24 Mar 2023 05:31:52
Bellingham watch last night.
Not bad but substituted late on with knee trouble.
Do you think he's worth the £120m plus expected cost Ed?

Looking at the British transfer records since 1970, I'd say (being harsh) that perhaps two thirds of those players were not worth the outlay?

And thinking of some of the Liverpool greats, like Macdermott and Souness, they were picked up at around the £50 - 65 million bracket in today's money relative to the British transfer record at the time in question.

You could say it's a matter of timing, both of the above players went into already successful teams with top coaches and got better as a result.

Apparently Bellingham would like to work with Klopp, he's got 3 years left to do so as it stands.
I guess that Bellingham would have a good sell-on value if he did sign for Liverpool. It would have to be a 5 years contract minimum, to cover the period after Klopp's departure and protect his transfer value.
Otherwise, for the price we'd have to pay for Bellingham, you'd want him to be leading the club to glory and match the legends that went before.

1.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 06:14:42
There are clubs who are willing to pay that sum for the kid. Do you honestly think Darwin Nunez was worth £80 mil? HELL NO! Bellingham is thrice the player Nunez is today yet we splashed the money on him coz we had a need and had the money!

2.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 06:36:38
And yet when people look back at whatever the club he signs for pays this summer for Bellingham compared to say a Grealish, Anthony, Mudryk they'd say that club picked up a bargain. This is just the way football is gone, people lose their minds over a £130m price tag (cant really blame them) but the likes of Rice will hit £100m this summer, even Mount with a year left will probably hit £60m.

{Ed077's Note - I don't think WHU will be able to extract 100m for Rice this summer with only a year left on his contract.

And I think a slightly better way to look at transfer fees is how much does it affect other transfers for the club. I mean Mudryk may have cost a lot but it didn't affect Chelsea's ability to spend on their other targets either.

3.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:10:57
@Capital, Nunez was worth the price to Liverpool, same way Grealish was worth £ 100m to Citeh and Maguire was worth £ 80m to United.

Whilst Transfermarkt gives an indication of market value, all things being equal, it’s often the case that all things are not equal.

Just cos you think Nunez’s price was too high doesn’t mean it was.

4.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:24:38
I think we should be going all out for rice + Bellingham, would totally revitalise our team. 2 players in exactly positions we need. Also both obviously good leaders as both captaining there teams at a v young age, milner+hendo are going to have to be replaced in that role sometime. I'd guess they cost us 200m + we need a cb so your talking a spend of 200-250m. Imo that's what we need to do in the summer.

5.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:36:27
The issue of comparing transfer values for players who have had only a season or less time to show their worth is pointless in any case, so discount comparisons to Mudryk and Nunez.
Nevertheless, the market is always relative to the record transfer fee, whichever era you are looking at.
History shows that the success of the record signings is mixed, at best, and weighted more against the player justifying the price tag.

6.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:44:28
I know we say Bellingham wants to work with Klopp and I’m not surprised that he does as he seems like an infectious man.

But I also imagine lots and lots of top players would also like to play for Pep and Ancelotti. It’s hardly like them pair are warlords.

{Ed077's Note - will Ancelotti still be at Real next season?

7.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:48:14
Top players cost a premium now because there are less of them. Bigger gap between the big teams and the rest, wealth concentrated between a handful of clubs and less players capable of making the step up to those clubs. Same reason they earn so much money, nobody deserves £300k a week for kicking a ball around. But the simple fact is, kicking a ball around is big business and nobody can kick a ball around as well as them.

8.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 07:53:45
There is so much money going into the game and top clubs are owned by (some) people who have more money than sense.
Hopefully the market will balance out one day, perhaps only if FFP is implemented.
Jude is worth every penny of the quoted price, spread over a 5 year contract.

9.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 08:05:22
Worth is always a bit hard to gauge cos it's really dependent on how much he eventually is sold for.

But in terms of value. You could argue that he would add more the $120m value to the club in jersey sales, helping secure CL, trophies etc etc.

10.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 09:57:58
When you read so much crap online about Man City and Real being ahead of us in signing him, Ed001 makes an interesting point, How long will Ancelotti be there?

From everything I've read on here about Bellingham he sounds a very sensible and likeable person along with the fact he makes sure he makes the right decision for him and that he believes in the projects he's getting involved in. I only hope that if we miss out on top 4 that it doesn't effect his decision too much in joining us and that he's the first of 3 or 4 squad changing in-comings!

Fingers crossed we can get it done!

{Ed002's Note - There is a very good chance that Ancelotti will leave this summer but that won't change their interest.}

11.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 09:58:31
Sorry, it was Ed077 who made the statement about Ancelotti still being at Real (Apologies)

12.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 10:56:53
2shoes I’m not saying he would def choose Pep and Ancelotti over Klopp but also I’m just saying they could very well have just as much pull.

Plus it’s rumoured Bellingham and Haaland are extremely close.

This won’t be a popular opinion but if he chooses to go to Real or City then he’s guaranteed trophies. Where as if he comes to us we’re selling him the project of being a major part of our rebuild where we’re hoping to be back challenging for trophies.

For a player who hasn’t won any trophies yet in his extremely short career then this could be a major deciding factor.

It’s all only opinions though and we’ll all know the outcome in the next few months.

For me I don’t see him coming to us but that doesn’t t mean I don’t want him too. I just don’t see it. But it’s only my opinion which means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.

