Rob Gutmann was joined for the latest ‘Unwrapped’ by Phillips Smallwood, Ian Ryan and Ian Salmon to talk about whether Liverpool, as per speculation from a number of very reputable journalists, will spend big this Summer after years of trying to ‘cheat’ the transfer system.
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I am still confused how we try and “cheat” the system.
Of our current squad acquired over the last 4 years or so….mignolet, lovren, Milner, Clyne, winjaldum, lallana, sturridge, mane, klavan and firmino are hardly some smart arse plan of signing untapped talent.
Sign some young lads? Every club does that…from lamela and Ali at spurs to martial at united, it’s nothing unique to us.
Just about to listen to the show mate, listened to the first 15 mins then my laptop over heated and cut out. Think the figures being mentioned have sent it into over drive.
Judging by your comment I can guess what was said. I agree with you entirely. The days of ‘value’ are a long way behind us. I think it was part of a strategy when we were in debt. When we came out of it the balance swung to more emphasis on Premiership proven players as well as buying young players in the hope they reach the potential they show. Downing £20m, Lovren £20m, Lallana £25m, Benteke £32, Mane £34m, Gini £25m, Firmino £29m, Clyne £12m, Markovic £20m are hardly ‘cheating’. They were probably ‘top end’. Henderson is a good example. We knew he was good because he was getting a reputation in the Prem but we clearly tried to steal a march by getting him a year or 2 earlier than others would start to go in for him. But, to do that we had to offer over the odds for what he’d achieved so far. At the time it was over. Is it cheating though? Or is it just a sensible idea by a club who can’t compete with the top 4 as it was then. I comment because I also find talk of our transfer policy as a bit one dimensional.
p.s Don’t listen to Paul Joyce. He gets his stuff off me. I commented on Adam Melia’s piece at the start of March
“The bottom line is this summer will be our biggest net spend in the club’s history – currently £40m (twice, Rodgers first season and H&G’s first season). This will be classed as Klopp’s first season investment and will more than double the previous highest.”
Not listened either…just making a general point how we get hung up on something and nothing in our dealings
Not just about transfer fees. We don’t pay anywhere near the wages required to sign the best players.
I should have listened before I presumed. Valid point for elsewhere though, just not this show.
Interesting show, great panel, really pleased Philippa seems to be involved in more shows lately .
One thing I picked up was when it was said Klopp has a preferred 1,2,3 in various positions but I think he just goes all in for the player he wants and if he cant get him he will not settle for 2,3 choice, this is partly why last season our net spend was plus for the first time I can remember.
There will be a lot more outs next year which will free up some much needed funds added to the money FSG give Klopp but our strike rate has got to be a hell of a lot better than recently, totally agree with Ian when he said it was a crime we did not get Sanchez when we held the best hand going into the negotiation’s and this has been a really big issue getting major signings over the line.
Thanks
Sanchez. We offered a higher fee and higher wages….what more can you do?
Did the same with Ousmane Dembele but he went to Dortmund despite Klopp. But this panel wants a James Rodriguez? Göetze? What are we chasing overweight players?
I guess I expected some of the names this panel wanted. Brandt, for example is a guy Ian wants and he’s correct and Leverkusen is out of any competition next season.
Keita? Maybe not with RB going strong. Klopp has targets and more will leave.
(So how does this panel keep this idea that one has to get top 4 to get targets? The Mancs got Pogba, Bailly, Mhktarian, Zlatan with Europa League! ) are the Mancs just able to pay anything the agent and club selling wants?
Sorry, this panel just wandered all over but said nothing really. Waste of time.
It’s not just about more money, Wenger followed Him round for weeks to make sure he stole a match on us and made him feel he was integral in Arsenal’s future plans, can you really say we did the same?
The stories about Dembele are just that. Klopp spent time talking to him, we offered a bigger fee and higher wages but he went to BvB anyway.
