Liverpool FC - Talk /Gossip/Rumours 25/25

Its a class City. I'm over a few times a year with work and nearly always get a game in. The Mestalla is great and right in the heart of things.

I think someone posted the "alternatives" here earlier but off the top of my head it was Minteh, some fella from Lille or Lens and a lad from Koln. Barcola was also mentioned.

Not for the faint hearted if you are up high and shuffling to your seat.

Jeez,The Burke's of Football agents?.😳

I could have written this post word for word

There's been a few cases like that.

AC Milan signed Kaka's brother Digao at the same time as Kaka.

Julio Roque Cruz arrived at Blackburn at the same time as Roque, and left no mark at all.

Apparently Antonio Donnarumma received a very high contract for a 3rd choice keeper at the time, while signing for AC Milan, when younger brother Gianluigi signed a massive new contract extension.

Chedric Seedorf just happened to play for Ajax, Inter Milan, AC Milan & Real Madrid at the same time that his brother Clarence played for those clubs. Without playing.

There was talk at the time that Nabil Fekir's deal to Liverpool fell through at the time because of additional personal demands which included signing his brother Yassin. Yassin moved to Betis as part of the deal that took Nabil there too. As well as Lyon obviously.

Jesus Navas was very famously homesick so when he signed for Man City, it was a bit unusual. But then his younger brother Marco magically received a contract with Bury FC, and lived with Jesus, while barely ever actually playing for the club.

Years ago the rumour around Manchester was that Phil Neville's dad would only let Man Utd sign him if they also gave Gary a contract, as kids.

Even this summer, Liverpool academy are looking to player what looks like a random Blackburn academy player - Patrik Fargas. Until you realize that Fargas previously played for Liverpool academy. But then also his younger brother Erik seems to be highly thought of, and is also at Liverpool, and this is almost a sweetener to keep Erik at the club.

Lazar Markovic - When he moved from Partisan to Benfica his brother Filip was also signed. Liverpool declined to take Filip when Benfica offered to bundle him into the transfer deal for free, so they released him from his contract.

Hoping the Diomande thing is a smoke screen for something else happening in the background…transfer market is just gone crazy, 100m seems like the new 30/40m mark. Glad we are not hearing of outgoings, so Jones/Elliott etc, hopefully they stay and get that clean slate Iraola has spoken about.

And in hindsight, maybe should have given Filip a contract to help Lazar settle.

It's actually crazy how quiet they kept the Muñoz stuff, sounds like we've been interested for a while

But, it also seems likely that we're constantly keeping tabs on MANY players at all times, and by that I mean including talking to the player/agents/family etc on a regular basis

We have our list and it's not like playing Championship Manager where you decide to throw a bid at a player and hope it gets accepted so you can agree terms - it's meant to work like that - but it doesn't

So Muñoz seems like the same case as Luis Díaz - he's on our list and we're keeping tabs but we're not actively trying to sign. But then Newcastle start getting close (as Spurs were with Lucho) and we say fúck it ok we do it now then. The new manager is the likely reason we bumped him up the list. Hughes would have shown him the list and he would have said go get this guy here at number 5, everyone I know in Spain rates him, Barcelona want him but Madrid won't let it happen….etc

When stuff does come out in the media, from reputed journalists not spoofers - particularly local journalists from the country the player is from or plays in - I always think that it must come either from the club or the player's side, not ours.

van de Ven is an example this week. The Dutch journalist says we're interested along with Barcelona. I don't think he's making that up at all. Meaning, van de Ven is somewhere on our list and we have enquired with the players' side - something I think we do regularly so we keep tabs on the market and movements

But, that doesn't mean that we're trying to sign him. The interesting thing is that Barcelona are mentioned too. To me it seems clear that this is the player himself angling for a move away. They've signed van Hecke. He didn't look bothered at the end of the season (apparantly). So he's putting out stuff that's true, teams X and Y have been sniffing around, and getting it out there to tempt one to make a move because he's clearly available. In other cases it's clear that it's the club shopping the player which it could be here but I'd bet it's the player side this time

Diomande seems different. Yes we had interest but we've actually made a bid now so aren't hiding it. We must think we're close. Leipzig are likely saying that PSG are still interested as they want a bidding war. We're clearly leaking names of other targets to bluff that we're prepared to walk away and go to Lille or Köln if they hold out for too much

It's the dance that has to be done these days. Could it be a smoke screen? I think it's unlikely. We will always be able to play a smoke screen by leaking genuine interest in players to the media because it will always be true that that player is somewhere on our list and we will have been talking behind the scenes so it won't be denied by the player's side.

But I can't imagine we'd actually go and make an official bid as a smoke screen. It's not at all necessary to go that far

Reports are that we're coming back with an improved offer

This isn't a smoke screen. Whether we end up getting him or not, I believe we're genuinely in for him as our top target priority right now

Start as you mean to go on….

Munoz has picked up an injury in Spain training.

"easy" start, tough finish to next season. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/teams/liverpool/scores-fixtures/2026-08

2026-27 Premier League Fixtures

Dates and times will change

Van de Ven isn't a good defender. Even in the national team he's clumsy giving away needless free kicks in dangerous positions. Luka Vuskovic looks like a far superior defender and Tottenham have priced him at £60m.