I honestly cant see any up side to signing Dembele over Werner. He was the next big thing before Mbappe arrived, but seemed to buy into his own press and thought he had made it Dembele got himself in trouble with his club at both Dortmund and Barca, he's going to cost more, and seems to be eternally injured. also Werners only 2 years older than Dembele which surprised me - though Dembele was younger
When you have RB Leipzig tweeting out looking for Liverpool fans to support them in the Bundesliga... "Reason 11: @LFC fans. You love Timo #Werner. So do we. Let's support him together!" and theres just SO much chatter day in day out about how he DOESNT want to go here there and everywhere, certainly looks like its US or stay put for another year
Whats peoples take on all the "we wont have the cash reserves for big money transfers this summer/autumn window"? - from all corners, not just ourselves I mean. Now I dont for a second doubt that the pandemic has seriously impacted clubs worldwide. But is it likely to impact THAT much? Barca are trying to swap half their reserves for targets - no change there. Real are supposedly tapping up Mane, Mbappe and others with no worries about how to pay for them (handy having the King in your pocket) City's loses/deficit will be literally a drop in the (oil) ocean PSG likewise Bayern seem to operate year in year out 80-100m in the red on transfers anyway Utd can just print more shares Italian clubs dont buy mostly, they loan Newcastle - New oil money Then ourselves - posted record profits last financial year, CL prizemoney, and the fact we spent £3.40 over the last 2-3 windows, must have us in a strong financial position. Are clubs (and I mean the big boys) coming the poor mouth but secretly subbing their hands at the notion that its likely to be a cherry picking exercise this next window as the smaller clubs with less/no reserves to fall back on, are going to be forced into selling their prized assets?
Clubs will be trying to figure how they can use this pandemic to their advantage. Can imagine they have specific folks trying to look into how values may change, what players may want to move to their home Country if the social distancing could go on for years. Thinking Spanish or Italian players in England for instance. They might feel more comfortable in their own country even if they had to take a wage cut.
OGS has already said he's hoping he can use the pandemic to their advantage when transfer window opens.
Sign Werner for £50m? It’s not that simple – and Liverpool will not gamble By James Pearce 7h ago It was never going to be a busy summer for Liverpool in the transfer market. With Jurgen Klopp’s side on the brink of adding the Premier League title to the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup they had won over the previous 12 months, only fine-tuning rather than a major shopping spree was anticipated. The vast majority of the club’s key personnel are yet to reach their peak and, with the notable exception of midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum, they are all tied down to long-term deals. Klopp had penned his own contract extension back in December, enthused by the belief that everything was in place to keep the good times rolling at Anfield. As thoughts turned to planning for the 2020-21 season prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, discussions with sporting director Michael Edwards and the club’s recruitment staff centred on bolstering their attacking options. High-calibre back-up for the established front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino was on the agenda. That need was intensified by the announcement that the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon would be moved from June to January next year. A fuming Klopp labelled that decision “a catastrophe” for Liverpool as he pondered the grim prospect of losing Salah, Mane and midfielder Naby Keita for up to six weeks at a crucial period of the campaign. Shortly before the shutdown, it appeared that Liverpool were closing in on the perfect solution. Timo Werner ticked all the boxes — quick, direct and prolific. An established Germany international, he had scored 21 goals and provided seven assists in 25 Bundesliga matches in 2019-20. He had been on Liverpool’s radar since his days at Stuttgart in 2015 and was viewed as an ideal fit stylistically. Publicly, as the speculation increased, the RB Leipzig frontman spoke about his pride at being linked with a move to Anfield and labelled Klopp “the best coach in the world”. Privately, he made it clear that despite interest from Barcelona, Manchester United and Chelsea, Liverpool was his destination of choice. He wasn’t put off by the fact that there would be no guarantees about his place in the pecking order. The pulling power of Klopp was a big factor. With a release clause of €60 million (£53.7 million), which can be triggered in June, it looked like a no-brainer for Liverpool — a shrewd investment and the kind of deal that made sense for all parties. However, that was before all the upheaval caused by COVID-19. Now the landscape has been transformed. Uncertainty reigns. Werner’s future is in the