21 Mar 2023 07:53:21
Ok Ed1 and fellow posters, scenario time!

We only have £150m to spend this summer. Do you A) get Bellingham (in this scenario he would join) or B) buy 3 x £50m players (2 mids and 1 CB or RB) .

This is just for fun so please no smart Alec responses. It's a simple A or B though your reasons why would be good to hear.

I'll kick things off. B) as very simply A) would be way too risky as one injury would put us right back to where we are.

A) or B)?

{Ed001's Note - A because I would rather have one great player than 3 you haven't named so might be dross. It is not really a choice without knowing the 3 others.}

1.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 08:11:10
Ed1 thanks for reply. I’d like to think there are some very good £50m players out there so without naming names the concept is one superstar or 3 very goods I guess. Hope that clarifies.

{Ed001's Note - we do need more than one player. So it is not much of a choice.}

2.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 08:30:19
Ed001 - watching Manuel Ugarte may rekindle your old Gary Medel vibes.

Manu Kone is very similar to Yves Bissouma in style and ability. Not quite as good as Caicedo though.

3.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 09:16:01
Because I’m not very good at transfers at a guess and I’d say sign Mount 50 and the Brighton lad at 70 and then have 30 mill left to buy a good young centre half who I have no idea about.

It’s as easy as that, Job done now give me the Director of football role.

4.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 09:16:11
Fantasy football and names only based on rumours but if that 150 million could go on Mount, Gavi and Gvidol (sorry about the spelling) that would be interesting.

5.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 09:40:46
JK23 funny you should offer your services about the Dof role, reminds me of when Walter Smith left Everton and my blur nose mate decided to send in application for the managers job and they actually sent out a letter to him thanking him for his application but turned him down. He framed the letter and has it on his wall.

6.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:09:02
B.
Would Bellingham agree to come if there wasn’t funds available for other players to support him.
I would rather sign no one and sort out the shambolic tactics and underperforming star players first.
signing Bellingham is going to sort that.

7.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:20:27
Is there plan c, can we get one great player in bellingham, and promote youth and get a couple great free players like rabiot, gavi etc for instance.

{Ed002's Note - Gavi is hardly going to be available for free. Meet his buyout clause and then he can reject Liverpool.}

8.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:31:25
Jude won't cost £150m though, how about getting him in with another £30m midfielder and promote the likes of Morton, not as if he's not capable of replacing Keita or Ox. I'd rather have an unbelievable first 11 backed up by a solid bench than a whole squad full of averageness.

{Ed002's Note - How about moving on to a solution other than Bellingham?}

9.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:39:01
£70m and Mount can’t go together without the word flop attached to it. That would be like setting fire to £70m. He’s absolutely hopeless that lad.

If the rumour is also true that we’re also happy to pay £50m+ for Nunes then we’ve truly lost touch of our senses, as he’s been absolutely shocking for wolves this season, he doesn’t look physically up to it in this league, either at number 8 or number 6, ironically his only good game was against our omnishambles of a midfield.

Ultimately we’ve sat around and done nothing to improve our midfield under the pretence of waiting for a player that we now can’t afford and then also written off an entire season for it.

10.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:42:20
In that scenario maybe Mount for 50m, Rabiot on a free, Gvardiol for 70-80m (not sure of prices lol) - would be 3 quality players for 120-130m initial outlay (again prob more given signing bonuses etc and all the other finance stuff we ignore lol) - would leave 20-30m in the pot. Sell Jota to Newcastle for 70m (we live in hope lol), sell Matip and Phillips for around 10-15m each, add that to what we have left and offer it to Dortmund in one installment for Bellingham lol

Awk if only it was like Championship Manager eh lads?

11.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:48:37
What a mess we’ve gotten ourselves into. All this was so easily fixed.

12.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 10:54:20
Mount is technically sound. But what is the difference between Mount and Curtis Jones? I don’t see any. They are both at crossroads. Mount is not a hard core CM nor is he a winger. He is pretty much in between. It’s a mistake buying him!
Well we had that opportunity last summer and in January Ed02 and we chose not to go down that path ( solution other than Bellingham) . I don’t know what changed now? We could have easily signed Enzo.

13.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 11:08:46
CI I’m not saying Mount is the answer because I’d be lying if I claimed to have watched him that much. But In answer to your question.

In the last 4 seasons only counting premier league and CL

Mount 30 goals 32 assists

Jones 4 goals and 5 assists.

