It’s a guess but I’m pretty sure that at any point in the last 2 years, had Klopp had an option to replace, he would have. Sometimes having no options means that you stay with what you know.
Seems to me that we've been waiting to sign Bellingham on the idea that he would could cost about £80-90m (as that's what was being reported) so we've been saving for him and haven't looked to replace in those last 2 years and handed out contracts to cover the wait. However in that time we've ignored what was happening in the team, so that just one player isn't enough anymore not matter how good and at the same time Bellingham has continued to improve and had a good world cup meaning Dortmund can raise the price. We should have tried and gambled last summer when the price was being quoted at £80-90m. Now he's out of the price range and we need a number of players to rebuild.
we clearly appeared to based on media reports and second hand info. just to be as pedantic and a certain someone
Last summer yes, but this coming summer was clearly earmarked for Bellingham. So last summer when Tchoumeni went to Real, we could have looked to Bellingham a year early. Instead we decided not to bother as it wasn't in the 'plan' as we'd been waiting till this summer.
Well, here is the thing. if we simply ignore what else we did after touchy decided to be a galactico. it was only a week or two after that that we bought nunez. do we really think we had cash for the touchy lad and nunez? really now? if we could sit there shrugging all summer after getting nunez being utterly convinced that we didn't need a cm sitting on masses of cash then go buy another forward in January and still sit on cash even though our need was dire? do we really think so? I think we made a choice. "OK touchameni is out, right let's get the forward this summer"
Well if that's true... and we had budgeted Tchoumeni £80mill... And we had set aside £80mill for Bellingham... That's £160mill we haven't spent that we budgeted on those two players... Plus any extra money we had budgeted for "everyone else".
You said "been waiting", part tense. Or do you mean we've been waiting outside the transfer window? We had targets last summer, they didn't happen and we opted to not waste the money.
I never commented as to his status, merely that most everything we heard about klopp calling the player etc was 3rd hand touchy made comments about as soon as real came in it was his choice bit we have no idea directly if lfc were in or if klopp really called him
Although Dortmund clearly said from the outset that they weren't going to sell him until this summer. Maybe (even) more money would have changed their mind but if everyone felt that the midfield could hold together for one more year then I can see why they waited.
Clear we've interested in Bellingham for a number of years, even before he went to Dortmund. Its been on the cards that Bellingham was going to leave Dortmund in the near future for a number of years, so yes we've been waiting till we had the money and opportunity to buy him, which includes inside and outside the transfer window. You do know you can buy players outside of a transfer window. Waste money? On a player we wanted to buy anyway, doesn't make sense. Now said player is out of our price range and we need to buy others as well.
Context! Our targets didn't materialise so we didn't sign anyone. IE didn't waste money on a gamble or panic buy. Obviously someone is now going to point at Arthur; he was a cheap loan, hardly a high risk and high waste.
But Bellingham was a target. Maybe not an immediate last summers target, but a future target. Price was quoted to be £80-90m last summer, now its £130m. If we only had a budget for a midfielder at £80mish and had put a bid in for Bellingham but been knocked back, then fair enough. But we missed out on one and then didn't bother with any other potential future targets. I would like to say this isn't solely about Bellingham, but rather about not acting when necessary.
Dortmund were never letting Haaland and Bellingham leave in the same window so figures quoted are moot. Last summer, we probably felt one or two additions were enough to keep us going, that's not the case now so we're not going to spend that amount on one player. Imo, we never were.
I agree spending £130m is ludicrous for one player. And my point wasn't about Bellingham in particular. He is just the current story Also I'm not sure I like the 'enough to keep us going', but that really does feel like a FSG attitude. Its that sort of thinking that leads to eventually just doing enough to hold a position,' just enough to be top4', 'just enough to be in the league' etc.
I like that we have targets and if we don't get them, we go with what we have rather than get the next best thing or panic. Having a plan is crucial when you've got less money to spend than your rivals. I've rather endure a poor season if it's better for us in the longer term. And I have no problem with FSG not investing either. If it were up to me, we wouldn't have owners and the club would run within its own means. FSG are effectively doing that anyway
guys, what's the difference between a "target" and an "admiration" of the player? Real targets for me are the players we are actively wanting to track and have tracked over time with a view to seeing if the would fit our squad needs. Theres a database of players a mile deep that are potential on the long finger where their development is being watched. then theres the types like nunez who are on the radar and start climbing up "the list" When was nunez a real target? before or after touchamni went to real? did we switch the cash form a midfielder to a forward? Who knows but we cna surmise we had moment for a player and when one (maybe) didn't work out we went out and got the other in a different position. Given klopp even admitted after a bad preseason he needed midfielders we still did not buy one and didn't buy one in january. One explanation of this is "waiting for targets", another is the limited available budget went on a different player and there was no funds to go buy a midfielder once it became really clear we needed one. Given we compounded this situation in January (knowing full well what we needed) by snatching gakpo on a cheap price (he was value you must admit) suggests again a priority call was made knowing firmino was not signing up. IMO we can talk all we like about bellingham as a "target" but for me it seems that touchameni was a higher priority and then we switched to forwards. IMO this summer if we needed just the one player.... well 80 or 90 might have been spent on bellingham with a series of sales to part fund it (I've said who a number of times) But again we have clearly pivoted and prioritised numbers over who we admire the most. The message I think has finally sunk in that what funds there are have to go to rebuild the whole area and value is paramount. I for one think we just admired bellingham and were thinking of some futre fuzzy date where he might be snagged cheaply as a deal ran down but his accelerated england perofrmances etc mean he is now far out of our league. We are now snuffling round the players we've tracked for years but have contract issues to find value. Gravenberch is a lazy link. Its been fed by enrique so it'll be all over the place. relatively cheap but nowhere near what we need and no real step up form the kids we have right now. Mount is all over the place as well. again highly likely Chelsea simply stump up what he wants to stop him going to us. Macallister is loving the attention but in reality the fee is vast. The guy is on a deal til 25. brighton won't budge form 60 imo and we will be hearing this on in august. Nunes. again the second he arrived in wolves he seems to start stoking the next move and such. I'll be surprised if he is real. Neves - again vlaue over suitbality question. IMO he isn't mobile enough Palhinha - doesn't fit the player profile Caicedo - far too expensive rice - again contract is running down but it'll be a bidding war gallagher - again sounds like agent to me. maddison - another one thats value due to relegation threat teilemans - won't go away due to contract. IMO we need to sift this **** by budget and once the first one gets done the available remaining budget will quickly show whats possible.
