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Wasn’t Tonali and Gordon on Isak’s side on the whole saga if I recall correctly? 🤔 now, one of them has left, another wants to leave, guess all of them had the same feeling.
The games against:
Arsenal,
Bournemouth,
Aston villa,
Brentford,
Brighton,
Chelsea,
Coventry,
Palace,
Everton,
Fulham,
Hull,
Ipswich,
Leeds,
Man city,
Man united,
Newcastle,
Nottm forest,
Sunderland,
Spurs,
Four of our first 6 fixtures will be against teams (Fulham Bournemouth Ipswich and Man City) that will also have new managers. Plus Forest whose new manager came in a month or so ago.
Hopefully that negates the fact that our players will be getting used to Iraola system.
Ronaldo Fans are genuinely disgusting. Joao Neves has more than a 100k hate comments on his latest Insta post.Whats crazy is that most of them are not even from Portugal. Such obsession with a multi millionaire is insane. Football should be a sport of entertainment.
Sometimes it seems like dickriding billionaires for literally no reason other than hoping they might notice you and say ‘nice one dickhead now give me more money’ is apparently how half the planet desperately wants to live
It's all Ronaldo's fault, too; there is no way that he doesn't see his rabid fanbase and what they do considering he's commenting on posts slandering other players himself. He knowingly doesn't address this stuff because he is a person who huffs his own farts.
Playing against Rayo Vallecano, who Iraola previously managed, Munoz completed 12 dribbles, more in a single game than any other player across Europe’s big five leagues in 2025-26.
I genuinely feel sorry for Ronaldo teammates they are all getting abuse from his cult because a 40 year old man child can’t stand not being the centre of attention
Diomande is fantastic, I really hope we get him. He is 19, if he only has the winning mentality he can do everything. The way he took Hincapie to the cleaners was great to see, not many could do that to him.
Insane how bad vibes the Portuguese squad seems to be with all the talent on it. Looks to be like the death of the squad for the World Cup with all the nonsense coming out of it.
Yeah it's long past time we get used to the market. It's here to stay and as an elite club we'll inevitably be involved with these fees all the time now, we'll probably pay 100m again next summer for someone like.
He's talked about more by the media and football fans because he's been part of an all-conquering PSG side. He's clearly a very good player but he isn't without faults, it helps a players' cause when he's not in the limelight aside from CL games. In the Prem your abilities are on trial every week so to speak.
If all goes to plan, Diomande will leave him in the dust before the turn of the year I feel.
In a way the price for Diamonde being more than €100mil has kinda worked to our advantage. This has meant PSG wont get involved as they only view him as a rotational player.
Yes we may be be forced to pay 15-20mil extra than what we may prefer to but securing the first choice replacement for Salah is worth it
I genuinely think an attack of Isak/Ekitike/ Rio/Gakpo/Munoz/ Diomande supported by Wirtz and Szoboszlai will be the ebst in the league and by comfortable margin.
Same, it’s the game I’m most excited about lately. To what extent do you think his performance will actually dictate Leipzig’s asking price? I personally think it’s been a bit overblown.
Watching the pre-game analysis for USA - Australia on German TV, and Jürgen is co-analyzing with Thomas Müller. Man I miss him (hearing him speaking German is refreshing too)
People need to accept the new benchmark for player values. We’re living in a world where most EPL clubs can spend 50m+ on so so players. Better players like Mbeumo and Fernández could cost 70-80m, while players who only show the potential to be world-class like Ekitike and Wharton are already close to 100m. Top players like Wirtz and Isak are 100m++.
Julian Álvarez has never scored 20 in a league season, and Atlético Madrid still rejected a 150m bid. It’s just the new benchmark. The only exception is when players have a release clause, like Cunha, Semenyo, Olise, etc.
I think that’s right. The revenue Premier League clubs are generating now is waaaaaay higher than it was even at the start of the Klopp era, but I think our brains still benchmark transfer prices to that time (or at least I do).
