Liverpool Banter Mobile

17 Jun 2026 16:38:08
Why aren't we talking about the raking of the player's calf by Messi yesterday?

Is FIFA monitoring this site so, we dint talk about that incident?

17 Jun 2026 16:55:44
This is a Liverpool rumours site, unless the calf belongs to someone we're linked with, I don't think many would be too arsed either way.

17 Jun 2026 17:24:33
Are we not allowed to talk about football matters outside of Liverpool though?

So all the other posts about the WC and referees etc, that's ok?

17 Jun 2026 17:24:47
No one cares.

17 Jun 2026 16:09:43
Mark me word news about transfers will soon be published by big journalists.

17 Jun 2026 16:18:26
Journalists will break news about transfers soon? No way. You heard it here first, folks.

17 Jun 2026 16:39:31
Big journalists? Are they given news by the club depending on their height/weight?

17 Jun 2026 17:25:24
James Pearce? He's big.

17 Jun 2026 15:47:58
@raceylfc That’s a load of waffle as Bouaddi plays as a 6/8 and Odegaard is a 10.

17 Jun 2026 10:05:18
Morning Ed's and reds.
First of all watch your prediction on tonight's game or are you not too bothered about International Football?
But my question is do you think Iraola has a big influence/pull on players signing for Liverpool, will the foreign players know how well he's coached players at Bournemouth and improved them? Could you see that swaying a players decision over signing for Arteta or a Mourinho? Also I think players coming to Liverpool now must see a faster route to the first team. Maybe other than Barcola going in at LW at Arsenal.

Thanks, have a good day.

17 Jun 2026 11:01:11
I don't think he has the reputation to be a pull in the way that the Klopp's and Guardiola's had, but there's not many coaches out there that do at the moment.

I think the whole package is what will attract players. We are Liverpool, we're regularly in the mix for the league and CL over the last 5-10 seasons, any player who has experienced Anfield is probably drawn to playing there, Iraola has a burgeoning reputation and a solid playing career, and we pay handsomely.

There will always be factors against us (we're not London-based, we don't have the biggest wage budget in the world, we're coming off a relatively poor season), but we'll always be an attractive proposition.



Every team misses out on players for one reason or another. Based on your choice of manager comparison, I'm guessing you might be thinking about Bouaddi, and if that's the case, I would have suggested PSG would be his likely first choice, but between Arsenal, Real Madrid and us, he won't have much to influence him into making a decision other than his own personal choice - hopefully it's us!

17 Jun 2026 13:34:24
I think Liverpool, Champions League, etc., is a big enough draw on its own.

Iraola probably not yet fully, but I think players will see that he is capable of improving players. So up and coming players might be attracted to him.

17 Jun 2026 16:02:42
Portugal to beat Congo LTA6B.

17 Jun 2026 16:17:49
Not sure, JLC..... They drink Umbongo in the Congo. Could make the difference. 😁

17 Jun 2026 09:03:31
Harvey Elliott has cut his holiday short to train in Liverpool, weeks before the start of pre-season. With a new manager brings new opportunity. Iraola was able to get ample improvement out of Alex Scott, and I think Harvey is capable of a similar improvement, if he impresses early.

Honestly, one of the biggest drawbacks of firing Slot so late, is that we now lack sellable assets because he never played Chiesa, Jones, etc, as often as he should, which devalued their valuation. Elliott is similar, due in part to Villa and Liverpool. We should have brought him back in January, allowed him to play at times, to rest Salah, etc, and be a rotational option during our injury crises. Or, worst case, play him to keep him in people's thoughts during the next transfer window. We didn't, and instead, he stagnated on the bench and is out of most people's minds when it comes to targets.

He does have a year left on his contract, though, so could be a risk. He is a Liverpool fan, but another season of few opportunities will see him leave for the sake of his own career, which is understandable. Honestly, I have seen nothing to suggest Elliott can't challenge Wirtz in the team, both have a similar profile, and Wirtz hasn't exactly excelled. I can see Elliott really pushing him for the position, and keeping him honest. Which will do good for both.

Either way, I do hope Iraola has a look at the youngsters we have (Yes, even Baj) as he is known to improve players beyond what many believed they were capable of. Slot marginalised the youth, neglected the work Klopp had done to bring them through, to be ready. Now, let's see what Iraola does with them. Harvey included.

17 Jun 2026 09:44:35
I don't think you can pick players to put them in the shop window. We needed to qualify for the CL, and advertising Elliott wasn't a priority.

17 Jun 2026 09:44:54
This is a huge lifeline for his Liverpool career. We went from a manager who doesn't like intensity and risk taking, which suits Elliott, to a manager who absolutely loves it and has historically played with a number 10.



If Elliott knuckles down, he has a chance to turn it around for himself. Klopp loved him and Iraola is more like Klopp than he is like Slot or Emery.

17 Jun 2026 09:51:24
We couldn't bring him back in Jan. The fault lies purely 100% on Villa.

17 Jun 2026 10:11:17
But we could have relinquished Villa's obligation to purchase Elliott after a certain number of appearances, which we didn't, meaning he didn't play again.
Villa acted very poorly and without consideration for the player, absolutely, but that's not under our control.

We could have done the right thing and positively influenced his availability to play football when it became obvious Villa had no intention of buying him, but we didn't, which I think was poor from us personally.

17 Jun 2026 10:22:08
Kloppiche, the whole operation was a ship show from the off. Unai Emery (who rules the roost at Villa esp. after Monchi left) did not want Elliott to begin with and did exactly what Slot did to Chiesa by not playing him. That is where these shinanigans began and there was no way we could have brought him back cos Slot didn't even want him back either.



MKS, I agree and like I and many of us have been saying, the likes of Elliott, Ramsey, Danns (if he is fit), McConnell etc. have a real chance of getting a look-in in preseason under Doni and it is up to them to take it cos it is a clean slate for the whole squad.

17 Jun 2026 10:24:23
That implies that Slot would have made use of Harvey Westwood.... and we don't know that he would have.

17 Jun 2026 12:02:42
Who's Harvey Westwood? Another promising GK in the academy?

17 Jun 2026 13:18:21
In fairness, he's just had 10 months off from playing football so I'm not surprised he was eager to return.

17 Jun 2026 13:44:52
Villa won the Europa League and qualified for the CL hardly using Elliott, though.

17 Jun 2026 14:03:48
Kloppiche, he's our player, not Villa's; if they don't see the value in the deal they can't be criticised for not committing. We should have negotiated a proper deal in the first place and not that mickey mouse nonsense. It was entirely our fault.

17 Jun 2026 15:57:25
Enrico Chiesa could have been manager last season and Chiesa wouldn't have played more games.