General LFC Transfer rumours/gossip thread

Think someone mentioned Diopp from West ham. Apparently we have looked but west ham are insisting the loan leads to certain sale to us at a later point? Dont know if thats reliable.

Same report also mentions a Torino defender Geison Bremer

Slightly off topic but while Arsenal.are mentioned...Id be all over Saka on the summer

Not a chance Arsenal are selling him mate but agree he's a cracking player.

Not a chance Arsenal are selling him mate but agree he's a cracking player.

No harm testing the waters. Utd back in the 90s/00s always managed to swipe players from rivals we dont try it enough.

If Sancho is 100 odd million Id offer Arsenal 50 for him, not sure they can turn it down

Curious from the man who would sack Klopp for tactical frailties, a BIGGER WUM than there’s ever been in these boards, only my opinion of course 😉

Firstly I never said that about Klopp, secondly even if I did it would be my personal opinion, right or wrong, and not a WUM comment. Your comment on the other hand replying to what I said to another poster just to attack me is most certainly a WUM post, congrats on highlighting the difference!!

Botman would be a very good signing for both the present and future.

Botman and Mustafi would be decent business, one long term, one just an extra body.

Botman and Mustafi would be decent business, one long term, one just an extra body.

Have you actually seen how Mustafi is - he is shocking , rather put another young player there and Botman - how many times have you seen him play

Have you actually seen how Mustafi is - he is shocking , rather put another young player there and Botman - how many times have you seen him play

I kind of agree, but at the same time I think with a bit of Klopp magic he could become useful, he'd certainly be better than Rhys and I'd argue better than Nat as well.

Anything on the rumours of Eder Militao

He’s still a notch above Williams and Phillips. He’s become the penultimate scapegoat at Arsenal along with a couple of others.

Yeah thinking about it more I'd probably take him as he'll be better than Williams for sure.

Anything on the rumours of Eder Militao

Nothing recent. I did hear another about us bringing Caleta - Car from Marseille in Croatian media. Don’t rate him as long term solution but better than Williams and Phillips.

My take on this is that we are really keen on a permanent signing in January, who just isn't available at a fair price in this window. My first thought is Upamecano, who has a £40m release clause activating in the summer, but it could be someone like Kounate or Kabak. Either way, the guy we want for the long term isn't available at the moment so we're looking for a short term signing.

The problem seems to be that the players who are available aren't necessarily even going to improve us, and anyone who might be an improvement on Phillips and our midfielders playing CB isn't available at a fair price. I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking I'd rather play Phillips than bother with paying anything to Mustafi (Rhys unfortunately may be a player one day, but is out of his depth at the moment). Eder Militao will be difficult as Madrid have had a couple of CB injuries themselves. An Issa Diop deal would likely have to include a permanent signing clause, which we probably won't want if we've got a serious long term guy in mind for the summer. I've read Gleison Bremer has been linked again, don't know a lot about him or his availability this window, but unlikely to be loaned. Saw Nevan Subotic, who's out of contract, linked but his best days are well past him. Players like Aaron Long I have no idea about, and again carry an unknown quality in terms of actual ability.

In the end I think we'll end up with a free transfer or loan, but the player himself might not be that much better than what we have now, bare bones as it is. It might be Mustafi, or Long or someone of questionable quality who is just be conveniently available, but if that means that we're able to get the man we want in the summer, like Upamecano, I'm ok with it. At least then we have another body at CB so we can play Fab/Hendo in midfield more often.

Roman Saiss 

Puzzling to me people still don't understand why Fabinho plays CB.

1. He's very good at the position. I'd say be plays it better than Matip and Joe
2. Klopp has had him practicing in defense since day 1.

