Clyne and Lallana will leave on bosmans in the summer but I don’t think we’ll look for any like for like replacements in the transfer market. They are way down the pecking order so don’t get many minutes for us and it just so happens that two of our best prospects are a RB (Neco Williams) and an AM (Curtis Jones). Klopp is keen to keep a pathway for youngsters open so I think he’ll throw down the challenge to Williams and Jones next season just like he did to Brewster this year.
Lovren seemed pretty close to leaving in the summer and considering he’s still 4th choice I think he’ll be off. Klopp seems keen to maintain a smaller but versatile group of players so I think in an ideal world he would bring in a CB to replace Lovren who can also cover LB. But that’s not easy, so it’s more likely he’ll end up bringing in someone who can cover Robbo in addition to a Lovren replacement.
All the signs seem to point towards the big signing(s) being attacking one(s). Genuine cover/competition/succession planning for the front 3 seems to have been on the agenda for a few windows but has always been lower down the priority list as we look to address areas of the first 11. But looking at how strong the squad is now I think it goes towards the top of the list. Sounds like Shaq wants out and too be honest I don’t think he was ever anything apart from a cheap stop gap so we could go big on Alisson and Fabinho. One of Werner or Sancho is a good shout and if we did bring one of them in I could see Firmino being deployed as a 10 at times so we can accommodate all 4. If Real or Barcelona come sniffing and take one of the front 3 from us, then I could see us going for 2 from Werner, Sancho and maybe even Mbappe.
I don’t see any major upheaval in the summer driven by the club. Below are some quotes from Klopp over the weekend which gives you a bit of insight into what he’s thinking.
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/liverpool-transfer-news-werner-mbappe-summer-signings-latest-a9353551.html
While Klopp doesn’t particularly like the tag (best in the world) – “I don’t really get it. It’s nice when people say it, it’s better than if they say you are the worst team in the world, obviously” – he admits it can assist in transfer negotiations.
“It’s easier if players see you as that,” Klopp said. “If they see you are successful, it’s easier to get into talks with players. But on the other side, it’s more difficult the better your team is because they ask questions like ‘where and when would I play?’
“We need players who want to be part of this, who want to fight for their spot, who want to make the next step together with us, who want to develop and improve so that’s it. We have these players and whoever wants to join us, needs to have exactly this kind of attitude.
“That CV is not easy to fulfil. The age group of our team is good in the moment. In two or three years maybe it’ll be different, but for the moment, it’s good. It depends on what you want – is it a good age for selling? Probably not. But is it a good age for performing? Yes. So there’s a lot of things we have to think about. It’s an interesting period.”
“Last summer, we did Sepp, Harvey and Adrian and people were not happy that we didn’t do any more than that because they think we need this and that here and there,” Klopp said. “We will see if we can make the right decisions again. It doesn’t depend on us alone, it’s the market, it’s the things around that will have an influence.
“It’s not that we are going mad about what is out there – we want the right player, we don’t just sign any.”
“I think for some players, if Barcelona or Real call, it’s hard to say ‘no,’” the German said. “I think for the whole world, Liverpool are one of the top, top, top, top clubs. But in the South American part of the world, the other two are a bit more famous which makes sense language and culture-wise.
“It’s why calls from them could always cause some trouble, but apart from that, there’s not 500 clubs who could buy players from us.”
