Scouting talk

We can sign 2 more foreign players as it stands right now. After that, any more signings would have to be “homegrown”. 

Premier League Rules
Source: PL Website (stolen from Reddit)

A squad can contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil "Home Grown Player" criteria.
The remainder of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be home grown.
A "Home-Grown Player" means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
If you don't have a Home-Grown Player, you can simply begin the season with 17 foreign players. If you want more players on your squad, up to a maximum of 25, they need to be home grown. So it is not a strict rule but given the number of matches and expected injuries, it is fair to expect each team will wish to utilize the 25-player limit by filling the squad with 8 home-grown players.

CL/EL/ECL Rules
European competitions have a stricter version of this rule. You can read the exact wording here at official UEFA site. I will paraphrase it below.

Maximum Squad Size: 25
Minimum Club-Trained players: 4
Minimum Association-Trained players: 8
Once again, there is no strict requirement. Just roll up with 17 foreign players, leave the other spots blank and the club is free to participate in the competition. The rules here make a distinction between "Club-Trained" and "Association-Trained" players.

Association-Trained players are Home-Grown players as above(with the exception that Welsh players no longer count as Association-Trained unless they played under FA pyramid; because Wales has a different Association; this exception shouldn't matter to top clubs anyway).

Club-Trained is the same definition as Home-Grown except the player had to spend their formative years at the specific club. This is to encourage academy investment and use, and mitigate top clubs just buying Association-Trained players and calling it a day.

Exceptions
Each competition further has exceptions on adding youngsters.

PL allows registering unlimited number of U-21 players, i.e. they do not take a spot on the squad list if they were born on or after January 1, 2002 (for season starting 2023)
CL/EL/ECL allows registering unlimited number of U-21 players IF they have been at the club for at least 2 years, starting from their 15th birthday.
LFC Squad
Foreign Player

1. Alisson
2. Adrian
3. van Dijk
4. Konate
5. Matip
6. Robertson
7. Tsimikas
8. Fabinho
9. Thiago
10. MacAllister
11. Jota
12. Gakpo
13. Diaz
14.  Nunez
15. Salah
16.
17.

Club-Trained (also Home-Grown) Player
1. Trent
2. Joe
3. Kelleher
4. Jones

Association-Trained (also Home-Grown) Player
1. Hendo
2.
3.
4.

Special Cases

Calvin Ramsay
Will not take a spot for next season in PL; however needs to be registered for UEFA as foreign-player
Will take a foreign-player spot in PL 2024/25 and beyond due to PL definition of season being "from the day the summer transfer window closes to the last league match of the season" (Source: PL Handbook) ; Will also take a foreign player slot for UEFA
Will qualify as club-trained player in CL/EL/ECL 2025/26 & beyond if PL 2025/26 starts in August due to UEFA definition saying "the season immediately following his 21st birthday may be counted if his birthday is on or after 1 July (winter championships) or 1 January (summer championships) but before the first match of the relevant national championship." (Ramsay's birthday is July 31; rule source is UEFA document)

Harvey Elliott
Qualifies as Club-Trained(and Home-Grown) starting this summer for both PL and UEFA.
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21

Stefan Bajcetic
Qualifies as Club-Trained(and Home-Grown) starting this summer for both PL and UEFA.
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21

Fabio Carvalho
Continues to qualify as Association-Trained(and Home-Grown) as usual
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21
Will never qualify as Club-Trained in the future due to being signed a year late

Transfer Options

Current Squad Size: 20 (+2 in Elliott/Bajcetic who are club-trained but do not need to be registered for next season; +1 in Ramsay who is a complicated case; not counting Carvalho since it seems he is set to leave)
Foreign Spots available: 2 (if 2 new foreign signings do come in, Ramsay cannot be registered for Europe)
Homegrown spots: 6 club-trained players in Trent/Curtis/Kelleher/Joe/Harvey/Bajcetic starting from summer 2024 + 1 homegrown player in Hendo. Can always be supplemented with academy players if someone steps up to senior squad(or the old reliable in Nat and Rhys if they stay)


Contracts expiring in 2024: Adrian, Matip, Thiago
Contracts expiring in 2025: Trent, Salah, VVD, Hendo, Tsimikas, Nat Phillips

Cheers lads, amazing summaries there. I didn't realise Ramsay was a special case, and forgot about Arthur. I guess it's two non-homegrown spots for the coming season then, and one beyond 2024 when Ramsay needs to be registered (unless someone else leaves in 2024 to make room for more).

Glad we got Mac Allister's deal over the line. Now interested in seeing who else we'll be going for in that midfield. I think Mac Allister is the Gini type. Doesn't lose the ball, helps you control the game, but he also isn't the most progressive midfielder and so I'm guessing our next target or two will be players who are good at moving the ball forward.

