goodrobotusses

Don't think Cherki would have anything to do with Diaz going. Cherki is left-footed and playing from the right, but really more of a No10 than a winger given his lack of pace. Seems like Guardiola's Grealish replacement: take a maverick dribbler, put him high and wide, and then ask him to pass back to the full-back 99% of the time. Not sure if Cherki likes a night out as much as Grealish, mind.

Just wait till those five Vojvodina separatists get their way. Then Kerkez will have a decision to make.

This is just a fancy way of saying Arteta has Moyes DNA and s***s himself after getting in good positions.

He's alright:

I'm as guilty as anyone of combing the internet for transfer/Wirtz news multiple times a day, but not sure it's healthy to be analysing individual words in individual tweets/reports for signs of the deal faltering. We're negotiating a massive, complicated deal, the details of which even the biggest Twitter ITK isn't gonna be privy to. It seems extremely likely to happen, but might take a few more days, a week, maybe even a fortnight (gasp). So in the meantime we should collectively go walk the dog or something (my mother's answer to the stress of penalty shootouts).

Hope he walks around the City training ground giving all the lads a copy of his book.

Sometimes those "last 60 shots" compilations can have that effect.

Presumably selected because it was a good performance, and only vs Braunschweig, but this video of Ekitike gives you a bit of an idea of his game. Lots of dropping off and linking play, like a gangly Firmino.

€20m signing fee apparently. Buy lots of nice clothes with that.

I think we would keep him if no one offered big money for him, maybe even give him a new contract. But I think we'll basically sell anyone beyond a couple Slot loves if someone bids high enough, and it seems Saudi has a big bag of money with our name on it. That said, I think if we sell one of Diaz or Gakpo, the other would then stay. If you switched their ages, I would prefer that Gakpo were the one being sold, as I think Diaz is the better player and gave us an interesting option at No.9 this season while Jota and Nunez were being too injured/out of form/stupid to play the role effectively. I also think Jota only stays (probably as back-up striker) simply because no one will pay money for his injury record.

I think the biggest change was Salah having arguably his best ever season. Otherwise I think any of them could be upgraded, although Gakpo and Diaz had much more productive seasons, making it a bit mean on my part to say we could do better. It's all Sadio Mane's fault for being better than either of them at his peak.

I think the squad will be better but smaller next season. I can see Diaz and Chiesa going and their replacements also being the replacements for Elliott and TAA in the squad (Wirtz, Frimpong), with the new No.9 being a replacement for one player only (Nunez). Not sure I buy the idea of Wirtz coming to play false nine either, apart from maybe for some very specific game plans. Slot has said repeatedly he plays with and wants a No.9 in the team. Wirtz will play as he has for Leverkusen and Germany, either as a No.10 or from the left.

Think those confirmations are usually linked with trying to get people to buy the new shirt with a name and number. Obviously that's been complicated by the whole Nike/Adidas contract hiccup.

Read that Alonso wants Stiller at Madrid so would be impressive if we can get him in. Also saw another one of those Transfer Flow scouting reports on Akliouche at Monaco the other day:

Kicked is a serious football mag, Bild is the German equivalent of the rag.

If he were available for a reasonable price and we could put him straight on loan for a year to keep developing, think it would be a good deal, but suspect someone comes in and pays something mad and that'll be that.

Like with the prospect of Huijsen choosing Chelsea over us or Arsenal, the beauty of a player making that choice shows that the player is probably a bit dim and/or has a bad agent, and is therefore a bullet dodged.

Of course they would. The aim of football is to sign as many players as possible.

Honestly no idea, but have assumed it's a consequence of more coverage of football in general, via social media, podcasts and clickbaity YouTube nonsense etc. I feel like for a long time the Ballon d'Or was just this trinket that went to some lad who won the World Cup that year, and people would be like, "Yeah, fine." But in the last year or so it's felt like people (and not just Rio bloody Ferdinand) are braying about it all the time. Does anyone other than Real Madrid really care?

