Keegans Export

Omar Berrada already in his DMs

This summer has been particularly transparent. The two highest net spenders were the teams that finished 1st and 2nd last season. We, supposedly with the shackles off after multiple windows with little to no investment, were outspent by each by over £100m and had to sell arguably our best player to one of them.

On the whole yes, we don't want too many players with limited resale value, but that shouldn't stop us from doing deals like this. Wissa's goals could be the difference between progressing further in the CL and/or qualifying again and not. That would easily cover the extra £20-25m he cost versus a more risky move that may not have paid off.

I suppose that's the unknown, how close were the club to making these decisions before Eales was taken ill? If they basically had the majority of the background work done a year ago but now want to hold off to allow a new CEO to discuss/amend/sign off the plans then we'll hear something very soon. If we were still miles off confirming anything then the "imminent" arrival of Hopkinson isn't going to suddenly lead to a load of announcements.

Turns out the old "Closed for business" press release at 10am on Deadline Day wasn't so bad after all #stress #bringbackAshley

Let's hope they haven’t copied that 13-man line-up from earlier

Head polish then

I've checked four times and I still haven't convinced myself that isn't a parody account

Champions League squad is only 21 players isn’t it?

Wissa was my #1 target for a while but then the price kept going up, then the whinging on Instagram...

If the ultimate aim is now finishing top 7 and winning the occasional cup I'd take it tbf. It's the bravado I'm not keen on, over-promise and under-deliver. Don't publicly say your goal is to be "number one" and then baulk at every major decision and investment.

Less Isak’s remaining book value we've made about £75m then

Do we have enough spaces in the squad for both without someone else out the door?

You know what, same here. At the moment I'm looking forward to seeing how we spend this windfall - obviously a quality striker is vital but it gives us more leeway than we've had in years for the windows ahead. We've shown we can spend well & now we'll have the funds to do it.

If the transfer window closes and our only strikers are an un-proven 23-year-old with one good top flight season behind him & William Osula I will seriously question what our ambitions actually are. The money to an extent is neither here nor there, £130m, £150m, whatever, it's an opportunity to invest heavily into the squad. But to leave us so short up-front after what happened the last time we were in the Champions League is unforgivable m

Someone made a great suggestion earlier in the thread - Liverpool can negotiate with Wolves/Brentford on our behalf and the price for Isak is £100m + whatever his replacement costs.

Checking his phone again, sees Slot still has him left on "read"

Or, even better...

ITKbarber

They want him for around £120m which only happens if we really want/need to sell him. If that is the position we find ourselves in then we may well end up going cap-in-hand asking for a deal. If not, there's no point in them putting another bid in uninvited.

I'll not criticise any fan who just wants him gone, I get it. To me though, it's like having a kid who wants an ice cream. He's kicking and screaming, generally just being a little shit. You can do the easy thing, give in and let him have the ice cream. Short-term you feel much better, problem solved, but the long-term effect has the potential to be much worse. If he stays, plays and scores he'll have 50k celebrating because his goals benefit the wider football club.

He claims he has something "in writing" which differentiates it slightly from the Isak situation but without knowing exactly what was agreed that statement doesn't reflect well on him.

A loan with an obligation kicking in after the current PSR year ends might work?

Openda presumably? Although Timo Werner is also there...