Man I hope these Pavard talks are real. Established cover at CB and RB and in his prime. Gives Ramsey and Bradley time to develop, allows for limited drop off if VVD or Konate need a rest, amd could push TAA further forward. For the rumored price of 30 mil, it's a nice investment IMO

Man I hope these Pavard talks are real. Established cover at CB and RB and in his prime. Gives Ramsey and Bradley time to develop, allows for limited drop off if VVD or Konate need a rest, amd could push TAA further forward. For the rumored price of 30 mil, it's a nice investment IMO

Pavard is quality. Must have missed it as this is the first I've heard of him being linked.

Man I hope these Pavard talks are real. Established cover at CB and RB and in his prime. Gives Ramsey and Bradley time to develop, allows for limited drop off if VVD or Konate need a rest, amd could push TAA further forward. For the rumored price of 30 mil, it's a nice investment IMO

Haven't got a clue about this fella. Not sure i've even hear of him before. Have to dig out a few clips and take a butchers.

Just reading that Pavard is ready to leave buyers immediately, with the support of the club. He's been playing C B although he prefers R B.
with Bayern having bought Mazraoui and Cancelo, Pavard has been moved to the CB position.  He can clearly play in either. Could be a good buy, but possibly the other two are better due taking Pavards  place. 

Perhaps Jürgen sees something in him, that he can help him raise his game too another level. He is a French international so should be pretty decent.

Pavard would be a very solid buy and would prob mean Matip is leaving

Pavard would be a very solid buy and would prob mean Matip is leaving

Yeah he's quality would be another big addition to our squad.

Pavard would be great!!  A huge upgrade over Gomez, Matip, and Phillips at CB.  Arguably an improvement over TAA at RB, and would allow Trent to move into CM if/when desired.  He would also give us a nice balance as a RCB if we decided to play with at back 3.

Sure is quiet on the transfer front. Starting to feel like any additional signings are going to take a while to sort out. Or maybe we'll get an out of the blue signing like the good old days. One no one saw coming.

Personally, I'm thinking we bring in one more midfielder and a CB. Couple with the players coming back from injury that's probably about all we can carry. Maybe a RB as well?

Reports we have offered 51 million for valverde hiw true I don't know. We don't normally here of offers only that the deal is complete so a pinch of salt needed. From the mailsport

Sure is quiet on the transfer front. Starting to feel like any additional signings are going to take a while to sort out. Or maybe we'll get an out of the blue signing like the good old days. One no one saw coming.

Personally, I'm thinking we bring in one more midfielder and a CB. Couple with the players coming back from injury that's probably about all we can carry. Maybe a RB as well?

Players on International duty and or Holiday now, maybe be a couple of weeks before we sign anyone else serious

I don't see us going for Pavard for the simple reason that I would expect us to be looking for a left-footed CB. I'm not ruling out 2 CBs being brought in (LCB and RCB), but if so then I think we'll spend more money on a left-footed LCB than we will on RCB. What I'm trying to say is that the need for seniority and quality is more urgent in that LCB spot than it is in that RCB spot which is manned by Konate and covered by Gomez. I think that we'll probably be looking to get a fee for Matip instead of losing him on a free next summer and we'll be looking for someone who is left-footed and can play CB and LCB and maybe fast and skilled enough to also cover as LB. Basically, that player would be competing with Robbo for that LCB and also serve as cover for that middle position VVD is playing.

The problem with this new system right now is that we're left with awkward questions about all our full-backs except Trent. Robbo can play that LCB position although he's not the ideal player for it, but what do you do? Do we spend big on a proper center-back that plays that position and relegate Robbo to the bench? If so then what do we do with Tsimikas who doesn't have the profile for that position at all? We also can't have a player for each position + cover for 2 different systems (that's just unrealistic).

Lots of questions Klopp and his staff will have to figure out and get right during this window. From a tactical point of view first in order to figure out exactly what is the system they are going into the new season with and then from transfer point of view as in who are the right players to bring in to make sure that system works well, but also who is now surplus to requirement after all that.

I don't see us going for Pavard for the simple reason that I would expect us to be looking for a left-footed CB. I'm not ruling out 2 CBs being brought in (LCB and RCB), but if so then I think we'll spend more money on a left-footed LCB than we will on RCB. What I'm trying to say is that the need for seniority and quality is more urgent in that LCB spot than it is in that RCB spot which is manned by Konate and covered by Gomez. I think that we'll probably be looking to get a fee for Matip instead of losing him on a free next summer and we'll be looking for someone who is left-footed and can play CB and LCB and maybe fast and skilled enough to also cover as LB. Basically, that player would be competing with Robbo for that LCB and also serve as cover for that middle position VVD is playing.