{Ed001's Note - Mount played a large portion of his time as a member of their front 3 hence lots of goals and assists.}

14.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 11:11:30
I'm not really fussed whatever option is taken as long as something is done and the right people are making the decisions on what is done. I'm not going to get worked up or start saying we're a mid table club and FSG don't care etc. I think it was a big mistake to wait for Bellingham but it is what it is.

My opinion is we should drop this Bellingham circus and go get Gvardiol. Literally the best u21 centre back in the world is begging to play for us and would cost significantly less than Bellingham; fees and wages combined.

We proved in the past our system can work with a hard working midfield made up of good players, but with the way we leave our defence exposed it is vital we have a world class centre back to mop up anything that beats the press. Gvardiol is that player. I'll happily take him and then just some hard workers in midfield like Rabiot and Mount.

15.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 11:13:04
I don't see the point of getting Mount tbh, very good player that he is.
Does he fit comfortably in our system, though perhaps I'm doing him a disservice there?
But we have Elliott and Carvalho anyway.

Regarding the original question, I'm in agreement with Ed001, get Bellingham if possible.
I wonder, if we did and it blew the budget, if that would encourage even greater tactical flexibility?
I'm thinking really of just playing with two sitting midfielders, one a true DM and the other with the physical ability to get up and down the pitch more?
That would work numbers-wise for us, and allows all sorts of combinations?
I know we all love the high press but think of Madrid, they barely laid a glove on us in our own half, just engaged in the final 40 metres or so.
Thinking aloud anyway lol.

16.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 11:29:25
Ed001 Cheers for the reply mate. I literally don’t watch any football outside of LFC so I’ve only really seen him against us.

Transfermarket (who I’m not saying is right) where I got the stats from claims he’s only started a handful of games in the front 3 over those 4 years.

What’s your actual opinions of him as a player and a potential target stats aside?

{Ed001's Note - I am surprised they say that, but he is very versatile and sometimes will be moved position during games after subs in particular. Maybe they have decided he is a midfielder and so any time he plays there, even if only for a small portion of a game, that is where he played in that match? It can't be easy for them when players are changing positions within games, not with that large a database of players. All I can say is that I have watched him play a fair few times, I used to watch every Premier League game over the course of the week, so I saw pretty much all of his games until a couple of seasons ago.

I am not sure where his best position is from watching him, he does tend to score or assist when in the front 3, but he lacks the outright pace or skill to look like he is suited to playing in the front 3 for us. He tends to play from a wider area, we mostly have pace there to get in behind. That is not his game. He is about clever movement and getting into space without stretching the play with his pace.

He works very hard, he has been Chelsea's player of the year the last couple of seasons I believe, and he scores and assists regularly. On the face of it he is ideal. I like him.}

17.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 11:46:38
Is Gvardiol begging to play for us?
What's wrong with him? ?.

{Ed002's Note - No but he is a self-admitted Liverpool fan. Two clubs are continuing to discuss him but there has been a huge fee set for him.}

18.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:08:28
Must be a glutton for punishment Rigsby ? he has publically said he wants to play for Liverpool and that he is a Liverpool fan though. Be foolish to not capitalise on that in my opinion.

We won trophies with a workmanlike midfield but it only started working after Virgil came in. Gvardiol could have that same impact in my opinion.

19.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:13:33
If we were to sign Gvardiol what would we do with Van Dijk? Would we move Virg to the rightsided centrehalf and drop Ibou? Gvardiol looks a smashing player but the same people saying we can't pay for Bellingham think the club are going to pay a World record fee of probably 90m for a player in a position we need quality backups in, not necessarily starters. Whereas our midfield would be imeasurably improved by signing Bellingham.

20.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:30:39
I know very little about Gvardiol but I'd like us to sign a top class centre half. Matip is on the decline and I'm still not convinced by Konate and Gomez. They're both too flaky for me.
If he's as good as I've heard, it'd be good to sign a fan and someone that wants to play for us. But if there's a huge fee and other clubs are interested then it could be like the Bellingham situation.
I'd take both and not worry about the money, though ?.

{Ed002's Note - Gvardiol will be very difficult for Liverpool to sign and I expect the club to go down the route of one of the alternatives.}

21.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:33:22
If it costs all our transfer budget to get him (Bellingham) and klopp wants him and he wants to come then do it. Gerrard carried the team I’m sure Jude could do the same till reinforcements arrive.

