12 Jul 2016 18:52:35
Alright, not a rumour as such but I thought it might be worth passing on. I've been interrailing around Europe for the past month and just got home a couple of days ago. One of the cities I visited was Belgrade, and when I did a walking tour of the city our guide was a pretty big Red Star fan. So long story short in his opinion Grujic is light years ahead of everyone else in the Serb league and is a player worth getting excited about who could be at the heart of our team for years to come. Just thought I'd pass it on because I don't think many people on this site have seen him play whereas this guy sees him week in week out and was quite knowledgable.
(Belgrade is lovely btw, would recommend visiting)

1.) 12 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 20:20:40
Nice rumour tomos 😉.

2.) 12 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 21:01:27
Agree I am in Belgrade at the moment and it is worth a visit. If you are here go to a game with RedStar or Partizan the atmosphere is something special.

I have a qestion to Ed2 I know that Chelsea have good knowledge of the serbian league and have in current team serbian players and even involved with Markovic so I wonder if you know the thinking and how the work in regards finding serbian talent? Where the interested in Gruijic as well?

{Ed002's Note - There are a number of people that Chelsea retain or employ regarding the "scouting" of players including a permanent Chief Scout and a Head of International Scouting - Scott McLachlan - who all report in to the Director of Football. There is a guy called Matthew Hallam who co-ordinates all of the reports and ensures that they go to the correct person. Obviously no one at the first team level is going to see or be interested in any reports related to children. There are then scouts retained by the club in specific countries and areas of the world - France, South America, Adriatic & Old Eastern Bloc, Iberia etc.. On top of that there are both formal and informal "advisors" who often have an opinion to give - some of these are very well known people.

Liverpool agreed to the transfer of Red Star Belgrade's Marko Grujic after agreeing a record fee with his club and making an astonishing wage offer. I don't know what promise of game time had been made but it has been suggested by his representative that Liverpool have offered him Gerrard's number 8 shirt as well (there was no clarification if it was an old used one or not) but they have made guarantees. This far outstrips any other offer, particularly if the club are promising significant starting game time. Inter could not match the transfer fee in cash and certainly not the wages even though they were his first choice destination. Chelsea offered a lower transfer fee (that could have been resolved) but would not be looking at him for the first team for probably two and a half years. That would comprise an initial loan back to Red Star (perhaps even including next season at Red Star - but that was not Chelsea's preference) and then a year on loan in Europe as he was seen as being behind the pecking order of another midfield player (Pasilic) who is going through that process with Chelsea already. Liverpool's offer also ended interest from Napoli, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, PSG, Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City and Roma (although none of these clubs put a firm offer on the table as I understand it) but Stuttgart, Udinese and Anderlecht had proposals which they think will be more acceptable to the family of the player who are worried about the damage a move to Liverpool could do to his career - not just financial proposals but career building proposals. In order to get a work permit Klopp showed up to the hearing and made guarantees which Liverpool need to keep or it will be taken away. The wages are very significant for a player of his age.}

3.) 12 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 21:14:10
Hence the reason its on banter Ron 🙈.

4.) 12 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 21:35:44
I was being sincere, I like posts like that 😎.

5.) 12 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 21:41:20
Thanks for the detailed response ed2

I heard similar about the family thing.

Lets hope it works out for LFC and him.

6.) 13 Jul 2016
12 Jul 2016 23:14:28
Been following this site for years now. Forgot my username, never really posted anything but had to re-register now.

For ed2 if You could answer this one. You told before LFC signed Markovic that Chelsea thought he was couple of years away from first team and pretty much the same thing now with Grujic and that LFC offered Grujic much more than other interested parties. Do you think that is because of the pulling power of the club is lesser nowadays and if LFC want to get someone signed they think has potential to be good they have to offer more than others to get a potentially good player and probably a year or two earlier than some others would? Is the club doing this because they now have to compared to others. Pay over the odds? Or do they offer what the club think is the real value?

Sorry if I didn't get my question to the point clearly. English is not my first language. And for ed2, all Liverpool supporters around the world are not the same and people who act stupidly here don't represent all of us ;) Thanks for your contribution and time you spend here for us all. It is much apprecited.

{Ed002's Note - No, it was a club decision to offer what they did and make commitments. Nobody has suggested the fans are all the same - aside from the humongous asses and fat fingers.}