In reply to jeffk Hate that he went to a "sports washing" league but glad that he is going to get PAID. Go cash in on one last big pay day, Bobby! I wish you nothing but the best

In reply to YNWA.2013

YNWA.2013 said:

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Our current selection of midfielders (with ages):
- Fabinho (29)
- Thiago (32)
- Szoboszlai (22)
- Alexis (24)
- Henderson (33)
- Jones (22)
- Harvey Elliott (20)
- Bajcetic (18)

With the latter three still very young and in varying stages of development, I don't see how we can sell either Thiago or Hendo. We need Henderson for Home Grown numbers and I think Thiago would benefit from not being relied on week in, week out at this stage in his career. It will suck to lose him for nothing but Liverpool have made a nasty habit of letting our players' contracts run out and walking away for free, so what is one more at this point? Rumor is that we are content with this crop of midfielders for this upcoming season and the only way we sign another midfielder is if one leaves. If we are able to sell Thiago (and maybe Nat Phillips) to raise funds for a Gravenberch, Thuram, Gabri Veiga, or Barella, etc then I say it's worth it. Otherwise, if we offload him and don't bring in a replacement, we are an injury or two away from being desperate (a la 2020-21 season when all our CBs died).

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I don't think we should sell Hendo but Thiago should go if we could get anything decent for him. Hell I'd bring in James Michael Edward Ward-Prowse in even though he's 28. 3 years left on his deal, Englishman so that helps with the European league roster, and he's a very consistent player that is available. Plus he has 5 names so it's almost like signing 2 players at once.

Cujo scored the game winning goal in the u21 finals (off his ass) and was definitely one of the best players in the entire tournament. He played as a deep lying midfielder for most of the tourney. Kids got a great future in Red, no transfer fees necessary.

In reply to AG@RICE I've been trying and failing to find video of the goal. Plenty of the penalty saves at the end, but nothing for the goal.

In reply to jeffk

In reply to YNWA.2013 Thanks!

Well ****

🚨 Jordan Henderson leaning towards accepting life-changing Al Ettifaq offer. 33yo set to decide imminently. Would quadruple Liverpool wages. Gerrard driving pursuit. If Henderson approves, clubs will immediately hold talks on deal @TheAthleticFC #LFC #SPL https://t.co/cAm84DJ6CK

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 12, 2023

He's been captain for at least 10 yrs, no?

I love Hendo but I 100% believe the team is more talented with him gone, maybe not better straight away but him leaving fixes a sudden logjam in midfield.

Hope he stays but ok if he doesn't

In reply to Spaceball 1

Spaceball 1 said:

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I love Hendo but I 100% believe the team is more talented with him gone, maybe not better straight away but him leaving fixes a sudden logjam in midfield.

Hope he stays but ok if he doesn't

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I hope he goes. I really like him and have enjoyed watching all that he's done for the club but he's lost a step. I want to see our roster turn over and casualties like Hendo just make sense. At least we'd get a transfer fee for him!

Reported that he's being offered 700K a week.

Be dumb to turn that down. He's already 33 years old.

In reply to Spaceball 1 I agree, I feel like the squad is going to be better off with him gone. We have a lot of youth and he had no business getting as many minutes as he did last year.

We'll be fine if he leaves. I just really like the guy and hate to see him go. Plus I think he contributes a ton to the mentality and character of the squad even as his playing ability and minutes decrease.

In reply to jeffk This. Our most senior midfielder should not be Thiago. Hendo does so much more off the pitch than he does on it

Count me in the minority, but I don't want to lose Hendo yet. His leadership is really valuable in this transition. I'd much prefer to lose Thiago.

Confirmed by Fabrizio Romano so it's a matter of time now:

Quote:

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BREAKING: Jordan Henderson has accepted Al Ettifaq proposal. There's verbal agreement in principle. Contract agreed.

Deal now depends on Liverpool and Al Ettifaq discussing on the fee, no chance to let him leave for free.

Hendo spoke to Klopp today and there's green light.

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Fabinho might be next.

