WOW! 10 years! I can't believe it! Congrats on the new baby! Amazing! What ever made you think that Reddit was the right place to do ... anything?
thanks a ton newterp. hope you've had some fun in the past 10 years too as for reddit.... it runs easily on my phone while I'm pretending to work at the office
Good player, meets home grown criteria, young but with plenty of first team experience, and he can play multiple roles if memory serves. Go for it.
It's not really - it's only that the painter's hadn't finished because it started to rain that day....
Liverpool considering Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi . More @TimesSport— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) August 7, 2024
When Rodri got injured in the Euro final, Zubamendi is who came on at halftime. Spain didn’t miss a beat. In fact, they were better in the 2nd half. Would be no bad thing to have a Euro winner and World Cup winner, both aged 25, in the heart of our midfield.
The end of Endo (ha!) you would imagine. Which is why I’d make a crap football executive. Because I think he did a great job for us last season and we should hold onto him. Not necessarily for footballing reasons, sentimental also. As I say, I’d make a crap executive. I'm much better as a poster, right?
I agree it’s probably the end of Endo. I think it comes down to Klopp and Slot wanting different things from the number 6. Klopp just asked Endo to win the ball and pass it off to one of the better players. Slot wants the 6 to play as part of a 2 man partnership with an emphasis on being able to build the play from the back and be press resistant.
I still don't understand why we'd need to ship Endo off, even accepting Slot's first preference in terms of team shape. He's a pretty tidy defensive player and can see a good pass, don't think he's on huge wages and seems to have a great attitude. Surely he'd still prove useful I would think. But what do I know...
The other way to look at it is that if Slot thinks it’s important to play with a ball winning #6, than it would be important to have a quality backup in that role. But as I’m typing this I’m realizing that I rather that be Stefan Bajcetic.
this would be an excellent, excellent deal if we can make it happen..... Liverpool took a small step towards making their first signing of the transfer window on Wednesday. The Reds had looked all set to do some business following their return to England at the start of this week. And after it became clear that Liverpool wanted to buy themselves a new holding midfielder, a move for Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi is now in the works. That Liverpool are targeting Zubimendi is perhaps not a surprise. The Reds are due to play a more passing game in the midfield under Arne Slot and in truth Zubimendi looks like a perfect fit. The deal for the 25-year-old may not be an easy one to do, though. A £52m release clause smooths the waters slightly, but this is nothing like a foregone conclusion for the Reds. Liverpool do like a release clause. As seen in the approaches for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai last year, it helps FSG to get business done quickly. However, there is a chance that the whole thing would have to be paid to Real Sociedad up front. [who cares - pay it!!] This could be a problem for Liverpool. In fact, it is one of two problems Liverpool could face with Zubimendi’s transfer. The other is that the Spain international loves his club. Zubimendi has turned down potential exits in the past because he wanted to stay at Sociedad. Arsenal are one of the sides to have been burned by that stance, and journalist Graeme Bailey says that after Zubimendi turned the Gunners down, La Real had been under the impression that he was staying put. “Liverpool have always been about quality over quantity this summer, and there is little doubt that is what Martin Zubimendi is,” Bailey exclusively tells Rousing The Kop.
Me too...... but that area has a lot of interchangeable guys now, without a need for the stand-alone 6 player. Gravenberch, Jones, Mac, etc - can all function in there...
financially, the upside of moving Endo on doesn't balance (imo) the downside of having him available next season. not many months back he was regarded as a superbly smart signing. having his skills, reliability and experience available during a long match-heavy season makes a lot of sense to me, whether or not his innate skills are a seamless match with how Slot wants to set things up.
We need a new 6 but that doesn't mean we're short players at all coz we're pretty deep in numbers in pretty much all positions with so many youngsters knocking on the door and pushing for minutes. If we say buy Zubi and keep both Endo and Bajcetic then who gets minutes when Zubi rests? Give them to the youngster who needs playing time to develop or the older player? It can be difficult but for me I want to see continuity and the team refreshing the squad with young players when its possible. I like Endo and what he brought us last year but I don't want to see him remain as a backup if he ends up blocking the progress of a young talent like Bajcetic or Morton.
Stefan Bajcetic - yes. He can add to a power team. But Is Morton good enough though ?? What's the latest theory on him?? He looked good in the times I saw him. (I'm nowhere near qualified to answer that Q as I don't pay much attention to the yoots other than keeping a bead on a stellar one now and then (Nyoni looks like that to me) but my issue with trying to develop them is that we are also trying to win a title or a CL or an FA Cup.... and on that basis, if say, Mortton isn;t ever going to be able to cut it at the Prem Top 6 club level, we know that Endo can ..... This is the Catch-22.... Who was that kid (--- Woodburn??) that looked like he would make it 4-5 years ago when Klopp played him quite a bit through the back-end of a campaign (I think he may have become our youngest PL scorer??). Anyway - he wen;t off on loan and when he came back he never got back in.
Morton is very good , played well at Hull and with England u21's. I dunno what will happen with either him or Bajcetic but I'll wager both will have successful pro careers. Maybe we'll send Baj or Morton to RS in part exchange for Zubo?
So much of our season will hinge on our injury issues. For whatever reason under Klopp - it really wasn't great. It derailed a couple of our seasons (throw in AFCON as well). Slot's teams seem to be much better with injuries - so fingers crossed!
i don't think there will be any market for Baj right now, as he hasn't proven yet that he has cleared that injury/growth thing successfully with any run of games/fitness... he'll need to play a bit, methinks.... i reallly like him as a player though. If fit, I'd play him ahead of Endo. Him and Jones/Mac as a double
I'd prefer - if we do go for Zubo which I really hope we do - that we just slap the cash on the table and make it simple for RS to agree. would hate to see Baj move, except on loan for a year maybe - to get more minutes at this point than we could give him - but not release completely.
If we do sign Zubamendi, it will be interesting to see where the rest of the midfielders fit into Slot’s system. We still haven’t seen Mac Allister in preseason. I think most assume that he would play in the double pivot alongside Zubamendi, but I think it’s possible he could be used further forward as a number 10. Slot may prefer a more powerful runner like Szobo, Jones, or Gravenberch as the second midfielder in front of the back four. However, Mac Allister also has so many attributes that make you think he would be brilliant as one of the two in the double pivot. Szobo might be the most versatile player of them all in Slot’s system. He can play as a number 10, in the double pivot, and I think he could also play on the right or left wing. I think we would be well stocked in midfield even if Endo were to be sold.