Liverpool Banter Mobile

03 Apr 2026 08:45:16
Italy needs Jurgen. Bad.

03 Apr 2026 10:50:13
No, they don't need Jurgen. What they need is going back 40 years or more, when their defenders and midfielders could kick the s*** out of opposition and get away with it.
Now, they can't do this. They have been found out, and their results show it.
YNWA.

03 Apr 2026 11:08:56
Italian football started to die when the match fixing scandal was dug up in the 2000s.

Saying that, I'd back them 10x over to win a major international trophy again years before England do.

02 Apr 2026 22:41:07
Where were we when it came to recruitment. We've missed out on so much winter talent.

BBC article

02 Apr 2026 16:06:08
Heard from someone closely connected with the Club that Alonso has agreed a four year deal, starting in June.

Also heard that Bradley is out until 2027, so right back is a priority for this summer.

Given the circumstances of the season, would personally have liked to see Slot given more time, but understand why others wouldn't - Spurs and 2nd half of Brighton were unacceptable.

02 Apr 2026 16:41:03
Palestra being linked again.

02 Apr 2026 16:59:56
More time? He should have been sacked in November, he's been given 7 months more than any other club on the planet would give him. Why should he get more time? Genuine question.

Say we do give him more time, we give him another £200 million, but Edwards gets his way, of course, so more confusion about the direction the team needs to go, Slot doesn't get who he wants for his system, whatever that word means to him, we continue to churn out dross, struggle to stay in top 5 all season, and we're right back where we are in 6 or 12 months time.

Then what? We sign a second rate manager after missing out on Alonso, Virgil and Ali are gone, top players will get fed up, Isak goes to Barca, Dom goes to Madrid, Ekitike back to PSG... No thanks.

02 Apr 2026 19:18:48
JoeBuck, More time to prove what? To turn what around? What else do we need to see that we haven't seen already after months of this crap? I can keep going, but I'll leave it there.

02 Apr 2026 19:18:52
Ah, c'mon Chewy, 7 months ago was September, the bloke only won the title in May. 😆 I would hope the lessons of last year have been learned. I strongly believe whether Slot, Xabi, Ireola, Jack Charlton are at the helm, LFC are one good summer window from having a complete squad.

The weaknesses in our squad should be addressed, and we should be back challenging on all fronts next season. Think it's gonna be another big spend though.

02 Apr 2026 19:19:39
Slot has sucked out every ounce of football joy. We as fans give him thanks for what he achieved last year. But I just can't think of him staying with us anymore. But who knows.

02 Apr 2026 19:56:00
@ Florian, Sick of hearing how we got a "weak squad", nearly all through Klopp's time we had a first 11-14, the drop off in quality was evident after the first team, but the performances didn't drop too far. Face it, Slot is not that good.

02 Apr 2026 20:15:34
Would the lack of desire and determination in the team not concern u, Florian? At the end of the day that's the manager's job to get them motivated and prepared to give everything to the cause. We can say players get paid fortunes and should do that anyway, but sport/football doesn't work like that as we all know.
No doubt issues in squad depth and ability, but it aint going to matter who we sign if we so lacklustre and disinterested looking as we have been for virtually all season.

To me something has gone v badly wrong with Slot +his staff and the players.
By the way I'm not having a go at u, I respect your opinion on manager and u make some good points on management issue.

02 Apr 2026 20:33:29
This season has been one of the worst in recent times because it's the hope that kills you. The players look like they can't be bothered, and the manager looks like he is clueless.



Parting of the ways seems like the only solution, and if a new manager comes in and can't put a rocket up these players a##es, then we'll likely see a similar outcome next season.

02 Apr 2026 20:36:04
My post was more about Chewy's concerns about how the upcoming transfer window would be handled than who the manager will be, Digger. But since you asked about the lack of desire and determination in the team I'll say what I've said all season. Desire and determination should be a given and a minimum every time a player pulls on that shirt no matter their relationship with the manager.

As for a player looking disinterested, he shouldn't be here then. I remember the football under Rafa and Houllier could be terrible. Much worse than this season, but the players still, for the most part, tried every week so I don't buy into this modern pandering to the feelings of the poor players.

02 Apr 2026 21:18:27
I get what you say about the players, Florian, but if them players have told Slot that they are not fit enough, that their strengths are playing fast paced attacking football and Slot decides to slow the play, making it a passing game and lack intensity, totally different to the way ee won the league, then they can only go so long before they can offer little for the shirt.

