KaKa

Howe now has the people he trusts the most in charge of transfer negotiations. It will be up to him to let them know when to pivot to other options, if things are at a point of no return. I think it will be fine.

I think we'll get a better idea of how things are looking in a few weeks. The money's there and the main conflict regarding signings has been resolved, and so I'd be surprised if it's anything like last summer.

Hard to say that if we didn't know what the original asking price was. It may have been premium to you, but that may have still been the lower end of what the other club originally asked for. Or in some cases, perhaps having failed to bring the price down, they just opted to go for it. Does that then mean they should never have tried to negotiate?!

Well if we haven't learnt from that then we'll get what we deserve. Howe also did say that they did have other options but they weren't widely reported at the time.

I'm sure we'll pivot at some point if things aren't progressing, but it's still early days. Usually negotiations wouldn't even start if the gap in valuations is too big, and the sellers are not open to any discussions. I think this was likely the case with Mbeumo.

Selling clubs absolutely start with their highest price early on and you negotiate them down from there. Especially if there is no other interest at that starting price as the window rolls on. That is standard man.

If you don't know what players we are after then why are there such expectations on when we should have business done by? And what are these smart deals you think we should have done? Also, how do you suggest we force other clubs to accept our valuations without any drawn out negotiations?

Evidently it is, for the players we're interested in.

A lot of the early deals either involved release clauses, or teams that wanted to add players before the club world cup, either because they were in it, or they were trying to get deals done ahead of other clubs that are in the competition and we're trying to do deals themselves.

So basically people would prefer we pay what clubs are asking to get players in now, even if we know valuations are at their peak because it's early in the window? Or you'd prefer we pivot to options further down the list that are cheaper just so we can get them in early? Is this really the approach we should be going with?

We may have to sell just for the betterment of people's wellbeing. Not sure this fan base can handle having this calibre of player.

Pretty comfortable missing out on Guehi. He's good, but don't feel he was one we had to do everything to land.

Almost. Tapsoba to Newcastle, Quansah to Leverkusen, Guehi to Liverpool, Diomande to Palace.

Anthony Taylor with the hasty red card in the Club World Cup

Even against that MLS team the other night it was typical Madueke ... fluffing opportunities in the final third over and over. Really gone off the idea of signing him over the past year.

Our recruitment team and coaching staff would make it work by reinvesting the money and improving the team in multiple areas, I agree.

Our better players have done well enough that the top clubs across the continent will be interested. If we do decide to move any for more financial wiggle room, the one rule should be to not sell to any of the top Premier League clubs, even if it means we have to get a little less money. That is the only thing I think we need to be very strong on. They banded together to make things difficult for the club to progress, and so let's return the favour and keep that going.

There's a good chance a lot of this speculation is from his agent's side. Considering there's ongoing discussions regarding a new contract for him. As it helps apply pressure. If a new contract can't be agreed, just agree with him to go to Barcelona or whichever club abroad next summer. He cannot be sold to any other club in the Premier League. Would be pretty unacceptable IMO.

This is very good news. We need to continue to aim to bring in promising young players. Good to know they were Nickson moves.

Al-Hilal are showing Real up at times here Milenkovic Savic is so so good man.

Been a really decent game.

I think you guys really over think this London thing. You'll only ever here from the players that care about this sort of thing and not those that don't, so it skews your perception. Think you'd be surprised by how many of them aren't really trying to be out and about like that all the time.

Never understood the end of June thing. So weird.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/4596392/2023/06/09/alexis-mac-allister-transfer-liverpool/ "Liverpool knew there was a clause in the new contract Mac Allister signed last October which would help facilitate a move this summer — but they weren’t the only ones." "The clause meant that negotiations with Brighton were always going to be straightforward. The priority was getting personal terms agreed and a five-year contract was finalised after Gemelli flew to the UK last weekend, along with Carlos and Alexis." "Exactly how much Liverpool will pay for Mac Allister remains unclear with the two clubs agreeing that the fee would be undisclosed. Sources close to the player’s camp — who, like all throughout this piece, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships/their positions — indicated that the figure paid to Brighton is as low as £35million. Sources on the south coast claimed the deal would cost Liverpool up to £55million. Liverpool have remained tight-lipped, but sources have told The Athletic it was a one-off fee to Brighton with no add-ons and that the £35million figure is more accurate than £55m."

MacAllister had a release clause in his contract, which was why he went for the lower fee.