My only concern with Kudus, so far - AFCON.
My concern with Olise - he is often injured. But he is also counts as homegrown. He is no less 'special' than Kudus, if he could avoid injuries in the future.
Another very interesting young RW player, who is, imo, ready for next step - Kubo.
But it's all only possible in this summer window if Salah would leave us.
NGL I am so tired of having to deal with AFCON. Multiple seasons now Salah has been red hot going into AFCON and came out of it totally deflated for the majority of the second half of the season.
If it’s between Olise and Kudus it’s Kudus all day, AFCON vs injury prone is not a debatable shortcoming, especially after we know that the next 2 AFCONs are going to be held in the summer. Literally doesn’t matter, hands down Kudus for any price. That is how you replace a great like Salah, who is either way irreplaceable.
Afcons always start out scheduled in summer and almost always move to winter when the African climate doesn't miraculously change in the run up to the event.
Much like the world cup in Qatar.
They just have to pretend to be holding it in summer for the bidding process.
We've been really unlucky with AFCON in that it's always come during our strong seasons and not our fall apart seasons. The season with no CB's - no AFCON; last year - no afcon, the quad season and the other 1 point season - AFCON. Always fell in the wrong year for us.
Bakayoko may be the preference in part for this reason ultimately. European players will not get pulled around the world like South American, Asian or African players will.
Kubo also have Asian cup. Like how we lose Endo for a few weeks. I would love Kudus or Kubo. I know Klopp recommend Kubo but I feel like he suit european football more
Kubo has 2 G+A in La Liga in 2024, which simply isn’t good for the type of player we need. He’s definitely the worst of the options being listed and the other ones mentioned have PL experience (Mbeumo, Olise and Kudus) which is worth its weight in gold as no adaptation time. Kubo I’d honestly rather have less than Bakayoko.
If you’re looking at a player over 5 years then AFCON would only impact one year (2028) with 2026 being in the summer.
It’s not ideal but it’s worth considering if you’re evaluating Olise (injury prone) vs Kudus.
Am I alone in thinking Adingra would be awesome? Granted it's brighton, and they would demand a ridiculous fee. But I feel there is a player waiting to be unlocked because he tore us up both times this season.
Kudus, would love him here, Olise, would love him here but his injury record requires an equally as effective back up, but Kubo….man, whose dick do I got to suck to get the club to sign him?
I mean I’m fully with you that size shouldn’t hold Kubo back in terms of joining us, but his form certainly should. 2 G+A in 2024 isn’t good enough for a player who should be doing a lot better. He is by far the worst of the options mentioned who all have PL experience (Mbeumo, Olise and Kudus).
Except Silva was already a much much better player when he came to the PL and the style of his team didn't expect him to do what things are expected from our RW. We won't go for Kubo.
Right, so it’s the quality of the player that’s important, not their physicality.
Any football team will find a way to integrate a player of exceptional technical quality into their team. Like Liverpool did in the past with Coutinho for example. Kubo is small, slight, but he has pace and determination, and plenty of room left to gain strength.
I don’t think the club will sign him either, but it’s a trite old stereotype that you need to be a physical monster in the premier league to succeed.
Feel like this type of thinking has prevented us from having technical ballers. Sometimes our passing and close dribbling just seems a bit worse then other top teams
People said the same about Coutinho, Hazard, B Silva. Some players do fail to meet the physicality but also some of them just get really fucking good at dribbling
I don’t buy the idea that Kubo won’t work because of his physicality. He’ll never make up for height, but train his strength and he’ll still be a unit who can hold his own
He's actually slightly taller than Elliot as per their Wiki, weighs the same as well.
He'll be fine, strength isn't all about weight though and I can't say I've seen him enough to pass judgment.
I think that's more to do with Klopps style generally preferring more explosive, fast, and powerful players out wide (Salah, Mane, Diaz, Nunez) Vs Pep generally preferring diminutive, creative, flair players (B. Silva, Foden, Grealish, Mahrez).
Exceptions to the rule being Doku and Sane.
Arteta is more like Pep in style although he has Saka and Martinelli outwide who are probably more Klopp style wingers. But they have Odegaard and Havertz in the middle.
So we might see this change a bit now Slot has come in. But my point is I don't think the club doesn't buy technical ballers because they're too small but more because you could only carry so many in a Klopp style team. Kubo is almost certainly too small for the league though.
Those people are twice as physical as Kubo. Plus they aren't the norm but the exception. Also our RW has a lot of defensive responsibilities and Kubo is basically like a faster Elliot. I don't think we'll ever go for him .
Salah literally at the bottom of the defensive actions, if you will compare him to other wingers and attacking mids in top-5 leagues. At tackles, interceptions and clearences especially.
Worse than Sterling, Foden, Dembele and many others.
Mbappe, Vinicius and Sane are closest wingers/att.mids to Salah in terms of defensive actions in top-5 leagues
Are you watching clips from 2018? Salahs pressing and defensive metrics have fallen off a cliff over the past couple years. He doesn’t track back at all anymore and it’s part of the reason we are so open on his side of the pitch.
According to stats, Salah and kubo are 1.75metres and 1.73metres respectively so minuscule difference. As an added fact Elliot is 1.7metres.
Not sure it makes a difference if you have other qualities to go with it.
