the existing players (older) will remain in LFC but the likes of Keita & Co. will go. We have to try to develop the younger players well to bridge the gaps in the squad.

[Reg]

Tommy, Bellingham is just 19, give him a chance! Nunez and Gakpo are old in comparison at 23!

[damjan193]

I'd be fine with two new £50m midfielders instead of one who would cost £100m plus. In fact, I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Tommy Smith on this one, Jude doesn't seem like he's worth that much, we'd be better off spreading those money to 2 cheaper options. A new prime Wijnaldum and a new prime Fabinho and we're golden.

[red till i die!!]

That Morton lad is doing well by all reports so he will be brought in next season as backbup for Fab I reckon so that's one position sorted.  If Milner signs a new deal I think then we will only bring in one new midfielder and it won't be Bellingham. More likely Wolves or Brighton is where we will be shopping. We will bring in another CH as well.

[Eagle]

I think it’s safe to say that the majority of our budget will go towards midfield this summer but the crazy shouts of signing 4 or 5 will be way off. I think we’ll go for 2. You can ignore Arthur as he was just an emergency loan to cover an injury crisis although that obviously didn’t work out, and Milner has always been more of a useful extra body who can cover a few roles so I don’t think him staying or leaving has any real bearing on our plans. But with Ox and Keita leaving, it frees up space in the squad and on the payroll to start revamping our midfield in the same we have done with our attack in recent windows. The emergence of Bajcetic also changes things slightly as we don’t want to block his development but instead continue giving him meaningful game time.

Klopp wouldn’t be pursing Bellingham so hard if he didn’t have the budget to make the deal happen. Whatever the papers/Twitter might be saying, I think it will be something close to £100m as guaranteed payment spread out over a number of years, and then add-ons dependent on us winning trophies. We did a guaranteed £80m odd deal for Darwin only 9 months ago so the idea that we won’t do a big deal doesn’t really track.  Matheus Nunes is the other midfielder who we have credible links too although I can’t say I’m particularly enthused about it based on what I've seen.

Can’t see Morton or Carvalho getting any game time in midfield for us. If you work on the basis of a 55 game season, which is 165 starts in midfield, it might look a little something like the below. Obviously long-term injuries, form, development of a youngster, etc., will mean the numbers actually look different and your key midfielders who stay fit will start more than 30 games, but it gives you an idea.

1st new MF - 30
2nd new MF - 30
Thiago - 25
Bajcetic - 20
Fabinho - 20
Henderson - 20
Elliott - 10
Jones - 10

[Reg]

Good post Eagle. Carvalho is a squad player, only the very best stand out but he's good enough to stay. Jones has disappointed but will stay as a squad player (as with Hendo and Milly) because they fill the UK quota. It's frustrating however that Ox, Keita and Bobby will leave on free transfers whereas their replacements will cost a total of £225-250 million. I don't understand the logic. Hopefully Bellingham will come, I'm sure that Nike will be keen to get him on board as a new star to promote (though B-Dortmund are sponsored by Puma). Elliott remains a wildcard, some days he plays well (like against United) other days he doesn't turn up and gets subbed. He needs to become more consistent. Until then we have Thiago who should be good for another couple of seasons and Fab - it's up to him to up his game and claim his place. He's magnificent when on form in front of VVD and big Konate so I hope there's still a couple of seasons left in the lad. But.. we need to be planning to replace him and Milly/Hendo which means one top player a season at least for the next 3 years.

[red till i die!!]

Elliot is an alright player but still has a way to go. Bajectic is even less experienced than Harv as well so while these two are great prospects I don't know why we would want to hang onto Jones.

Milner will be 38 and shouldn't be even an option for us next season. Hendo peaked years ago and is just average or poor now. Thiago is a luxury we just can't afford any more either. Far to many injuries and he doesn't really assist or score when fit anyway.  Fabinho has lost a lot of pace and is hacking away most games. I don't know what it is that some think will happen if we hold on to the same players. We should only be keeping 2 out of that last lot. Keep Hendo and Fab and let the other 2 follow Jones, Ox and Keita out the door. Either that or let them all sit till their contracts run out.

We need to make a big impact into that squad next season to lift morale and our performances which haven't been good enough this season. Just throwing Bellingham in there isn't going to be enough. 

Bellingham for Milner and Jones.
Bajectic.
Elliot.
Hendo.
Fabinho.
Mount for Keita.
Caicedo for Ox.
Morton.

Surely ye don't think we could actually be any worse if we had something like that next season. We are just replacing the lads in Keita and Ox with similar quality while Jude was always coming anyway.  FSG just have to accept that this is one of those years where they have to spend without trying to claw most of it back.  We need to make a big impact now and if we did we won't have to spend there for a few seasons.

[kazza]

I agree that they all need to go. Problem is with Hendo, Jones, Ox and Milner we lose 4 British players, so we would have to buy at least two British players. If it’s Mount and Bellingham then great, but there are not too many great British midfielders that we would be able to buy or afford, unless we pad the squad with young British based prospects.

[red till i die!!]

Once a player has 3 years training at a club between the age of 15 to 21 they qualify as homegrown. Bajectic will qualify next season. Morton has had a good season on loan. Played nearly every game so can come in and deputise for Fab.