🚨 Al-Ittihad set to make concrete bid to sign Fabinho from Liverpool for £40m. Expected to develop fast one way or other. Key issue for #LFC is letting No6 go without replacement but working on this - Romeo Lavia among multiple options @TheAthleticFC #SPL https://t.co/kZJO2Xu5IT

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) July 13, 2023

Good for him. I'd rather him stay one more year though. What I'm most concerned with is losing our top two leaders in the same summer. That's a big leadership void to fill. I'm sure we'll be fine, but we'll need VVD, Mo, TAA, etc. to step up and get into guys faces. Kind of surprised as he's got a shot at Euros next summer, but I guess he could see the writing on the wall that he wouldn't get enough minutes (I still think he'd get more than we think) and is going to cash out instead. They've got to negotiate a fee. He's got 2-years left on his deal.

Oil FC wants Fab as well.

In reply to Unemployed I saw that earlier too. Not sure how I feel about it. I think he's worth a little more than 40M GBP, but it would be tempting. Although, that would mean we would need to sign 3 more midfielders. Two to replace Hendo and Fabinho + the one more we already need. Rumors around the Twitter-verse suggest Lavia is who we want to sign once the Henderson deal is finalized. I am a big fan of Gravenberch. If we could bring him in and Thuram (rumors suggesting Liverpool think their price is too high) in conjunction with Lavia would be a great transfer window.

Otherwise, our midfielder selection is:
- Fabinho (29)
- Thiago (32)
- Szoboszlai (22)
- Alexis (24)
- Henderson (33)
- Jones (22)
- Harvey Elliott (20)
- Bajcetic (18)
+ Lavia (19)
+ Gravenberch (21)
+ Thuram (22)

What a transformation that would be. Minus Thiago, our oldest MF would be Alexis at 24. I am cautious to make too many changes all in one window. (Although I think we could use another defender as that is another problem waiting to happen with Matip and VvD getting up there in age). The teams that have been successful over a long period of time (United in the 2000s) made one or two changes every window to tweak the team just enough to keep them hungry. Our problem is we have made like three significant changes in the last 7 windows

In reply to eiggA2002 Minutes and club form don't mean anything to Southgate. See Maguire, Pickford, and Kalvin Phillips continuing to get selected.

Idk, this all feels really icky. These guys are already super wealthy, so it's not just chasing an "good opportunity." They're basically cashing lotto ticket they don't really need. I don't want to be too hard on the players, but also, they could just say no and be absolutely fine.

Also real hard to fathom how Hendo's charitable work promoting inclusion of LGBTQ folks is going to fly in frixking Saudi Arabia.

And they're not going to stop with a couple of aging stars either. They'll start collecting young prospects next.

In reply to YNWA.2013

YNWA.2013 said:

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I saw that earlier too. Not sure how I feel about it. I think he's worth a little more than 40M GBP, but it would be tempting. Although, that would mean we would need to sign 3 more midfielders. Two to replace Hendo and Fabinho + the one more we already need. Rumors around the Twitter-verse suggest Lavia is who we want to sign once the Henderson deal is finalized. I am a big fan of Gravenberch. If we could bring him in and Thuram (rumors suggesting Liverpool think their price is too high) in conjunction with Lavia would be a great transfer window.

Otherwise, our midfielder selection is:
- Fabinho (29)
- Thiago (32)
- Szoboszlai (22)
- Alexis (24)
- Henderson (33)
- Jones (22)
- Harvey Elliott (20)
- Bajcetic (18)
+ Lavia (19)
+ Gravenberch (21)
+ Thuram (22)

What a transformation that would be. Minus Thiago, our oldest MF would be Alexis at 24. I am cautious to make too many changes all in one window. (Although I think we could use another defender as that is another problem waiting to happen with Matip and VvD getting up there in age). The teams that have been successful over a long period of time (United in the 2000s) made one or two changes every window to tweak the team just enough to keep them hungry. Our problem is we have made like three significant changes in the last 7 windows

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Agree with all this. I like that midfield long term, but what a disruption of club leadership and chemistry. Could be some more short term pain before the new group really starts to click.

Hopefully there are some lessons learned from the shortcomings of the roster improvement approach the last few years.

