Lack of summer activity due to the wage bill?

Now I can't say I haven't noticed one or two people are questioning the funds we may have available this summer to strengthen our squad, stating that maybe a sell to buy policy is in order, whether that is due to lack of arrivals I don't know but I've been thinking about this for a few days myself now.

Now my feelings is starting to tip over to we are employing a sell to buy policy but not in the manner that we need to sell players to raise funds, but that we need to sell players to reduce the wage bill to free up wages for new arrivals.

My main concerns as it stands at the minute is I've searched the news for consistent links to all the players the majority of us would agree would be the first that should be shipped out, Brad Jones, Emiliano Insua, Sotiris Kyrigakos, Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen, Nabil Elzhar, Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic, David N'Gog and there is nothing really strongly linking these players with a move away.

N'Gog as an example held talks with Sunderland last week, but it appears his wage demands have either stalled the deal or collapsed it completely, so just like the others mentioned above it appears at the moment that we are far away from getting him off our books.

Now I know we all want to see signings being made but is it economically viable for the club, taking into consideration the FFP rules are starting to be monitored and the club is already running an annual wage bill of £121m or there or there abouts ?

I'll be honest its the lack of movement of the players that we class as deadwood is starting to give me concerns as I'm starting to think that is having an impact on our arrivals, now I know there is 5-6 weeks of the window left but can we really expect an influx of signings when we appear to be struggling to shift the deadwood ?

Your thoughts ?

I'm sure everyone is still surprised that we haven't shifted the likes of Konchesky and Poulsen.

We thought they were bankers to leave.

I do often notice that these type of players usually leave very late in the window, usually when other clubs panic.  It may be that they have to go out on loan.

Difficult to estimate, but it wouldn't surprise me if Cole, Konch and Poulsen cost the club at least £10M a year, if not nearer £15M.  Not to mention other players we are keen to shift such as Jova and Ngog.

I agree that I am getting a little bit worried - if only because it doesn't even appear that we are attempting to go for players.

Maybe, just maybe, that the Liverpool way really is back.  Maybe we are so used to hearing Purslow release the gossip to his mates in the media, and now we assume total silence means total inactivity?

Still got a bit of time before we head over to China.

It will be interesting to see if a few big names get left behind and told to find new clubs - like what Houllier infamously did with Paul Ince.

I'll Admit it is starting to concern me, although if we unveil a few signings over the next 10 days, then my concerns will have been for nothing, but if nothing materialises on that front in that time frame then my concerns will increase ten fold when we are beginning our pre-season with Henderson as our only signing of note.

 We do have to many player with big pay packets and not enough talent

 We may have to keep on paying them until there contract expires

 Just have to hope most off the new signings and the young upcoming players earn the wages they are paid

 Personally don't have any concerns at the moment as I'm sure we've got enough funds to spend in the transfer market firstly; secondly the transfer window has just started and we've already signed a very talented guy for a supposed fee of 16M, only manure have spent more than us till now and I don't think they'll be spending any more this summer tbh; and finally we'll find a way out for every unwanted player here in the next 63 days and it'll be 'everything ok' with the wage bill in the end.
 I have never been more optimistic about our transfer activity in a transfer window than this summer and I've been following Liverpool for 10 years now.

I'm not too much concerned for now. If nothing happens within the next 2 weeks, then I'll definitely be changing my tone about all the deadwood still on our books.

Getting rid of 8-10 players in this one window, remains to be seen. I honestly think that some of e'm will most likely go out on loan again.

The usual suspects ie, Cole, Jova, Konch and Poulsen are the biggest concern, and it's going to take a lot to offload them, with the kind of wages that they're on.

I think that we'll be adding more quality to the squad, even if we still have them on the books.

I hope and pray that we can offload them before the new season starts.

I can see them going for pretty cheap prices in order to help the buying club cover their wages.

I'm not concerned yet - the window where we will do most business getting rid of them is not even open yet, and KK is on his hols.

Perhaps we won't be able to clear out all the sh*te, but I think we'll get rid of a good few.

The only other things is that City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have yet to move in the transfer market.

We are not being left behind.  Maybe the FFP rules are affecting the clubs decisions more than we thought.

The only other things is that City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Spurs have yet to move in the transfer market.

We are not being left behind.  Maybe the FFP rules are affecting the clubs decisions more than we thought.

I think you may be right JD to be honest, you only have to look at the wages City pay Adebayor to see they will most certainly have to reduce the wage bill.

Even Real Madrid have baulked at his wages and they have had him on loan.

This will concern me in a few weeks if we've not signed anyone and the squad still remains the same from last year. For the time being I'm putting it down to the traditional way of Liverpool doing deals with other clubs and the European teams waiting on their transfer windows opening.

I think the wage bill has a lot to do with us not making as many moves yet.... we don't want to get stuck with a huge squad full of high earning dead weight.  So, I guess we are kind of under a sell to buy policy again.  However, I think substantial funding will be given to Dalglish to use in addition to what we raise through player sales.  Hopefully we can find some teams who are dumb enough to buy some of Hodgeson's/Purslows costly mistakes!

