{"id":531,"date":"2016-06-24T13:59:48","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T13:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=531"},"modified":"2016-06-28T13:47:18","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T13:47:18","slug":"liverpool-football-club-transfer-rumour-round-up-june-24th-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/liverpool-football-club-transfer-rumour-round-up-june-24th-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool Football Club Transfer Rumour Round-Up: June 24th 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
This blog is not a place for political comment. It is about football and, more specifically, Liverpool Football Club. That being said, it is impossible today not to acknowledge the result of yesterday\u2019s European referendum. The future is now, sadly, a bleak and uncertain place that seems a little bit darker and a little bit more isolated than it did 24 hours ago. It is crucial in the coming days, weeks and months that we do not, as a nation, allow fear and hatred to win out against love and the innate desire we have to help each other.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also impossible to ignore the fact that this result could have a very real impact on Liverpool FC\u2019s future. The freedom of movement of people guaranteed through membership of the EU means that EU nationals have been able to play in the UK without a work permit; something that is not the case for non-EU nationals who need to be granted a work permit.<\/p>\n
The current work permit rules mean that players must have played a given percentage of matches for their country in order to be granted said permit. On that basis, Philippe Coutinho, Emre Can, Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho would all have failed to get their work permit and would not have been able to play any games for Liverpool.<\/p>\n
Another thing to bear in mind is the value of the pound. It absolutely plummeted over night as a victory for Leave became clear, hitting lows not seen since the 1980s. That means that, if it continues to devalue, Liverpool could end up spending roughly \u00a310 million more on a player bought from Europe not because the selling club has put the price up, but simply because the exchange rate is so dreadful.<\/p>\n
On the flip side, of course, the pound is now weaker against the dollar, meaning that FSG have theoretically got more bang for their buck.<\/p>\n
This blog is not political and, of course, the ramifications of a vote to leave are significantly worse for other parts of society than football supporters. But as someone far more intelligent than I once said, \u201cFootball is the least important of the most important things in life\u201d.<\/p>\n
We all sort of knew when J\u00fcrgen Klopp didn\u2019t pick him for important games and at crucial moments that Joe Allen was almost certainly on his way out of Anfield, but it is now looking more likely than ever. The Welshman was excellent for Liverpool at times last season, but he is a little bit too weak and lightweight for the Premier League in a team that already has relative lightweights in the form of Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino as first choices.<\/p>\n