02 Apr 2026 21:35:24
Where has it been suggested the players told Slot they are not fit enough? Have to say I've never seen that reported anywhere, not even on here, which, let's face it, is Slot-hate Central.

Scouse John, do we not still have a first 11-14 now? I'd argue a lot of the players looked at as squad players under Klopp were better than their counterparts in this squad.

02 Apr 2026 21:44:49
Florian, unless they've made changes to the calendar, November through May is 7 months. "One good summer from having a complete squad" yet last season we won the league and significantly strengthened the squad during the summer, but now it's incomplete, something doesn't add up there. There's zero trust left for the fools in charge to appropriately strengthen the squad this summer after the complete balls that's been made of the last 12 months. You said yourself we need another big spend, most would agree, but we've already been told that won't be happening.

Good point you make about some of Rafa's football being poor to watch, but yet the players still gave it socks, nobody ever questioned their commitment or efforts. Rafa was a tactician, and although he didn't always play the most beautiful football he knew how to get results, the players could see that, hence the passion they retained through difficult periods. Yet, this season we're also seeing a ''tactician'' do what he feels is best to get results, but on the opposite end of the spectrum we've got players looking totally deflated and fed up, very clearly lacking the passion we're so used to seeing. Why?

We're talking about two similar scenarios, we should be seeing similar results, but the players' attitudes tell two very different stories.

Because unlike with Rafa, the players under Slot don't see the vision, his choices don't make sense, he continues to implement the same old ineffective tactics week after week, players played out of position, crazy substitution calls, wild excuses in the pressers. Players very quickly take notice of a manager who's out of his depth, his choices become the talk of the town amongst the squad, doubts become rumours, tactical decisions become jokes, and very quickly the manager becomes a bit of a laughing stock when he's out of earshot. The doubts in the manager's ability, the questioning of his approach, judgment passed on his poor decision making, all of that has a huge effect on the players, and it shows through a lack of drive and passion, players look beaten and lost. To an untrained eye it might look like a bad attitude, but it's not.

Bad attitudes develop in individuals, they stick out like sore thumbs, Garnacho springs to mind. We don't have any Garnachos. What we have is the majority of the squad very evidently displaying the tell tale signs of a team that has long lost faith in their manager.

02 Apr 2026 22:14:50
Sorry Chewy, I went back 7 months from 2day, seen as the post was written on the 2nd of April. Would you not say the squad is incomplete, Chewy? I think most fans would. Who said a big spend won't happen again? A big spend doesn't have to be over 400m, but it would have to be sizable. Rafa got results according to yourself. I loved Rafa, but he did finish 37, 21 and 23 points behind the eventual winners in his time here.

He made some weird choices himself in his time here. As for the rest of your post, you talk some game with "to the untrained eye it might look like a bad attitude but it's not", in particular getting a giggle out of me, but it's all hearsay and your own opinion.

03 Apr 2026 00:04:52
Florian, you are wrong about the football being worse under Rafa. He had a very limited budget, he also had H&G fighting an internal battle, but Rafa had the squad fighting for the 90 mins. Slot has had all the tools n fumbled aimlessly into games.

He has lost the support of the players n fans. In fact, the only one who idolises him is you... You argue with everyone who comments against him. Now it's getting a bit worrying.

03 Apr 2026 01:50:12
I would absolutely say the squad is lacking. Unlike a lot of people I wasn't fooled by the big money summer signings, we didn't replace like for like, we weren't buying for a system that's worked perfectly for 8 years, and we didn't actually spend big, just as many outgoings as we had coming in and recouped half of what we spent. We're still owed a full summer transfer budget from '24, FSG got away with murder there, and it annoys me that nobody talks about it. Now we see articles last week talking about how Liverpool won't be spending big this Summer. I never bothered looking into who the originator was, but it seems like the kind of piece the club would put out given our current situation.

But the point I was trying to make was that last summer, outside of Jotta and Trent, we didn't really need to strengthen the squad. We had a winning formula, a little more depth would have been nice as always. On paper we certainly did seem to strengthen, some huge signings, but only to go backwards. You say now the squad is incomplete, I agree. What I don't agree with is having the same fools in charge of strengthen this squad, who somehow managed to make a title winning side weaker than it was in the first place, and somehow, they managed to do that by signing players who are actually better than the ones that left, it's mindboggling.

