{"id":981,"date":"2017-07-27T12:56:14","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T12:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=981"},"modified":"2017-07-27T12:56:14","modified_gmt":"2017-07-27T12:56:14","slug":"are-there-alternatives-to-our-transfer-targets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/are-there-alternatives-to-our-transfer-targets\/","title":{"rendered":"Are There Alternatives To Our Transfer Targets?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every Monday during the transfer window I\u2019ve been writing and posting a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/liverpool-football-club-transfer-rumour-round-up-july-24th-2017\/\">round up of all of the players that Liverpool have been linked with<\/a>. Unlike in previous windows, there aren\u2019t actually that many names bouncing around. Of course you can find plenty if you want to look at the less reputable sources, but the general consensus is that our targets have been narrowed down to a central defender and a midfielder; namely Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita. For some sections of the Liverpool fanbase this is being seen, predictably, as a cause for panic. But is that fair?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Liverpool need to get their finger out with some transfers. Massive window for the club. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash\">#LFC<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/liverpoolfc?src=hash\">#liverpoolfc<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TransferNews?src=hash\">#TransferNews<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TransferWindow?src=hash\">#TransferWindow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 chrisy (@chrisy_lfc) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisy_lfc\/status\/889936569007820802\">July 25, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve already secured the services of Mohamed Salah, an exciting player in his own right but also the &#8216;replacement for Man\u00e9&#8217; many people were crying out for. The opportunistic purchase of Dominic Solanke was an intelligent one, giving Klopp an option should Sturridge\u2019s injury problems persist or Divock Origi struggle to find the form that made him look such an exciting prospect back in the 2015-2016 season. Yet for some this transfer window will be a &#8216;failure&#8217; if we don\u2019t either bring in both of our targets or else sign some alternatives. I\u2019m not entirely sure that\u2019s fair, if for no other reason than J\u00fcrgen Klopp may well not have any alternatives on his radar\u2026<\/p>\n<h2>Are There Alternatives To van Dijk?<\/h2>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing about J\u00fcrgen Klopp that some Liverpool supporters may not quite have got their head around: he doesn\u2019t really buy into the idea of incremental changes. Football fans who have a longer memory than simply thinking back to Brendan Rodgers will remember that Rafa Benitez was never afraid to go out and buy a player he\u2019d rate at 7.5 to replace one he thought was a 7. For proof of this look at the move from Josemi to Jan Kromkamp to Alvaro Arbeloa to Glen Johnson, all in the space of five years. Meanwhile have a look at who Klopp has used instead of Nathaniel Clyne. It\u2019s essentially been Clyne or Trent Alexander-Arnold and there\u2019s been no real desire to search for a better alternative.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Those close to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash\">#LFC<\/a> say <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Klopp?src=hash\">#Klopp<\/a> isn\u2019t always interested in alternatives if he doesn\u2019t get his primary targets. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Keita?src=hash\">#Keita<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/VvD?src=hash\">#VvD<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MiguelDelaney\">@MiguelDelaney<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Viktor Fagerstr\u00f6m (@ViktorFagerLFC) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ViktorFagerLFC\/status\/890318739585060865\">July 26, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Despite the deepest desires of some Reds, Klopp is unlikely to just head out and splurge \u00a370 million on a defender if we can\u2019t persuade Southampton to part with Virgil van Dijk. Now I should say that this isn\u2019t a policy I necessarily agree with. I think we\u2019re in need of defensive improvements, but I\u2019m not sure that the manager wants to just bring any old centre-back into this team and hope for the best. For Klopp it isn\u2019t just about having an extra body but having the <strong>right<\/strong> body. Why? Because there are weaknesses in this defence that desperately need to be mitigated, but they are very specific weaknesses that only a certain breed of player could help to sort.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_258\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-258\" class=\"size-large wp-image-258\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Goalkeeper-Simon-Mignolet-of-Liverpool_EUO_mooinblack-shutterstock-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Goalkeeper-Simon-Mignolet-of-Liverpool_EUO_mooinblack-shutterstock-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Goalkeeper-Simon-Mignolet-of-Liverpool_EUO_mooinblack-shutterstock-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Goalkeeper-Simon-Mignolet-of-Liverpool_EUO_mooinblack-shutterstock.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-258\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">mooinblack \/ shutterstock.com<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I personally am on record as being against the idea of keeping hold of Simon Mignolet this summer. Yes, he absolutely improved at the tail end of last season. When all is said and done, though, we\u2019re talking about eight games. He was still throwing in genuinely terrible performances against Hull as late in the season as February, don\u2019t forget. Even if you thought he was a man transformed for the entirety of the campaign &#8211; and there are plenty of people who would agree with you &#8211; his weaknesses are a big part of the problem with our defence and the chief amongst them is communication.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Poor communication between Mignolet and Klavan. Mignolet easily catches Crouch&#8217;s header but Klavan clears it and gives them back the ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 John O&#8217;Sullivan (@NotoriousJOS) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NotoriousJOS\/status\/813799195945697280\">December 27, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Now I honestly have no idea how good van Dijk\u2019s communication is, I haven\u2019t seen him play enough to know. The fact that he was made Southampton captain not long after arriving at the club is suggestive of the notion that it\u2019s excellent, however, and I think that\u2019s one of the big reasons why the manager wants to bring him in. There is something reminiscent of Rio Ferdinand\u2019s play in the Dutchman\u2019s style and that\u2019s not an easily replicated trait. If we bring him in then he likely becomes our first-choice centre-back along with Joel Matip, with Lovren dropping to third and probably Joe Gomez becoming fourth-choice. That would make Ragnar Klavan our fifth-choice centre-back and that seems about right for a player of his ability.