Konate
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If he doesn't want to be sold then he won't be sold. And we will of course contiue to play him alongside VvD. And he'll go next Summer on a Free. In the meantime we'll get in someone like Brainthwaite now (to replace Quansah if he leaves) and go big next Summer for another CB.
Well thats our fault but I can imagine a tussle between PSG and Madrid for his sig and we might get £50-60m for him. Its Hughes's job to make sure that he renew, buy and sell.
what choice do we have? We can't force someone to sign and we can only offer whats right for the club. Do we offer contracts with 3 years left?
Under normal circumstances i would agree. But this is world cup year. No player can afford to sit on the bench, especially the french national team. If we bought a replacement and told him he's going to be 3rd choice he would leave this summer without fail.
It's all mathematics isn't it.
They say he's working X a week. So that's the max he gets offered. They know they can get someone else who is potentially better than him at a significantly cheaper wage and they are prepared to sell or let him leave for free.
It's hard to argue with them at this point.
They say he's working X a week. So that's the max he gets offered. They know they can get someone else who is potentially better than him at a significantly cheaper wage and they are prepared to sell or let him leave for free.
It's hard to argue with them at this point.
Sell him. Either you sign a contract or you rot and miss the world cup. We have to be ruthless.
Mind as well buy a CB now.
We're not going to do that though are we?
What if the replacement turns out to be absolutely fucking shite, then what? Jeopardise our whole season as a result because of some resentment we hold that we're partly at fault for? Cracking idea.
Let next season pan out with Ibou, retain the title/compete for trophies with him again playing the main role alongside Virg and then what comes next comes next.
Yeah - that was a temporary thing - otherwise it will always be Mbappe or someone else who did not play (with more experience than him) during those games where he was given the armband. He cannot marshal a defence against any strong opposition, it is chaotic.
No it's not he is a shit leader at the back.
We'll play our best CBs - and he's one of them, I highly doubt we're paying top dollar for someone better. It would be naive to think we won't play him.
I'm happy with that, but if he only wants Madrid and they're willing to wait we can't really do much
Regardless of whether its this season or next if we aren't going to meet his wage demands he's going to leave and we are going to need to find a replacement. There are many good CB's out there and yes they may be expensive. But which is better, replacing him with an expensive player and getting a fee for him now or letting him leave next summer on a free and still paying roughly the same amount on a replacement CB?
You are making three assumptions there however :
1. he agrees to move ( if I were him I wouldn't as either RM or PSG will pick him up next year on a free an with a big signing on bonus and higher wages and because LFC have a great chance of winning another PL title and will again be one of the favourites for the CL).
2. a club actually moves for him at a price we're willing to accept (and we've seen that we won't if it doesn't suit us).
3. that we can find a replacement at a price we can afford and are willing to pay.
Are there 'many good CBs out there' ? We haven't moved for one yet and this forum doesn't throw up many names that are the equal or better than Konate.
If he goes on a free then he goes on a free but I'd rather keep him and increase our chances in both the PL and CL than bring in a player that has to integrate into the defence (3 of the back 4 then being new players) and will likely be a lesser player. For you (and some others on here in agreement with you) it seems to be all about the fee, personally I'd rather win things and if the price of that is receiving a fee then so be it.
I know Fabs, it's just that I don't want us to serve him to Real on a platter like we did with Trent.
Frankly, this whole thing bothers me because I really like Ibou and I'm disappointed that he's even entertaining the thought of leaving.
Hopefully his agent is just using Real as leverage in order to get a decent deal from us.
I agree, it's shite
It's just the way the games going. Id be hoping we'd be doing something similar with future targets
He's apparently on 70K-80K per week, which means half the team will have been on higher wages than him over the last few years. Understandable that his agent's trying to make up for that. He is first choice next to VVD at the league champions so I imagine the demand would be in accordance with that.
Not that fussed either way as VVD makes any defender play better than they actually are. If we need a replacement so be it.
Not that fussed either way as VVD makes any defender play better than they actually are. If we need a replacement so be it.
Let’s look at the big picture. Trent is gone, Robertson and Quansah are likely leaving, Gomez has reportedly been seriously thinking about a move at least since last summer and even if we convinced him to stay, he is not someone you build a defence around. So imagine Konate leaves and we go into the season with a 3/4 new back four (or 2/4 + @Bradley who is still finding himself as a player). To add another challenge, we will also have a new back-up GK with a completely different playing style coming in this season who will also need to be integrated, ideally with some stability around him.
All of this leads me to this conclusion - we simply cannot afford to let Konate go. Yes, in isolation you could make a case for cashing in and trying to sign a comparable replacement - even though finding someone of Konate’s quality who is available and in our price range is not an easy task. But in the larger team-building context, we need to hold on to any vestige of stability and continuity in the defensive line we can - because what good is spending £200-300M on Wirtz and a new #9 if the base of the team falters because of too many changes at the same time. We'll just waste a season of Salah and Van Dijk's careers and they don't have much time to waste (and their time is very expensive too!)
Speaking of Konate personally, he doesn't strike me as someone whose head will be easily turned - even by objectively excellent offers from his hometown club PSG and Real Madrid. I think Konate sees himself as a future leader and thus he wants to be appreciated and respected and increase in salary is a big part of that respect - however I think he's the type who can quickly turn sour and bitter if he feels disrespected. For that reason I think any attempt to play hardball with Konate, such benching him in order to force him to extend, will badly backfire. In the corporate world it's a fairly common situation when an employee times their request to be promoted perfectly just as the company can least afford to lose them - and thus gets an increase in salary or benefits or position they would normally had to work many more years towards.
I hope Edwards and co don't try to be too clever this time, realize that the player indeed has the upper hand in negotiations because of the timing, suck it up and give him what he needs to committ to staying at LFC. No matter how expensive, I think it will still be less expensive than the alternative.
All of this leads me to this conclusion - we simply cannot afford to let Konate go. Yes, in isolation you could make a case for cashing in and trying to sign a comparable replacement - even though finding someone of Konate’s quality who is available and in our price range is not an easy task. But in the larger team-building context, we need to hold on to any vestige of stability and continuity in the defensive line we can - because what good is spending £200-300M on Wirtz and a new #9 if the base of the team falters because of too many changes at the same time. We'll just waste a season of Salah and Van Dijk's careers and they don't have much time to waste (and their time is very expensive too!)
Speaking of Konate personally, he doesn't strike me as someone whose head will be easily turned - even by objectively excellent offers from his hometown club PSG and Real Madrid. I think Konate sees himself as a future leader and thus he wants to be appreciated and respected and increase in salary is a big part of that respect - however I think he's the type who can quickly turn sour and bitter if he feels disrespected. For that reason I think any attempt to play hardball with Konate, such benching him in order to force him to extend, will badly backfire. In the corporate world it's a fairly common situation when an employee times their request to be promoted perfectly just as the company can least afford to lose them - and thus gets an increase in salary or benefits or position they would normally had to work many more years towards.
I hope Edwards and co don't try to be too clever this time, realize that the player indeed has the upper hand in negotiations because of the timing, suck it up and give him what he needs to committ to staying at LFC. No matter how expensive, I think it will still be less expensive than the alternative.
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