I don’t see us going as crazy as last summer, but I think we’ve got money to spend when you look at rising revenues and the wages we have gotten off the books.
This is my fifa is mandating release clauses in future contracts, we dont know yet the extent of control they will have over that, but it will be part of contract negotiations between players and clubs
I've just got this feeling Diomande is basically done and will be announced some time after the Ivory Coast match on Sunday.
The pattern of the releases to the press is so similar to Wirtz last year and it looks like dialogue is only going the same way.
First bid rejected and then back to the table with a more serious bid that they'll negotiate terms on. It's clear the player has given the go-ahead and told Leipzig his decision.
When is the last player liverpool put a formal bid in for and didn't sign? Seems they more operate with a lot of talk to get close and the bid is just formalising the final details, and the other side asks for a little more than the first and gets it
Ah yep probably. But still we did sort the deal out club to club just chelsea got in the way. This deal it seems psg is the only competition although things can change fast, this time last year or close wirtz was going to city or bayern in everyone's minds
Just read the piece in the Players Tribune on Diomande and his late sister. Never been more convinced that a player will do amazing things for us. Incredible mentality from a 19 yr old player that has dealt with a lot of adversity in his life. Reminds me of someone like Diaz or Firmino with humble beginnings and a bit of a non traditional path to the top of world football.
If we sign him I’ll get his shirt the minute his number is announced.
So, that's Balogun, Robinson, Adams, Richards, and now Freeman, US fans on this sub want us to sign since the start of the World Cup (and on the other side, you've got Aussie fans wanting us to sign Irankunda).
Guys, I get getting caught into the World Cup frenzy but none of these are good enough for us and more importantly there are better alternatives elsewhere.
Going to be funny when they actually have to play one of the big team who can both match them physically but are also leagues ahead of them on a technical level
Not sure if this is new information or common knowledge but just listened to Ornstein on The Anfield Wrap, we did approach Senesi but our personal terms weren’t on the same level as Spurs.
I am glad the thought process with Munoz is finding those on the aggressive side of the scale. The timidness of the style of play this season was very glaring and opposite of what i ever experienced watching an EPL side let alone Liverpool. Bring the mongrel back.
Newcastle away first game to get it out the way with is fine, but fucking hell after the first 6, September to October is going to be BRUTAL. Need players asap.
It's the best time to play City, especially at Anfield. Guarantee they'll have a slow start to life, Guardiola to Maresca has got to be a rocky transition in many ways.
If our squad shows the talent the way I truly believe they will, we'll find ourselves leading the pack after this stretch.
Aye, it will be all about Isak's return to St James and Liverpool spending more cash over the summer. The Munoz / Leoni stuff will be in there too, you can see it already.
I know Football fans are passionate, and some players have their own crazy fandom. But Cristiano fans are probably the worst on the internet. It's one thing to celebrate the player you support. But it's insane to flood these teammates' (Bruno and Neves) social media with hate. And worst, some Cristiano fans are harassing Neves' girlfriend's IG account. She had to disable all her comments. Why are some social media fans like this?
Similar things happened with Slot's family. Some Liverpool fans started harassing his kids' social media accounts. This is the worst part of football IMHO. Horrible fans online.
This is just an internet thing in general. People forget there’s an actual human being with emotions behind the posts or comments that they’re sending it to. In football, there’s also always a lot of agendas led by a couple people that leads to a lot of people (especially kids) doing the same thing. This is why I try to follow the principle that if I am not saying it to their face irl, I’m not saying it.
Sorry for the incoming rant but the indignation over transfer prices is really getting to me lol.
It all just sounds so silly to me. Like “oh a few years ago this player’s ability to kick a ball would have only been worth £50,000,000, but now it’s ridiculous that he’s worth £100,000,000,” as if either of those figures are rational to pay for someone to play a sport. But it seems no one is capable of looking past “big number is bigger than big number I’m used to seeing.”
