jimmylibel

Going back over the last year or so there’s been loads of articles linking us with him. Just google “ferran torres Liverpool”

Goal saying City are close to a deal for Ferran Torres, a player we’ve been extensively linked with in the past. Somewhere between £27m - £36m. If we are shopping at the frugal end of the market you’d think this is one we’d be all over. Maybe we were but couldn’t compete with the terms on offer.

De Gea does seem like he’s stayed up all night on the PlayStation a few times this season alright.

Nah. I just don’t think the briefed position makes sense on face value. We can’t go into next season with Van Dijk, Gomez, Matip and either Fabinho filling in or one of the 2 young Dutch lads as our central defensive options. It’s not enough. Equally if Origi is off we will definitely need a quality replacement up top - which I’d argue we need anyway. Shaqiri looks like he’s off too. That just leaves Minamino, Brewster and Elliot to cover - again more quality needed. Our positioning could be a bit of a bluff to keep prices down, but if it is that then I have no clue who the target is. Based on sammya’s post it doesn’t look like that’s with a view to signing the best available attacking option on the market anyway.

That’s really frustrating

Vertonghen officially released by Spurs.

Supposedly (as said by Miguel Delaney) would prefer a move to Liverpool. There is something not quite adding up about our voiced transfer strategy at the moment. We do seem to be overly playing the poor mouth - which doesn’t really seem accurate given the departures/ expected departures and the pretty solid link to Thiago.

No idea when he posed but...

It definitely was a red. Studs first.

Unusual how little discussion there is about managers on their way, players having played their last game for specific clubs... different circumstances obviously but most seasons plenty of movement comes to light as soon as the last game is played.

It’s fairly certain there will be some outgoings in midfield though. Lallana is as good as gone, then there’s Gruijic and Wilson who don’t seem like they’ll be part of the squad next season and may raise some funds (I know they weren’t part of the squad this season but the key here is fundraising). Shaqiri more of an option for the front lads but can’t see him here for much longer either. And the club all but put a price tag on Gini a few months back (will only let him go for a substantial bid - but hope he’ll sign etc). You’d think there will be some movement. I’ve always thought the Thiago thing had a ring of truth about it. He was getting what he wanted from Bayern, deal all but done but he suddenly changed his mind. No professional does that without having something concrete on the table. Also the link to us came from the Bayern dressing room. If this was simply a money play I think we’d have heard something like ‘keen to try a new league’ or ‘looking to explore more rewarding options’ etc. It’s been very specific from the off.

Osimhen has suddenly changed agents, which may be related to the Napoli deal. Who knows. Going back to the point Maldini was making about Werner, for me Osimhen has been this year’s most likely Pepe type rumour... I don’t think it’s a coincidence the selling club is the same either.

‘Reports’ that Klopp has ‘asked’ for 2 players - Thiago and Victor Osimhen. We’re also supposedly after RB Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele. Meanwhile Jadon Sancho happened to mention he used to watch videos of John Barnes as a kid.

Wide forward? Can’t say I watched much Austrian league but he doesn’t seem as fast or as comfortable out wide as what we need imo.

I dunno, it is part of the viewing match experience. I’m finding it more and more grating. I genuinely think Sky need to change their entire commentary panel at this stage. Tyler’s, passive aggressive ‘pretending I’m impartial but my can’t really hide my leanings ‘ schtick is beyond wearying at this point. Carra is trading on constant negging and frankly seems to be completely lacking in insight at this stage (Robertson’s corner for the third wasn’t aiming for Salah was it?). Neville had been the best of them at first, it’s just a shame he decided to start channeling everything he says through a ‘I’m the greatest Manchester United fan alive’ prism. If I could just take the stadium noise/ artificial atmosphere at this point I definitely would.

Completely. This comes down to really needing one player, one type of player - a wide forward with pace and end product. Get that and we can pretty much adjust anywhere else. We don’t adjust effectively when we only have one of our two wide lads available. Unfortunately though, that’s also one of the most expensive profiles going.

