Everybody is for sale, kind of.
There are bounties on the heads of the majority of Liverpool players as we head into open season also known as the Summer transfer window.
Every single player has a price.
Chairmen may talk a big game but at the end of the day they’re just like every other salesman in life – they’re trying to talk up the price. The transfer window is just one gigantic car-boot sale but instead of the customary ‘I can really only sell that for £20″ it’s more of a “£20 million minimum offer”.
These players won’t be for sale as such, but if a reasonable offer arrives then you can almost guarantee the club would entertain it. Put it this way, if, for example, a £25 million bid came in for Jordan Henderson It’s unlikely the club will point blank put the phone down. It’s not so much “make me an offer I can’t refuse” but more of a “don’t offend me with this offer and maybe we can work something out” type of phone call.
That’s not to say Jordan Henderson has been bad or deserves to be sold either. That’s just looking at it from the perspective that Henderson is playing in a tweaked position this season that may not be his best in the long run. You could perhaps sign a player better suited to that role which in turn improves the team, all for less than what you’d sell Henderson for.
It’s these types of conundrums Liverpool have all over the team.
The Liverpool squad is in a state of limbo at the minute – there is lots of potential within the squad but at the same time most fans would sell 90% of the team if an adequate enough offer came in. You can make arguments for and against selling most of the squad, you could probably count on one hand the players we, the fans, would want to keep and build around unless a team is stupid enough to match what we ask for. The likes of Roberto Firmino, Emre Can and Philippe Coutinho fall into this category
Of course every single fan of every single club can name a player that would be an upgrade to their current squad in nearly every position. The problem Liverpool have is there’s a long list of players for most of the positions. Fans could name ten realistic upgrades on Simon Mignolet before you even finish asking them the question. The centre-back area is still a problem one, Alberto Moreno has his many critics, and the list goes on.
You can’t build a successful team on average foundations. The fact this side has been consistently inconsistent this season shows that they are spectacularly average and arrivals this summer will be the type to help them find consistency before pushing. Just because they’re an important member of the team now, an average team, doesn’t mean they’re irreplaceable and that’s the mentality the club should have going into the transfer window.
Jurgen Klopp is in an awkward position and it’s all down to the fact the team doesn’t really have a spine. They’re not his players but at the moment they’re his best players and as he’s not actively looking to sell these players (is it even legal to sell 20 players in a window?) he can’t afford to bring in replacements. The plan for will be to improve the squad this summer and potential outgoings will already be earmarked months in advance. There will be contingency plans in place, with potential targets for each position already indentified, for if a random bid arrives for a player Liverpool didn’t plan to sell. However, it won’t be straightforward as one in and one out and it’s up to Klopp to weigh up the impact such a sale would have on the squad.
Klopp will also want to rid the club of the deadwood before it starts to rot. We can’t have a Jose Enrique mkII scenario. High wages means the player is in a cushy position and it also means buying clubs aren’t keen on matching those wages. In what other line of work would you take a pay-cut but increase your work load? That’s what many want Jose Enrique to do.
There’s nobody as bad as Enrique yet but the likes of Martin Skrtel is probably nearing the dusk of his career were a team would pay genuine money to take him off of our hands. Soon he’ll be a squad player on first team wages and clubs won’t want to pay him what Liverpool do. There’s potential there for another Mexican stand-off.
James Milner could fall into this category. Although he’ll always be a handy utility player, should Liverpool really be paying £100,000+ per week  for it? It’s unlikely a team will match those wages so if he were to leave he’d be taking a pay-cut.
There’s plenty of excitement about the potential incomings this summer but the outgoings will be just as important to the long-term future of the club. Liverpool’s perennial transitional period has to come to an end and Klopp’s first summer in charge is the ideal place to kick it off.
To start with, our Defenders, need a complete overhaul. They must be made to believe that one motto you would not pass through me Mr. who you may be, this is my domain and you will be trespassing if breach it which I will not let you at any cost for the period of ninety plus minutes.Period!
I noticed that after last week’s Love Novella to the Striker (“Daniel Sturridge is Priceless, Selling Him would be Foolish”) followed by Sturrdige’s questionable performance versus Tottenham yesterday that Sam McGuire made no mention of Sturridge in this article. I’d have loved to seen what price tag Sam would have attached to the out-of-sorts Striker.
I’d still not sell Sturridge, out of sorts or not. Thanks for reading both articles by the way. Much appreciated.
There is no mention of the game some strikers like Sturridge are playing. He is playing selfish and poor just to bring his price down so that Liverpool would let him go, exactly as he did with Chelsea and what he taught Sterling to do.
Evidence of this is the latest in the news that West Ham is planning an offer of just 45M for him and Bentike.
We know that Bentike is worth an easy 25-30M for them simply because he suits their big man style of play. Is that to say that Sturridge who will be the utility energetic man is worth only 15-20M at best?
I would not put any price on any of our Players. Lets remember this has been our trade mark for some time, that we end up with nothing no improvements and no progress to our dotting position since the Premier intersection. We have lost so many very good players to other Teams through this kind of Developing our players and then ditch them.The Team that bought these players then came to smash us up.Our Manager must instill in this players that their job is to fight hard and win. Though we need fresh Legs but not to completely empty our pillars, if WestHam want a player they should go and develop their own.
There’s Talk of a Takeover from a Middle Eastern Consortium and who are willing to provide Jurgen Klopp with A treasure Chest of Funds to Bank Role who ever he feels the Club Require to Play Champion League football and compete for the Premiership and at last compete with the Man City or Chelsea’s for Players !!! But what is Different Between Klopp and other Previous Liverpool Managers is Klopp can Attract Top Players who want to play
For him and the Club so what’s Needed ?? Well here Go’s Firstly A Top GK To replace Mignolet so someone like Marc Andre Ter-Stegen
Then a New Partner for Matipo to join him in CD ideally with Pace and height and maybe another LB even though Gomez will be fit for next season and could certainly fill that spot and RB is Covered ..
Midfield mmm in my eyes still Need a Powerful DM and still not found that Top Wide/Winger yet but let’s bring in reinforcements to help Build around Coutinho and Firmino and 3ven Can who’s been a different player under Klopp and hopefully true that Gotze wants to work under Klopp again and that leaves Strikers !! as Again I think If we get a decent Offer for Benteke he will be gone as not a Klopp type of player as Not busy enough so let’s go out for Lacazette and spend £30m if that’s what needed to Buy this Young Speedster and great Finisher we do get Ings Back who again personally I think could be a Liverpool player for a long time who commit’s 100% and who is always hurrying the defence and a also a great finisher and who reminds me of a R Fowler !!
So I totally Believe at Last we have manager who can Attract Top Players and will get the Best out of the players but Needs Backing financially so FSG Break the Bank and give Klopp the money required and let him get rid of the DeadWood
And part with some of that Cash that you give to your Baseball Club The Boston Reds every year 100’s of Millions !!! YNWA
People think that LFC changing hands would do the trick for us not all, The present owner has done what need to be done. You can bring in the Sultan of Barain or what ever and go out to buy all the best Players in the world without these players knows their responsibility it won’t meant a thing.