07 Mar 2026 16:06:03
I believe I saw that Grab has signed a new contract. I like that news.
07 Mar 2026 17:38:26
At 280k a week, oh hell no. He is nowhere near any levels this season.
07 Mar 2026 18:07:37
Cafu, never satisfied. If he wanted out, you would be moaning.
07 Mar 2026 18:17:05
Moaning, lol.
We're talking some decent players on absolute fortunes a week, because that's the only way that they'll sign, it seems. Either that, or Hughes and Edwards are intent on bankrupting us.
It's not justified, and it's not sustainable. Why are Gakpo and Grav on the closer ends of 300k a week?! It's ludicrous.
What's sob earning next, 350k for him to stay?! These players are not superstars, or near the level of a De Bruyne. Our wage bill has gone completely off the scale under Hughes, and we've nothing to show for it.
07 Mar 2026 18:55:36
Nothing to show for it? We won a league title for goodness sake.
07 Mar 2026 19:12:52
Forget about the finances!
07 Mar 2026 19:55:23
It's not my money, so I don't care. If we want to spend a billion to buy Mbappe and pay him 5 million a week, have at it. I support the club, the badge, not a financial spreadsheet.
07 Mar 2026 20:10:05
The owners have always made the club run as self-sufficient, so don't worry about the finances. If the club didn't think they could afford it, they wouldn't agree to it. And, by signing him to a 6yr contract, the club can virtually name their price should Real or Barca try to sign him.
07 Mar 2026 20:14:31
It's easy to forget because he's been around forever, but Grav is still only 23. He's still got a couple of years before he begins to hit his peak. We've seen for 6 months last season what he's capable of.
Whoever is in charge should be playing him and Szob in a double pivot, with him hanging back like last year.
07 Mar 2026 20:29:36
He is a good player, and we need good players, so good news in my opinion.
07 Mar 2026 20:55:47
Sorry, I do care about finances. This is a club that had a lot of financial issues not so long ago, and, while finances have gotten better, I worry that the team overpays for average players and gets into Manchester United territory.
Paying that much is not good for the squad. Then Szobo will ask more than Grav. Then others will ask for more, and that only works if you have steady income, but we don't even know if we are getting CL next season, so it's a big risk with the uncertainty around the manager and performances.
It would have made more sense when Klopp was here, because we were more consistent in performances.
I hope the rumours are not true because I'm sorry about the club, and finances are part of it.
07 Mar 2026 21:32:37
I always find it mad when people say, "Don't worry about the finances." All well and good, until we are in major trouble, and people question how we didn't see it coming.
07 Mar 2026 23:08:57
People out here complaining about finances, yet Arsenal and Man City have the majority of their starting eleven on over 200k and expect us to compete with that by paying pennys. Bahaha.
08 Mar 2026 02:38:20
@Hamo, there's a club that meets every second Thursday of the month at The Elephant in Woolton. They meet up to worry about the money the club spends on contracts, and it's pretty good cos even though they worry about it, they know that it's nothing really to do with them as they don't own the club.
07 Mar 2026 23:06:33
But Dominican and Hamo you don't have the first clue about the finances so why worry about it?
Too many people getting ideas above their station. Just support the team, don't worry about how much they earn it's completely irrelevant and beyond our understanding anyway.
08 Mar 2026 06:25:45
Grav was one of our best players last season. Yeah, he's been inconsistent this season, but who hasn't. What's the saying, "form is temporary, class is permanent."
08 Mar 2026 06:36:14
Also, from my reading, it's not a flat wage; some of it is based on performances.
08 Mar 2026 07:35:28
When did we all of a sudden become experts in calculating "performance/dollar ratio"? Was there a company short course offered in football economics? I didn't get the memo. Was it pinned up in the tearoom?
08 Mar 2026 09:02:21
Worrying or not, worrying about finances as a fan isn't going to change anything, though.
Unlikely Hughes will pull the plug on the contract because Graham 54, from Timbuktu, is kicking off on the internet.
