evening all
after reading an interesting article....
http://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/03/liverpool-cash-philippe-coutinho-summer/
....and the repeated rumours and overtures from catalan players, I felt the need to recruit opinion from my fellow reds.
almost as a follow up to GBs post earlier, the summer transfer window is a pivotal one. I feel that players like firmino and couts and mane could be tempted away (ala suarez, Alonso) in the next few years if we don't become regular cl attendees and title challengers soon. now I realise that our league is special comparatively to la liga, ligue 1, serie a and bundesliga, in that we have more than 2 or 3 teams capable of topping the league. so unlike those leagues, 6 teams could all reach the CL.
of course this makes our league great and entertaining, but it makes our plight more precarious. will our best players start to leave (again) if we continue to languish?
the above article discusses the arguments for and against cashing in on phillipe. IMO coutinho isn't consistent enough to be world class yet. is that down to him? not entirely. he needs to keep fitter and keep his head up but, I feel, good players are made better by those around them. we have and have had too much dross in our squad over the last 20 years. im sure we can all name an arms length list of dross we should never have signed!!!
so we need to fill our squad this summer, yes, but with quality! this can be done without CL as coutinho himself proves, there are gems out there. but theyre hard to find! CL will make this easier. we need CL.
so should we sell little phil? No. we should build our squad and stop the perennial car boot sale of any quality we have
thoughts welcome
how do we solve the coutinho conundrum?
posted on 27/3/17
I wouldn't want to see him go. We've seen he's got the ability to be a great player for us. His form before his injury showed what he is capable of doing. I'm not sure whether it's coming back from injury or a post signing a contract slump that's contributed to his form being off since he came back.
Thing is if Barca or RM come knocking it's usually hard to compete. Yeah it might send out a negative message if he's sold. But it depends how the club handles it. If they fight tooth and nail to keep him but his heads turned then there isn't much we can do. It'd be better to get rid for a hefty fee.
posted on 27/3/17
Sell him and get Rakitic. Then buy a decent wide forward.
posted on 27/3/17
comment by Coutinho's Happy Feet (U18971)
posted 51 minutes ago
I wouldn't want to see him go. We've seen he's got the ability to be a great player for us. His form before his injury showed what he is capable of doing. I'm not sure whether it's coming back from injury or a post signing a contract slump that's contributed to his form being off since he came back.
Thing is if Barca or RM come knocking it's usually hard to compete. Yeah it might send out a negative message if he's sold. But it depends how the club handles it. If they fight tooth and nail to keep him but his heads turned then there isn't much we can do. It'd be better to get rid for a hefty fee.
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RM have been chasing DDG for a few years now and that's despite DDG being very keen on the move.
RM are also keen on Hazard but Chelsea are not even willing to talk about it to them.
If we want to compete with United and Chelsea then we need to follow there lead and tell our long contracted player that he must stay put.
The Rakitic rumours are very doubtful and Barca are probably just dangling a carrot so they can negotiate with no intention to sell him.
posted on 27/3/17
Hypothetically though would Rakitic and £60m interest youse? It would soften the blow like
posted on 27/3/17
comment by Sturridge's dance - We are the famous, the famous Kloppites. (U16034)
posted 1 minute ago
Hypothetically though would Rakitic and £60m interest youse? It would soften the blow like
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AND £60M you say?
Would be more like £15m-£18m IMO.
posted on 27/3/17
I would ask him does he want to leave YES or NO if he say's YES he's only sold at our price and terms, if NO great for our club for the future.
posted on 27/3/17
Can't remember were I read it like but that's what it said
posted on 27/3/17
comment by Sturridge's dance - We are the famous, the famous Kloppites. (U16034)
posted 2 minutes ago
Can't remember were I read it like but that's what it said
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Fair enough but the number seems very, very high their. I remember the Pogba fee was supposedly going to be £120m to £130m. Turned out to be far, far less. Coutinho's good but personally I'd bite your hand off for Rakitic and if I was a Liverpool fan might even take a straight swap. Big fan of the Croat.
posted on 27/3/17
£65m it was haha.
Barcelona will offer Liverpool as much as £65m and Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic to convince us to sell Coutinho.
Thoughts??
#kopkid
posted on 27/3/17
comment by (Kash) I'm the Mané, I'm the Mané - Justice4Gaza (U1108)
posted 3 hours, 4 minutes ago
comment by Coutinho's Happy Feet (U18971)
posted 51 minutes ago
I wouldn't want to see him go. We've seen he's got the ability to be a great player for us. His form before his injury showed what he is capable of doing. I'm not sure whether it's coming back from injury or a post signing a contract slump that's contributed to his form being off since he came back.
Thing is if Barca or RM come knocking it's usually hard to compete. Yeah it might send out a negative message if he's sold. But it depends how the club handles it. If they fight tooth and nail to keep him but his heads turned then there isn't much we can do. It'd be better to get rid for a hefty fee.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
RM have been chasing DDG for a few years now and that's despite DDG being very keen on the move.
RM are also keen on Hazard but Chelsea are not even willing to talk about it to them.
If we want to compete with United and Chelsea then we need to follow there lead and tell our long contracted player that he must stay put.
The Rakitic rumours are very doubtful and Barca are probably just dangling a carrot so they can negotiate with no intention to sell him.
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DDG is an unusual example in fairness, don't know what went on there but it seemed that Utd had accepted a bid and then issues with a fax scuppered the deal with both blaming each other for it not going through. So it's not like they took a stand not to sell, they agreed but it didn't happen.
Hazard, we'll see. If RM want him and Hazard wants to go then I'd bet on it happening. We all saw what a disinterested Hazard looks like, it was only last season. Why keep that player? If he's happy to stay then I'm guessing he will, if not...
That's the point I guess. These days players get what they want 95% of the time and unfortunately RM and Barca are the biggest attractions around. So 95% of the time they get their man.