13.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 12:29:01
West Ham have the option of another year on Rice's contract Ed077,and you can be sure they'lltake that option up.

14.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 12:31:22
Money is subjective, when you have it you spend it on the need. If Nunez is available today and we have a pressing need in midfield we wouldn’t touch him for that sum.

15.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 13:59:51
We had a need in midfield when we signed Nunez C. I ?.

16.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 10:26:51
Ed77 before even the Clasico lat Sun, there was word out on the street that that could be Ancelotti's last Clasico as RM manager and that was even before they played and lost that game which has killed near any chance of RM defending their title so if CL does not work out for them, Carlo's out the door probably. That doesn't mean they will no longer be interested in Jude, either.

As for Jude, he is and will only be worth what a club is willing to pay for him. That's the way things work. Saying he or any other player is not worth a certain amount is meaningless at this point. Jude will be worth whatever his new club plays for him. Who knows, that could be LFC.

{Ed077's Note - I don't think Ancelotti being at Madrid or not has much bearing to their interest in Jude Bellingham, nor do I think he's going to be the deciding factor in Jude's decision/choice either.

17.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 15:44:24
JK - Haaland and Bellingham being close has no bearing on the transfer for one reason, IMO. Haaland will most likely be off to Madrid in 2024 when his release clause activates. If the majority of people are thinking that (not to stay is a certainty) then I’m sure Bellingham and his family are smart enough to think that too.

Digger - You bring up a good point with Rice alongside Bellingham. Personally I think Caicedo slightly edges Rice but Rice has the leadership factor and is also a class player. Plus like you said Bellingham and Rice would essentially takeover from Hendo and Milner as the leaders in pack. Only issue is money. Everything boils down to money and apparently we ain’t exactly rolling in it. In an ideal world we would have new owners and financing deals for both Bellingham and Rice wouldn’t be a problem at all. But we don’t and according to reports Rice is not keen on venturing outside of the M25.

18.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 17:49:02
Alonso. Yeah your right it lot of dosh and we already have debt but them 2 sort our midfield + control our dressing room for foreseeable future. I don't think u can underestimate the value of good men in a dressing room, nip problems in the bud, other players particularly young players will look up to them.
On rice staying in london I suppose at this stage we've let arsenal get ahead of us as a more attractive club to play for alright, can't see Chelsea going for him after buying Fernandez but u just wouldn't know with Chelsea!

19.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 18:53:15
Digger. 100% agree with you on the importance of a dressing room and those two would definitely set the standards. Arsenal are looking attractive to Rice unfortunately, especially with Champions League which he has been vocal about wanting to play in. Plus the London factor and Arsenal being a young team with other English talents like Saka would probably clinch the deal. It’s funny because pre new owners Rice was an almost certainty to eventually join Chelsea. But with their midfield stacked and his best mate Mount going elsewhere it looks highly unlikely.

20.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 19:53:25
If you look at this forum it’s fairly obvious that hardly anybody thinks the same way. So, seriously, why do people think they know what’s in the mind of particular football players?

I appreciate that it’s a forum for discussion and everybody has an opinion and it’s certainly possible that someone may have (even inadvertently) got it right but - and I know it won’t make any difference - Jesus the daily regurgitation of the same discussion about Bellingham is getting so tedious. It’s not banter, it’s not healthy. Anyway, rant over, carry on….

21.) 24 Mar 2023
24 Mar 2023 21:14:12
Cheers for taking the time to let everyone know what they can and can’t post WDW.

I’ll choose to ignore your advice though and continue to post my opinion. As I imagine others will also.

22.) 25 Mar 2023
25 Mar 2023 03:59:24
Sorry JK - just having a bad day and fed up reading about Bellingham. The answer is that I stop reading the same people spouting the same repetitive, ill informed garbage for a while.

23.) 25 Mar 2023
25 Mar 2023 07:46:46
I would take Rice and Mount if we miss out on Bellingham. Hell, I would take all 3 if it was possible. If we could find a way to get any 2 of them I would be thrilled.

24.) 25 Mar 2023
25 Mar 2023 09:15:19
I just can't see Bellingham joining us. From a financial point of view, let's be honest, we can't afford the reported fee (£120+ m) . Even if we could, then there's the salary expectations (£300k p/ w at least) which again, we can't afford.
Madrid, UTD and City can all afford these sums.

Then there's the pull of working for a coach like Klopp. This is our best chance of persuading any player to join us if we cannot match the financial clout of the others.

Finally, the only time we spent excessively is when we generated lots of money through player sales. So maybe we sell, Jota, Fabinho, Gomez to help raise funds however when Milner, Ox, Firmino, Keita, Arthur are all leaving this summer as well, are we really going to lose 8+ current squad members so that we can bring in 2 or 3 quality signings?

IMO, it looks like were going to be fishing in the cheap bin again this year. I just hope we can pull off a miracle signing or 2 for peanuts.

25.) 25 Mar 2023
25 Mar 2023 11:08:44
We can afford the transfer fee and we can afford the wages. We wouldn’t be trying to sign him if we couldn’t.

26.) 25 Mar 2023
25 Mar 2023 19:21:45
Haven’t Liverpool just spent over £100M on 2 players Vicar? That seems like quite a high spend to me. Who’s to say they won’t spend big again in the summer?