23 Jan 2021 15:07:47
What's everybody's thoughts on the inevitable rebuild that will take place in the next few years. Salah is 29 in June, Mane 29 in April and Firmino is 30 in October.
Out of the three our most sellable asset is probably Salah. Although Firmino out of the three should be the first to be phased out but we are not exactly blessed with a lot of money to spend big on a striker, which puts us in a predicament. Start the rebuild now whilst Salah's stock is still high and sell him to bring in the cash to challenge for the likes of Haaland or players of that calibre that can replicate or at least come close to his numbers.
Jota is a replacement for Mane but has some improvement on his all round game to reach his level but confident he can get there. Elliot if he progresses and fulfils his potential can be a replacement on the other side. We would need a clinical finisher in the middle who can produce 20+ goals on a consistent basis and for me that's Haaland, although Ed2 has said interest currently is elsewhere with Chelsea being one of the teams.
A potential sell of Salah would go some way to funding such a move. Only issue we would run into is C.V. and the financial climate in football would make it hard to find a buyer at the price we probably would seek. If the likes of Chelsea see themselves as potentially being able to do a deal, then surely recent League, World and European champions would also be an attractive prospect.
We don't want to be reactive to the situation and find ourselves trying to move on the front three at the same time with little to no resale value in say, 2/ 3 years time.
23 Jan 2021 15:31:55
I’d imagine the same teams who would be interested in Salah would also have the younger Haaland on their list as well. Don’t get me wrong I’d love Haaland but we don’t go into bidding wars with the other big clubs as our owners wouldn’t win a bidding war. Apart from Thiago all our other players were bought from the non so called elite clubs. Yes we got Mane and Vvd ahead of Utd and city but that was down to Klopp and them wanting to play for Liverpool. Unfortunately if it’s bidding wars with the big boys we will always come off 2nd best.
23 Jan 2021 16:39:40
Pretty sure, the rebuild was already in place before CV messed things up. Werner was supposed to b the guy to come in and freshen up the attack but we got Jota instead. Minamino was also part of that thinking and the jury is still out in him, IMO. I think that is still a work in progress.
As for the midfield, Thiago was brought in to add creativity and with Gini on his last legs and Naby not up to it, Jones was drafted in with prolly a midfielder or or two to come in and freshen things up. Would take Bisouma tmrw.
As for the CB’s, we may need to get a couple in if possible cos not just for depth, no one really knows how Big Joe and VVD will come back from their injuries as it could take a while for them to get back to anywhere near where they were before their injuries occurred. Just my two cents worth.
23 Jan 2021 17:15:32
On paper its pretty easy for me.
We have has these players for 4 years together now and two of them may need to be sold this summer and my picks are salah and mane.
Four other players id actively look to sell are ox, matip, keita and origi with milner and gini leaving.
Mane has been replaced by jota
I will get sancho to replace salah.
And from the money i get for mane i want one from lautaro martinez or depay.
If we sell all 4 and with milner and gini of the books i might add want a defender one of the sevilla lads and a midfielder in pedro goncalves from sporting lisbon.
Its a doable list but we need to sell both mane and salah for this rebuild.
Or we keep them here for life and win more trophies. I am pretty sure all three will be here with us till 2024.
23 Jan 2021 17:44:15
Based on the contract renewal rumors going around, the club seems to prioritise giving the spine of the team (VVD, Fab, ALisson etc) new long term contracts while there is no news regarding contract negotiations for our ageing forward line and some of the surplus players like Keita, Ox etc.
It seems Alisson, VVD, Fabinho, TAA and Robbo are the only untouchables that the club seem desperate to keep. The rest (with 2 or less years left on their contracts after the summer) are probably all available for sale at the right price.
So its kinda obvious which assets the club is willing to get rid off to raise money.
Out of the forward line btw, Mane is the only indispensable player imo. I would not sweat over any of the others (Salah, Bobby, Origi, Shaq) moving on at this point.