sushimonster85

He's basically just the final form of Joe Hart. Great shot stopper. Can't play out from the back at all.

Also.. us. We came up from the then division 1, spent big money and finished third in our first season. Dropped off slightly in the second, then spent big again and were title challengers within a couple years of being promoted.

We were literally in the top 4/6 at various points during the Shepherd years. Ambition wasn't the issue during Shepherd, it's was general incompetence by decision makers above the manager.

There is 0% chance Pep wants Donnarumma like. Unless he is planning an overhaul on how they play next season.

Once again, last season he scored the same number of non-pen goals as Isak. No, he isn't Isak level, but to say he is no where near is just wrong.

I mean.. he was coming deep a lot last season at times, it's not like it's something he isn't already doing.

Yeah, but Isak showed last season it very much can be part of his. His passing and general vision is massive overlooked. In a situation where they're both playing together it would be Isak who's give the licence to drop deep/operate more freely, with Wissa being the outright number 9.

First, I wouldn't assume that Isak and Wissa can't play together. It's a little more one dimensional than say Isak and Ekitike/Pedro, but I can see a world where we are playing a variation of 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2 with both playing together. But even if it is as an alternative, with the volume of games we will be playing, he won't be sitting on the bench a lot. We need to be in a position where we aren't afraid to rest Isak, even in the league. And when you have one the previous seasons top finishers as a squad option, it's much easier to stand Isak down when say a Burnley or Leeds come to SJP the weekend after big CL game.

Only Salah scored more non-pen goals than Wissa last season. Not really sure why some people are shitting on this move the way they are. Is he not a fashionable enough name?

One of the other issues with his age is, if both ourselves and Spurs are offering the same wage, he will go to the club where he won't have to uproot his family to move to.

I can see them having to maybe compromise on price (a little) if he is going to push for a move. Which this would seem to indicate. Makes sense, at his age he probably believes this is his last shot at getting a move like this.

It is a huge chunk, but it should (should...) be doable. He is on 120k currently, right? So it's a 170k increase. We have lost Longstaff and Wilson's wages, that should get close to covering his increase. It's just how close are we to our limit and how does that effect signing other players.

Doesn't matter who it's coming from, was also obvious 300k p/w was going to be the minimum he was after. If we are going to price him like one of the best players in the world he is within his right to demand to be paid like one.

It would be very on brand for us to attempt to play moneyball in a sport where moneyball doesn't work.

Find it ironic that, after becoming the 'richest club in the world', there has only really been two windows I've actually enjoyed. And those were the first two. One of which (Jan) was enjoyed but still had the threat of relegation looming. Every other one I've gone into optimistic, then after a few weeks just been counting down the days till it ends. The above isn't even a massive reflection on recruiment (though I think big questions will need to be asked this Summer if Elanga ends up being the only addition), but rather the fucking transfer discourse on social media. It's just non-stop bullshit all the time. Then when any journo does pop up with a source, the spin around it from all sides starts up and that becomes unbearable. Like, at least back in the Ashley days we didn't have to deal with any of this shite. I'd kill to go back to moment in time where I didn't know who/what Anfield Agenda, AFTV, or fucking Mark Goldbridge was.

I'd say the general level of intelligence amongst elitie players is probably similar to the general level of intelligence across the general population. Yes, you can argue they miss out on a high education, but at the very top levels of the game they have to deal with: Complex tactical ideas, and adapt those from club to club/manager to manager. Run the business that is their life. Yes, they delegate to agents/managers etc. But that isn't too different from how the head of a business delegates to department heads in said business.

To be fair, given the various different forms of PSR and squad cost rules in the PL and UEFA competitions, it is increasingly becoming more like rocket science.

Yeah. Obviously impossible to know got sure what happened. But feels like they had that transfer summit with the Saudis at the end of the season. The one where Howe came out bullish, saying everyone was on the same page and we needed to act quickly, and suddenly Mitchell was off. My (not at all informed) theory is that the PIF essentially decided to go with Howes plan (pricey known quantities, ideally with PL experience) over Mitchell's (young, European based with high potential). We had heard over the last 12 months that the plan was to look at the European market for youngsters with a high upside, but lower initial fee. Then suddenly we get to Summer and it's PL experience, big fees etc, and Mitchell walked.

We were warned this was going to be the case all Summer. Yet here we all are, still shitting the bed.

This is the main reason we can't sell him. There's no way to replace him. At least not a way that doesn't involve having to make big changes to how we play, which will likely need spending in other areas as well as striker.

He may have better goal stats, but between Pedro and now Ekitike, I think it's clear we're looking at a different profile of player. One that can play off/around Isak.

With everything going on at the moment, bumping this to the top of the board based on no update ought to be a captial offence.

Those two Romano updates back to back make it very clear who's briefing him..

Obviously the best/funniest outcome to all this is us with both players next season. But a pretty close second best scenario is us keeping Isak. If Ekitike wants to go there, let them crack on if it means no more Isak chat.

I know it likely won't play out like this, but I think I'd laugh so hard I'd explode if we essentially leave Liverpool on read, sign Ekitike, then tell them to do one and twat the league with both of them next season.