09 Jul 2023 12:51:52
Players leaving for free after seeing out their contracts doesn't necessarily mean the club is poorly managed imo. It can suit both sides.

Ox, we needed him to go as he is injured so often and was on big wages. How many offers did we turn down for him last summer? Likely none.

Miner, we got another year of his experience and leadership around the club. He has clearly slowed down so it's a win win for him to leave this summer.

Keita, disaster of a signing. We absolutely would have considered half decent offers for him the last two summers but they didn't come. Just a really bad signing and we are lucky this doesn't happen too often at Liverpool.

Bobby, super player who was brilliant for us. Definitely lost a step with injuries, was loved in the squad but on the pitch he was already replaced (Gakpo) and we couldn't justify adding some years onto his contract to try sell him for £10M. His wages were based on the great form back four years ago, we no longer value him at that level and he is no longer fit and available playing at that level. Letting him go at the end of his contract makes sense. We are well stocked up top.

Now we have Matip and Thiago with a year to go. If we get decent offers for them then that's fine but I don't think it's an issue if they stay this season, help with some experience around the squad and leave for free then next summer. Fine they are on massive wages but that's why I wouldn't be extending their contracts on current terms at least. Transfer fees wise, neither are going to bring in much at their ages and with their injury histories.

{Ed001's Note - what is a decent offer? Any offer for Keita, get the s***house out of the city and club where he can harm it and to someone else, should have been taken. Instead we rejected a chance to get rid of him early and have someone else cover a large portion of his obscene salary. That is poor management, something Klopp was guilty of throughout Keita's time, constantly giving him chances at the detriment of youngsters. Let's face it, he could have got a kid out of the local comp who would have offered more to the team than Keita did.

Matip and Thiago can't stay fit, they are paid extremely high wages and should be moved on now. A decent offer for a player who is never fit is any offer that gets them off the wage bill and saves the club paying them.}

1.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 13:08:12
Spot on Ed001 I’ve said this all along.

2.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 13:42:57
I’m intrigued as to what is so bad about Keita’s conduct off the field? As in I have no idea what he was like and did, not that I find his conduct ok ??.

3.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 14:13:19
Ed001 - love that keita response- what passion! Would you say he’s you’re most hated signing? Or does the usual el hadji Diof take that particular title?

{Ed001's Note - oh god Diouf was far worse.}

4.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 14:14:32
Ed001 mate, which club was interested in Naby, you didn’t mention before but can’t remember.

{Ed001's Note - my mind has gone blank now, it was a Bundesliga club I think. Was it RBL? I honestly can't think right now. I have no doubt the moment I click submit it will come to mind.}

5.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 14:53:24
OP, Thiago and Matip cost the club around £20 million in wages a year, yet barely play, due to endless injury problems. Clubs cannot stockpile players in this way.

In order for Klopp to bring in new players, older players need to leave, otherwise the club is financially stricken with an enormous wage bill due to a bloated squad.

The club has senior players in Adrian, Henderson etc to help out with the younger
players.

6.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 16:05:16
Great thread, lads.

7.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 16:02:15
@Ed001 I completely agree on Keita, a disaster of a signing. I just didn't know we had any offers for him, it sounded like each summer we were trying to shift him but nobody was interested, his wages would have been a big deterrent.

We can agree to disagree on Thiago and Matip, I completely understand why you want them gone and I don't want to be arguing when people say things like "never fit" I just think it's a bit pointless discussing extremes. In terms of what I would consider to be a decent offer for them, free transfers just to get the wages off the books is something I would be against, I would rather keep them for the season than do that.

8.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 17:08:15
Thanks 001. Can anyone think of a signing worse than diouf? Not players like Dundee, voronin, etc. more just awful signings! Got to be diouf, right?

9.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 17:41:49
Oh no Diouf is by far the worst for me. Terrible footballer and even worse human being. The only thing about him that makes me smile is that we are living rent free in his head. Can't shut up about LFC or Stevie.

10.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 17:47:50
@Greenflash, wages are high for both Thiago and Matip, I said massive in my OP. In terms of them barely playing due to endless injury problems - sorry but I can't agree on that.

Matip lost his place, played 14 league games out of the 38 but he was an unused sub for 15 more so he was available for 29 of the 38 - he lost his place. Massive wages for squad depth here. I agree not ideal but I don't see Klopp as being willing to replace VvD this season so I can't see us signing another great centre back for the league. Matip gone in 12months gives a bit more time to see if VvD can recover or else signing a half decent guy this summer won't do, it would need to be a clear VvD replacement and I don't see Klopp as realistically considering that yet.

Thiago was overused then, it was as clear as day to all of us watching that he needed to be rested a bit more but he was the one kept on the pitch to thread through the pass forward, the pass the others couldn't see nevermind play. He played 18 of the 38 league games, 14 of those were starts and averaging 82mins per start - we all know that's too much for him in close succession and it wasn't surprising he got injured. We have far better quality now for midfield so Thiago shouldn't be needed to play all the time so he should be available for more of the season. We could do with another season of his vision and passing imo.

And I 100% am not in favour of a bloated squad. Not sure how you got that from my post. I am delighted with our two quality signings but I don't for a second think we will be signing a LCB and DM at the same level. Selling Thiago and Matip for a combined £15M (plus some wages saved vs the new LCB and DM) won't pay for newbies at Mac Allister or Dom's level, fingers crossed that I will be surprised with another quality first team addition but I won't be holding my breath.

11.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 17:56:58
Just keep Thiago for me unless selling him brings funds for a quality replacement. If not, keep him for the season. He has undoubted quality and great for the younger players to learn from.
Someone technical like Barella would be a good replacement if he were to move on.

12.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 18:26:18
@FarmerFC, in terms of the younger players learning from Thiago I think it's exciting to see how much Bajcetic can improve on again this year and Mac Allister already looks superb but a year playing and training with Thiago could be superb for us there too.

If we sell Thiago now then it would be around £10M for him I'd guess so we have to be realistic, Barella has been mentioned by Ed002 as Inter wanting €100M so if Thiago was to go for £10M then maybe it would be to help pay for a replacement more like Thuram but nowhere near Barella's level so that for me is another reason to keep him for the season.

13.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 19:24:17
@Sean Ireland, that's fair enough. I think the fanbase are evenly split on whether to keep Thiago, not so sure about Matip.
I believe Liverpool will definitely sign a defender and 1 more midfielder, so will need to balance the books, hence Matip and Thiago moving on.
There is 2 months of the transfer window to go yet.

14.) 09 Jul 2023
09 Jul 2023 21:26:43
@Greenflash, if we get anything near the quality of Mac Allister and Szob for even one more signing then I would be very happy with that. I'd love an LCB good enough to bench an out of form VvD and a DM good enough to bench an out of form Fabinho but I think it's unlikely we would be able to afford both.

Plenty time left in the window indeed so hopefully some offers will come in for a few of the players we are open to moving on and let's see can they sign some more quality for us ?.