Liverpool Rumours Archive October 23 2021

 

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23 Oct 2021 14:22:13
Ed2 how do you see the salah saga panning out? I assume all this he wants to stay forever etc is all just posturing and trying to get the club to give him the deal he wants? I know the club need to rebuild and as u have said a few times a big money move to Madrid etc isn’t likely now? So do you think he will get his contract at the expense of someone else or be sold?

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{Ed002's Note - I am sure that the club are less than happy with him coming out with this nonsense. Clubs will typically not be held to ransom by players - particularly one who could possibly have been the post-Ronaldo poster boy for Real Madrid if the demands were not so ridiculous. At 30 or thereabouts he still has some value and the club need to make a decision as to whether or not to tell his agent to find a club that will pay £xM for him in the summer or seek and agreement on a new contract. His “agent” has repeatedly spoken with other clubs about the player and that is something else the club will frown upon. I expect the club will look to negotiating the overall cost down or will make a take it or leave it offer - then it will depend on who might be interested in taking him and at what price.}

23 Oct 2021 14:57:19
Thanks Ed. I am curious where he could end up now. There are only a few clubs that would pay what he is asking for and most of them are in England. PSG have no need for him (but it wouldn’t surprise me) .

Many fans keep saying “pay the man whatever he wants” and while I’m tempted to agree, it seems he is being a bit ridiculous.

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{Ed002's Note - I am not sure if there is interest from any side at this time but certainly Italy have tax law advantages over many other countries. Real Madrid and Barcelona are looking at other players. I don’t see England as an option.

23 Oct 2021 18:27:18
We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place here. We either end up giving him a deal close to what he wants or not, which leaves two options, sell him for peanuts as we certainly won’t be seeing more than £50-60m IF we’re lucky, forget any talk of £100m+, no one is paying that for a 30 year old with one year left on his contract, which means there’s literally no negotiating position or leverage for us, or we let him see his last year out and he goes for free.

Either of those two ways leaves us barely any funds to adequately replace him and given that he’s worth 30 goals a season to the club in goals and assists that’s a huge hole to fill, specially as we rarely score from midfield. Given the targets we’ve been looking at, I’ve no confidence in our ability to bring in someone even remotely good enough.

Anyone remotely thinking it’s easy to replace him, I just say this, it took us until we signed Torres to adequately replace Owen, it took us until we signed Salah to adequately replace Suarez. This time will be even harder as we’re flat broke and competing with four teams who have bottomless pits of money.

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24 Oct 2021 08:06:04
no one thinks it will be easy to replace him. But that isn't a rationale to do everything possible to keep him.

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24 Oct 2021 10:24:44
We are indeed btw Arica and a hard place. As much as I think Salah should kept cos it’s going to be a schtick storm with the club trying to explain to the fan base why they couldn’t keep him, I fully understand everything ED02 has said with his agent being a right muppet thru out Salah’s time here. The club wants to keep him BUTwill not be held to ransoms by some money grubbing agent, for sure. It’s going to be tough and the fans had better be ready for whatever the outcome will be.

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24 Oct 2021 11:06:58
If people don't think LFC are going to have players on 3-400k a week within a few years anyway they are mistaken. someone will be the first at some stage, why not the inform player in world football? if people think our £200k is sustainable that's fine but they are going to have to be happy supporting the team while not expecting trophies which would be ok with me as i love the club but soon squad players at the top clubs will be on more than some of our top players currently are. Football wages increase, as sure as death and taxes.

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24 Oct 2021 08:55:51
Hi eds2
I know this mite be hard to answer but realistically how much is salah worth right now?

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{Ed002's Note - I would think perhaps the club would look for something in the £70M-£90M range.}

24 Oct 2021 12:29:25
Another great point, JH.

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24 Oct 2021 13:50:24
Great sensible insight as usual Ed002, thank you. You don't see England as an option? So ruling out Newcastle making him their main signing to build the team around?

