Liverpool Rumours Archive January 04 2022

04 Jan 2022 21:11:54
hello ed002 would anybody interested in firmino and or mane if they were made available thanks.

{Ed002's Note - Possibly but at their age they won’t fetch a premium fee. Nobody is chasing them that I am aware.}

04 Jan 2022 21:38:28
There would be no shortage of potential suitors for both players, but the price would have to be right. I think Mane especially would still fetch decent money, but Ed002 is spot on. It won't be close to a premium fee.
And it wouldn't be happening in January.

04 Jan 2022 22:39:09
ed002 i know we have to sell players to fund transfers but do you think the owners will have to put money in for us to stay competitive. thanks.

{Ed002's Note - They are limited by FFP as to what they can give. They own all of the equity in the club and cannot sell that. What they have sold is part of their own shareholding but that money goes to FSG.}

05 Jan 2022 08:23:32
So what is the figure they can give Ed002? Also do City and Chelsea owners contribute within the FFP guidelines?

{Ed002's Note - (a) There is no limit on spending on infrastructure and the limits apply when spending on players. (b) Yes, but Manchester City have faced issues regarding sponsorship.}

05 Jan 2022 08:42:41
Thanks, would you care to give a ball park figure on what the owners could give on player purchases? Cheers.

{Ed002's Note - The club can spend a total of €5M more than they earn on everything (including wages and purchases less sales) except infrastructure. The owners can cover losses up to €45M per year over a rolling three year period - so €105M. Clubs need to act responsibly and work within their means. Right now the €105M is spread over two years allowing owners to provide a boost given the huge losses resulting from the pandemic.}

05 Jan 2022 10:02:36
We’d be lucky to get what we paid for Mane. He’ll be knocking 30 and entering the last 12 months of his contract at the end of the season. Add to that the fact that barring the oil clubs, who actually has significant sums of money to spend? And Mane is going to want to go to a club challenging at the top so that rules out Newcastle. None of the factors involved are a recipe for getting a big fee.

05 Jan 2022 10:23:22
Great insight as always there ed002 - if I can push you further on this, City seem to be able to buy top players most seasons, so can we presume City’s income is greater than ours? If so, where and which revenue vehicles do they excel at?

This is a very informative thread ed002 as so many fans criticise the owners for not putting their hands in their pockets so to speak.

{Ed002's Note - The income between the clubs is not significantly different. Manchester City fund transfer through sales and income they recieve from commercial revenues and money they have from their success in the league, champions league etc.. They do better with sponsorship whilst Liverpool do well with sponsorship their income from winning trophies is rather more sporadic and whilst they had significant in come from one sale (Coutinho) they have been building debt. Compared to Chelsea who have been largely paying for purchases through sales in recent years there are improvements that can be made. The owners have funded the training facilities and have loaned the club money - many fans crave rich Arab owners of course, and perhaps one day their wish will come true.}

05 Jan 2022 10:29:12
Thanks Ed, I guess that's why the owners are investing in the stadium/ training grounds etc but not necessarily pumping money into purchases. Ed, with LFC favouring the installment payments when buying, is that so they spread purchase payments over several 3 year periods?

{Ed002's Note - They cannot throw money at purchases. Yes, the installment approach spreads the payments out, but it also means future income is being spent as we go along.}

05 Jan 2022 14:09:19
Thanks Ed002 as always.

05 Jan 2022 16:13:39
I think the previous 2 seasons before C. V Liverpool posted profits of circa £40 and £100 million whilst buying some of our most expensive players ever and obviously selling a few too (Coutinho) etc. Is it fair to say that the club will be back to that level or something close?

