As with all transfer windows, the true rating will come this time next year (on that note, last years window was a very generous 3/10, only salvaged cause we got good money for Kelly and the PSR jiggery pokery paid off in the end)
For now, I'll go with a 7. It would've been an 8 if the Osula deal to Frankfurt for 30m came to fruition.
Going into the window, my priorities were:
1: Raise the floor of the squad
2: New deal for Isak (womp womp)
3: Clear the deadwood
We succeeded in 2 of those and not signing Isak to a new deal was a blessing in disguise now we know more about his character.
We had 2 routes to go down with our budget, buy 2/3 purples or buy 5-7 solid players, some of whom have the potential to be purples. I'm happy with the route we chose, at this juncture we still struggle to attract purples and the drop off from our starters to bench players was quite stark, the squad depth is now remedied giving us a great platform to build upon next season.
Based on what we've seen so far and their form for previous clubs, every player we've brought looks to be an improvement who they're replacing, with the exception of Woltemade.
Elanga > Almiron. Seems like he will also play ahead of Murphy. I have high hopes for him to be the next player Howe turns into a purple.
Ramsdale > Dubravka. Time will tell if he usurps Pope. Not the bonafide No.1 we were all hoping for, but for a 4m loan fee and a reasonable option to buy, it was a no brainer.
Thiaw > Lascelles/Kelly. It doesn't look like he's an improvment on Schar yet but I can see this guy flourishing under Eddie, we need to be patient with him and not write him off if he has a few shaky games
Ramsey > Longstaff/Willock. If he can stay fit, this guy will be immense for us, a great asset who'll allow us to preserve Joelinton better.
Woltemade < Isak. Really excited to have him, he seems like a lovely lad (a mummys boy too). Isak is of course the better player right now, but after the shenanigans this summer I'm very happy we got him to fuck and Nick now has the chance to make himself a hero.
Wissa > Wilson. As clear of an upgrade as you'll ever see. Just a shame it took so long, he cost so much and acted like a fanny. But very happy to have him on board.
All upgrades bar Isak/Woldemade IMO but even then the striker department as a whole is an improvement. Isak was as good as useless by 60mins and Wilson was an empty jersey, so the starting 11 is probably weaker than last season, but the players we are bringing of the bench are better and we can sustain our high level of play throughout the 90 mins now.
I'm also very happy with the outgoings, none of them will be missed.
As for the Isak malarkey. It sickens me to my pit of my stomach that his cunty behaviour resulted in him, his bum agent and the dippers all getting what they wanted and we ended up taking less than the 150m we all hoped for whilst we had to pay through the nose for Wissa. But now the shock has worn off, I'm over it. People can accuse PIF of bending over for the cartel and I'm not going to argue against any fan who feels that way, I just think the fact that Howe and the squad wanted him gone and Isak was willing to go on strike until at least January forced their hand. PIF weren't going to allow a 9 figure asset depreciate his value any further and it isn't fair on Eddie and the squad to have this weapons-grade shitebag poisoning their enviroment. Liverpool are welcome to him, he has exposed what a venemous rat he is and he isn't the character who deserves to be in our dressing room, no matter how good he is (when he can be arsed).
Another negative was the string of humiliating rejections. This is what happens when we're fishing in the same pond as the cartel with a shitter fishing rod and less bait. In the end, we pulled a rabbit out of the hat with Woltemade who I actually would've chosen over Ekitike, Delap, Pedro & Sesko if given the choice at the start of the window.
Going forward, the most important signing we can make is a CEO & DoF. The club was a rudderless ship for much of the window and this could've turned into a disaster which set us back years had it not been pulled out of the fire late on with the Woltemade & Wissa deals. We are but a small tile on PIF's mosaic, any notion that Yasir is dealing with the day to day running of the club is fanciful. We need a custodian like Amanda was. The first thing the new CEO needs to do is to sort new deals for Tino, Tonali & Hall to make sure the cartel pay through the nose when they inevitably come sniffing. Some new scouts wouldn't go amiss either. It's concerning that we were willing to break our transfer record on Sesko and that we seem to working off the same list of targets from 2022. We're going to have to be a lot smarter and more creative than that!
This window has been fucking exhausting, thanks in no part to the tiresome shills like the pasta nonce, sycophantic cartel media talking heads and all the weird eScousers from everywhere but Liverpool. I'm so glad that I'm not on social media and I don't watch Sky Sports because the transfer window has become so fucking tedious. I'm relieved to not hear 'here we go' 'player only wants ....' until at least January. I really only get my football news from N-O and even that has been too much!
Overall, good window, the squad is in a good place. I trust Eddie to turn some of these stones into statues.
Met one of those today, newcomer at work. He was in the changing room and he was wearing a Leeds shirt, so of course I hit out the old "Aah Leeds, how come you support them? I'm a Newcastle fan, shit game this weekend wasn't it?" To which he replied. "Oh no, I'm actually a Liverpool fan, I like Leeds too, I just wear their jersey for the gym" Shame, I would've liked a pet Leeds fan at work