“My debut as a [centre half] was here at Liverpool,” Fabinho told Esporte Interativo. “Since then I always do some training, especially when one or two injuries occur. We never know when we will need it, but the coach has already prepared for this since my first season.

https://liverpooloffside.sbnation.com/liverpool-fc-news-coverage/2020/12/2/22121126/fabinho-revealsjurgen-klopp-training-practice-playing-centre-half-since-joining-liverpool-2018

I don't think anybody is against the idea of playing Fabinho at CB (not much choice either) or does not understand the decision to do so. The frustration some people have over him having to play CB (and Hendo too) is that we lose a world's top 3 CDM and in turn have a very altered midfield and so on

Anything on the rumours of Eder Militao

Started today for RM sent off after 9 mins

Started today for RM sent off after 9 mins

😁

Personally wouldn't mind the Mustafi signing if that's all that's available at this moment.

There are a lot of scapegoats in the Arsenal team and I think the added pressure of that certainly affects their overall performance.

He can come in here, just be a better option than Williams and Philips and play with even less pressure. Not to mention the Klopp factor. He'd probably turn him into Virg.2 by the time the big man himself comes back.

I don't think anybody is against the idea of playing Fabinho at CB (not much choice either) or does not understand the decision to do so. The frustration some people have over him having to play CB (and Hendo too) is that we lose a world's top 3 CDM and in turn have a very altered midfield and so on

That is Jürgen's decision, not anyone else's. I personally have no issue with the options at CB we had going into the season. The top 4 are as good as there are in the sport (Virgil, Joel, Gomez, Fab) and 2 more as depth players. Last season our 4th CB (Lovren) played 10 games and the year before less than 15, which is not a lot of games you would have expected Fabinho to have to play at CB and while he would be missed in midfield, we have so much depth there that it would not have been an issue over such small amount of games.

No one could have predicted we were going to lose our best defender the 2nd game of the season and then another a couple weeks later. Things have just kept getting worse and now for Sunday all of our top 4 options are not available. That is just an absolute freak show of bad luck.

A couple years ago City had injury issues at the back and Fernandinho played a bunch of games at CB. If City lost Ake, Stones, Dias and Laporte, who would they have playing at CB? 20yo Garcia and who else? And that's on a team who plays under different rules than the rest of the teams. People act like we're the only team who doesn't have 8 first-team options at CB.

Right now we are simply short of warm bodies so i think our hand is forced. Jürgen has always spoken about quality, and how if the player doesn't make us better then he's not worth bringing in, but right now i think we are in dire need of quantity.

Mustafi isn’t terrible. For a short term loan I would be happy with that.

Mustafi isn’t terrible. For a short term loan I would be happy with that.

Oh he is terrible you better believe it.

This last minute scramble I'm afraid is embarrassing and the names linked now a bi-product of leaving it so late.

People will no doubt and without any hint of irony say how was the club to know Joel Matip would get injured? ...... 

But of course he is always injured and the problem as always been there. This should have been planned for the moment Gomez went down injured long term.

If we had to sell or loan a foreign player to make way for a foreign centre half that should have been on the agenda.  So that the moment the window opened we had someone ready to sign.

Now we find ourselves trawling through a very niche market of players who can at a moments notice leave their club without any push back from said club and sign by Monday. That's a very small list and as you can imagine it will now be impossible to find a defender in that bracket who fits in with our style of play, IE high defensive line.

It is now at the stage where we are looking for bodies rather than players.

Didnt need to be that way. Its a terrible way to do business. I'm getting visions of John Henry typing in Google voucher code for centre half.

Problem with the current situation, you could link any central defender in media rumours and Liverpool fans will be all over it in desperation.

That is Jürgen's decision, not anyone else's. I personally have no issue with the options at CB we had going into the season. The top 4 are as good as there are in the sport (Virgil, Joel, Gomez, Fab) and 2 more as depth players. Last season our 4th CB (Lovren) played 10 games and the year before less than 15, which is not a lot of games you would have expected Fabinho to have to play at CB and while he would be missed in midfield, we have so much depth there that it would not have been an issue over such small amount of games.

No one could have predicted we were going to lose our best defender the 2nd game of the season and then another a couple weeks later. Things have just kept getting worse and now for Sunday all of our top 4 options are not available. That is just an absolute freak show of bad luck.