Leaving the three muppeteers in charge for another window is just a disaster waiting to happen. If you can't toast bread you shouldn't be let roast the turkey.

Rafa got results according to everybody, he's got a Champions League, FA Cup and UEFA Cup to prove it. He also finished 3rd on two occasions and 2nd behind Utd, missing out on a Premier League title by only 4 points and taking the team to no less than 6 cup finals. Let's not forget he was dealing with a s***house of a club back then, a lacklustre squad in many regards, nightmare owners and a board who was only delighted to sell our top players for profit. We were a stepping stone for a lot of players for a long time. If Slot had to deal with all of that we'd be battling relegation.

It is my opinion, but unlike some people, it's actually based on facts.

03 Apr 2026 04:39:47
Is what other clubs do really a measure for what we should do?

03 Apr 2026 07:37:11
I think the 1st thing we need to do next season, whoever may be the manager, is make us a horrible team to play against again. I don't mean horrible in an 'Arsenal' way of playing, I mean us playing, particularly at Anfield, on the front foot, aggressive in the tackle, and in the 1st 10-15mins of the game, the opposition shouldn't have time to lift their heads.

A player in midfield who sets the tone.
I get the impression teams see us as a soft touch, get stuck into them and they fold. We started well at Brighton, Milner hit our lads couple of good whacks in 50/50s and we folded like a deck of cards.

03 Apr 2026 08:38:44
Florian you're just a liar, the football was not worse under Rafa or Houllier. This blaming of the players is folly too. If you think another manager wouldn't get a better tune out of the players then you're deluded. Well I know you're deluded. He's got a squad most would kill for. You're just trolling as usual no one can be that thick.

02 Apr 2026 09:41:56
This might be an unpopular topic of conversation, and apologies if it's been covered elsewhere, but can someone ITK please explain to me why we are letting Salah go for nothing in the summer?
Don't get me wrong, I do think it's the right time for him to move on. I also don't begrudge him being allowed to leave as he seems fits and on good terms given everything he's done for the club. Taking emotion out of it though, this is still a business and Salah is still a contracted sellable asset that would command at least £30M in today's market, and that's being conservative.

Even if we let him go for almost nothing so he can go to where we wants, why would we not get something, anything for him? Even £5M would offset the wage bill for a couple of weeks so why not? Really don't understand that one.

{Ed025's Note - i have been saying that since it was announced Westwood..

02 Apr 2026 10:17:39
How much money is the increase in ticket prices going to generate over the season? Could that have been covered by the possible small transfer fee?

02 Apr 2026 10:21:28
A host of things I imagine, the club get him off the books immediately. If he's on £330k a week post tax, you're paying NI on this, you're also paying a loyalty bonus if a bid comes in for him, you're requiring a club to pay £30m if that comes in at the end of the window, you're paying an extra 8 weeks' wages and national insurance. We probably think he's disrupted the team a lot with his attitude at times.



It gives a pathway to immediately sign someone or promote, with the idea that the space out there is available to play in.

(I am thinking of when Real Madrid kept Ronaldo on when they bought Bale on the proviso they were moving Ronaldo on).

I think the time to sell Salah was when Saudi clubs were offering stupid money for him and we didn't renew Bobby and Mane instead.

02 Apr 2026 10:37:46
If we would have sold him then Phil, we probably wouldn't have won the league last season.

02 Apr 2026 10:45:39
At the end of the day he has proven to be exceptional value for money. He has more than justified the money spent on him in fees and wages.

02 Apr 2026 10:45:43
I am certainly not ITK, but from a business perspective, I would imagine Salah has agreed to give up some portion of bonuses, image rights etc, basically something the club would be entitled to cover.



I'd imagine it's more of a mutual agreement whereby the club won't go through a sale process and Salah agrees to minimise additional costs to the club. I'm sure the finance egg heads have crunched the numbers.

02 Apr 2026 10:46:50
I look at it as a testimonial, let him reap the rewards of a free transfer for services rendered.

02 Apr 2026 10:56:04
At a guess, the club realised in January they couldn't engineer a Saudi sale. Without Saudi, there's unlikely to be any club that would pay a fee and take on his salary. So they probably chose certainty of mutually agreeing to cut his contract short, so they can avoid a disruptive saga over the summer, and can plan with clarity now.



