28 Aug 2019 14:30:04
The quotes from Saif Rubie (Duncan's agent) in the Daily Fail are incendiary. The club's response must be measured and formal.

Rubie did manage to get one thing absolutely spot on - Duncan will never play for the club again at any level.


1.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:01:13
Some context would be helpful, many people don’t read that newspaper.


2.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:09:17
As much as you can be annoyed at the statement, Bobby is only very young, we cannot know what so called advice he has been given by this terrible agent.

To make such a public statement which reference money as much as mental illness is shocking, this kind of limelight should not be created for a young Boy, where is the confidentially, the true concern for his welfare! He should taking some private time with his family and an agent who supports him not cash and work together to support him!

To be asking Twitter “what is a loan with an obligation to buy” a few days before sums up the level of professionalism this agent has.

Ultimately if he is suffering mentally, we should support him regardless, he is young and shouldn’t be hurled abuse over something we don’t understand.


3.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:09:19
It is what it is, but putting out all this info out in the public domain and burning all bridges at the same time, is really stupid. It hurts both sides. Pity it has to end so badly, and it can end only this way, despite people hoping for and expecting great things because of the Gerrard connection.


4.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:12:20
Having read that entire post, it seems clear to me that Bobby Duncan needs to sack his agent, the advice he's been apparently getting seems atrocious. The club have acted reasonably well in keeping this quiet until the agent came out with these ridiculous demands and expectations for a young player still learning and developing his game.
A loan seemed fair if he wanted to test himself and if he's unhappy the experience might have opened his eyes to the nitty gritty real world life of lower league football.
The other thing we must consider is the fact that he spent pre-season with the first team (I wonder if that was just a policy of appeasement to shut the agent up), you can be a world class player but if Klopp judges you to have a poor or toxic, Neymar-esque type of personality then you'll never get near the first team and rightfully so.
I'd be more than happy to see him get a better agent, get better advice, stay and work his way into consideration, otherwise I'd let him rot and waste away in the youth teams never kicking a ball for them or the first team.


5.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:14:37
He seems like he has talent, but if it's true that he has been so scarred that he has not left his room for 4 days then it sounds like he is sulking and probably lacks the mentality to make it to the very top.

Also interesting that his small salary was mentioned multiple times. I am sure his agent would like a new contract and a couple of bucks in his back pocket.

Take the best offer available and move on.


6.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:15:53
Ed01 if i may what's happening there?

{Ed001's Note - his agent has accused Liverpool's Michael Edwards of bullying Duncan over a move. Amongst constant whines about him only getting a small salary (which he should, he is a kid who has proven nothing yet), the agent has said that the lad's mental health has suffered. He also claimed that they have letters from the club which proved it, but has not produced these letters. Basically Duncan thinks he is good enough for the first team but doesn't want to fight for a place or to prove he is ready and wants to go. Just like he did when at Man City. The agent got some offers from abroad for loan to buy moves which Liverpool have rejected and he has his arse in his hand because they were rejected.

I don't know why the club has rejected them, it seems odd because it is clear the lad should be offloaded as quickly as possible for whatever we can get. It seems unlikely that it is as black and white as Duncan being bullied however. He was making the same noises at City when they didn't offer him the contract he wanted, now it is happening all over again. Seems to be just a kid who is up his own backside and an agent who just wants a quick buck up against a club who don't want to cave in but also don't want to lose the talented kid.}


7.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:18:31
I've just been reading about this. The whole thing seems utterly ridiculous.

Agent saying this 18yr old child is on a "tiny salary" when likelihood is he's still being paid per week what most his age wouldn't make in a year. He was clearly in Klopp's visions as he went on the pre-season tour.

He was happy snapping photos with Klopp and all the other players and seemingly loving life and now his agent spouts nonsense about the club bullying him.

I know Liverpool don't have the best reputation over dealing with their youngsters recently but this seems totally ridiculous.

The kid stalled on signing a pro deal with City because he felt he could get a better deal elsewhere, now he's kicked off at Liverpool because he wants a better deal somewhere else again just over a year later.

I know i'm talking from a place of complete ignorance but I don't want players like this around the club and Liverpool would be wise to get rid now for a decent profit.

Now. if any of the stuff about his mental health is true then that should obviously be taken seriously. But his agent (Barahino's agent I believe) should not be putting out public statements about the mental health of a child he represents, that should be dealt with in private with the player. The only possible motive for making a public statement about his mental health is to try and force a move, and I find that disgusting.

Mental health issues are rife within football and are all too often ignored with awful consequences. But using mental health as a reason to engineer a transfer just goes to belittle the issues of others even more.

I wish Bobby Duncan all the best with any of his mental health issues and his football (and hopefully a different agent), but given his conduct in this whole affair I cannot see it being at Liverpool. Time for the club to just bow out and let him leave.