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{Ed002's Note - He won't be moving to Newcastle.}

24 Oct 2021 14:12:18
Excellent! Thank you!

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24 Oct 2021 17:35:06
Honestly don’t see us getting £70-90m Ed002. £60m tops. Even then, it’s not remotely enough to buy a replacement. Selling is almost as bad as letting him leave on a free as we’ll end up with a poor quality replacement and lose 30 goals a season whatever happens, who out there for less than £50m would we get who can do what he’s done today? One assist, two goals. Still, we’re battering United so there’s some good news.

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24 Oct 2021 21:19:35
Only realistic option if he goes that can see, is go get Dusan Vlahovic a propper centre forward and shift mane out to right wing and play jota on the left, hope we can keep up with the oil rich teams.

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24 Oct 2021 21:53:15
Vlahovic wouldn’t work, slow, doesn’t press and not the most mobile forward, even then we couldn’t afford the fee as they’d want more than we can afford,

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24 Oct 2021 21:55:27
He’s going nowhere. A deal will be struck. .

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24 Oct 2021 22:21:48
You either sell now and buy haaland. But you will still have to pay him 400k. More sell on value but not guaranteed goals. Salah has 3 years of 20+.

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25 Oct 2021 09:17:36
I can't see how people seem nearly happy for him to move on, did you not see him yesterday? We are literally the only fanbase on the planet that would even concieve the best player on the planet leaving, its as if before Klopp we were programmed ro accept mediocrity, we are brilliant with the best manager in the world. Mo Salah leaving is just "no".

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25 Oct 2021 09:30:19
VVVV you really need to stop stati g how 'little' the club will get for him as if it's fact. It's is literally just your opinion. You, like everyone else on here, has no insight into the actual numbers being discussed. Has ever occurred to anyone that the club may not be able to physically afford what he's asking for? LFC is a business and has financial limits, they can't just magic up money. When we bought the current best player in the world, he was a 'Chelsea reject' who couldn't make it in the PL. Great players come and go, and LFC make them. If Salah does leave, the club will carry on.

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25 Oct 2021 11:08:27
Wouldnt agree with VVVV for wat wed get 4 Salah but i see his point! we would probably get enuf 2 buy an average far inferior player! ill say it again, we are the only fanbase in the world that would contemplate a player of salahs calibre leaving.

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25 Oct 2021 11:25:14
Sign the man. He’s quality and has more to give. In fact he’s never been better.

Not renewing his contract and letting him run it down would be a huge mistake.

In terms of a sale, I don’t think he will be replaceable with the fee and any top player (haaland/ mbappe etc) will want equally large wages anyway.

As a fan I firmly want him to sign and would be gutted if he left.

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25 Oct 2021 16:31:57
If Salah stays, then (my guess) he would cost around 18 Million per year (350K per week) totaling 72 Million for the 4 years. If it's decided to sell him this coming summer, my opinion is that we would have have to use the same money gotten for him to buy his replacement (let's say 70 Million - buy Chiesa 😎 ) . You can call it luck or sheer brilliance of Salah (and Klopp) to propel a 4th choice winger into the best player in the World at contract renewal time, but I'm not so sure it's going to happen again with his replacement. And the new player would probably expect around 300K per week, totaling 62 Million for the 4 years. The club could go out and spend the same money on a CF and move Mane to the right or buy an adequate winger, but the net result financially would be the same.

We have a recent history of spending 60% of our revenues on wages, so I suppose we'd have to look at how high that percentage would go up with Salah's new contract. If it's higher than 70% then we'd be approaching danger areas (and we have a stadium expansion going on for the next 2 years) . Yes, there may be discord in the dressing room, but then you have a similar gulf in wages between DeBruyne and his team mates too, and they seem to be managing it well enough.

My numbers are all just guesswork of course. I could easily be far off the mark. But just on the basis of the above, I would keep Salah and spend the extra 10 Million because he offers that much certitude that the goals will come, whereas you have no such guarantee that his replacement would be just as prolific. If the difference, financially, is higher than 10-15 Million (in total) between keeping Salah and buying his replacement, then I would let him go this coming summer. It's all about risk evaluation. In a year or two we would already have Elliott, Kaide Gordon, Musialowski, Stewart and even Glatzel, in the big picture. Perhaps one of them will really click. So it's not all doom and gloom if Salah leaves.