The problem with this new system right now is that we're left with awkward questions about all our full-backs except Trent. Robbo can play that LCB position although he's not the ideal player for it, but what do you do? Do we spend big on a proper center-back that plays that position and relegate Robbo to the bench? If so then what do we do with Tsimikas who doesn't have the profile for that position at all? We also can't have a player for each position + cover for 2 different systems (that's just unrealistic).

Lots of questions Klopp and his staff will have to figure out and get right during this window. From a tactical point of view first in order to figure out exactly what is the system they are going into the new season with and then from transfer point of view as in who are the right players to bring in to make sure that system works well, but also who is now surplus to requirement after all that.

I think Gomez may see more action if Klopp persists with playing without a RB. Obviously he is happy getting out to play in space and can shuffle back inside as a CB

I don't see us going for Pavard for the simple reason that I would expect us to be looking for a left-footed CB. I'm not ruling out 2 CBs being brought in (LCB and RCB), but if so then I think we'll spend more money on a left-footed LCB than we will on RCB. What I'm trying to say is that the need for seniority and quality is more urgent in that LCB spot than it is in that RCB spot which is manned by Konate and covered by Gomez. I think that we'll probably be looking to get a fee for Matip instead of losing him on a free next summer and we'll be looking for someone who is left-footed and can play CB and LCB and maybe fast and skilled enough to also cover as LB. Basically, that player would be competing with Robbo for that LCB and also serve as cover for that middle position VVD is playing.

The problem with this new system right now is that we're left with awkward questions about all our full-backs except Trent. Robbo can play that LCB position although he's not the ideal player for it, but what do you do? Do we spend big on a proper center-back that plays that position and relegate Robbo to the bench? If so then what do we do with Tsimikas who doesn't have the profile for that position at all? We also can't have a player for each position + cover for 2 different systems (that's just unrealistic).

Lots of questions Klopp and his staff will have to figure out and get right during this window. From a tactical point of view first in order to figure out exactly what is the system they are going into the new season with and then from transfer point of view as in who are the right players to bring in to make sure that system works well, but also who is now surplus to requirement after all that.

Great post and definitely interesting point about Pavard that I didn't think about before.

We can sign 2 more foreign players as it stands right now. After that, any more signings would have to be “homegrown”. 

Premier League Rules
Source: PL Website (stolen from Reddit)

A squad can contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil "Home Grown Player" criteria.
The remainder of the squad, up to a total of 25 players, must be home grown.
A "Home-Grown Player" means a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21).
If you don't have a Home-Grown Player, you can simply begin the season with 17 foreign players. If you want more players on your squad, up to a maximum of 25, they need to be home grown. So it is not a strict rule but given the number of matches and expected injuries, it is fair to expect each team will wish to utilize the 25-player limit by filling the squad with 8 home-grown players.

CL/EL/ECL Rules
European competitions have a stricter version of this rule. You can read the exact wording here at official UEFA site. I will paraphrase it below.

Maximum Squad Size: 25
Minimum Club-Trained players: 4
Minimum Association-Trained players: 8
Once again, there is no strict requirement. Just roll up with 17 foreign players, leave the other spots blank and the club is free to participate in the competition. The rules here make a distinction between "Club-Trained" and "Association-Trained" players.

Association-Trained players are Home-Grown players as above(with the exception that Welsh players no longer count as Association-Trained unless they played under FA pyramid; because Wales has a different Association; this exception shouldn't matter to top clubs anyway).

Club-Trained is the same definition as Home-Grown except the player had to spend their formative years at the specific club. This is to encourage academy investment and use, and mitigate top clubs just buying Association-Trained players and calling it a day.

Exceptions
Each competition further has exceptions on adding youngsters.

PL allows registering unlimited number of U-21 players, i.e. they do not take a spot on the squad list if they were born on or after January 1, 2002 (for season starting 2023)
CL/EL/ECL allows registering unlimited number of U-21 players IF they have been at the club for at least 2 years, starting from their 15th birthday.
LFC Squad
Foreign Player

1. Alisson
2. Adrian
3. van Dijk
4. Konate
5. Matip
6. Robertson
7. Tsimikas
8. Fabinho
9. Thiago
10. MacAllister
11. Jota
12. Gakpo
13. Diaz
14.  Nunez
15. Salah
16.
17.

Club-Trained (also Home-Grown) Player
1. Trent
2. Joe
3. Kelleher
4. Jones

Association-Trained (also Home-Grown) Player
1. Hendo
2.
3.
4.

