If Couthino doesn't get sold there's gunna be a lot of humble pie eaten on this board....I suspect it'll be a lot quieter.......I can only imagine what it will be like if we do flog him
The key aspect if barca have been offering ifs and maybes in add ons which lfc do too.. so we know all baout why thats done and are not accepting it but most of all klopp is saying its far too late in window.
Spanish press... so again as i say to anyone who will listen... if you choose to listen to the spanish press thats your issue.
I still have half a thought that they'll throw a player into the deal once they have a feel for our limit. Hope we stick to our guns though
So looks like Barca are going all in for Dembele who is likely to join now. He is a neymar replacement - Barca need him more than Coutinho.
I don't want him to go - at any price - this time around, because I want to see what he can create with the front 3 ahead of him. If he goes I'll be hugely disappointed - but I won't be outraged. I just can't throw myself into this emotional outburst on here, and all the FSG out stuff. The absurdity of the Neymar transfer aside, the money offered for Phil is way over the top, and I'm surprised they haven't given in yet. As a piece of our jigsaw he's important - but as an individual player he's nowhere near that value, imo.
Or should we hold out for £120m for him I would guess Couts isn't going to play Saturday causing even more speculation.
£100m for any player is obscene. I get it, to some degree, for those truly unique players, Neymar is one of them....but the next couple of tiers down? Paying £90m for Pogba and the same for Lukaku by Utd has set the standard for good but not great (yet - and may never be) players. Couthino fits into this bracket too....VvD, Keita too.... The market has been f#cked up by teams paying silly money.....now we all have to play the game if we want to keep up. Crazy.
That'll all end in disaster. If we say that the Neymar fee sets a new standard and try to relate everyone to that, then all but a handful of clubs will be priced out of the market, and we'll be going back down the European Super League prospect that we discussed a few days ago. The price for Pogba, who has been utter **** so far, shows that splashing huge amounts of cash doesn't necessarily get you what you want. As for Neymar, he's bound to do well in a ****e league like the French, but how he fares up against top European clubs remains to be seen. I really find it hard to accept that Coutinho would be an adequate replacement, either for him or Iniesta. As I said, he's an important part of our team, but as an individual he isn't at that level yet. Second most expensive player? I just don't see it.
The only positive will be that it'll force clubs to use their own academy and youth players as the market will force them out of buying players. However that also has its down side in that the big clubs will just come along and poach those player for ridiculous fees as well and in turn mean that competition around Europe is killed off. So its a positive for your National team as homegrown players are being used and given game time at the top level, but on the other hand it destroys your League as you end up with one or two clubs able to win the title. Germany is a great example of this, the national team is excellent as they have the depth, but the league is poor as you know Bayern will win as they've bought all the best opposition players.
I don't know that that is possible. When you have the likes of aidy ward sniffing aorund any young player and advising them to not sign any contracts to they can make a quick killing then... well... You have to brainwash 8 year ols to make them stay at a club at 18 now i think. FFP was a half hearted attempt to break this rich club thing but its actually done nothing or worse made it easier for them to bully smaller clubs.