22.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:48:36
Gvardiol is a left sided centre back. I’m not sure he would want to come to us to play second fiddle to VVD or be shoehorned onto the right side when he is already getting first team football where he is and will have a good choice of clubs he can go to that will put him right into the team in his preferred position.
Makes no sense to me to buy him unless we are selling VVD. Makes no sense for his career to move to us when he can get first team football elsewhere.
And If we have that kind of money then it will be spent elsewhere in the team.
I recognise the need to buy a centre back as I think one or two out of Matip, Phillips and Gomez will be moved on but I can see us buying a backup rather than a first team player, someone to eventually replace VVD probably, although I just can’t see it being Gvardiol sadly. Hope I’m wrong though.

23.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:56:47
Lol ed02, my gavi comment was very much tongue in cheek, off the back of Barcelona potentual issues re regitlstering him similar to Messi. However, pretty sure they will sort something out for their generational talent.

24.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 12:57:54
It really does depend on the three players.

I think Bellingham would massively raise profile of club for other players in future transfer windows

A double raid on Brighton for Caicedo and McAllister will probably cost you the bones of the price of Bellingham if rumours are to be believed.

I think in this case the two players would improve us more than the one.
At least in the now.

But then you think what Bellingham could become considering he is only 19.

It's not easy decision. If Bellingham truly has Liverpool as his number 1 choice, then for me, I think that's a major factor. I think if you can get Bellingham, you go with it and find smarter cheaper options for the other positions.

{Ed002's Note - My understanding is that Bellingham has not made any decision but other sides are negotiating with Dortmund and pressing.}

25.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 13:08:30
Cheers Ed001 great reply that.

26.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 13:12:57
Victor doesn’t like Mount tho…. £70 million wasted, oh and Rabiot is lazy also??.

27.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 13:25:06
Although I would love to see Bellingham play for us, I would go plan B and I am surprised that Ruben Neves from Wolves hasn't been discussed more on here.

{Ed002's Note - Ruben Neves (DM/CM) Wolves would look to get €50M should Neves be sold, and they may be more accepting of that now. Mr Mourinho is a huge fan and has tried to take him to three different clubs in the past - and he would, I am sure, be interested in taking him to Roma but their focus right now is elsewhere and there is no guarantee he will be there after the summer. He was always been seen as an option to replace Matic at Manchester United, but they didn't act at the time and had other priorities to deal with first and preferred options and now they have Casemiro. Unclear if they still might make an offer or perhaps see Nunes as more versatile, awho he shares an agent with. His agent has been actively offering him around and has spoken with Juventus who are looking to offload players but none that I would expect Wolves to be interested in and they have other priorities for their cash. Newcastle have a declared interest. Prior interest of Spurs and Liverpool may remain - and Paratici is certainly a fan. I suspect Liverpool see Nunes as more versatile. Arsenal interest has likely gone. Chelsea have other targets. There has been a discussion with Barcelona - but there is a huge difference in valuation and they are looking at others now.}

28.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 14:27:35
We should be looking and competing for the best, not cheaper alternatives, anyone can see the lad is different level, same with Gvardiol, i can bet my house on the fact City see both them as next level signings and will not hesitate, unlike us they won't try and drive the price down or any sort of messing about, just because we are his first choice, they want a player of that caliber, they will get them, dream scenario is Bellingham, Gvardiol, Mount (paulinha for me too ) with Elliott Carvalho and Jones pushing hard for first team spots. Keeping Milner Henderson, Thiago around for them to keep heads out the clouds or from slacking.

29.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 14:28:29
To clarify, yes I would sell Van Dijk. I know it's not going to happen but yeah, I'd replace Van Dijk with Gvardiol.

30.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 14:29:09
Don’t understand why we cannot have all three of Gvardiol / VVD / Konate in our sided when city and Chelsea could! VVD is not getting any younger and has lost a yard or pace already.
Are we not planning to integrate a young center back on the left?
City has Laporte / Diaz and Stones in there and why can’t we have 3 good center backs?

31.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 15:05:46
Agree with Mk, i would cut our losses with vvd and bring in a young talented left sided defender using the money we get for him.

{Ed002's Note - You are living in a fantasy world.}

32.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 15:08:18
Hi Ed002,

Are we in contact with Dortmund and pressing for a deal like those other sides and do you expect us to do so? Apologies if you've answered already but interested to know if our interest has taken the form of formal negotiations with Dortmund yet?

Thanks.