Special Cases

Calvin Ramsay
Will not take a spot for next season in PL; however needs to be registered for UEFA as foreign-player
Will take a foreign-player spot in PL 2024/25 and beyond due to PL definition of season being "from the day the summer transfer window closes to the last league match of the season" (Source: PL Handbook) ; Will also take a foreign player slot for UEFA
Will qualify as club-trained player in CL/EL/ECL 2025/26 & beyond if PL 2025/26 starts in August due to UEFA definition saying "the season immediately following his 21st birthday may be counted if his birthday is on or after 1 July (winter championships) or 1 January (summer championships) but before the first match of the relevant national championship." (Ramsay's birthday is July 31; rule source is UEFA document)

Harvey Elliott
Qualifies as Club-Trained(and Home-Grown) starting this summer for both PL and UEFA.
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21

Stefan Bajcetic
Qualifies as Club-Trained(and Home-Grown) starting this summer for both PL and UEFA.
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21

Fabio Carvalho
Continues to qualify as Association-Trained(and Home-Grown) as usual
Does not need to be registered on either list for next season since he is still U-21
Will never qualify as Club-Trained in the future due to being signed a year late

Transfer Options

Current Squad Size: 20 (+2 in Elliott/Bajcetic who are club-trained but do not need to be registered for next season; +1 in Ramsay who is a complicated case; not counting Carvalho since it seems he is set to leave)
Foreign Spots available: 2 (if 2 new foreign signings do come in, Ramsay cannot be registered for Europe)
Homegrown spots: 6 club-trained players in Trent/Curtis/Kelleher/Joe/Harvey/Bajcetic starting from summer 2024 + 1 homegrown player in Hendo. Can always be supplemented with academy players if someone steps up to senior squad(or the old reliable in Nat and Rhys if they stay)


Contracts expiring in 2024: Adrian, Matip, Thiago
Contracts expiring in 2025: Trent, Salah, VVD, Hendo, Tsimikas, Nat Phillips

If we want a homegrown player, and are being priced out of Mount ( who I like but am a bit wary of with him not having played much lately with injuries), what about Eze at Crystal Palace? Every time I see him he looks the business.

Likewise, if Nice dont wanna sell Thuram, can see us looking at Eze as an alternative to him as well.

If we want a homegrown player, and are being priced out of Mount ( who I like but am a bit wary of with him not having played much lately with injuries), what about Eze at Crystal Palace? Every time I see him he looks the business.

Likewise, if Nice dont wanna sell Thuram, can see us looking at Eze as an alternative to him as well.

Agreed - looks a player who could be moulded to fit our system.

It's a case of Nice and Eze.

Agreed - looks a player who could be moulded to fit our system.

It's a case of Nice and Eze.

Oh damn, he did it 😂😂

Benching Robbo is mistake. He played in a defense that was failed by the midfield almost weekly, and of the two full backs, he was the stronger one (until TAA moved further forward). He also lost Mane and didn't have Jota / Diaz for the majority of the season.

Robbo is a key player when it comes to our energy of the field, and with the proper cover in midfield we know what he can do. I forsee us buying a few more midfielders and going back to a 4-3-3 anyway. Matip needs replacing, so I also see us getting a left footed CB (as we have a back up right footed one, and 3 that are predominantly right foot favored).

Robbo will rest up this summer and go again. Talk of replacing him is a few seasons off.

How come Arsenal can bid £100 million for Rice and still want Caicedo at the same time but we can't? It's not like Arsenal are an oil club either plus we are far more richer than them ? We should be matching their bids not looking for cheaper alternatives, I bet if Mac Allister didn't have that release clause we wouldn't have bid 70 million for him either.

Pearce now “reporting” that we are looking at bringing in another midfielder (maybe two if the price is right) no RB and possibly a CB.

Also states we will keep Matip and Thiago and let them leave in free transfers next summer. No real sales happening. 

How come Arsenal can bid £100 million for Rice and still want Caicedo at the same time but we can't? It's not like Arsenal are an oil club either plus we are far more richer than them ? We should be matching their bids not looking for cheaper alternatives, I bet if Mac Allister didn't have that release clause we wouldn't have bid 70 million for him either.

Who cares what Arsenal are doing as long as we get the players we want and need.

Why should we be matching their boss and spending extra money just to do so?

That logic is insane.

Who cares what Arsenal are doing as long as we get the players we want and need.

Why should we be matching their boss and spending extra money just to do so?

That logic is insane.

They are getting one of the best DM in the league plus bidding for one of the best young talents the world ? You telling me a player like Rice and Caicedo wouldn't take us to the next level ? these are the players we should be targeting if we want to challenge City and actually win stuff. Caicedo should be number priority he's exactly the type of player we need and Rice is the future replacement for Henderson/Fabinho.