goodrobotusses

Yeah, feel like Isak and Rodrygo might be an either/or. Maybe Fofana comes as a cheaper fifth forward.

That’s my hope. Can’t be arsed with losing another player on the cheap to those white hankie waving pricks. Injury-prone, get rid.

We still need a reliable option to compete and rotate with Konate. Going into the season with VvD, Ibou, Gomez and a kid presumably coming from outside the PL is a huge risk, given Ibou and Joe’s injury histories.

Romano says Chelsea have agreed personal terms with Hato, so looks like that ship has indeed sailed.

Looks like we’re improving it to me. Feels good.

I honestly have no idea how good Anthony Gordon is or could be. The club presumably sees more in him than being a fan and from the city, and maybe in the right environment he goes up a level, but I don’t see a huge amount of evidence he improves on what we have, other than being fast.

Tsimikas has gotten “wish you were here” with the number 20 tattooed on his hand.

Think that’s related to what Klopp complained about. That we try to mitigate risk by letting players reach circa 150 games so we have the data to feel comfortable buying the player. With the prodigies, though, 150 games is probably already too late as the players will have already moved and/or the price will have skyrocketed.

Think with Kerkez in and apparently Guehi likely on his way, the door is shut on Hato. Wouldn’t get enough games at LB and we can’t have two of our four CBs only being 6ft. Plus no idea where or when he’d get his game time with us to continue his development. Maybe we could have got him signed up for next year and let him stay at Ajax to develop while Robbo sees out his last year, but that would have only been kicking the can down the road in terms of the other issues mentioned.

Lewis Koumas

If we sign Richard Cresswell’s lad, with talk of interest in Eddie Gray’s other lad, we’re gonna have quite the nepo baby collection. Although maybe we’re just looking to replace Bobby Clark. Are Cisse and Figueroa’s kids still in the academy?

Konate’s athleticism lets us get away with a lot because he can cover so much space. I’m sure his covering for TAA will continue with the likelihood of Frimpong bombing on all game. We could replace that side of his game with a strong one on one defender such as Lukeba, but Lukeba is 6ft whereas Ibou is also aerially dominant. If we lose him to Madrid this summer or next, he won’t be easily replaced.

Madrid must have been reading PaulMcC’s posts about how Konate is better than Huijsen. FFS Paul!

Presumably something the Diaz camp have let be known to a Spanish-speaking journalist. He actually pays us to play.

Yeah, s***e clickbait titles on all of them.

Sky Germany/Plettenberg reckon Rodrygo is on about £167k per week after tax. Says Madrid are open to selling but player hasn’t yet expressed a desire to go: https://sport.sky.de/fussball/artikel/amp/fc-liverpool-nach-hugo-ekitike-auch-an-rodrygo-von-real-madrid-dran/13399701/34132

Sounds like a hostage negotiation.

“Generational talent” Means f*** all as there seem to be about 50 of them at any given time.

Lad better get ready for a brutal pre-season of training endless corners and free-kicks.

In fairness, he might literally not know that Everton exists.

If we were to sign a fifth forward to cover/compete with Ekitike (assuming Diaz leaves with a direct replacement inbound for the LW spot, e.g. Rodrygo), I don’t see that player being a pure No9 like Mateta. Think it would be a versatile forward who can get minutes across the front line. I still have a feeling we’ll end up with four senior forwards (Ekitike, Salah, Gakpo, versatile Diaz replacement), with a combination of Frimpong, attacking midfielders and maybe Ngumoha filling in as needed. But if we can stretch it to five, I think Nkunku could be a good option, so long as he’s someone Slot actually wants/rates (i.e. not Chiesa). On the injuries, he’s only had one season seriously affected by injuries, his first at Chelsea. Otherwise he’s been pretty reliable. He was excellent at Leipzig, is versatile, and apparently available for a decent price.

Not good for TAA’s Ballon d’Or chances.

Aye, can never be arsed watching comps through till the end either. The second half could just be some lad chopping wood for all I know.

This Ekitike compilation has lots of examples of him keeping the ball under pressure in the final third and around the box, and linking with teammates in quite a “Lanky Firmino” style. Also plenty of him driving forward with the ball at pace:

Would be fantastic if we could get him, even if only for next season. Had assumed we might go for him next year given the amount of business we’re doing now.