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool are not negotiating with Dortmund at this time. Liverpool were warned about their efforts to influence the transfer by talking directly to his family without permission - as were Manchester United.}

33.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 15:26:18
Gvardiol would be a cracker but in the 70-80m bracket

To reply Jude, I'd sign him and sell Matip. That would have Gvardiol, Konate and Virgil competing for the starting 2 - any combination of the 3 is a strong starting selection tbh and let's us rest VVD at times

Tbh I'd sell Gomez and keep Phillips over him tbh, looks more solid these days but Gomez signed a new contract and Phillips maybe wants to actually play - Gomez is still young and the thought is maybe he can regain his form pre injury - I wouldn't wait years for this though, we've fine that too much and to our detriment (Ox and Keita for example - could and should have been sold years ago)

As for Mount, awk I like him, could be available for 40-50m, assists, scores goals and can cover further forward too - I've made my thoughts on him clear lads, I'll not bore yous by repeating myself lol.

{Ed002's Note - 70-80M what? The price for Gvardiol is more than that and the price of Mount would be more than you suggest - and Liverpool have not spoken to either club.}

34.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 15:31:49
How about we sign Paulinho from Fulham then grab Gvardiol that's two positions sorted that need strengthening then snaffle Rabiot or Kante from The dough boys, conceptionally Jude would cost the earth we need a rebuild not a restructure and Quansah looks legit as does Doherty in the reserves so give the feckin kids a shout.

35.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 15:38:08
Ed002, fantasy land is a nice place to live to be fair. I'll be your neighbour, Fatboy Barnes.

36.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 16:13:50
Paulinha and Gvardiol would cost probably £160m.

37.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 16:34:18
Paulinha is 28 in July. Can't see us splashing out a large sum for him. Perhaps he would have been good value last summer.

It's pretty clear that Gvardiol is out of our price range (100m+) now.

Mount is not really what we need and nor does it sound like he'd be cheap in terms of both salary and transfer fee. We have Elliott, Carvalho and Curtis already with our eyes clearly on Jude too. Do we really need another attacking mid?

Rabiot? Do we honestly need the circus? One obscure quote about him being a Liverpool fan and now he's a solution to our midfield? Note, he's 28 in April.

Neves? He's a technically gifted player but not mobile enough for us - unless we go with a double pivot and put and athlete next to him. We already have this problem with Thiago. Do we need to exacerbate it?

Caicedo? Would be an excellent addition. No idea what barriers the new deal he signed contains or whether Arsenal will go after him again, but there's no doubt that he would be an excellent Liverpool player.

Mac Allister? A good player but like Mason Mount, not sure he is what we need right now.

38.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 17:03:25
I really like Mason Mount, but I am not sure he is what we need. I’d be hoping for someone more physical and defensively minded, or at the very least well rounded.

39.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 17:09:25
Does it need explaining why City can have a deeper squad than us? ?
Do some of you go to bed every night in the hope that we have new owners when you wake up?

40.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 17:45:03
Only issue is that City don’t have a deeper squad than Liverpool. They have more quality in the squad they have but tend to use less players.

41.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 18:12:17
I meant deeper squad in terms of quality, Irish. CI is talking about them having Diaz, Laporte and Stones at centre half. You could also add Akanji and Ake to those names.
We all know why City can buy players like those, don't we?

{Ed002's Note - At least one of those players is leaving hence their interest in Gvardiol.}

42.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 18:28:10
Then Akanji can be 5th choice centreback! Poor City.

43.) 21 Mar 2023
21 Mar 2023 19:10:18
Awk sorry Ed2, I'd read Gvardiol was about 80m but the joys of reading social media eh, pinch of salt and all that- are they looking closer to 100m (Euro or £? )

Would Mount be more than the £40-£50m bracket? Think he's going into the final year of his contract but then hey if Chelsea don't want to sell they won't, they don't need the money and are they actively offering a new contract? Not sure, I know you don't like talking finances Ed cos let's face it, we all treat such things as Championship Manager lol, completely clueless, just looking ballpark transfer figures with these two?

{Ed002's Note - The figure quoted to the two clubs in discussions for Gvardiol is much higher.

Chelsea are not looking to sell Mount but there have been a number of approaches. If the decide to sell him in the summer they will certainly look for more than £40M or so.}

44.) 22 Mar 2023
22 Mar 2023 00:28:39
I like mount. Whatever position he plays, he seems to have that sense of timing to be in goal scoring/ creating positions. those are difficult to train.