It's difficult to put a price on certainty in the Game of Transfers.

02 Apr 2026 11:04:13
I'm pretty sure the financial eggheads know what they are doing, and this was the best, and easiest, way forward for everyone involved.

02 Apr 2026 11:25:47
Given his age and form this season, nobody's going to be willing to part with more than £20 million for Mo. Covering his wages and bonuses for the next year could cost considerably more than that. Considering his service to the club and the breakdown in the relationship with Slot, getting him off the wage book asap is definitely the best business move.

If you keep him on the books and fail to engineer a move, you're down another 30 million next season for a player who's adding very little, taking up a valuable space, and possibly disrupting the squad. It's a no-brainer really.

02 Apr 2026 11:32:10
Any chance that the 2 year deal he signed was always going to just be 1 year but the '2 years' was to avoid the incessant questions to Salah and the club all year (like last year with VVD TAA and Salah) about 'what happens next year blah blah?'

Maybe an off-book agreement to avoid the media circus?

Maybe total nonsense, as I know nothing about contract law etc, but it certainly has stopped all the questions.

02 Apr 2026 11:56:22
I may be wrong, but club has just said they accept his decision to leave at the end of the season and value his contributions. There is nothing about him going for free to other clubs.
I don't know any clubs around that can match 400k a week, so my belief is he is moving to America and FSG are probably co-purchasing a club in MLS after the WC and he will be the star player signing.


FSG were trying to buy a team in Europe and were not able to do so. They probably shift focus back to America.

02 Apr 2026 12:11:55
Cafu, I believe the contract is terminated at 30/6/26, and therefore Salah is a free agent.

02 Apr 2026 13:11:45
It's a strange 1 alright.

02 Apr 2026 13:14:52
Maybe there was a clause in the contract he's signed last year where either side or both could back out after a year?

02 Apr 2026 13:23:27
From what I have read, if true, he has a £20m loyalty bonus that he has waived if he can go at the end of the season.

02 Apr 2026 13:31:21
Also, we save 20 on his wages alone, so apparently that is like getting a fee for him. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

{Ed025's Note - just getting shut of him is a reward in itself JLC, but he has year to go on his contract so why not put him up for sale mate?..i thought that was the whole point of giving him a 2 year deal last season..

02 Apr 2026 14:45:01
The thing is, you can put all your players up for sale but that doesn't mean:
1) you'll get any offers
2) the offers will be acceptable
3) the player wants to go to 'acceptable offer club'

It's much more complicated than any of us pretend to understand.
Maybe Salah has said, "I'm not going to another club under any circumstances".



Answer this: why would any other club pay even £5 transfer fee this year when they will have to cover his contracted wages and probably offer more, when they can wait 12 months and he's out of contract?

02 Apr 2026 14:49:19
I do not believe for a second that Mo has a desire to play for a Saudi club, so the temptation of a mega-offer is a red herring and has never been on the table.

It is a lazy assumption that because Mo is from the Middle East, (and highly sought after by Saudi clubs), he will sign for one of the Saudi clubs.

02 Apr 2026 15:24:16
Just to throw the cat amongst the pigeons, maybe it's been handled this way and announced now to take the burden off an incoming manager.

Not an easy thing to deal with as your first act as manager, selling a club icon, but if it was mutually agreed between Salah and the club already, we might as well announce it now so that no negativity can be attached to a new manager.



Just a theory, of course.

02 Apr 2026 15:36:06
The club was saving on his wages regardless with a sale. It benefited Salah more than the club. We should have got a fee, he was paid more than enough since he arrived at the club. Salah will get a handsome signing on fee elsewhere.


Hughes and Edwards are journey men and have fleeced the club. Wages, fees, new contracts. Then the Salah announcement. I'm sure Salah and his agent were more than satisfied.

{Ed025's Note - doing hand stands and break dancing i would suggest Ron..

02 Apr 2026 15:01:53
Ed025, he's not worth anything though, by comparison, the wage bill, bonuses and loyalty bonus is probably worth twice what you'd get for him. Saudi are the only ones willing to pay anything over £20 mil after the season he's had and I don't think he has interest in moving there.

If rumours of a £20m loyalty bonus are true then why not let him go now rather than waste time spending the summer trying to make a deal where you're only going to break even anyway, and have to pay his wages the whole time? Cut your losses now and it gives you one less thing to worry about.