To my mind, what FSG did ante-Klopp is utterly irrelevant b/c the decisions about targets are in Klopp’s hands with, obviously, input from Edwards, scouts and others.
But, I doubt we would go spend €100 million for Griezeman but with the targets that are likely (FB, CB, CF usw) I can see a £100 million net spend (bye-bye Sakho, Sturridge and a few more).
This Joyce story is absolutely true. We all know he won’t be saying that based on a whim. We can say what we want about FSG and do, but if we’re being realistic 2 things are clear.
1. They want success. I know I make these points every week but don’t we all just repeat our views over and over? The appointments they’ve made make that clear as do the sackings and so does common sense. In business, a thriving asset is worth more than a stagnant one and in the world of millionaires money is not the primary motivator for people who have over £100m. They form alliances with others in the same position and you get respect in those groups for what you achieve, not what you make. FSG will want success for their ego.
2. They care about the perception of the fans. They know all about H&G’s reign. Everyone knows Joyce has been briefed. If they spent £40m net this summer all hell would break loose. it would be used as a stick after last summer’s positive net spend. There’s no way on earth this has been put out to appease anything. Well, perhaps the stick they’ll get when they announce they won’t be submitting the Annie Road plans before the deadline of the planning permission but it has to come to fruition. I think all the signs are there. I think it will be over £100m net if we keep Coutinho.
The other thing is the timing. It all adds up. Klopp wanted time to see his squad. He knows exactly where it lacks now. This is his new manager kitty. They all get one. FSG will like that he’s taken 18 months to gauge the squad rather than proclaiming after a month that he needs a new team. This is our chance to kick on. We have a manager that makes Europe take note of us. We got to the Europa final. People noticed. People in Germany, Spain, etc noticed we were strong contenders prior to New Year. We’ll be back in the CL. People will also be noticing that LFC is a stepping stone that can take you to the top, Mascherano, Alonso, Torres, Suarez, Coutinho now, Sterling perhaps. What this means is, we’re moving up a notch in the ‘desirability’ stakes. People will finally choose us over Spurs. Arsenal too. Mane wouldn’t have come the previous summer. He’d have gone to Utd. We still won’t get the very best. The players influence on who they join is too important to be dismissed. We have to win the league before we go up to join the top 3 of desirability in the Prem. Point is, we’re knocking at their door.
We don’t need to be in it though. Remember when we signed Benteke and we were all scratching our heads and when it didn’t work we thought ‘that was predictable’. Then we complained about Mane and Gini and we were all wrong. Klopp knows what he’s doing on transfers. Jesus, the evidence has been there for years. This summer we just need 6 more Mane’s, Firmino’s, Lallana’s, Gini’s, Matip’s and we can win the league. If we say your Suarez’s, Messi’s and Ronaldo’s are the tier 1 players and Aubameyang’s and Griezmann’s are tier 2 players, then we’re highest up the list tier 3’s want to join.
The reason we don’t beat the bottom sides is twofold. Matip and Lovren haven’t played together in our defeats and you need a strong centre half pairing v the dark arts of the bottom teams. The other is a lot of our players are similar. I’d call them the Brendan Rodgers type players. We need more Klopp players to give us more balance in those games. More Mane and Gini than Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana. I’m genuinely not concerned. I’m going away in the summer and forgetting about it. I’ll return fully confident the right players will have been bought. No You Tube clips and reading about them, worried someone has got it wrong. Certainly no disappointment because of the name. We’re gonna improve massively in the summer whether we know the player or not. I think it was Philippa who pointed out, we’re improving in getting deals done too. Draw our competence on a graph season by season and it’s a positive correlation over the past 5 years. We’re gonna be just fine doing what we do. The only negative is the player I don’t think we’ll have next season.
Maybe you’s should listen than it will put the comments into context. Hardly a waste of time either!! Brilliant listen Really enjoyed it. Philipa makes some good points in getting behind FSG and the Manager. We are in a great position to really kick on in the next couple of years.
Up the Reds