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25 Oct 2021 20:41:18
Miserable bunch aren't you. just enjoy thrashing man utd for a couple of days before moaning about King Mo and his contract situation.

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25 Oct 2021 21:02:14
What's wrong with contemplating Salah's departure? Nobody in their right mind wants him to leave, but then nobody in their right mind would keep him at any cost, either. For over a decade, Barcelona fans never contemplated Messi leaving. And their management listened to them and kept paying him and paying him and paying him. And now they are close to financially insolvent, performing miserably on the field and I don't believe they have hit rock bottom yet. It will take years to get back to the level they were at. Because of financial mismanagement.

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25 Oct 2021 21:14:36
Fully respect the Eds and fellow poster opinions, but I don't get this hoo-haa about his agent offering him around. that's exactly his Agent's job - to get the best overall deal (not just monetary) for their client and that's what his Agent is striving to do. It would be a different discussion if those discussions were getting to Salah's head and affecting his performance, but its not and the Agent is fully within his/ her rights to regularly tap into the market and check the best overall scenario for his/ her client.

Why does everyone all of a sudden forget that this is a profession for Footballers too and they are trying to maximize their value and appeal. Tell me one profession where someone would not want to regularly evaluate if there is room for better opportunities all around (including monetary and other benefits/ status growth, etc. ) .

Lets enjoy Salah for all the brilliance and magical moments he provides and let's keep our fingers crossed that he and the club reach an agreement which is mutually beneficial. I am not a fan of associating a negative connotation and jumping onto the bandwagon of belittling one of the best players in LFC's history, purely because his Agent is trying to get the best deal for his/ her client.

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{Ed002's Note - Agents do not typically offer players around - particularly if they are happy and successful where they are. It is hugely disruptibve for clubs.}

25 Oct 2021 21:33:09
Barca also wasted a fortune on absolute dross too aray, Coutinho, Dembele, Griezmann, et al and were paying Messi double what Salah is asking. Can anyone logically and rationally see any club out there who would even contemplate paying stupid money for a 30 year old with one year left on his contract? If we sell Salah and use any proceeds to buy a replacement, it ain’t going to be like likes of Chiesa that we sign (given that he’s on a very long contract and Juve consider him “unsellable” it would take a whole heap more than £70m, double that and you’re maybe close) as we won’t be able to afford it. It’ll be the likes of Traore and Dembele that we’ll end up looking at. Good luck winning a title or even competing with one of those two up front. I stand by my view, the best thing we can do is get Salah signed up. Any other option is borderline catastrophe.

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25 Oct 2021 22:05:22
whatever we sell SAlah for, I would almost guarantee that whoever we purchase to replace him won't cost that much. I mean how much did we buy Salah for in the first place?

End of the day this will come down to perceived value from 2023 onwards. I don't think the club will pay him as some kind of reward for his current performances. and so they shouldn't. I would love to see Salah go on and dominate world football for the next 5-6 seasons, well into his mid-30s anyways. But will he? lol that is the question!

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{Ed0666's Note - The thing is to offer him an incentivized contract is embarrassing the guy. The form he is in he can go and get the money he wants anywhere in the world. Sometimes you just have to pay the going rate to appease the fans, the talent and to hell with the accountant. We have a genuine world class talent here. A generational talent on par with any modern Liverpool great I.e Torres, Gerrard, Alonso Suarez. They all went to chase glory (besides gerrard who very nearly went) Salah has glory at his doorstep but why should he martyr himself financially (relatively speaking) I wouldn’t, most wouldn’t. FSG pay ridiculous sums to their baseball players (David Price, Manny Ramírez etc) it’s fine they do the same for Salah et al.

25 Oct 2021 21:30:26
Fair enough Ed002, but its a business decision from Salah's Agent. I fully get that Agents don't offer their clients around if they are happy, but he probably feels that Salah is not fully getting what he deserves and if fishing for a better opportunity. I still don't see why that is wrong and unfair if Salah is not letting it affect his devotion and application when he steps on that green turf.

