07 Oct 2024 21:23:00
Hi Ed,
Is there any truth to the claims from the likes of Fabrizio Romano etc that the trio are making Liverpool their priority? If so, it seems to me that the club is making a major error here if they can’t find agreements currently.
{Ed002's Note - I don't know what has been said, but the three will have options, Liverpool need to consider the age of two and they have been dragging it out. You have to be forward looking as a club. For me, Concentrate on Trent Alexander-Arnold as he is younger and far garder to replace.}
07 Oct 2024 21:37:09
Dont know about that, Virg has been the best CB in the league by a mile this season.
07 Oct 2024 22:11:53
I would agree that Trent is the priority, then virg and finally Mo. VVD is purring along and CBs can go on longer at the top.
07 Oct 2024 22:40:37
We'll just have to see if Hughes is up to the job or not. Probably after December next year we'll know.
By then, he will either have signed up the players or got replacements in and we'll see what they are like.
Reasons to be positive about Hughes;
Seems to have made a good choice of manager
Did well on a few sales
Negative side:
No contract signings
Numerous failed attempts at signing managers and players.
Did not speak well at all in his only press conference.
Jury very much out. I'm leaning negatively still on him for sure but there's no conclusive evidence to say one way or the other just yet. But my own personal faith is very very low on him. I hope I'm Gravenberch wrong on him.
07 Oct 2024 23:30:41
Replacing the best central defender of the last 10 years is the biggest challenge.
08 Oct 2024 00:35:58
Signing Virgil up should be a no brainer. His form over the last two years has been exceptional. Get him on a deal and then watch how the likes of Scalvini, Huisen, Hato and this young Palmeiras Reis kid develop over the next year or two. The Yoro ship has sailed.
Trent's head has definitely been turned. Will be interesting to see where that goes now.
Difficult to say on Mo. He clearly wants to stay at the club and seems to be enjoying himself. Are we willing to offer him what he wants? Not sure. There's not direct replacement for Mo so you'd be looking at tweaking things with a Kudus, Bakayoko or Minteh - unless you can prise Rodrygo or Guler away from Madrid - very unlikely.
08 Oct 2024 01:12:53
This debate of who is most important shows one thing. All of them are. For me though yeah it's Trent. Now he's in the madrid newspaper. I think he's as good as gone. Imagine if them three all leave? expect a poor season next year is all I will say.
Gobsmacking. But the way we do things one day we will wake up to seeing them all sign a new contract lol. Not going to happen.
Said it before and will say it again, I get the impression they were hired to reduce costs. Wages in this case, it makes no sense. We can discuss it until we're blue in the face, none of us have an idea what's going on but so far it's not looking good. On the pitch it's looking good but if you go and lose 3 key players in one window it will most certainly make Slot's job a lot harder.
Players come and go, I've been around long enough to see it but this is just crazy.
Who do we replace Trent with? Bradley? the young lad looks brilliant but my word he's not ready to fill them shoes. Who can defend like VVD - I'm talking realisticly, someone within our reach? Salah, the goals and assists he provides, they'll be gone.
Very concerning.
08 Oct 2024 04:54:28
This is madness. Trent is top 3 RB in the world, Salah is our best player! and Virgil is the best CB in the league! Why aren't we giving them new contracts?!
08 Oct 2024 10:28:29
@Vak, who said they want a new contract? VVD and Mo have said the club hadn’t spoken to them at the start of the season (assuming the players meant their agents) but that doesn’t necessarily mean they want to stay. They might just want to see what the club is willing to offer.
It isn’t as simple as a lot of people (certainly some on this board) seem to think. Even if Liverpool wanted one or more of them to stay the club can’t make them stay if the player wants to go domewhere else like Saudi or Madrid and if they don’t want to stay starting negotiations 2 years ago or in December this year won’t make any difference.
08 Oct 2024 17:38:25
As it stands, VVD is the player we can least afford to lose. If Madrid come calling, I can't see Trent turning them down, no matter how persuasive Hughes is. Regards to Salah, in my opinion, he will be gone the end of next season if he's not gone the end of this season. Therefore we can only assume, and hope, plans are in place to replace him.
09 Oct 2024 02:26:25
Look at it like this those 3 players, if not down to the end of their contract, couid probably be sold for around 150mil combined conservatively, likely much more. To replace them with like for like quality - which is almost impossible anyway - would cost in excess of 200mil. If they leave on a free, and assuming we have enough ambition as a club to want to replace them, that’s a 350mil hole that could’ve been avoid by careful (though I would call it normal) forward planning. There is no sugar coating this, the club have made a complete and utter mess of it. Add to that the message it would send to the rest of the squad? If you were at Liverpool, and those 3 leave on a free, would you feel like the club really wanted to win trophies? That the club was as ambitious as one of Liverpool’s size should be? No part of this is in anyway good for the club.