08 Mar 2026 10:02:35
Don't moan about ticket price rises then.
08 Mar 2026 10:46:45
Our wage bill, on the scale of last season that was published, was as high as it was because of the incentivised bonuses. We won the league. Every player cashed in on the bonus as a result.
Unfortunately, the football world is spiraling out of control financially.
The numbers we see are obscene to the everyday person, but that is the sport as we know it now.
The horses have bolted, and there is no way to get them back if you want to remain competitive.
08 Mar 2026 11:00:19
Barnsey, they rise every season regardless, mate.
08 Mar 2026 11:10:36
It's a lot for Grav, £280k plus bonuses. What will the other players be asking for who have had better seasons than Grav? We will ultimately have a £500m wage bill.
08 Mar 2026 11:13:41
Damn, after Carram Jones I thought Grav was the next to be shown the door.
He certainly isn't a defensive midfielder, and last Saturday none of the midfielders could even be called that, too.
Overpaying wages. VVD and Salah I understand, but Grav, no way.
08 Mar 2026 11:13:43
Gravenberch is 23, with the best years of his career ahead of him. He is pretty integral to the way we play, and was one of the standout players in a title-winning team last year. How much do you think he is worth? It's all very well thinking that, when players ask for that much money, you let them go and scout the next Gravenberch, if only life was that easy.
As for the suggestion that we shouldn't be overpaying for average players like United, this isn't a de Light, Shaw, Mazraoui, or Ugarte we are talking about. The likes of Szoboszlai and Gravenberch are players any top European team would covet.
08 Mar 2026 11:32:18
@Barnsey, we are a multi billion £ business, the finances are a smidgeon more complex than 's***, Grax's new contract means I'm spending an extra 75p on his contract to get a ticket for the match'.
08 Mar 2026 12:09:36
I, for one, am glad he signed a new contract. We have to get used to the fact that money in football is crazy. I'm confident in FSG to run the club in a self-sustaining way.
If we can and want to do it, then we will do it. If that ends in failure, then people usually pay with their jobs and reputation.
Maybe 300k a week is just what first-team regulars get now, and indispensable players get 400k. Squaddies get 150k. It's just the way of the world.
I'm sure we will sell an academy graduate to pay for these contracts, because thems the rules.
08 Mar 2026 12:41:04
£250-300k is the new hundred grand a week. Most players at the top revenue clubs will be or already are on that kinda money. It'll be the norm soon.
08 Mar 2026 13:23:25
I expect the renewal is predominantly to protect his value. I wouldn't trust the figure being bandied about. He was already on quite a high salary, as we had to convince him to join the club while we were out of the CL, and, at the very least, match his Bayern salary.
I doubt it is as huge a rise as is being quoted, as it would make Dom and Ibou deals even more complicated.
08 Mar 2026 14:11:03
JLC exactly the great Ed2 said that numerous time forget it we ain't paying it let the billionaires pay it they don't give a toss as long as when it comes to sell they make a profit
08 Mar 2026 16:38:10
Wdw - "We can say costs are increasing and football clubs are not immune to that, but the vast majority of their expenditure is still player wages and transfer fees," says Dan Plumley, principal lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University.
"Clubs are constantly chasing revenue down, not to make a profit, but to stretch their squad costs as much as possible.
"That's where clubs run the risk of alienating fanbases because a lot of fans will see that for what it is.
"Clubs have unwavering loyalty from their customers that you don't really get in any other industry, and there's potential for exploitation that comes with that."
08 Mar 2026 17:48:18
Thanks for that, very instructive. Would you say that the reason the fanbase is at odds with Liverpool is because we bought Wirtz or Ekitike, or because Slot is performing badly?
The quote contains a generalisation about the cost of buying players across the board. As a generalisation, it is a fair enough statement, but it doesn't address, for instance, the FFP changes that are coming in next season which are primarily based on squad costs.
It's pretty obvious that clubs buy the best players that they can and, equally obviously, pay the 'market price' in terms of wages to obtain the player's signature, but there are limits as to what a club can and will be able to do.