Liverpool banter 5

22 Jul 2026 12:07:47
Statement from the AI in Chicago.
“You have to be always open to new options to improve the squad. There are obvious situations that we know where we need to sign players. A winger, for example – we definitely need to sign a winger.

“There are other situations that we will have to analyse what the market gives you, what’s the cost, how we also see the players we have.

We have some tricky positions where we have injured players that we trust but is still not the ideal situation, so it will depend on a lot of things.”
Wonder is the second position a RB due to Conor's injury record or a forward with Eki out and Isak's injury record?

22 Jul 2026 14:10:36
I can see Gakpo filling in up top rather than splashing out for temporary cover players. AI hasn't hardly worked or seen the existing squad yet. I imagine any meaningful changes will happen in January or even next summer.

22 Jul 2026 18:59:21
I don't pay too much attention to what managers say for the most part. This is one of those parts.

22 Jul 2026 11:48:06
We were once linked to Ousmane Diomande. He's off to Forest for under £40m. Surely we should hijack that deal if possible.

22 Jul 2026 14:08:14
@Kloppiche, why should we want to hijack the deal? If the club have had a look at the lad and decided not to make an offer, that should tell you something.

22 Jul 2026 15:51:33
He's quality and under £35m. Like Munoz swoop in, we need a CB.

22 Jul 2026 19:00:05
Kloppiche, you know we can't sign everyone, right?

22 Jul 2026 11:55:55
Edd 001

Are we nearly there yet?

Are we nearly there yet?


Can we get a Mc Donald's??

{Ed001's Note - nearly.}

22 Jul 2026 14:26:53
*Other unhealthy greasy burgers are available.

22 Jul 2026 11:15:57
Chelsea have a £65m bid for Alex Scott rejected.

22 Jul 2026 11:55:44
A good player, but don't see where he slots in for Liverpool without being an expensive bench option.

Need someone with bite. A younger Endo would do in all honesty.

22 Jul 2026 11:56:45
Love Scott, good player.

22 Jul 2026 12:43:52
He's better than Macca!

22 Jul 2026 19:00:36
He is not what we need. Not arsed.

22 Jul 2026 10:54:14
On again, off again, on again, off again. The Diomande transfer is beginning to look like the relationship of Ross and Rachel from Friends.

Hope it gets sorted out soon one way or the other.

22 Jul 2026 11:31:31
I personally think the energy is wasted where a right back, another forward, a dm, a cb could be a better use of their time.

22 Jul 2026 11:46:05
"We were on a break!!!!"

22 Jul 2026 11:58:32
He looks a good player, but I do worry that even if he does sign, his agents will be ready to hawk him elsewhere soon after.

Would be good if we can sign the lad with some agreement that he drops his agency.

22 Jul 2026 12:12:24
We just won't Pivaaaaaaaaaaat away, it seems.

22 Jul 2026 13:29:43
Good one, FPF. Great episode. A lot of folk won't have the faintest idea what we're talking about! Beats talking about football, which I've never been keen on.

22 Jul 2026 15:03:34
Personally, I hope we don't sign him, if he is successful at Anfield, we'll probably get 2/3 years max out of him before he jumps ship. And if he's not, it will be an expensive mistake. I'd rather get a cheaper workhorse who can provide quality service to Isak whilst we develop Josh Abe, who will be looking to break into the squad over the next 12 months.

Sure, making him our go to is still a couple of years off, but a right footed winger to focus on excellent delivery for our 'very much in need of some assistance star striker' might be easier to find than a 'Salah replacement', could be the smarter option too.

(Yes, I know Diomande's right footd.)

22 Jul 2026 16:19:01
If he's successful after being signed for £100m then let's face it there's only two or three clubs on the planet that could realistically try to take him away. And if them clubs are willing to pay us double what we paid for him I would be ok with that.

I'd gladly enjoy the 2 or 3 great years and then let him fund our summer window in a few years time.

22 Jul 2026 10:39:36.
Watching Souness commenting on Rice, saying he is not a world class centre midfielder because he runs too much with the ball. Thinks instead he should take at most 2 touches and then progress the ball.

Have to say when I coach I prefer my cm to release it quickly to open up the play. But then again I’m nowhere near Arteta's level.

Still goes to show why footy is so good - so many different ways to play the game.

22 Jul 2026 11:33:43
I like listening to Souness and he does come out with good stuff.

My favourite from that specific interview was where he described what is wrong with modern football.

He states, back in the good old days, the forwards and mavericks used to have the most touches of the ball, and now centre forwards are getting less than 20 touches a game, and the players with the most touches are centre halves.

22 Jul 2026 12:11:21
I've never understood the love for Rice.
He reminds me of a poor version of Henderson.
Even if he does take only 2 touches, he still takes too long to move the ball, and 90% of the time it's a sideways pass.
Henderson was a fantastic captain, but was also limited on the ball, but head and shoulders above Rice.


Both worked really hard, but for some strange reason, Rice seems to get so much more praise than Henderson ever did by the media.

22 Jul 2026 12:28:20
I don't think Rice is a bad player, but he's nowhere near the level the media like to gas him up to be... Difficult to say how much is down to his ability or Arteta's negative tactics, though.