As for the clubs, if the club doesn't pay blind loyalty to players, especially business-savvy owners such as FSG who are more inclined to taking business centric decisions (and that is absolutely fine to do), then I don't see why a player and their Agent should just keep chugging it along without assessing better external opportunities.

Anyways, let's agree to disagree since I see this slightly from a practical point of view than emotional, even though every single cell of my being wants me to clench my fist and emotionally blackmail Salah into staying at LFC until the end of his career (which I really hope he does) .

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{Ed002's Note - I am not sure FSG are in this loop explicitly. As I have explained before, Salah has been offered around to try an match his desire. The opportunity has likely gone.}

26 Oct 2021 00:02:12
I don't disagree triple6. If there is an exceptional circumstance to do something different, then this is probably it.

having said that, it is still a gamble, and probably a big one considering the history of the game. Is it worth it? well, it ain't my money so I'm going to say hell yeah! lol but in reality it is far more tricky than that and I don't think that should be lost in all the hooplah.

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{Ed0666's Note - Hooplah? Lol.. He’s the best player in the world lol. When’s the next time we’ll be able to say that about one of players again? If we don’t sign him it will be a case of ‘you don’t know what you got till it’s gone’ but we do know what we have.

26 Oct 2021 02:06:53
yup, again ed, we talking about right now. the discussion is about from the 2023/ 24 season onwards.

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{Ed0666's Note - just offer the man a contract that compensates him for the player he is and stop the penny pinching. Sometimes in business you overpay and you have assets that aren’t gonna get what you paid for. We have to take the risk. What’s the alternative? Hoping that Ismael Sarr or whoever can score 30 goals a season? Hoping that Mane steps up
Productivity? That a new striker/wife forward/winger can hit the ground running? Well get at least this season and next season of his prime and if he wanes after that then we’re idiots for over relying on him and not supplementing him with other game changing players

26 Oct 2021 10:02:04
I think the perception that we got Salah on the cheap is somewhat false to a degree. The fee was an initial £36.5m with achievable bonuses up to £43m. Which in consideration of the higher of those two figures (given that we’ve probably had to pay up those bonuses! ), £43m was just outside of the top 10 transfer fees that summer so was definitely in that upper quartile (although it is still hilarious that Everton paid £45m for Gylfi Sigurdsson) . That said he’s been incredibly good value compared to the money that United spent on Lukaku, PSG spent on Neymar, Barcelona spent on Dembele and Chelsea on Drinkwater/ Morata/ Bakayoko.

All I know is this, even if we sell for £60/ 70m (and I think that’s wishful thinking as the age/ contract count against a fee higher than that) we’re only going to have £50/ 55m to replace him after fees, tax etc. at most, which leaves very little room to manoeuvre. I genuinely can’t think of one player in that price bracket who looks capable of stepping up to Salah’s level across Europe. And even then, what’s to stop Salah refusing to move if we agree a fee, like McManaman did when we’d agreed a fee with Barca.

Just accept he’s an exceptional footballer, playing to an exceptionally and consistently high level and appropriately reward him because he’s that difficult to replace.

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26 Oct 2021 12:24:46
He has to be paid what he wants and we have to get Sarr on board at the end of the season.

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26 Oct 2021 06:53:46
Yeah, like I said earlier, I'm all for it. lol you seem to keep glossing over this haha I am on board :p

I am also playing devil's advocate and imagining the other side of the argument which I can see as well. The alternative would be that we buy a like for like (unlikely) or that we rebuild that frontline. I can see a reality where we rebuild the frontline progressively over time.

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26 Oct 2021 23:22:11
Hazard went for about £90M with massive add-ons potentially rising that.

Yes it is not exactly the same comparing Hazard a few years ago (younger) and now due to C.V. the market will have gone down a bit too, however that was with Hazard going in to the final year of his contract.

Hazard was superb before his move but Salah is clearly a phenomenal player. Maximum £60M is not realistic, I'd rather the club let him go for free than accept £60M next summer.