balance. Senior Anfield sources insist Liverpool are unlikely to make any major signings this summer. They point to the huge financial impact of the crisis and the fact that as things stand they don’t even know either when the transfer window will open or when next season will start. “Our revenues have been shut off yet our outgoings remain,” wrote chief executive Peter Moore in an open letter to fans after Liverpool reversed their decision to furlough hundreds of staff last month. He also warned about the prospect of “unprecedented operating losses” for a club whose annual wage bill stands at £310 million. Owners Fenway Sports Group don’t take money out of the club but they expect it to live within its means. Their success has been based on sustained growth across all areas. That has been halted by circumstances beyond their control. A massive drop in cash coming in inevitably means that less can be reinvested. Although their latest accounts showed a pre-tax profit of £42 million and record revenues of £533 million, club officials point to the fact that those figures are already a year old and only provide a snapshot. The full cost of the current crisis remains unclear but it’s escalating by the week. Match-day revenue is currently worth £84 million to Liverpool per season but there’s a fear that matches will have to be played behind closed doors well into 2021. Liverpool will refund fans with tickets for their remaining games this season and they have placed their season ticket renewal process on hold. Every home game played without fans will leave a shortfall in excess of £3 million. Media revenue, which stood at £261 million for Liverpool in 2018-19, will be severely hit by the rebates being demanded by domestic and international broadcasters. And then you have got the commercial revenue, which had leaped by 22 per cent to £188 million for 2018-19 under the guidance of managing director Billy Hogan. Liverpool’s club shops would have expected record sales in the wake of being crowned Premier League champions. Instead, they have been locked up for the past two months. One of the big attractions of the new five-year kit deal signed with Nike, which officially starts next month, was that its value would keep rising. Liverpool accepted a relatively low base fee of £30 million per season (the current deal with New Balance is worth £40 million) on the basis that they would also bank 20 per cent of all net sales of merchandise. Nike have vowed to get LFC goods into around 6,000 stores globally — roughly double the current number. But Liverpool are reliant on people feeling safe enough to go shopping again over the coming months as well as having the disposable income to do so in a tough economic climate. Doubts also surround instalments due to be paid by the club’s army of global sponsors given that in the absence of football Liverpool have been unable to fulfil their side of the bargain in terms of exposure. As for pre-season, the continued absence of supporters from stadiums will cost the club millions of pounds. Before the pandemic, Liverpool had decided to stay in Europe for the first time in a decade and play a series of lucrative matches across the continent against elite opposition. However, those plans have since been torn up. Moore and Hogan were among more than a dozen executive club staff who voluntarily took a 25 per cent pay cut early on in the crisis. Work on the new training complex at Kirkby has now fully restarted after being shut down for six weeks by contractors McLaughlin & Harvey due to social distancing guidelines. The £50 million cost is being spread across three financial years. The £60 million redevelopment of the Anfield Road stand was recently placed on hold for 12 months and won’t now be completed until at least the summer of 2023. This is the backdrop to all the talk about Werner and the club’s transfer activity this summer. Another factor to consider is the impact of COVID-19 on potential outgoings from Klopp’s squad. Liverpool had slapped a €30 million (£26.7 million) price tag on Xherdan Shaqiri, having turned down loan interest from Sevilla and Roma back in January. That valuation looked optimistic at the time given the Swiss attacker’s injury woes and now it appears fanciful. Bumper offers were expected for winger Harry Wilson and midfielder Marko Grujic, currently on loan at Bournemouth and Hertha Berlin respectively. Pocketing £40 million for the pair would have realistic before the shutdown but not any more. Liverpool must decide whether to accept lower fees for those on the fringes or keep hold of them until the market recovers somewhat. Loris Karius is for sale after cancelling his loan contract with Beşiktaş and Liverpool will attempt to find a new club for him before pre-season begins. Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne will both leave as free agents but talented youngsters Curtis Jones and Neco Williams are rated highly and tipped to step up in their absence. The lack of natural cover for left-back Andy Robertson is often flagged as a weakness in the squad but vice-captain James Milner can deputise there and academy graduates Adam Lewis and Yasser Larouci are also options. So what about Werner? As The Athletic revealed last weekend, he wants to either join Liverpool this summer or stay at Leipzig and revisit the matter in 2021. Much will hinge on what happens with the Premier League’s “Project Restart” and what kind of outlay the Anfield hierarchy believe can be justified when things are clearer regarding next season. Will Leipzig be prepared to compromise and accept less than €60 million in the knowledge that Werner’s release clause drops to €40 million next June? Relations between the two clubs are good following the transfer of Keita. Back in the summer of 2017, Edwards saw off competition for the Guinea international’s signature by agreeing a deal 12 months in advance, which saw Liverpool pay a premium on top of his release clause. Waiting a season for Werner in a similar fashion would certainly be deemed more palatable if January’s Africa Cup of Nations is called off and Liverpool don’t have to battle on without Salah and Mane mid-season. That’s a distinct possibility, with four rounds of qualifiers for the tournament still to be played due to all the postponements. Klopp does have options with his front line. More will be expected from Takumi Minamino after a tricky period of adaptation following his £7.25 million move from Salzburg in January. Divock Origi will hope to kick on and Shaqiri may even decide to stick around. The Liverpool manager has high hopes for teenager Harvey Elliott, who has enjoyed an excellent debut season at the club after signing from Fulham. Jones is another gifted attacker and Rhian Brewster has impressed on loan at Swansea City. Klopp’s pursuit of Virgil van Dijk showed he’s prepared to bide his time to get his man rather than shift to a Plan B. Some Premier League clubs may decide to gamble in this summer’s transfer market regardless but Liverpool won’t be one of them. They aren’t one of those playing catch-up. Too much is up in the air for them to commit to anything. Werner will have to wait until there’s some clarity. https://theathletic.com/1818926/202...ship/?source=user_shared_article&redirected=1
Mario Gotze on a free, anyone? Subject to him not wanting a crazy weekly wage, I think he could be worth a punt. We need a couple of new attacking options for midfield and won't be writing too many big cheques this summer, from the looks of things. Lallana and possibly Shaq are on the way out this summer, then there's Milner who looks like he might go on for ever, but he's 34 now. As such, we probably need to bring in 2, if not 3 midfielders, over the next 12-18 months. Jones is looking like he might fill one of those three slots, but then there are still 2 more. Gotze in, possibly with a few quid coming in for Shaq, seems okay to me. Obviously Gotze hasn't done much over the last season, so there's a risk, but a new football league, Klopp as manager etc might give him a lift. If he doesn't work out, he's only coming in as a squad player, so not the end of the world.
Hard to believe Gotze only going on 28. Only 75 league appearances in last four years at Dortmund. He had what was rumoured to be a muscular disease for a while. Klopp would know him inside out and if there anything left in tank he could get it out of him. My guess though is that he wouldn't have the stamina or fitness for Klopp's style now. Also he would be a front three player rather than a midfielder and don't think he would get enough goals even at his peak for this team.
Rumour going around this morning that a deal for Werner is in place but won't be announced until July.
Anyone reliable or just the gossip sites? From what I've heard about him he would be an incredible signing.
The reliables say Klopp has had face to face talks(obviously video chat) which wouldnt happen if we weren't trying to get the deal done. We also know he's desperate to sign and has a release clause. If we can afford it,he'll be coming.
If he,s on a free it will be akin to getting Lallanas wages off the books and Goetze in Id take him in a heartbeat
David Maddock from Mirror https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-withdraw-timo-werner-talks-22097359
I'd say that could also be us trying some tough negotiation tactics, I'm struggling to believe that it's the end of it. Amongst other things, the Africa Nations Cup is still scheduled to go ahead, AFAIK, and we're likely to lose some top talent for six, or maybe even seven weeks, as a result. We need to cater for this and Origi isn't enough, to pick up the slack. Sure, clubs have legitimate concerns about their revenue for the season ahead, and its long past time that players transfer fees and wages were forced down, but our success over the last year or so, along with (fingers crossed), another bit of silverwear to come in a month or two's time, still positions us better financially, than most other clubs, I would have thought. I wonder if we've tested the waters with RB, regarding a possible player plus cash deal, to try and close the gap? Granted, they aren't the easiest of deals to agree, but it might help solve the problem, while also giving one of our fringe players an opportunity to get regular game time, that's not on the cards for them at LFC.