ROB GUTMANN is in the host’s chair and is joined by Ian Salmon, Mike Nevin and John Gibbons as they talk about the potential summer transfer business for Liverpool.
They talk about replacing stalwarts, fixing problems with money and adding big names like Walcott, Berahino and Garbutt.
Especially Garbutt.
TAW Unwrapped’s first foray into transfers. It will not be the last.
Guttman in the gutter! (Sorry Rob)!
Again, this is by far my favourite show on TAW, well in all.
On this subject, my major concern is the global image of the club & I think a number of times the subject was almost broached in the podcast. We cannot afford to fall behind the other top 5/6 teams in the premier league.
FSG may be reluctant to spend big on 2 world class players, but from a marketing perspective it makes perfect sense to sign a big name or 2 in the world of football. With Gerrard leaving, Liverpool will not have a global icon (yet, hopefully) & I think the impact this will have on the club globally has been massively underplayed in terms of attracting new fans and new players.
Say we sign Ings, Origi, Berahino, Milner, etc. What does that say about this football club? What statement does that make to our global fans? Is this going to even get the smallest segment in the local papers across Europe and the US? Is this going to get the fans flocking to Melwood like the signing of Balotelli did?
It’ll take just 1 world class player to make the statement that we desperately need to make. My ideal signing would be Cavani from PSG. Id be happy if he was the only player we got in if it meant we got to see him in the red of Liverpool (wishful thinking, I know)
Dave, I don’t think we can buy the very world class nor is it necessary to buy them exactly. I think rather we should buy players that are semi-world class and are genuinely about to become one of the best in the world in a few years time (I say a few years time not 5-10 years of nurturing u-21 money ball signings). Think about how we signed Suarez. When we signed him he was 24 or 25, extremely talented and on his way too soon be genuinely world class. We can’t compete for the Cavanis, the Costas, the Benzemas etc. We have to go for the Lacazettes, the Kevin De Bruynes, the Icardis of Europe. Players that are not yet one of the best in the world but are 23,24,25 and about to be one of the best in a couple years time.
Basically we need to accelerate the money ball process by instead of buying u-21 players like Can, Markovic, Origi; we need more relatively young but semi-world class players of 23 and older.
Really enjoyed that Rob and co. As we’re not able to compete financially with our rivals, perhaps 2 aspects you look into that are revealing are:
1. Our inability to move on players for a profit when the opportunity arises. Lambert to Villa in Jan being the most recent example.
2. Since FSG took over, we’ve been outperformed by Chel$ki and City off the field (commercial revenues) who were behind us in that area if you breakdown revenues into the 3 categories of Matchday; Broadcasting and Commercial.
For information on that I strongly recommend you listen to the following
http://anfieldindex.podbean.com/e/the-tomkins-times-podcast-episode-14-the-bigger-picture/
Ross Barkley with the Sterling money is a waste of time. Barkley has potential but isn’t as good as he is hyped and Everton will demand a ransom with the English premium. We can find many much better than him at his age in Europe for smaller fees e.g. how we got Coutinho for 8m.
In an ideal world:
Hugo Lloris, Raphael Varane, Yohan Cabaye and Alexandre Lacazette. Might need to sell a few and I’ve no idea whether they’d join us!
Olisa,
I know what you are saying, but it’s exactly this thought process that concerns me. You mention Suarez, we sign the almost world class and look at where they end up.
We need players to match the clubs & fans ambition. Currently I don’t see it happening.