06 Jan 2022 02:50:06
Great insight Ed002. Everything you need to know about the differences between our spending ability and City and Chelsea are in these comments. Chelsea stockpiled players when FFP didn’t exist and are now able to cash in on their loan army to fund future transfers. City are only able to spend as they are due to their spurious sponsorship deals with related companies. The cash our owners are putting in is going to infrastructure (stadium, training ground etc) to build the asset base, perhaps teeing up a future sale? They are all about growing the value of the business and when that peaks, they’ll sell. At some point though they will have to reinvest in the squad to keep us competitive but I’d imagine they will be happy with top 4 with an outside chance of winning the big competitions each year. That time is coming with the ageing squad.

06 Jan 2022 11:24:59
Tom27, as mentioned above, the owners can't just invest in the squad, that is the point. What will the re-invest unless they sell? The money has to be generated by the club in order to fund sales else we loan it as we currently do and just further increase debt.

04 Jan 2022 15:11:03
Just heard a rumour that the training ground is shut due to C.V. cases and all goal keepers have it so the Arsenal game is off.
No clue if it’s true!

04 Jan 2022 15:18:41
I've heard a similar thing, that only Karius is healthy.

04 Jan 2022 16:17:42
Fly Goaly?

04 Jan 2022 16:25:58
Only Karius being available is interesting, if true.

The general rule for the Premier League is that teams will be expected to fulfill the fixture if they 13 outfield players and 1 goalie available from the registered list of 25 senior players.

Karius was not registered as part of the 25 man squad for the Premier League so for a PL game his availability wouldn't matter.

But I'm not sure we're restricted to using just the PL list for the Carabao, which would mean he's eligible to play if I'm right. And unless we end up with less than 14 players, we could be obliged to fulfill the fixture despite all our senior keepers except Karius being unavailable. Maybe Ed002 could clarify?

{Ed002's Note - Loris Karius is registered.}

04 Jan 2022 16:40:15
It's time like these that they have to adopt "last man back"

The hairline var decisions at corners as to who was indeed the last man back. The drama.

04 Jan 2022 16:45:42
So he is, I just assumed there wasn't room and that's why Pitaluga was on the bench at the weekend. Guess JK wants to really underline Karius' lack of a future here.

Thanks Ed.

04 Jan 2022 18:25:03
Haha Davey 'last man back' is a great shout!

Imagine how much more interesting football would be if that was a rule by the way!

04 Jan 2022 18:33:34
Phil Jones played his first game for 2 years last night. Karius could play and have a blinder, stick a few quid onto his transfer fee 😜😜.

{Ed025's Note - yeah IR, you might get the full 50p if he does well mate.. :)

04 Jan 2022 19:31:23
Jesus…… your sources are top notch fellas, many thanks for sharing. A bit gutted the game may be called off but thanks for the quality posts 👍.

04 Jan 2022 20:13:15
It’s somewhat ironic that Karius didn’t catch it.

04 Jan 2022 20:51:18
I'd take 50p ed25 🤣.

{Ed025's Note - i bet you would mate.. :)

05 Jan 2022 12:16:45
To be fair ED025, he's still better than Lil short arms across the park, never seen so many, central/ not near the top corner goals go in against an "international" keeper.

{Ed025's Note - i was never his biggest fan lancaster but i have to say hes grown on me a bit, hes certainly not the worst in the world mate....that accolade without a doubt goes to karius by a country mile..

05 Jan 2022 16:58:22
Think the kid at Arsenal looks a top class keeper for the future.

{Ed077's Note - Ramsdale you mean? I am still not fully convinced by him myself. Joe Hart 2.0 for me. Good but not great and overhyped by the media.

But he is still very young and has time to develop.

06 Jan 2022 12:54:04
Would help ED025 if he stopped eating them blue smarties before games.

{Ed025's Note - he can be a bit rash at times lancaster, but thats because hin previous job was as a small arms dealer mate.. :)

06 Jan 2022 15:46:22
Quality Ed.

04 Jan 2022 13:35:59
Leighton Clarkson has been recalled from loan at Blackburn - sadly the lad couldn't break into the first team. Positive thing is that Mowbray (Blackburn manager) has talked up how excellent he was. Perhaps we will see some of him in Jan given we are struggling with C.V. in the squad?

