jimmylibel

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Rodgers just comes across as completely insincere. Has done from his early days here. You just know what he’s saying isn’t what he’s really thinking.

Looks very good John. Doesn’t quite have the end product of Salah or Mane yet, but he’s generally composed in front of goal and will hopefully get even better over the next few years. Very quick. If we can sign him, we definitely should.

There was a briefing, supposedly from Salah’s team, during the summer. It was along the lines of he definitely wasn’t moving that window but would look at it again next summer. I think it may have been particularly in relation to the links to Juventus that briefly arose around about June.

As opposed to that manager well known for his laissez faire approach, Rafa Benitez?

We supposedly have first option on him. Barcelona confirmed it when he signed for them and I think we also briefed that we surrendered some of the fee for that provision. Don’t think selling Suarez is something that would go down well with Messi. They’re supposedly ‘besties’. I can imagine the Barcelona hierarchy would like him off the books as it does solve their Griezmann problem. They’re having to play him out of position at the moment. The reports have suggested he’s been getting a bit of a frosty welcome too. Think Messi and Suarez wanted Neymar signed.

Keane on TV is just trying to be Eamonn Dunphy. And not necessarily Dunphy when he had something interesting to say but rather the latter day, cartoonish Dunphy. Which is all pretty mad given that Keane now hates Dunphy.

I’d missed what prompted the agent to issue that rebuttal. Here are the quotes from Fekir: ‘Lots of lies were told and they affected me,’ Fekir told L’Equipe. ‘Especially those told about my family. It hurt them and me. Especially when you know that’s what being told is false. ‘What was said is not the truth. My knee is good, I had a quick medical check at Clairefontaine, my knee wasn’t even mentioned. If my knee had been in such a bad state, would [Jean-Michel] Aulas have made [an offer to keep me]? ‘But the worst thing is the idea that people could suggest that it’s because of my family that the transfer didn’t happen. It’s a lie. But you have to live with it. ‘You want the truth? Even I don’t know, I promise you! I did my medical and then [Liverpool] decided not to sign me. At some point they wanted to have me believe it was because of my knee but an excuse needed to be found. ‘The medical tests that I did at Clairefontaine were very clear, my knee is perfectly fine and I feel fine. There are no issues at all with my knee. ‘But I have no bitterness towards Liverpool. I met them and we got on brilliantly. They showed that they really wanted me. But when you surround yourself with the wrong people, it comes off badly on you.’ Asked if he was referring to his former agent Jean-Pierre Bernes who his split with earlier this year, Fekir replied: ‘Maybe. But like I said, it’s fate. But it’s not normal to be kept informed of negotiations. ‘My family is discreet and it’s not nice to try to split a family. It was a dark moment in my career. ‘If you don’t have anything good to say about someone, it’s best to stay quiet. Otherwise I’ll say things I’ll regret. ‘That’s not how I was brought up. He [bernes] knows where he stands. We have no contact today and I don’t want any.’

Fantastic. What a quote.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mane expressed his disgruntlement in this game. Looked to me like he was getting annoyed long before being subbed or the pass that wasn’t because of how often he was getting fouled by Burnley, with the ref repeatedly failing to blow up. Reckon this may just have been the overindulgent dribbling/ shooting that broke the camel’s back. That said as brilliant a player as Salah is, I do think this has become something that has been creeping into his game. Think it’s something that has stuck out more since he hit his period of lesser form in the second half of last season. He has been overdoing it on occasion and hasn’t taken the smart option. Certainly in his first season there were times when he was a little selfish and could have played in one of his teammates. But to me it seems like he’s started doing that for more clear cut opportunities since the turn of the year. I’m kinda hoping the spotlight this has received might make him more inclined to play that easy pass over the coming games.

The agent asking Twitter ‘for a friend’, what a loan with an obligation to buy is - just a few days ago - was another highlight. Sounds like the type of cutting edge rep any young professional would want negotiating on their behalf!

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It’s not like CBs ever pick up suspensions either...

Ha! I’m all for this approach. Think we were also looking at Godfrey, the lad who played centre back but I believe he can also play in midfield.

When we didn’t go for Lloyd Kelly, I honestly thought we were after him instead. We’ve been linked before. Both the Norwich full backs got a lot of praise for their performances last season.

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£100m package. So you’d expect that includes wages, signing on fee, possibly agent fees. Either way, still far too much imo.

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Tell you what, only a small number of transfers between Premier League clubs this summer. Think there’s been only about 15 or so who have moved permanently with fees changing hands (few more loan deals admittedly). Shows how hard it is to prise players away from Premier League sides. None of them really need to sell anymore.

Could see the links to Bale coming to the fore again too.

Hmmmm. That could force Bayern to look at other options (they badly need a new winger or two). Which may mean they won’t be signing him when he recovers from injury. I reckon this increases the likelihood of Sane signing a long term deal at City.

Zaha staying put - although there’s still a whole hour and twenty minutes left in the window so still time for another couple of u-turns. Watford signing Sarr is an interesting one.

Supposedly, the brother was going to come to us too if we’d proceeded with the deal last summer.

Personally I think there are options we could have afforded. Berjiwyn or Lozano seem to be affordable and would be better options for the wide roles than Origi or Shaqiri. I suspect Klopp is keeping a ‘space’ for a specific individual and the most likely option as far as I can see is Dembele. There have been reports we enquired about him this summer but he doesn’t want to move at this point. That may change if he spends the first half of the season predominantly on the bench.