{Ed025's Note - i can see what you are saying Chewy but i thought his new 2 year deal was to stop him going for nothing mate ala Trent..

02 Apr 2026 16:55:50
Ed25 as soon as the whole Salah outburst happened esp. with him saying the club were trying to sell him behind his back, I knew he was outta here. It had become untenable. For me, i'm fine with it.

As for his final year, players have done that multiple times in the past so again, I don't see what the fuss is about esp. with the amount in wages that will be saved by him foregoing his final year.

{Ed025's Note - i just thought you would have got a fee for him Oli, otherwise why offer a 2 year deal?..

02 Apr 2026 18:48:18
It's a terrible decision by the club. We must be very very comfortable financially.

They're not bothered about losing players like Trent, Salah, Ibou on frees.

They're not bothered about sacking a sinking manager mid season to save the European places.



They're not bothered about signing players in January for problem areas like right back or defensive mid to attempt to save our downfall.

We must be absolutely shedded, simple as that.

02 Apr 2026 19:18:15
Spotmon Ed25

I said the other day that it would be nice for players, and some players that is, to be allowed to leave on their own terms, then I had a re-think, and thought, fuck'em, these guys are paid handsomely, so much so thatbtheir great great grand kids will be sorted financially, so yeah, the club should actually get a fee for them, whatever that fee is.

We pitched about TAA leaving for nothing last year, and now its like because its Mo, its OK.

What if Konate doesn't extend? What if VVD hangs around for a year and then then leaves? Alison too. Robbo could go on a free as well.

Its just not good business sense.

Lime i said above, I was more peaved that TAA was leaving for nothing, than him actually going. At least we squeezed 10m for him from RM

Mo has been fantastic, and we could easily get 30m for him, easily.

{Ed025's Note - i dont suspect any of these players will be pushing trolleys around the Tesco car park to supplement their pensions JLC, if you can get money for them then thats the way to go mate..

02 Apr 2026 19:22:25
Ed25 indeed, that is a valid question BUT if he doesn't want to go to Saudi and we can't get what we want for him because no one will pay that then, what can you do?

Also, remember that it could also be a case of both parties recognizing what they have done for each other and just have a clean, mutual breakup. That also happens all the time.

It is not always about money or transfer fees. Sometimes, it could be a lot more complicated than that.

{Ed025's Note - there is not much in life that happens without money being involved Oli mate..

02 Apr 2026 20:45:49
Ed025 when someone decides to support a successful super club thousands of miles away on an illegal stream then it's all free mate.

02 Apr 2026 22:39:57
E2025, you're 100% correct, that's definitely the reason for the 2 year deal, unfortunately, his unbelievable dip in form has completely wiped out any chance of turning a profit off that contract though. Best to just cut your losses.

{Ed025's Note - i can see both sides of the argument Chewy, i just think you are being rinsed on this one mate, player power along with greedy agents are taking the piss if you ask me and these contracts they sign are not worth the paper they are printed on..

03 Apr 2026 09:09:42
Thanks all for responses. Certainly some interesting ones there.
Just his name and pulling power alone is enough to justify a fee, even if his form isn't, and let's be honest, his season has only been bad by his own standards. He's still got 27 goals and assists in all appearances so far this season. If that was an English player, you'd be looking at £100M.


Personally, I'd have just said he's free to go where he chooses and just put a nominal figure out there that pretty much anyone could pay, even if it was just £10M. Anyone that could cover his wages could also cover that, and likely make it back in short sales anyway, so everyone would win.
Just seems very amateurish from the club.

03 Apr 2026 09:14:45
Salah's career has shown he is one of the top players to ever grace the PL.

One bad season does not decide that nobody will pay.

Yes, we won't get 80M, but that's more due to his age than his ability.



He goes to a slower league, and he'll be the "old" Mo again.
Class is permanent....

We could easily get 30m to 40m for him...

Maybe some serious questions should be asked about this decision.

02 Apr 2026 08:01:53
Stevie G on The Overlap Podcast with Carra, Neville, Keane, Weighty, Jill Scott. Can be found on YouTube for free. Very interesting on his thoughts for this season and some great stories. Something to have on in the background if your busy today.

02 Apr 2026 09:42:55
Can't stand Neville. People keep calling out Carra, but Neville urggghhhhh.

02 Apr 2026 16:56:36
Cafu, they're both the same.