Am I the only person who finds it ironic that people are complaining about the players we are linked with and then start moaning when we don't sign them. The facts are most teams will be back in pre-season in the next week or two so I'm sure things will start moving soon. In these days of rumours on forums, twitter ,etc and 24 hour news channels stories are exaggerated beyond belief. I heard a couple of journos on Radio 5 the other week talking about the need for the papers to have transfer stories in them, the gy from the scum said they always need to have a football story on the back of the paper.

I definitely think that the wage bill is holding us back as opposed to us having the purse-strings tied. Would like to think a few of them being shipped out would kick start the activity. Maybe the European window opening might see some movement at least?

The unusual silence from the club is sending some people mad though. I find it quite refreshing to just have signings sprung on us from nowhere.

Am I the only person who finds it ironic that people are complaining about the players we are linked with and then start moaning when we don't sign them.

I haven't moaned about the players were linked with at all to be honest mate, if you read all my latest posts there nothing but positivity about the players were linked to as it appears we are trying to assemble a squad with strength in depth.

I'm just raising a concern that it appears we are struggling to shift the deadwood on and asking the simple question is this affecting our ability to bring players in ?

I honestly do not think it matters if teams have reported for pre-season or not, teams will be interested in players whether or not it is pre-season, most teams want the majority of their signings done by pre-season so they can adjust and integrate into the team.

I just find it a little concerning that the players we appear to be trying to shift on are not gaining publicity in terms of Interest or a move materialising.

I'm not too worried.
The only big club we have seen move in the window so far, apart from our signing of Henderson, is United.
DeGea, Jones, Young have effectively replaced players that have immediately left their wage structure upon retirement and one who may think about it after recent events...
VDS, Ratboy, Scholes retired. Giggs on his last legs.

So it's three for three on the in and outs with the ins for the most part on less wages.

We are obviously looking at FFP when eyeing up player transfers and thanks to Purslow we have an abundance of average players on very high wages who were given long term contracts. It might be that late in the transfer window we have to bite the bullet and nearly give them away in order to offload them. 1/3 of the way through the window and we are so far the only big team to strengthen. I repeat United have merely brought in the same amount as have retired, without actually signing a midfielder yet I might add.

Peace out there's still some interesting weeks ahead

Have patience . Deadwood will be sold, the wagebill will be refreshed,quality new players will come in . But it's not even the 1st of July yet . Transfers are being negotiated behind closed doors,and it's much better this way,even though I can barely handle the wait myself  . Keep the faith guys,I really think it's everything Kenny would want the fans to do in this particular time. And also,trust the owners.They wouldn't have bought the club to let it revel in its own mediocrity , they are here because they are winners,and I am 100% sure they know investment in qulity players is needed . YNWA

Don't think there's any reason to worry! Maybe if there haven't been any changes by the beginning of august, but for now we're not behind the other clubs

To be honest, we will have a difficult time unloading players like Cole, Jovanovic, Poulsen and Konchesky ... They are all heavily overpaid, at the age of 30 or more, and had a horrible last season ...

I have to admit and say I'm worried.

We've only signed Jordan Henderson and looked like we've "missed out" on Ashley Young and Conor Wickham. At the same time, the Mancs have got Young, Jones and De Gea?

However, it is an improvement on previous seasons when we have signed players really late.

Would be epic to see Mata and Aguero in 2 weeks, though 

Hope not blood because we don't have the biggest wage bill by a good bit and a direct correlation has been shown between winning things and the largest wage bill. I saw something recently that showed our wages were already in line to be okay under the new financial rules. Utd were the same. Chelsea and City obviously had problems

The European window hasn't even opened yet, so let's just see what happens, I've no doubt new players will come in regardless of whether we move people on or not. I get the feeling the lack of activity is down to everything being done behind closed doors, something we were all applauding a couple of months ago but were now getting frustrated with during silly season! I think the lack of signing with regards to wickham, Adam and downing would point towards this, and I get the feeling very very few people are actually itk this summer, the way it should be! I've got the feeling we could still be signing some impressive players this summer, so every body should chill out and stop questioning Kk and wait and see who turns out for us at sunderland! YNWA

I think as the season gets closer to starting, we'll see some of the deadwood move on. I'd be all for buying out their contracts and letting them go on frees, if possible. Large short-term expense, but it could free up wages in the long-term.

I do think Konchesky will get scooped up soon enough, along with Cole, Jovanovic and Poulsen. The rest could be troublesome.

I think a few players have to leave such as Jova, Cole and Konchesky. I think they will get moved on is summer  We may have to keep the players who's on fairly high wages but can do a job like, Maxi, N'gog. I don't think we can sell our entrie deadwood in 1 summer and I feel it'll take 3-4 transfer windows to do that.

Also I think we've missed out on many of our English targets such as Wickham, Jones and Young. I won't be surprised if we start looking abroad now.

If we had signed the players we supposedly missed out on, we would have signed Henderson, Young, Jones, Marveaux and Wickham. I would be happy with that + Aquliani.

I know we've only signed Henderson, but I feel that Aquliani is like a brand new signing too.

I'd feel a lot more comfortable when we sign a left winger, someone like Downing and I would be a lot more lax about the window. We sign Mata and I couldn't give a hoot on who else we sign