A couple years ago City had injury issues at the back and Fernandinho played a bunch of games at CB. If City lost Ake, Stones, Dias and Laporte, who would they have playing at CB? 20yo Garcia and who else? And that's on a team who plays under different rules than the rest of the teams. People act like we're the only team who doesn't have 8 first-team options at CB.

Right now we are simply short of warm bodies so i think our hand is forced. Jürgen has always spoken about quality, and how if the player doesn't make us better then he's not worth bringing in, but right now i think we are in dire need of quantity.

Sorry but I disagree. I don't hold Klopp or anybody guilty for what is happening as like you said nobody could've foreseen what happened this year. However, I wont sit here and back the idea of going into the season with 3 CBs as a logical and sound one and pretend that our bad luck is the sole source of our problems. You don't need 8 CBs but you also need more than 3. We weren't in the wrong all those years and Jürgen and management suddenly woke up this summer realizing we only need 3 and that Fab can play at the back if need be.

Versatile players are an awesome addition to any squad but its also not hard to realize that there is consequences to displacing quality players from their positions for an extended period of time. The reason I say that is that losing all your defenders is a freak situation but losing one long term is not a freak accident and you have to prepare for it. Considering anybody who watched more than 3 games in the past 4 years knows Matip will miss way more games than he will play, this ultimately means that Fabinho was predestined to be stuck at CB as soon as Joe or VVD was out for more than a couple of weeks because Matip can't stay fit.

I agree that you can't predict what happened this year and any other year we probably would've got away with easily, but there's also a reason all of the other 19 teams in this league have a minimum of 4 senior CBs in their squad (go check it out). We are the only team that started the season with 3 senior center halves. Are we unlucky? Yes. Does that make starting the season with 3 Cbs any more of a smart or even okay decision? No

Ps: I highly doubt this was a Klopp decision. He probably identified a target along with Edwards and they were probably told that they could only get it next summer and to hold tight until then.

Sorry but I disagree. I don't hold Klopp or anybody guilty for what is happening as like you said nobody could've foreseen what happened this year. However, I wont sit here and back the idea of going into the season with 3 CBs as a logical and sound one and pretend that our bad luck is the sole source of our problems. You don't need 8 CBs but you also need more than 3. We weren't in the wrong all those years and Jürgen and management suddenly woke up this summer realizing we only need 3 and that Fab can play at the back if need be.

Versatile players are an awesome addition to any squad but its also not hard to realize that there is consequences to displacing quality players from their positions for an extended period of time. The reason I say that is that losing all your defenders is a freak situation but losing one long term is not a freak accident and you have to prepare for it. Considering anybody who watched more than 3 games in the past 4 years knows Matip will miss way more games than he will play, this ultimately means that Fabinho was predestined to be stuck at CB as soon as Joe or VVD was out for more than a couple of weeks because Matip can't stay fit.

I agree that you can't predict what happened this year and any other year we probably would've got away with easily, but there's also a reason all of the other 19 teams in this league have a minimum of 4 senior CBs in their squad (go check it out). We are the only team that started the season with 3 senior center halves. Are we unlucky? Yes. Does that make starting the season with 3 Cbs any more of a smart or even okay decision? No

Ps: I highly doubt this was a Klopp decision. He probably identified a target along with Edwards and they were probably told that they could only get it next summer and to hold tight until then.

You have absolutely no idea what Klopp and Edwards were or were not told. This "what probably happened was" is just fluff to rationalize your bias.

Disagree all you want about Fabinho playing CB, that's fine, but there is a direct quote from Fabinho that Klopp has had him train as CB since he arrived in 2018. That is not  "what probably happened", that IS what happened, and it would have not happened if Klopp didn't plan on using him as CB. It does not more clear and obvious than that.

Matip is always in and out of the squad, we all know he's injury prone, but even then Lovren only played 10 games last season, an amount of games that very reasonably Fabinho could cover without a major impact anywhere else. Fabinho is actually the best player at CB not named Van Dijk. He's made so many good plays back there in critical situations that Lovren would have tripped over himself.

OK, so let's pretend we would have kept Lovren. Since we have 2 CB's out for the season, and possibly 3, our starting CB pairing would still be Lovren and Fabinho. So what would the cry be then, that we needed 5 first-team CBs?