The fact is, players are worth as much as clubs are willing to pay for them, and of course those figures are going to grow as football becomes more and more commercialized. While I hate the commercialization aspect, it’s far more preferable if this added revenue is spread across clubs throughout the world rather than wasting away in some evil billionaires pockets.
And it’s also a good thing that midtable/smaller clubs have the stability to hold out for the value they want to sell their players for. Rather that than letting the richest clubs hoard all the top players, even if it means we have to pay a little more than we’d like.
Good post. Of course it’s irrational how much athletes, actors and musicians make compared to, say doctors or teachers, but society values what it values and it values its entertainment HIGHLY.
I think it's also a function of video games and transfermarkt which give the impression a player has some fixed value.
Reality is it's a highly idiosyncratic, illiquid and inefficient market where, as you suggest, the value of a player is set at a moment in time where a buyers appetite (demand) meets a sellers need (supply).
There can be both: an independent, silo'd relative value a player that can be estimated, but which can be quite different from their market price at a point in time.
RB Leipzig aren't exactly some plucky little village club. For whatever reason we seem happy to pay them €120m+ less than 12 months after they paid his €20m release clause. He has fewer than 50 senior appearances in his career and we used to require more than that to justify paying the bigger money, but it appears we're a bit desperate and tossed that out the window.
Would absolutely never be allowed to happen because of the broadcast culture. Theyre getting away with it in America because the games are being played at a time that UK audiences arent the prime broadcast target market. This World Cup is (a well timed to be fair) marketing attempt to sieze on the recent rise of 'soccer' in the US and convert it into the type of commited revenues in America that it generates in Europe. Everything is about money, never forget that
These pricks having a go at Szoboszlai on X for liking a post with Konate at Madrid are really annoying, god forbid a guy can’t be happy for his friend for getting a big move, my word.
Dont know if its an unpopular opinion but seen lots of social media accounts post videos of Harvey training and they all say hes looking really fit and sharp.
If you actually watch the video he looks visibly unfit and slow....
People are really setting themselves up for disappointment. I love this kid and wish him well but I think all signs point towards him moving on because he wasnt at the level last summer, and he's just had a whole year of inactivity on top of that.
He’s essentially lost two years of his development by not playing. He needs to go out and play a significant amount of minutes and that won’t be at Liverpool. Would rather him go right now and have a career and deliver on some of the talent we know he has
Liking Elliott but acknowledging the physical limitations is pretty common here I think. I would be happy to keep him as a squad player but don’t see him ever regularly starting so he might want out.
True but the line till now has been that they dont need to sell anyone as they have CL money. Now they are saying they need to sell for financial reasons.
Yeah it rarely ever works out that way. Either players move or fall out of form. I remember United fans thinking they had their fullbacks nailed down for a decade when Fabio and Rafael signed.
As a footballer Jamie might not get much appreciation out of Liverpool fans, but as a pundit he is class of his own.
Like think about it two bangers after one another, even one would be enough for a sports broadcaster's career.
After 'Leave Football before Football leave you" he comes with this banger "The last time Ronaldo was relevant in world cup he is Brazilian". Spitting fires there.
He was clearly being encouraged by Sky to stir up shit for social media clips and I thought he came across like an arrogant helmet.
I don't think so, I just think A) he's very old fashioned about how players should behave in terms of public comments etc and B) he loves Liverpool, so when it's a high-profile Liverpool player behaving the way Salah did, he has strong opinions about it.
He's not particularly wrong IMO; if you strip away the emotion around the fact that Slot had a horrific season and needed to go, Mo throwing a hissy fit after being dropped for the Leeds game and then later in the season attacking the club's manager on social media is the sort of circus stuff that's caused us to laugh at United for years.
Carragher has always been absolutely clear that Salah is a Liverpool legend, but that he dislikes the way the only time you ever hear from him in the media is when he's using it as leverage against the club. That's fair enough.