Keita and Ox were 2 big names coming in here and although it hasn't worked out they should be replaced with similar quality.  Everyone says the money is there for Bellingham since last year so they just need to fund 2 others.

If we don't do something like this then we will again be dependent on the same players who just aren't able to play the system Klopp wants or the type of football required to challenge again for the big prizes.

[Eagle]

We shouldn't be thinking about moving on Curtis Jones. He's a scouser from our academy who is probably on less than half of what our senior midfielders like Thiago, Henderson, and Fabinho are earning. He also counts as genuine "home grown" for the purposes of UEFA competitions unlike the likes of Henderson, Milner, etc, who are only counted as "home association" players. His development was going very well up until that freak eye injury in November 2021. He was 20 at that point and had started getting games in the PL and CL ahead of senior midfielders. A couple of weeks before the eye injury he put in a masterful midfield MOTM performance against Porto in Portugal. Still managed 10 PL and 2 CL starts that season. Season before that he had 13 starts in the PL and 5 in the CL. Go back and see posts about him from that period and you get an idea of how well he was doing. This stress injury to his foot has further held him back as I’m sure he would have seen plenty of game time in midfielder this year if he’d been lucky enough to have a full pre-season and stay injury free. Sounds like an awkward injury that we're having to manage so I don't suspect we'll see much of him this season but hopefully a proper recovery period over pre-season will do the trick. We shouldn't be writing off a young player due to a couple of freak injuries.

In terms of Tyler Morton, he isn't exactly setting the Championship alight. He's started 25 out of 37 games in the Championship so getting some decent experience but Blackburn fans have a pretty mixed opinion on him. Good on the ball but dreadfully slow and just an all round average athlete. He'll be a couple of months away from his 21st birthday when pre-season starts so a perm move with a sell on fee might be best unless he shows something in pre-season to suggest he has the ability to progress here but I don't see him as a genuine midifield option for us.

[red till i die!!]

Just don't think he is that good of a player myself. At what point do you draw the line with these lads though ? I think Jones has been a part of the squad now for 4 years and still is bottom of the pecking order. The odd good game isnt enough imo to warrant a position at at a top club. His injury record is another concern as well.  Bottom line here is he can be easily replaced with a younger player and the profit put elsewhere. Stick something in the sell on if needs be.

Morton would be coming in as back up to Fab. He might not be pulling up trees but he is getting minutes which is important. He at least deserves a shot.

I'm not against youth at all and do realise how important they are in making up the squad. Jones was 17 when he started breaking through and is now 22 and not only a squad player but last in the pecking order. I'd be saying the exact same thing if Elliot or Bajectic find themselves in the same position 4 or 5 years down the line.

[Reg]

A player needs to be in the top 1% to play for LFC. Unfortunately Jones is not in that category.

[Eagle]

Just don't think he is that good of a player myself. At what point do you draw the line with these lads though ? I think Jones has been a part of the squad now for 4 years and still is bottom of the pecking order. The odd good game isnt enough imo to warrant a position at at a top club. His injury record is another concern as well.  Bottom line here is he can be easily replaced with a younger player and the profit put elsewhere. Stick something in the sell on if needs be.

Morton would be coming in as back up to Fab. He might not be pulling up trees but he is getting minutes which is important. He at least deserves a shot.

I'm not against youth at all and do realise how important they are in making up the squad. Jones was 17 when he started breaking through and is now 22 and not only a squad player but last in the pecking order. I'd be saying the exact same thing if Elliot or Bajectic find themselves in the same position 4 or 5 years down the line.

Morton doesn't play in Fabinho's position. That was a failed experiment. If he was playing for us it would be either side of Fabinho.

“By the way, Tyler Morton in training, incredible! He plays as a No. 8 now,” Klopp said during a sit-down with the written press at Kirkby. "We don’t force him to play as a controlling No. 6 in a Premier League game. He’s training as an eight."

[red till i die!!]

Just don't think he is that good of a player myself. At what point do you draw the line with these lads though ? I think Jones has been a part of the squad now for 4 years and still is bottom of the pecking order. The odd good game isnt enough imo to warrant a position at at a top club. His injury record is another concern as well.  Bottom line here is he can be easily replaced with a younger player and the profit put elsewhere. Stick something in the sell on if needs be.

Morton would be coming in as back up to Fab. He might not be pulling up trees but he is getting minutes which is important. He at least deserves a shot.

I'm not against youth at all and do realise how important they are in making up the squad. Jones was 17 when he started breaking through and is now 22 and not only a squad player but last in the pecking order. I'd be saying the exact same thing if Elliot or Bajectic find themselves in the same position 4 or 5 years down the line.

Morton doesn't play in Fabinho's position. That was a failed experiment. If he was playing for us it would be either side of Fabinho.

“By the way, Tyler Morton in training, incredible! He plays as a No. 8 now,” Klopp said during a sit-down with the written press at Kirkby. "We don’t force him to play as a controlling No. 6 in a Premier League game. He’s training as an eight."

Fair enough Klopp doesn't see him like that now but I can remember him playing that for us before. It isn't a massive role in the team anyway and I still think the best move would be to sell Jones and give the chance to Morton.