8.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:21:48
I'd simply terminate Duncan's contract with immediate effect and let him go ply his trade elsewhere. What is it with agents, they just seem to be scum.


9.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:29:15
This is a very serious accusation and how the club repsonds and acts onward from here will be key but I for one am sad at this whole episode.


10.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:45:42
Johnnyr1970 terminating his contract would be what the agent wants. I'd be more than happy to let him sit on his contract, never play for the rest of it, then be released once it's finished and for him to blend into obscurity, nobody would sign a headache that hadn't kicked a ball in 2 years. That would be huge in destroying "player power". Duncan's career will be the only casualty, the club won't suffer.


11.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:52:18
Wish I got “bullied” by a football club for thousands a week when I was his age.

These footballers don’t live in the real world.


12.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 15:59:19
Kieran, that approach would probably result in some kind of legal battle though. Best to just let him go and then put out an official statement on the matter.


13.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 16:04:39
Sounds perfect to me. Put him to train with the U-18's but never ever play him again, until his contract runs down. Then he'll get a dose of the real world. The agent makes it sound like the club is indulging in slavery with the bullying and torture accusations. There are literally a billion or so kids in the World who'd die to have Duncan's life and lifestyle at that age; earning the "small salary" he does.


14.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 16:58:12
Didn’t Ryan Kent post a picture of the word “slave” on twitter or something like that? These people need to have a sit down and maybe visit the slave trade in the maritime museum (if it’s still there) . The arrogance / ignorance of these people to even begin to consider themselves slaves is deplorable.


15.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 17:51:17
One of the best comments I have ever read on this forum if not the best mate, LFC Hopeful take a bow son.


16.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 18:16:35
Kids got a wrong attitude to life. Sack him and then when he's playing for Southport in a few years he would of realised he should of listened to others and not his idiot agent.


17.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 18:16:46
It makes a mockery of mental health. I'm sure Duncan won't come out of his room, probably because of embarrassment at seeing this whole pile of rubbish play out.


18.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 16:13:39
I would like to hear Ed002 take on this (with greatest respect to ed001, read what you posted and I agree with everything you said) . Ed002 gives us an alternative view . You see I am not sure the club is totally innocent in this?

{Ed002's Note - I have not read what others have written, but English football is suffering from youngsters who want a bite at the first team because Sancho has had the opportunity, or Jake Clarke-Salter, or Lewis Baker, Lookman, Oxford etc.. They see themselves ready to take on the worrld when they are not. A Liverpool example: Solanke left Chelsea because at 18 he (or rather his step father) demanded the club pay him £50k a week when he had yet to play for the first team - they let his contract run down as he was unwilling to wait and to learn. Duncan is a kiddie who is not ready for the Liverpool first team squad - and he and his representative have backed themselves in to a corner when we will likely never know even though expectations are high. You, as a club, do not kowtow.}


19.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 20:03:31
Probably end up like Jerome Sinclair.


20.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 20:06:31
If you just 'let him go' you make a statement that this sort of carry on is acceptable and that, if you act like an arse, you get what you want. The club should do as they see fit - let him leave if an offer acceptable to them comes in; keep him at the club if such an offer is not forthcoming. The player will have to accept what the club does and no amount of posturing by his parasitic agent should change that.


21.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 20:10:58
This mental health issue his agent comes out with is disgusting. I know a lot about mental health care my daughter works in mental health care and can see this is bulls#@t. So let's say Liverpool agree to a move to Florintina watch how quickly he leaves his bedroom and jumps on a plane to sign a lucrative contract until the next offer comes along. Stevie g needs to give him a wake up call!


22.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 20:51:22
Thanks Ed002's for your reply .


23.) 28 Aug 2019
28 Aug 2019 23:01:08
Johncrow, some of these players and agents need a reality check and a dose of history before they make such distasteful, cheap remarks like Kent did. It’s not acceptable to compare yourself to a slave because you signed a contract that pays you very well and gives you pretty much all the freedoms you could ever wish for and you are then held to that contract (for a tiny proportion of your life) . I hope one day he bothers to look back at history and see what life really was/ is like to be a slave. Sadly, I’m quite sure he won’t.

{Ed025's Note - well said hopeful, the slavery comparison is very distasteful and an insult to those who suffered at the time mate..


24.) 29 Aug 2019
29 Aug 2019 19:08:56
Sounds like another whining agent trying to make a buck off the back of a vulnerable kid who really, cannot think for himself on these issues as they were not clear cut. In this situation now, ONLY Duncan will pay the price of his agent's pathetic stupidity. He is supposed to take care of his client and not put him into more trouble than he already is. Let's see what happens.