oldtype

At the end of the day if Howe thinks he should be sold at 130m and no other club out there is willing to bid higher, I think that’s a pretty good indication that it’s not a terrible deal.

Don’t think Chelsea would have bothered recalling him back from Germany unless they felt strongly that they need him.

We sold Andy Carroll to the same club on deadline day afternoon. At the time it was the record for a British player, a Liverpool club record, and the eighth largest transfer in world history.

I’d take Jackson and 80m for Isak.

“Time to leak to the media that our final offer is 130m” ”okay, I’ll get Craig Hope on the phone” ”No, fuck Liverpool. Give me Luke Edwards.”

“We’re conveying our asking price through Luke Edwards. That’s how little we think of you.”

I’ll note that another reason I’m warming to the idea of cashing in at 120-130m to Liverpool is that nobody else in Europe seems to value him at anything remotely close to that price.

The money isn’t there though, because of the idiot shithead rules that prevent us from spending money we already have.

I’m a lot more concerned about having to sell our best players because we don’t monetize Isak at the peak of our value and get screwed by PSR because his dead money is on our books than I am about selling players because of our reputation as a “selling club.” Every club gets targeted by “bigger” clubs (even Liverpool itself). In all likelihood Bruno and Sandro have already been tapped up by a half dozen different places. They’re just not reacting to it like Isak because they’re not idiot coward shitheads.

I think a lot about the Carroll deal these days with Isak. Obviously a very different decision process because of our shitbag owner at the time, but in retrospect we sold him at the peak of his value and it turned out to be a poorly thought out panic buy for Liverpool. I would have never believed that if you told me that is what would happen on the day the deal went through. It genuinely felt like the worst thing I’d ever experienced as a supporter. But with the benefit of hindsight, it turned out to be a good decision for the club (not that it matters since we were hopeless anyway). I think selling Isak tomorrow has the potential to work out similarly. He’s better than Carroll ever was and he won’t be a complete flop, but very few players are actually worth 100m+ and we will have people in place now that can ensure that money is reinvested and reinvested well.

Andy Carroll was sold on deadline day.

If anything is going to happen tomorrow at a minimum personal terms with the player will have to be already agreed. It’s very rare for that to happen without some kind of leak to the press.

Not playing actual league games/not attending the PFA awards (the latter not because I care about the PFA awards, but because it demonstrates that he’s willing to cut off his nose to spite his face).

I just want to avoid the extreme downside risk scenario, which is that he feigns an injury to sit out all season or is so utterly rancid on the pitch that we’ll struggle to get a good fee for him next summer. Normally I’d say the chances of that are negligible but I now think this guy is both stupid enough and petty enough to do it. With the harsh nature of PSR, that would essentially be a death blow to our competitive window and could set us back years. And even setting the extreme scenario aside, I don’t think he’ll ever be worth 120-130m again on the open market. Bigger clubs will always be sniffing around our best players regardless of whether or not we sell this idiot to Liverpool. And not all of them will react as poorly as he has. It’s not worth it to risk complete disaster just to save face and stick it to him. If an improved bid comes in, we should accept.

That’s a very long way of saying “it could happen but it could also not happen”

I’d always bet on nothing happening on deadline day over something happening. Deals take a lot time to arrange, it’s possible that we already have something in the works that hasn’t leaked to the press at all, but I wouldn’t bet on it. American sports transfer deadlines tend to be more exciting because you can trade players without their consent so technically you could cook something up within a hour and phone it into the league office. Football isn’t like that at all, too many moving parts.

We’re short on registration slots, especially for the CL. Can’t see us signing anyone unless someone goes out. (Isak being the most likely)

Still waiting in vain for a surprise club to emerge for Isak.

Normally I’d say no way he doesn’t play after the window closes, but he may be dumb enough and petulant enough to do it.

I don’t feel great about what Wissa is doing either but I have to say, that is somehow still a much better statement than Isak’s

There’s a reason elite players like this never actually go on strike: they are all wired to be homicidally competitive. They think they’re the best in the world and want to remind everyone of that fact every single week. They can’t stand the idea of sitting out games that matter, losing match fitness, and having their season long stats impacted by that. I can’t think of a single truly great player in any sport that has acted like this guy has acted this summer. In addition to being a dick move, it tells me that he’s mentally weak and not invested in being the best. If he really wants the move, he should be showing up and scoring every week, and screaming “pay up and get me Liverpool” to the touchline camera while he celebrates. I just don’t want a dude with this kind of mental makeup to be our best player. They can have him.

After the game today I’m starting to get a little nervous about the fact that this guy is not a prolific goal scorer type and is known for not shooting unless it’s a clear cut chance in the box

Hopefully for the last time: fuck Isak.

This transfer window feels like it’s been twenty years long. So ready for it to end.

We always forget during the offseason that Eddie likes doing crazy shit with the formations once every few games. It doesn’t seem to do anything meaningful most of the time but I assume he has his reasons.