Red Sandman.

04 Jan 2022 14:41:28
Maybe see him in the squad v Shrewsbury.

04 Jan 2022 14:50:13
Unless it’s called of because of C.V.?

04 Jan 2022 22:27:38
Maybe send him to a team he will get more game time.

04 Jan 2022 08:49:08
Ed's

Do you see a bit a
Of a mass clear out of the club in the summer?
As things stand out 1st 11 can give anyone a game on their day but as a squad (particularly midfield) we are lacking for a real title challenge
Can we expect a lot of sales as their are a few that aren't up to it no more.

{Ed002's Note - I really don't know what a "bit of a mass clear out" is.}

04 Jan 2022 09:40:08
Why a mass clear out? We have a great squad, a mass clear out will equal transition, do it bit by bit.

04 Jan 2022 10:27:13
Perhaps not a mass clear out as such but there is a significant amount of players who’s contracts run out in the next 18mths. Decisions are going to have to be made around them all. Are new contracts offered? Will they sign them? Do we sell this summer? Do we let them run down their contracts?

Milner and Origi contracts run out this summer.
Mané, Salah, Firmino, Kieta and Ox’s contracts run out next summer.
Thiago and Hendo aren't getting any younger.
The only “established” midfielder under the age of 26 is Jones, and he’s only 20.
Minamino isn’t really cutting the mustard, so what do we do with him?

For me, there’s a lot of questions around the squad that need solved in the next window or 2.

04 Jan 2022 12:28:19
A squad that lacks quality in depth, we have been under funded since we won the CL, have missed a big opportunity to win another Prem or CL due to owners who like to build their investment and buy up other teams rather than invest in our squad, we need owners as focused on the team as they are about building a profile, success on the pitch is vital, i feel we have missed a big chance over these last 3 years.

04 Jan 2022 12:52:48
Mighty reds I don’t think you can say we have a great squad. The squad needs quite a lot of work imo.

04 Jan 2022 13:26:00
Lancaster, the only problem with your comment and that of everyone else saying the same thing, is that the last 3 years has also included a global C.V. that has decimated LFC's annual revenue for the last 2 years. Now, Ed002 will correct me here if I am wrong I am sure, but if Liverpool were to go out and re-invest in the squad in the last 3 years without selling players, we would have fallen foul of FFP I assume. The rules were relaxed slightly I believe, but coupled with payments required on previous transfers and loan repayments, we probably didn't have much to spare.
It isn't a case of the owners just injecting £100m to be spent on transfers as it doesn't work that way.

04 Jan 2022 14:42:12
I think the longer Salah’s negotiations run on the more difficult it will be, can be almost certain that he’ll want to see improvement (and by that I mean high quality additions) to the playing squad as this is his last big contract and he’ll want to ensure he’s in a competitive team (much like Torres and Suarez), if that’s not forthcoming then I suspect that not even the much touted mythical figure of £500’000 pw would be enough as he could easily earn that at PSG/ Madrid/ Bayern/ City and be almost guaranteed trophies every year too.

A harsh reality.

05 Jan 2022 12:21:15
Stuie, they have done their bit and been good for us, but they can't take us any further and we will continue to fall further back, we aren't living in 2010 anymore, what was the excuse before C.V.?

04 Jan 2022 06:54:30
Any truth in that we have offered 10 mil for Barcelonas Dembele? He is out of contact in 6 months and I've read somewhere that we are trying to take him In January for a low price.

{Ed002's Note - I am not aware of any "10 mil" being offered by Liverpool. I have explained about the interest.}

04 Jan 2022 09:13:53
Thank you ed2. Appreciated.

04 Jan 2022 14:33:37
£10m? Wouldn’t pay £10 for him. Didn’t he ask Barcelona for something like €800’000 a week? He’s obviously unaware of his own body of work to date if that is true. Certainly makes Salah’s demands look reasonable.