Same author has written a longer report on him today: How good is Hugo Ekitike? In yesterday’s newsletter, we shared a report that Eintracht Frankfurt striker Hugo Ekitike is Chelsea’s No. 1 target for this summer. Today, Florian Petterberg is reporting that Liverpool are just as interested, with the clubs having opened talks. Frankfurt’s asking price is €100m. That figure seems a bit steep, but if Chelsea and Liverpool are ready to engage in a fight rather than paying a simple asking price to go get Viktor Gyökeres or Victor Osimhen, perhaps it’s not a crazy ask. I can’t imagine Liverpool would spend that kind of money on a striker in the same window where they’re set to spend in excess of €100m on Florian Wirtz and buy a couple of fullbacks as well, but they might have much better sales lined up than we realize. In part 2 of our Liverpool rebuild series, I singled out Ekitike as the striker I’d have as my top target if I was running their transfer strategy this summer. The big reason was the variety in his game and ability to set up chances for the likes of Mohamed Salah just as much as he gets his own: “The guy who I think best combines timing runs to the top of the 6 to get tons of high value chances with combining in midfield is Hugo Ekitike. He’s a bit of a risk — he’s only had one really good season in the Bundesliga, and he’s not as physical as he should be given his frame — but I think he does what Liverpool needs and is only getting better with experience.” Earlier this year, Mohamed Mohamed wrote about Ekitike for us in a piece about three different promising tall strikers. His combination of size and dribbling ability isn’t something you see too often: “What’s exciting about Ekitike is despite being listed at just under 6’3, his speed and burst are impressive, which has arguably gotten better from what was seen in Ligue 1. His dribble and carry numbers in Germany (2.86 dribbles per 90, 1.18 carries into the box) have improved from his time in France (1.46 dribbles per 90, 1.03 carries into the box). He’ll sometimes use dummies to let the ball roll past him, or curl towards the flank to set up isolated 1v1s.” For a guy who gets so much praise for his dribbling and passing abilities, you’d think that Ekitike isn’t as much of a shooter as some of the other top strikers expected to make moves this summer. But his xG and shot volume are right up there with the best of the best. And he continued to play in the same fashion, setting up chances for teammates just as often as he created great shooting opportunities for himself, even after the departure of Omar Marmoush. Do you like red triangles? Boy, do I love red triangles. For the uninitiated, triangles represent shots immediately preceded by through balls in the below shot chart, and they’re the highest value shots. The darker red a shot is on this chart, the higher the xG value. This dude gets some extremely high value shots. As good as Ekitike has been this season, he’s also been a bit unlucky, underperforming his xG by three goals. I personally don’t think he has any finishing quality issues from having watched him, and clearly Liverpool have come to the exact same conclusion. I also think his quick feet allow him to avoid getting his shots blocked when he’s in tight spaces in the box, something that happens a bit too often to Gyökeres and Benjamin Šeško for my tastes. But the big value that Ekitike provides relative to the other big names getting linked to rich teams is his playmaking skills. He’s setting up great shots for teammates. And in case you’re suspicious that he farmed these stats playing next to Marmoush, all 7 of his assists are to different players. So, what are the downsides? He’s not particularly strong and can get knocked off the ball more easily than the other star strikers he’s being compared to regularly at the moment. He’s surprisingly average in the air for a guy who’s 6’3” and has solid leaping ability. But these are very easy problems to fix compared to, say, having bad touch or passing vision or goal-scoring instincts in the 18 yard box. Liverpool and Chelsea know where to get a heading coach and some protein shakes. Chelsea and Liverpool are correct to have Ekitike on top of their strikers list. He has the highest ceiling of the strikers these teams are considering, and he’d get the most out of combining with Salah/Cole Palmer. €100m is a number that carries serious sticker shock, and Ekitike might not be worth quite that, but I also don’t think anyone’s going to end up having buyer’s remorse. He’ll be an immediate impact player for either team.

I reckon we might want Wharton for midfield but would be prepared to wait until next summer if nothing can be done this year. Still reckon we sign a CB though, as I think one of our current crop will go.

This is what The Transfer Flow wrote in their Liverpool transfer window preview. They had Ekitike as their first choice for us: The striker I love: Hugo Ekitike I don’t think anyone knows exactly what kind of striker profile Arne Slot prefers, which is going to make this summer very fun. My hypothesis is that he’d like someone who is very much a true 9 who can run into the box and score goals, but has some level of back-to-goal, combination play skills. If I’m wrong and Liverpool just buys someone like Victor Osimhen or Viktor Gyökeres who is just a straight-up goal-scorer, cool. Those are good players and they’ll probably score a bunch of goals on Liverpool. But the guy who I think best combines timing runs to the top of the 6 to get tons of high value chances with combining in midfield is Hugo Ekitike. He’s a bit of a risk — he’s only had one really good season in the Bundesliga, and he’s not as physical as he should be given his frame — but I think he does what Liverpool needs and is only getting better with experience.

He's defo a bit unorthodox-looking in clips, gangly but seems good on the ball, scoring at a decent but not spectacular rate, seems good at linking with those around him. Apparently he and Marmoush were very effective together in the first half of the season. Also whom I'd want but you'd have to assume that ship has sailed.

The bloke Newcastle wanted to replace Isak if they'd sold him.

Fair.