I don't think he is disciplined enough or a good enough tackler to be a 6, and he doesn't have the vision or passing range/quality to be a world class 8... Hendo clears him atm, but he's still young.

22 Jul 2026 12:39:20
I posed this question recently. Comparing him with a peak Henderson. Rice is excellent at his best. He's a level below "world class".

22 Jul 2026 13:00:11
There's nowt wrong with constructive criticism from Souness.
Souness was better than Rice, but Rice is better than Henderson.

22 Jul 2026 13:34:26
Souness is right, Rice isn't World Class, not in my book anyway. Very good player, no doubt about it. He's overrated by the gooners, in my opinion, but look, I'm sure they feel the same way about us and Henderson.

What Henderson may have lacked in ability, he more than made up for with his leadership. I'm not seeing that with Rice at the moment; maybe that will change with time and experience.

22 Jul 2026 14:04:07
Rice and Henderson both have the same amount of PL medals, and both equally failed to rally England enough over the line in regards to leadership.

I suppose the only people who could answer the question of who is a better leader are the ones who have played with both.

22 Jul 2026 14:16:39
Sadly for me, Souness' opinions are tainted by the lacklustre job he did managing us.

22 Jul 2026 14:56:14
Souness managed us in a very difficult period for a lot of reasons.

22 Jul 2026 10:01:14
Seeing all this takeover news taking centre stage, we'll probably get a transfer bomba today to divert the attention from it.

22 Jul 2026 11:41:14
Not sure I have heard 'takeover', I have heard minority investment, like we have already had a couple of times in the past few years.

22 Jul 2026 12:06:40
Not sure how true it is, but reports are specifying the rumored talks of investment are in LFC and not FSG.

22 Jul 2026 12:07:23
Zed, what becomes worrying is that if FSG cedes majority share and voice on the Board. 30% here, and 15% in the previous stake sale (plus other smaller shares), it can lead to a minority share for FSG. I'm not sure I want anyone else directing the ship: FSG have given us considerable stability for over 10 years, and I'm happy with that.

22 Jul 2026 12:11:18
*I'm talking about FSG's share in LFC (to clarify).

22 Jul 2026 12:17:39
I think ultimately this is a takeover, the start of it.
Bathia wouldn't step down from QPR a week ago if this didn't have legs, or be in contact with Bezos.

22 Jul 2026 12:24:36
Can you see Bezos coming in to be a minority share long term? The other interested party seem one to steer clear of.

It's nauseating sums of money though.

22 Jul 2026 13:26:43
BTW, a couple of the admittedly clickbait articles I have read suggest Bezos was approached to be part of the consortium who want to take a minority share, but he declined.

22 Jul 2026 14:22:54
FSG, the Mittal family, Bezos and Musk, worth a couple of bob between them.

22 Jul 2026 09:29:18
Apologies if this has been covered.

Anybody know anything about this Indian lad from QPR trying to buy 30%?

22 Jul 2026 09:56:52
See the rumours section.

22 Jul 2026 09:57:14
Try the rumours page, mate.

22 Jul 2026 10:31:15
Cheers, lads, had a look last night, but mustn't have scrolled down far enough.

22 Jul 2026 14:27:32
Look up the Mittal family on line. The 'Indian lad from QPR' is the son-in-law of Lakshmi Mittal who is apparently worth around $32 billion.

22 Jul 2026 09:19:29
Has anybody seen the new AC Milan away kit? It's very nice tbf but what's on the back is what's hilarious. The words "Dopo Istanbul c'e' Demote Athens". After Istanbul there is always Athens.

I mean it's been nearly 20 years lads. Talk of living rent free in somebody's head.

It's hardly our fault one of the best club teams of all time bottled it.

22 Jul 2026 09:29:54
That's brilliant! I love it.

22 Jul 2026 09:33:08
Is this real? If yea then they sure need to grow up a bit!

22 Jul 2026 09:58:56
Indeed, we clearly have built a 500 sq. foot villa in Milan's head. Who knew, right? We have gone on and achieved a whole lot since Athens including 3 CL finals (one Big Ears), 2 PL titles, and other pots while Milan are still trying to flex a CL trophy they won before Barack Obama was first elected POTUS.



Have at it, Milan fans. Sadly for you, you're the only ones on that hill.

22 Jul 2026 10:03:32
Everton's new away kit has the words sewn on the back - After 1995, there is always...........

22 Jul 2026 10:39:05
Everton's should read "there's always the other team in Merseyside". 😜

22 Jul 2026 10:50:44
If it's true then I love it! Healthy banter is always welcome in my opinion.

22 Jul 2026 11:16:33
Wow, hilarious and sad (for them). Not like an Italian to hold a grudge

22 Jul 2026 11:50:46
They should add a line:

"After Athens there is nothing but failure".

22 Jul 2026 13:05:14
They need to get over Istanbul (it did take me about a week though 😂).
We battered them for 8 minutes of the 120 played!

22 Jul 2026 14:29:07
Everton's shirts with NEC on it was the funniest.