23 Jul 2016 22:25:49
lfc and Bournemouth supposedly agreed a fee for Bradford Smith. around 6mil according to reports.

1.) 23 Jul 2016
23 Jul 2016 22:47:48
Bradford? 😄.

2.) 23 Jul 2016
23 Jul 2016 22:47:48
Bradford? 😄.

3.) 23 Jul 2016
23 Jul 2016 22:52:48
Have the Eds heard any rumours regarding Oscar Wendt to Liverpool? I remember him being linked with us years ago, but recently heard his name mentioned as a possible target, on another forum.

{Ed002's Note - A Hodgson target when he first arrived? Sure, why the hell not.}

4.) 23 Jul 2016
23 Jul 2016 22:59:46
damn predictive txt on me phone.

5.) 23 Jul 2016
23 Jul 2016 23:24:37
So potentially 22 mil for two fringe players. that's another plus for using the academy, of course you want to have them star for you but if there not deemed good ebough, once they have a good amount if appearances for a team such of ours, couting there age aswel, the fees are there for us to demand.

Ojo has a season or two now and if he doesn't maie it its another 10/ 13 mil just ib potebtial.

6.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 01:03:21
Thatd be the advantage of developing youngsters. Cyncis would say fsg buy youth players solely for the intention of selling for profit. But I don't believe this at all. If the player pushes on and can contribute at 1st team level then he will. But if not then at least ya haven't wasted 30-odd million on someone like benteke. flipsidee being that opportunities need to be given for the youngsters to impress, which does make it hard for them to break through.

7.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 02:10:37
Faithinworks, arevu saying no opportunities given to young players? Are u following liverpool at all?

8.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 03:33:38
I think you'll find what I said was - " flipside being that opportunities need to be given for the youngsters to impress, which does make it hard for them to break through. "

if that translates to "no opportunities given to young players" then I'm sorry, I can't help you.

9.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 07:10:31
Its a complete myth about fsg buying young to sell at a profit.

All clubs buy for the academy and then any young players who we've bought for the starting 11 we've massively over paid for them ie firmino.

10.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 11:09:49
You think if we sold firmino now we wouldn't turn a profit? Karius, gruijic, Gomez, Ings, origi all players that if we sold in a few years we'd get more than we paid.

11.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 11:37:33
I believe we would make a profit on Roberto Firmino but have a revolutionary thought, let's not sell our top assets.

{Ed041's Note - he washout best player in the second half of the season for me. If GW price went up after his poor showing last season RF value will of definitely increased.

12.) 24 Jul 2016
24 Jul 2016 12:14:24
Fencey we would make a small profit yes but not the sort of profits people make out.

The way people go on is like fsg buy for a few mil and try and make a fortune.

Carrol didn't make anything, benteke won't either.

13.) 25 Jul 2016
25 Jul 2016 08:04:07
Use of academies is always going to vary depending upon the size and wealth of the club. Smaller clubs, e. g. AFC Wimbledon, have a stated policy that they want to make half their first team home developed. They don't have the money to do anything else and can't afford to keep players around on good contracts as back ups.

But clubs like Liverpool are not going to be replacing half their first team squad every year or two so obviously most of the kids who come through the academy are going to be released or sold. That isn't a policy of signing them to sell them.

You would hope for 1 or 2 players good enough every few years realistically. But you can't just put the best player on the pitch on their own, they need a squad of around 14-15 each year they run a team. Realistically that is 14-15 lads who won't come through. That thins out post 16 but it still remains the case that the 17-21 year olds are almost all going to be released or sold. You can't keep them and bearing in mind you'll have fresh youngsters coming through this is just an ongoing cycle. If you can make some money from that natural cycle then that makes business sense but it still doesn't mean they are signed to be sold.

Even Chelsea you could argue aren't doing that, they have the cash to cast their net wider and sign in bucket loads of youngsters in the hope they find the odd one or two who are special. That they make money from loaning them out isn't necessarily why they do it.

Ironically, a kid wanting to play for a big club could be argued to be better off going into the set up at a much smaller club as that gives more chance of making it into the first team and at a younger age, which is the irony as then they have more chance of getting to a big team than a kid sitting in the age groups at the big club.

{Ed002's Note - Right - "clubs like Liverpool are not going to be replacing half their first team squad every year or two".

14.) 25 Jul 2016
25 Jul 2016 08:19:55
ED - ok change that to shouldn't be if they get their recruitment right first time around, should also say if you replace managers regularly you'll see big squad changes but rarely to bring through youngsters, in fact you may see lots of existing youth binned for an influx from the country of the new manager. Either way, not going to replace half the squad with academy products.