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_872\" style=\"width: 543px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-872\" class=\"size-large wp-image-872\" src=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6737-533x400.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6737-533x400.jpg 533w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6737-267x200.jpg 267w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6737-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/IMG_6737-65x50.jpg 65w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-872\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winning The Derby<\/p><\/div>\n<p>That can only happen because he\u2019s a significantly better defender than we\u2019ve already got on our books. If we do what most supporters want and just bring in a defender &#8211; any defender &#8211; then all you do is water down our defensive options with a mediocre player who is about the same level as Klavan and Gomez, except for the fact that Gomez is young. How many defenders are available right now that would genuinely improve us in the same way that van Dijk would? Don\u2019t forget that United, City and Chelsea were all after him but he\u2019s keen to work with Klopp. This isn\u2019t us settling for someone that no one else is interested in. As I say, I\u2019m not sure not bringing in anyone is an option. But I do think that Klopp isn\u2019t keen to take his eyes off his primary defensive target until it\u2019s clear we\u2019re absolutely not going to sign him.<\/p>\n<h2>Are There Alternatives To Keita?<\/h2>\n<p>I think the situation with Naby Keita is similar, though for different reasons. I think part of the problem with trying to find an alternative target to the RB Leipzig man is that there aren\u2019t any. We\u2019re talking here about a 22-year-old box-to-box midfielder who essentially does the work of two players. The reason we\u2019re interested in him is that he\u2019s unique, so you don\u2019t replace him with just one different player. The comparison to Ngolo Kant\u00e9 is lazy and essentially based on the fact that they\u2019re both black midfielders, but it\u2019s certainly true that the two of them cover an awful lot of ground during a football match. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s replicated without any issue.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Too many people think Keita and Seri play like Kant\u00e9 just because they&#8217;re small and black<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom (@VintageSanchez) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VintageSanchez\/status\/890483822122475520\">July 27, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>I think Keita is a brilliant player and the fact that he\u2019s so young means that he&#8217;s only likely to get better. I\u2019m very excited about the prospect of us signing him and him working with Klopp, but I\u2019m also suspicious that we\u2019re not after him because we desperately want another midfielder. I think it\u2019s more about him being an excellent player who may be available so, much like with Solanke, you grab them whilst you can. Now I know nothing about Liverpool\u2019s transfer plans from an official point of view, but I don\u2019t believe Klopp desperately wants another body. I think he wants Keita because of everything he can provide for the next five years, not the next five months. I might be wrong, but that\u2019s my instinct.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an instinct borne from experience and from looking at our squad. Right now, if you assume that Roberto Firmino, Sadio Man\u00e9 and Mohamed Salah are all going to be used more as forwards than midfielders, the manager\u2019s options look like this when it comes to the middle of the park:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jordan Henderson<\/li>\n<li>Philippe Coutinho<\/li>\n<li>Marko Grujic<\/li>\n<li>Emre Can<\/li>\n<li>Adam Lallana<\/li>\n<li>Gini Wijnaldum<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Given that Klopp has also been using Ben Woodburn in what you might call the &#8216;Coutinho role&#8217; during pre-season and has also not been afraid to turn to the likes of Ryan Kent and Ovie Ejaira at times, it\u2019s not exactly an area of the squad that desperately needs strengthening. Add to that the fact that James Milner could move into the middle if needed (please never let that happen, J\u00fcrgen) and both Salah and Man\u00e9 are willing and able to play more centrally and you can see why I don\u2019t think adding in another midfielder is key to Klopp\u2019s transfer plans. Should Ralf Rangnick and the Leipzig board continue to bunker down, racially tinged comment and all, I don\u2019t think we&#8217;ll look elsewhere. It would certainly explain why there aren\u2019t more names being bandied about. With van Dijk it\u2019s about a lack of players at a similar level, with Keita it\u2019s because few players do what he can do.<\/p>\n<h2>Is There A Transfer Plan B?<\/h2>\n<p>The natural thing to ask, then, is whether or not there is a Plan B when it comes to our transfer work this summer. I actually think that there is, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s got anything to do with players in a similar position. My instinct is that we might just go and splurge the cash on a brilliant player, irrespective of where they play. It\u2019s why I think we heard so many noises about the club &#8216;wanting to be in the conversation&#8217; over Kylian Mbappe, for example. I couldn\u2019t see FSG, or Klopp for that matter, spending over \u00a3100 million on a teenager <strong>as well as<\/strong> Keita and VvD, but I absolutely could see us splashing that sort of money if we missed out on both of them.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Seen city are apparently bidding on mbappe ! When are Liverpool joining the conversation then ? <\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Kent Riley (@Kentriley) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kentriley\/status\/889985863458971649\">July 25, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s unfortunate for the owners &#8211; and Mecca for the #FSGOUT brigade &#8211; that the summer they feel confident enough with the man in the hot-seat to let him go out and spend mega money is also the summer that selling clubs have decided to play hardball. Those that like to take a negative approach to football and this ownership in particular might want to pretend it\u2019s just a matter of throwing money at the problem, but both Saints and RBL have more than enough money to mean that they can tell Liverpool their players aren\u2019t for sale and no amount of cash will change that fact. It is, in my opinion, now down to the players to force their way out of each club and I still believe that that will happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every Monday during the transfer window I\u2019ve been writing and posting a round up of all of the players that Liverpool have been linked with. Unlike in previous windows, there aren\u2019t actually that many names bouncing around. Of course you can find plenty if you want to look at the less reputable sources, but the general consensus is that our targets have been narrowed down to a central defender and a midfielder; namely Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keita. For some sections of the Liverpool fanbase this is being seen, predictably, as a cause for panic. But is that fair? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":982,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions\/982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}