29 May 2015 18:36:31
You want my opinion we should be looking for young players to fill the obvious gaps, but young players who are already proven at a high level. The sort of young players we should be looking at include the likes of:-
Striker/Forward
Rodriguez (R Madrid)
El Shaarawy (Milan)
Dybala (Palermo)
Midfield
Verratti (PSG)
Central Defender
Varane (R Madrid - again)
Full Back
De Sciglio (Milan)
Goalie
Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea)
In short, young players who are not only already good but will get better. At the moment were just messing about buying players already fading or youngsters on the off chance they might produce the goods.
29 May 2015 18:49:37
Are you serious ?
Absolutely no chance pal
29 May 2015 19:00:01
No mate we need to create an environment at Liverpool where the kind of players you are talking about can flourish into top top players.
Who would come to Liverpool this summer as a young but gifted player looking to become world class or whatever, when you have players like sterling (who is the kind of player your talking about) leaving because of the way he's been treated?
Not to mention the likes of markovic and Moreno playing out of position, Alberto, illori, borini etc etc never getting a sniff.
29 May 2015 19:01:10
Not sure how we'd have any chance whatsoever of getting these players, particularly Courtois or Varane?
29 May 2015 19:10:06
Think how much we have spent on transfers just in the last 12 months. You could pick up most of those for that. Then have a think about what we ended up with.
29 May 2015 19:26:29
Why would the world class players playing for world class trophy winning teams come to a team that has been I'm the champions league once in 5 years and won one trophy in 8 years?
I swear some of our fans are embarrassingly delusional
29 May 2015 19:42:03
Suarez came. And without players of this calibre you can forget ever getting back in the top four. Part of our problem is that while we have some very good players, the average across the squad is poor. We weren't hard done to finishing 6th and we weren't unlucky - we were lucky, It would have been seventh if Southampton had won their last game. We are where we are because that is our level whether you like the idea or not. 8 months, week in, week out, is an accurate measure of exactly how good your squad average actually is(or - as in our case, isn't). Without an influx of better players, we are not going to improve as a team and that is all there is to it.
29 May 2015 19:45:31
Oh, and most of those are not only not 'world class' - they are still up-and-coming, but most of them are valued at 15M or less.
{Ed001's Note - none of those are valued at less than 15m!}
29 May 2015 19:54:41
You can not just buy players you want. Teams have to want to sell and the players have to want to come. It's not football manager mate, i have more chance of being signed than most if them.
29 May 2015 20:21:15
Ed001 they are valued as follows:-
Rodriguez 13M
El Shaarawy 13M
Dybala 20M
Verratti 26M
Varane 22M
De Sciglio 8M
Courtois 20M
Now while I admit saying most were 15M or less was harsh, the total comes to 110M (an average price of less than 16M ) which is roughly what Brendan has spent in the last 12 months alone. People say they won't come, but consider that some of them are only squad players where they are, are we to accept we can no longer even attract players who are merely squad level where they currently are? Have we sunk so low in the eyes of pdecent players? And players of that calibre will come if they are given a vision and believe it. The problem is we lack that vision because we lack a manager with personal charisma and we lack the people able to sell the vision. And without players of this calibre we will remain exactly where we are - we've become just another Spurs.
{Ed001's Note - where are you getting the valuations from?}
29 May 2015 20:24:03
Maybe 20 years we could have poached one of Chelsea's best players but those days are long gone
29 May 2015 20:40:32
transfermarkt, which over the last few years I've been watching it has been a reasonably fair and accurate barometer. Indeed it actually seems err on the side of generous in it's valuations.
29 May 2015 20:47:43
I can't imagine Chelsea would entertain any bids for Courtois at all, much less £20M. Maybe for something like £40M they might be tempted, but even then Courtois would say no to the transfer. Honestly, I'm all for dreaming big but the likes of him and Varane are not going to be at Anfield anytime soon.
29 May 2015 21:03:43
RDL - Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor. (Shanks)
29 May 2015 22:30:38
I got to admire your optimism Red Lenin haha
29 May 2015 23:03:13
Are you serious man? You can aim as high as you want but not in a million years would Varane,Veratti,Dybala come to Anfield. Courtois? This must be a wind up of some sort. And then the hilarious prices you quote, "amazing"! Courtois andVarane for 40 million ;) Even if you pay 40 million for each, that won't be accepted. Remind me how much David Luiz was worth on that site and how much he went for on real life?
Some will never have touch with reality and how the buisness side of the game really works.
Varane and Courtois, LOL. Thanks for the laughs lad, i needed that.
30 May 2015 07:17:04
Milan rejected an approach for El sharaawy not to long ago for much more than that.
30 May 2015 11:36:46
Without getting pour hands on young players of that quality you can forget top four. That is reality. We've certainly spent enough money on players over the last three years - in excess of a quarter of a billion pounds, and for that sort of money we should have a far higher average quality across the squad than we actually do. Not a little bit higher - far higher. And we can attract players of that quality but only if we have a manager and a club with a vision that those players will buy into. And at the moment we do not possess a manager that they have any respect for and we have no believable vision as a club - we are seen (quite correctly) as just p***ing about on the sidelines in the hope we get a lucky break.
And that is shameful and has got to change and the first change has got to be the personalities involved in the committee - they all have to go. New coach, a DoF, top drawer coaching staff. a smaller but higher quality squad and above all a vision with purpose and then those players will want to come. But not before. And until they come then finishing 5/6/7 is the level we will remain at and that is all there is to it.
{Ed002's Note - Not one of those players is going to be joining Liverpool. One has already been sold this summer for a deal worth nearly double your second guess at a valuation. You need to come down to earth.}
30 May 2015 12:44:48
" You need to come down to earth."
That is down to earth. You do not get success in the Prem without spending big money on big players and you do not attract big money players without a staff who have a vision and a purpose and the ability to sell it. The owners did their bit - they put the money in (in fact they've done more than their fair share truth be known for little return or thanks or praise). It's the rest of the staff from below them down through Rodgers to the coaching staff that have failed.
And failed badly. That is why they need to go - and sadly for FSG (and I do feel very sorry for them - you can't really expect them to have done anymore than they already have) they are looking at either accepting they now own a low attraction mid-table club, or spending another quarter of a billion on players over the next couple of years under a complete new management and coaching team.
Even the Sterling saga. Good young player with potential to be great who wants out because he wants to win things. People should be questioning why he doesn't believe he will win things at Anfield. If things stay as they are, do people seriously think that Henderson and Coutinho will still be here in 2 years? Or Can? Or Ibe? Or Sakho? Or good youngsters such as Sinclair? They would have to be insane to stay under the present set-up.
And that is down to earth - and I am very angry and I would be amazed if the owners weren't (quite understandably) absolutely furious behind the scenes and starting to get disillusioned.
{Ed002's Note - It is pure fantasy. Sorry.}
30 May 2015 13:01:54
Ed2, that player being Dybala to Juve, yes?
{Ed002's Note - Yes.}
30 May 2015 13:05:46
"It is pure fantasy. Sorry." If Rodgers stays and things stay as they are then next season we will struggle to finish 6th and we will start to lose our better players. To think otherwise is a fantasy.
The squad we have got is to low as an average, ahs too many poor players and not enough good ones and we do not possess the staff to improve things - quite the opposite, potentially good players arrive and get worse through mismanagement. That is all there is to it.
{Ed002's Note - None of these players will be joining Liverpool - it is pure fantasy.}