In reply to jeffk Oh I happen to agree. It all doesn't feel right in my bones. I don't know how I would react to being offered the kind of money some these players are reportedly being offered. But I don't blame the players themselves. Cashing in on your talent and making generational wealth kind of money does not come around very often. To make 3-5x your current salary for a 2 year commitment would be hard to turn down and I don't envy the moral dilemma these players must now navigate. The governmental bodies though should step in. I don't know what rules need to be set or how they'd even be enforced. But money is undefeated against morality [See LIV vs PGA, Newcastle takeover, Man City vs FFP, Saudi bid for Man U].

You're right though. They will not stop at "aging stars" and will soon poach more "up and coming" players. Don't be surprised when they spread their sports washing to different sports and reach across the Atlantic. NBA, NFL, heck even college football.

I'm trying to figure out I wasn't even aware of a Saudi league until Ronaldo signed. I can't tell how large the rock is that I was living under.

In reply to jeffk Given what's motivating him to move to Saudi Arabia, the cynic in me says that his charitable work was never about the work but more about increasing his profile and lining his pockets.

In reply to Dre_00 Yeah, quite possibly. Also, that's super sucky!

In reply to jeffk

jeffk said:

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Idk, this all feels really icky. These guys are already super wealthy, so it's not just chasing an "good opportunity." They're basically cashing lotto ticket they don't really need. I don't want to be too hard on the players, but also, they could just say no and be absolutely fine.

Also real hard to fathom how Hendo's charitable work promoting inclusion of LGBTQ folks is going to fly in frixking Saudi Arabia.

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There is less abstraction here than through the more traditional European leagues, but Middle Eastern oil money is all over the sport as is. How many other real pieces of crap own MLS teams and throw big money at late career international stars(looking at you Riccardo Silva)? The difference is all facade, imo.

In reply to coastalAg No, it's not the same.

You're absolutely right that other scumbags own teams and leagues, but most of those other scumbags still have to play by the same economic principles. When you mix-in state ownership, that's a fundamentally different model.

In reply to YNWA.2013

YNWA.2013 said:

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I saw that earlier too. Not sure how I feel about it. I think he's worth a little more than 40M GBP, but it would be tempting. Although, that would mean we would need to sign 3 more midfielders. Two to replace Hendo and Fabinho + the one more we already need. Rumors around the Twitter-verse suggest Lavia is who we want to sign once the Henderson deal is finalized. I am a big fan of Gravenberch. If we could bring him in and Thuram (rumors suggesting Liverpool think their price is too high) in conjunction with Lavia would be a great transfer window.

Otherwise, our midfielder selection is:
- Fabinho (29)
- Thiago (32)
- Szoboszlai (22)
- Alexis (24)
- Henderson (33)
- Jones (22)
- Harvey Elliott (20)
- Bajcetic (18)
+ Lavia (19)
+ Gravenberch (21)
+ Thuram (22)

What a transformation that would be. Minus Thiago, our oldest MF would be Alexis at 24. I am cautious to make too many changes all in one window. (Although I think we could use another defender as that is another problem waiting to happen with Matip and VvD getting up there in age). The teams that have been successful over a long period of time (United in the 2000s) made one or two changes every window to tweak the team just enough to keep them hungry. Our problem is we have made like three significant changes in the last 7 windows

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I say just sell them all if there's a way to get great value, which the Saudis are splashing cash like crazy. I know it basically resets our entire midfield, and there will be growing pains, but our roster will be set for awhile. I think we still make top 4 with all the changes but I'd be fine if we didn't next year. Our roster just simply wasn't managed well and it killed us last year.

It's also not $700k/week. It's closer to $300k/week. It's tax free so it's 3-4x what he gets net in the UK. And they can pound sand (haha) if they think they can get him for little to no fee.

Really interesting read about the Saudi league here. Tweet thread is good too, but the article was excellent.

How Saudi Arabia’s Thirst for Footballers has Unleashed Chaos in the Transfer Market

Privileged to join ⁦@RorySmith⁩ and ⁦@ahmed⁩ to report on this. Not sure how many more occasions there will be.

via @NYTimes https://t.co/qlzRWVFWXd

— tariq panja (@tariqpanja) July 13, 2023

In reply to jeffk For posting this!

In reply to jeffk Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy his writing.

In reply to jeffk Much appreciated! Very helpful read.