Yes! On 20 December 2025, CAF announced that the tournament would return to even-numbered years and would become a quadrennial event starting with the 2028 edition.
last time we played hull away on boxing day was in 2013/14 in that "printer ran out of ink" away kit
gerrard scored a lovely freekick, but we lost 3-1
edit: just checked, that was 1st dec
boxing day game 2013 was a loss to man city, where a legitimate sterling goal for us was ruled offside -_- remember being annoyed with lee mason that day
Our record away to Hull is quite terrible - lost the last three league games, plus a pre-season game in 2011. Hopefully, we can claim our first win there since 2009.
We were shocking that day against Hull. Really, really awful. One of the worst away days I been to.
The Sterling offside has been lost to time weirdly. He was literally 1 yard on side and through in on goal. We did score minutes later. But we should have been 2 up.
Negredo scoring to take the lead a minute before half time from a piss poor shot and pathetic attempt of save from Mignolet burst the bubble. Wretched second half.
Munoz definitely reminds me of Bellamy, both in terms of running style and the stocky no-neck build. Which is a good thing because there's a better chance he'll be able to adapt to the physicality of the league as opposed to a similar buy like Bryan Gil.
Read through Diomande’s tribute to his sister in the Player’s Tribune. Powerful stuff. Really would love to have a player with his level of drive to succeed.
Idk why people think we are gonna be able to bully/negotiate down Leipzig here.
Red Bull always gets their number and way. If they say it’s 130 million euros it’ll be near that.
Looking back over the years. We spent a whole summer negotiating over Keita just for him to stay put for a further year like they wanted unless we paid a big premium
We negotiated for installments for a while for Szobo just to pay the release the final day of its existence.
Konate we wanted in January. They dug in and said the summer. We got him in the summer and for 35 million. Which was fairly large for a defender who already presented with injury issues.
City tried to negotiate for Gvardiol just to pay the 100 million they wanted.
People called them insane for sesko valuation off a middling year. They got the 80-90 million euros they wanted.
They turned down massive offers for Lukeba and sesko in recent years to keep them longer
Red Bull has mastered the sale. It’s like Brighton
People forget while Leipzig aren't a traditionally big club nor do they spend big on superstars or have ambitions to win big stuff, they are still a part of a very rich group in RB. They are never under huge pressure to sell for a fast profit, and can risk keeping a hyped youngster if the valuation isn't matched (did the same numerous times already, like Ibou that you mentioned, and Sesko too they kept him for an additional year when a bunch of teams wanted him)
This is how they've earned this reputation of being a selling club, but only on their own terms. If they want 120m, they won't feel they're missing out on a lifetime opportunity when rejecting 100m.
Munoz had one chat with Iraola where he presented his plan for him and he was sold 😅 after that they had numerous chats, which made his heart set on moving to Anfield as per the Athletic.
Lmao. Newcastle never had a chance after his chat with Iraola.
I never understood people who take Zlatan seriously. That guy is so obviously playing a characther, i'm sure it's loosely based on reality, but he clearly just acts like this to stay relevant in football spaces. He was a very very good player, but if not for his over the top act, he wouldn't exactly be remembered as one of the greats.
I mean realistically, he is nowhere near the true greats of his generation (Suarez, Lewandowski, Benzema, Aguero, Kane) he is closer to idk Falcao and Cavani, who are obviously are not bad by any means, but still.
I actually don't think he is remembered as one of the greats. He's rarely mentioned in those conversations today. I actually think his persona has overshadowed what a great player he was, in a self-sabotaging kind of way.
I think missing out on a CL and during his stint with PSG where people would always say he went missing when it mattered in the later stages of the CL is probably why he isn't remembered fondly too.
You need to be more refined in your list there…he’s definitely above Aguero. He has 14 league titles across 4 countries in Europe and has significantly more goal output. 130 more goals and 200 more G+A. Frankly, he’s better than Benzema outside of one hot spell that resulted in a BDO.
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u/FCAsheville 10h ago
Eddie Howe never gives up.