Hopefully he will agree a new contract but if he doesn't then I think minimum £80M.

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{Ed0666's Note - are you on the Claas A’s mate? You’d rather have 0 British Pounds than have £60 million British Pounds? Please don’t run a business whatever you do.

26 Oct 2021 23:24:42
I know I'm coming in late on this but if we don't pay Mo near what he is looking for then how do we hope to sign a replacement?
Ever possible player that is "near" being good enough will think "even if I reach a pinnacle beyond Salah, Liverpool will never pay me what I'm worth"
We don't want to be that club.
We don't want to let possibly the best player to have played for us just walk away because we wouldn't pay him his worth.

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27 Oct 2021 09:41:34
Hahaha Ed0666 I wish! I think £60M next summer is at least £20M short of Mo's valuation so yes I would reject it.

The ultimate goal would be to get Mo to agree a new contract and continue banging in the goals for us. His value on the pitch in terms of prize money, sales of club merchandise off the pitch etc I think that would cover a lot of the £60M figure quoted above so I would rather keep him the extra season than accept that.

You would take £60M next summer so Ed0666? Of course this question is on the basis that Mo has not signed an extension before then.

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{Ed0666's Note - If he was in the final year of his contract I’d take £60 million yes mate. I think it’s pure folly not to. Hopefully they announce the extension soon I don’t want this to drag.

27 Oct 2021 13:56:32
Pure folly for me so Ed0666 haha I'm fine with that 😁

Ya we all want him to sign above all else.

I love Raphinha and think he would be a great buy for the club for example but if he was Salah's replacement then we would be down 20+ goals a season and he is one of the best realistic replacements. I think he would be a superb addition to add some more quality depth to the attacking positions but I suppose that's a bit greedy.

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{Ed0666's Note - why can’t we have Salah & Raphina mate?

27 Oct 2021 16:27:37
@Ed0666 ya sorry that's what I meant in my last point that keeping Salah but adding Raphinha for better quality squad depth. I said that might be a bit greedy, realistically it's a reasonable amount to have 5 top players for those 3 positions but financially we keep hearing we have to sell to buy and we don't have players left to generate much funds now. I think Raphinha would be a class addition and it would give more formation options too where 4 of them could play together at times with either Bobby or Raphinha in more of a number 10 role behind three forwards.

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{Ed0666's Note - I have a feeling Mane & Bobby leave in the summer. Just a hunch no inside knowledge or anything.

28 Oct 2021 09:20:25
For what we'd get for bobby and Sadio in the summer i think we'd b better of keeping them, its ok saying take the money but we'd be losing 2 huge players for relative pittance. i doubt enough would come in between them to buy 1 top player. we have young players that can come through then at their own pace and the likes of Minamino, Origi might be sold for a few quid.

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28 Oct 2021 12:17:38
Would that be Bobby wanting to leave? He seems very popular so could cause disruption if he was sold unwillingly, Don't see why Salah can't be offered easily reachable incentives on his new contract, something like £1 mill after 10 app, 20 app, 30 app, 5 goals, 10 goals, 15 goals.

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30 Oct 2021 08:11:02
They're just dotting the i's and crossing the t's.

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31 Oct 2021 20:56:41
Let’s put it this way Lancaster. The teams he could go and play for would give him the salary he wants (or very close to it) AND those bonuses.

Footballers are employees like anyone else. I’d imagine if any of us were offered the opportunity of a significantly higher paid job with higher basic salary which was far more than was offered in our current job and with similar other tangible benefits and terms, in say for example, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona or Munich, none of us would stick if the best our current employer was an offer was a similar basic as currently on with increased incentives. Cash rules everything regrettably, sentiment is meaningless.

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01 Nov 2021 09:37:10
The 4 clubs you have mentioned don't have much interest in Salah. If they did I might see your point. As an Ed has already pointed out that Italy MIGHT provide an option because of their tax laws and I'm not even sure too many of the "top" clubs there could even actually afford his demands. So the ball isn't entirely in Salah's court in my opinion, so some sort of wage compromise is entirely possible. Cheers.

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