I think there was a slight evolution in terms of game management. We got better at just playing out time while maintaining a lead. More comfortably boring when we want to be. Which was a vast improvement on last season when we’d start conceding chances (and goals... Fulham away) when we started trying to play the game out. But take your point on a broader level, that side of our game aside I don’t think we’ve really changed and definitely agree a few things have bounced for us this season that went the other way last.

I don’t think Pearce is as well briefed by the club as he used to be. A lot of his stuff (and this pre-dates his move to The Athletic) reads like you said, as an opinion. In fact some of it seems fairly speculative at times. Hedges his bets until there is a specific position. Not saying he doesn’t get some insight, just not as much as he had in the past. My oracle of choice these days is definitely Joyce.

You would wonder if this has implications re Gini though

That’s potentially a fantastic signing if it goes through. Supposedly was on the verge of signing a new contract with Bayern not long ago but it then just came to a halt... guess we must have stepped in. Klopp has been a big fan for years. Remember him praising Thiago a few years ago and I think it was suggested before he was one of his favourite players in the German league. In other news Leon Bailey being linked with ourselves, both Mancs and a couple of other Premier League clubs. Suggestion he’s available for £20- £30 million. Is/ was the fastest player in the Bundesliga. From what I’ve seen he’s a bit hit and miss, not a guaranteed starter for Leverkusen. Ahhh so that’s our ‘glamour’ signing for our new sponsors... any chance they’d have a word in Sancho’s ear while they’re at it?

They’ve been strongly linked to Coman from Bayern as his replacement Is that how that ended up... I thought Juventus were supposed to be giving Barcelona some money on top as Arthur is younger and Barcelona need cash to buy Martinez.

I’ve seen more clear cut goals without any danger of offside getting the analysis treatment. I think it was enough to warrant a look at the very least. Why not look at the body positioning? Firmino’s shoulder was ‘offside’ against Villa. Edit - sorry I guess you mean the Brighton defender’s body position. I do think it was worth doing the lines.

Weird that they didn’t even show that angle at half time. I thought he looked well off and Sky didn’t even analyse it for whatever reason

Seen some suggestions that clubs like City and Chelsea will be using the relaxation of FFP to go on a bit of a splurge. This piece from David Conn seems to suggest that the rules will be considerably eased this year. At the same time we’re obviously pushing a ‘keep the belt tight’ line when it comes to our own strategy. Curious what everyone thinks about that? If FFP isn’t really going to apply, is following it still the correct thing to do? ***** Owners of top clubs will temporarily be permitted by Uefa’s financial fair play rules to put more money into their clubs, to cover increased losses caused by football’s shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Uefa announced a series of “emergency measures” to acknowledge that clubs competing in the Champions League and Europa League, who must comply with FFP “break-even” limits, cannot do so this season because of drastic losses caused by the shutdown. The principles accept that clubs can make losses greater than the permitted €30m over a rolling three-year period, and that owners can cover those losses. Uefa stressed, however, that it was still committed to encouraging good financial management by clubs, and the measures were aimed only at “neutralising the adverse effects of the pandemic”: lost ticket income while matches are played behind closed doors, and the potentially major loss of some TV, commercial and sponsorship income. The current rules, intended to encourage clubs to live within the money they make and not pay excessive wages to players, limit clubs’ maximum losses to €30m over a three-year period, as long as €25m of that loss is covered by an owner. The new measures state that the current 2020 financial year will not be assessed at all under FFP procedures, and will instead be rolled up into 2021, and the two years assessed together as a single financial period. Uefa sources confirmed that clubs would be allowed losses in excess of €30m as long as they show this was caused by falls in revenues because of the shutdown. Clubs will be able to cope with their own increased losses however they responsibly can, including by owners putting money in, either in loans or shares. Uefa said these emergency measures were intended to “give clubs more time to quantify and account for unanticipated loss of revenues”.

Based on how we play, if we’re taking someone on loan from Barcelona at a reduced loan fee, I’d much rather it was Dembele for the season ahead. We need cover for the two wide lads of a similar level. Whether you believe Coutinho is still as good a player as he was or not, he never had that raw pace or dribbling ability ala Mane and Salah. Edit - I would be fairly concerned about Dembele’s injury record though.