As i mentioned, there were times when City had to use Fernandinho at CB. The same team that is backed by endless dirty money and plays under different rules, also had to use a CDM in CB. The same team that if they lost their 4 CB's the way we did, would have to use a 20yo Garcia and move somene else out of position into CB. Go figure.

You have absolutely no idea what Klopp and Edwards were or were not told. This "what probably happened was" is just fluff to rationalize your bias.

Disagree all you want about Fabinho playing CB, that's fine, but there is a direct quote from Fabinho that Klopp has had him train as CB since he arrived in 2018. That is not  "what probably happened", that IS what happened, and it would have not happened if Klopp didn't plan on using him as CB. It does not more clear and obvious than that.

Matip is always in and out of the squad, we all know he's injury prone, but even then Lovren only played 10 games last season, an amount of games that very reasonably Fabinho could cover without a major impact anywhere else. Fabinho is actually the best player at CB not named Van Dijk. He's made so many good plays back there in critical situations that Lovren would have tripped over himself.

OK, so let's pretend we would have kept Lovren. Since we have 2 CB's out for the season, and possibly 3, our starting CB pairing would still be Lovren and Fabinho. So what would the cry be then, that we needed 5 first-team CBs?

As i mentioned, there were times when City had to use Fernandinho at CB. The same team that is backed by endless dirty money and plays under different rules, also had to use a CDM in CB. The same team that if they lost their 4 CB's the way we did, would have to use a 20yo Garcia and move somene else out of position into CB. Go figure.

Mate did you even read my post or even read yours before you press post? You seem to miss every point I make and you additionally put words, that I never said, in in my mouth. Even in the initial post where you where whining about people being mad at Klopp for playing Fabinho at CB you seem to miss a very important point: nobody is mad at Klopp for playing Fab. People are only pointing out the consequences of him being out of our midfield for an extended period of time. Its almost like you want to create a debate around an inexistant problem and win it.

1-Yeah he trained him at CB and planned to use him when he needed him there... and what? You basically contradict yourself (and incidentally repeat my point that you probably did not read before replying) when you say that he would've found himself playing the whole season anyway if we had only lost VVD or Joe: That's mainly because we only have 3 CB's and not because Matip is injury prone.

2- ''OK, so let's pretend we would have kept Lovren. Since we have 2 CB's out for the season, and possibly 3, our starting CB pairing would still be Lovren and Fabinho.'': false. Until thursday we had only lost VVD and Joe. The pairing would've been Lovren and Matip and Fab would've covered when Matip is out which means a sh*t ton more games at CDM where we also need him. Also means a sh*t ton more games in the midfield for Hendo where we also need him and more freedom to create for Thiago (which we also need considering we didn't score in the past 5 games before the Spurs one)

3- ''As i mentioned, there were times when City had to use Fernandinho at CB. The same team that is backed by endless dirty money and plays under different rules, also had to use a CDM in CB.'': and they struggled all season because they missed Fernandinho in the middle of the park. And they actually had a natural replacement for him in that position (Rodri) which we do not have for Fabinho (Hendo and Thiago being CM's that can also play CDMs)

Bottom line: you dont judge the quality of a decision based on the bad luck or good luck you have with it after. You judge it based on the logical factors that were known at the time. What we knew before the season started was : 1) unprecedented number of games in a small amount of time, 2)big risk of injuries, 3) one of the 3 Cbs is prone to recurring muscle injuries which means his season will be patchy. If based on this information you still consider starting the season with 3 cbs a good decisions because  ''Fabinho can play the 10 games Lovren used to'' and some nonsense about City having lots of money and still playing Fernandinho at CB then I don't have any logical argument that will convince you (despite the fact that we started the previous seasons with 4 and probably will start the next ones with 4 too)

Edit: and my criticism is addressed to whoever took the decision to go with 3 CBs (Klopp or management) and would've been the same even if we did not lost Joe and VVD and all was fine. My point is, starting a season with 3 Cbs is not a good idea.