Nine

And Liverpool have a chance to demolish Evertons GD a bit more, its a good day.

Van de Beek must be feeling pretty fucking stupid right about now..

Thats a shame, I remember a couple years ago he was meant to be a big prospect. Wonder what went wrong there? Has he had injury issues?

Nah thats not my thinking at all, nothing to do with the way Ashley ran the club. Im looking at how Howes tried to change the culture around the place since he came in and the amazing job hes done with it, hes got the team and fans feeling united for the first time in a long time all credit to him. The best way to fuck that up in the dressing room would be to bring in players on big wages, Bruno is on just over 100k pw if the reports on that are correct so I'd say somewhere around 120k this summer will our limit. I never moved goalposts I only said 200k as an out of reach example Like I said im happy to be wrong, maybe Eddie and co think we can push the boat out already because of the great work hes done so far with the players he might feel that its doable which would be a big step forward. We'll see soon enough.

Yeah im aware this is common practise in football, players obviously will get an idea of what other players make at the club though. I think the Messi Barca comparison is a bit different to where we are right now lol, just out of interest and for the sake of it - hypothetically say we get offered Benzema this summer but he'd want 350k pw, do you think we'd say yes?

Scouse mackems crying

Im not so sure

This summer 200k is to much imo, dressing rooms can be fragile especially when it comes to money and ego.

Concrete 120k, not a penny more. That guy completely missed the point anyway and got flustered about numbers, I think he had to scratch Mbappe off of his wishlist.

I agree with that to an extent, a push towards mid 100ks maybe at most. But as I said before - players on 200k or more this summer? No way. Im happy to be wrong like

Im in the minority on here thinking we wont break the low-mid 100ks this summer then, I guess time will tell. I just feel its not about what we CAN pay players, its what we will pay players.. not a case on if we can afford it, its a case of keeping the squad harmony intact.

Not always though, Bruno is on under that number. Its going to happen alright but I think that moving over that kind of number (120k) this summer in comparison to where the rest of our squad is would be moving to quickly and be a big risk as far as upsetting our current core of players, next summer? Sure, it will move upwards again.. maybe at a push we could see mid 100ks this summer? If Howe and co feel thats a safe move at this point then it would be great, I just cant see it personally. Like I said the first couple of signings will set the tone.

Was that Cornet sat with Pace and his wife?

I agree on big fees just not big wages, its much harder/slower moving to move upwards in the wage bracket than it is with transfer fees. It wouldnt be crazy to see a 150m+ spend this summer as we need big upgrades in expensive positions (ST, RW, DM/CM), the first 1 or 2 signings will be exciting to say the least as it will give us a real idea of the type of players they have been looking at.

Not crazy but its unreasonable to expect it I think, for this summer anyway.

Are you okay? I used 200k as a round number that would be out of our reach, I said multiple times that around 120k would be our limit.

Ah, someone who understands.

Indeed you are

And thats exactly what I said after that sentence that you quoted - 'a few brought in on around 100k this summer then next summer moving upwards into the mid 100ks and so on'. Are you intentionally being ignorant? I mentioned 200k as a round number that players like Countinho and the like would be on, to expect players on these wages is crazy. Im sorry if you think thats the route we'll take but its not. You seem flustered, its okay.

What? Thats exactly what I mean, people have mentioned Coutinho on the last page and he would be on around that number of 200k. Its an example. Around 120k will be our limit this summer. Its not me that is wrong

Just doesnt work like that lol, dressing rooms full of pro football players are a bit more complicated than that. Our wage structure will slowly progress upwards over a number of seasons, you dont just bring in players on 200k+ a week when your current core of players dont even earn half of that.. a few brought in on around 100k this summer then next summer moving upwards into the mid 100ks and so on. We are years out from being able to offer top players top wages and thats just the way it is, it will all progress as organically as it can with the amounts of money involved.

Howe has been very carefully creating a good feeling of unity around the dressing room since he came in, I cant remember a team feeling this united before. Number one way to fuck that up? Bring in new players on 200k a week. The current core of our squad earn less than 70/80k pw, we might see a player or two brought in on around 120k pw but expect more than that and you're dreaming.

The problem isnt really transfer fees, its that we must progress carefully with wage structure. Forget about players that would be on anywhere over 120k a week.

But it just doesnt work like that, football isnt that simple unfortunately