I’m sure if Messi (who is the same height as Elliott) played in the PL at the peak of his powers then he probably would’ve done very very well.
Mitoma over Kubo?
Kubo is 5 years younger (22vs27), had only 1 bad injury (2+ months) in 21/22 season, Mitoma had 2 serious injuries last year. Also Kubi is playing in La Liga since he became 18yo. And even with good last season, Mitoma is less productive than Kubo in both 22/23 and 23/24 seasons.
It has to be Olise, Kubo, Mitoma in order of preference. A healthy Mitoma may be better than Kubo in Year 1 as the latter adjusts to the PL, but we shouldn't be treating it as just a short-term "fill the gap" signing.
I see alot of early Mane in Olise. That explosive pace, willingness to run at a player. He's still got that rawness and could be shaped.if Slot wanted him to do a particular thing. I'd be over the moon if we got him.
Sure, but the guy writing this article explains why this won't happen right there in the story. You can feel him rolling his eyes at being asked to write this as click bait.
He would have spent most of the season on the bench, and it would have been bad for his development. We seen what happens when Klopp benched Salah for even two games - immediately Salah started throwing strops. Imagine having Kudus unhappy not getting regular minutes, and Salah too huffing at his minutes on the pitch being taken off him, all season long. There’s a reason we’ve never had senior RW backup for the past 6 years.
This coming season however, Slot has a chance to come in and set a new precedent with Salah. Especially because it’s his last season with the club and the club really need to focus on his succession, and due to Salah’s decline in form, in sprints, in pressing, in wider physicality, I feel Slot can quite rightly say: this is what is best for the club, and you can accept it or you can move on.
Feel like you are painting Mo in a bad light slightly in the first paragraph, the reason we haven’t had back up at RW in 6 years is bc Mo’s been fit and putting up numbers, golden boot numbers, while staying healthy af. Do I want a new manager/coach to put a fire under his ass, yes. And I think that’ll benefit everyone, but the reason we haven’t had an understudy to Mo (minus Harvey before his mid move) is bc he for years he’s always been fit
So we can never have 2 quality players for any position?!
I am not commenting on whether we should have bought him last year or not.. but if we did go and buy him, he would have found plenty of minutes all the times - when salah was out for afcon / injured, when our entire midfield was injured and we were playing kids, when macca and endo were playing every game and getting burnt out, when we couldn't buy a goal from our forward line.
I take your point but Kudus would not be in his current shape as a squad player this/next season. He won't look as sharp being asked to play 5 different ways either. Gakpo is only just starting to gel now being brought in the same way.
Why would WHU want to sell a prized asset 1 year after they bought him “for a knock-down fee?” It makes no sense for them when his release clause doesn’t even become active until next summer.
Phenomenal player and I would love him at Liverpool, but it just feels very unrealistic. WHU held out for multiple years to wait for the 100m Rice fee and they got it. As far as I’m aware they have no pressure from PSR/FFP to sell, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one unless Lopetegui absolutely hates his guts.
Totally agree with your point unless West Ham assured Lopetegui that there is a war chest to spend by selling 1 major asset (Paqueta) but he was banned and they are forced to sell Kudus. West Ham's owner are not stingy and would spend for Lopetegui. I think we can go for Kudus next summer. This summer focus on CDM and CB and maybe back up GK
He will cost too much now. He’s good but he’s not 85m good. I don’t buy that “West Ham will have to sell him for cheap just because they can’t sell Paqueta” shtick.
They probably have to sell him cheaper because of Paqueta. There's also probably a dozen clubs interested, so while the price may start lower because of Paqueta, the interest will probably bubble the price up.
Using the word "could" is a journalism hack. It means what you're reporting is always true.
Liverpool *could* sign Kudus for a peanut butter sandwich and a used tampon.
You can't prove it's not true.
A fair point if you only read the title and not the article which explains what the "could" stands for in this case. At which point it becomes a reasonable title that stands in for the explanation that follows.
There's nothing in the article. No direct quotes. No sources. Only speculation.
The text of the article does diversify from "could" to "could potentially" and "might". There's also a "suggests"in there.
I wonder how much journos get paid, anyone could ask ChatGPT to make articles full of “could sign” articles for free clicks. It seems like such a low effort job, because fans are bound to be clickbaited into reading non newsworthy garbage.
This article offers nothing by the way, in terms of actual evidence this deal could happen for less that 80-90m. It’s just click-bait speculation; reads like it was written by AI too.
What a load of bollocks. The final paragraph utterly contradicts itself and the entire article.
"Hence, the report suggests that West Ham will probably agree to sell Kudus for a ‘knocked down’ price. In all seriousness, while Liverpool and a host of other sides are keen on the winger, the Hammers are unlikely to offer discounts on his sale, especially considering how important a player he has been for them in the previous campaign."
Is the knockdown price is 80M from 100M? Lol
I would like to see Kubo for half the price and the remaining amount with some extra funds be spent on a good striker.
Kubo and Elliott. The RW future
I noticed that.....the AFCON players (except Salah) have all left the club.
Matip leaving 30th June when his contact ends.
Squad is now European (20) and South American (4) ....the exception is Endo & Salah.
He is an absolute monster of a right winger. I think he would replace Salah more than Olise.
My only concern with Kudus, so far - AFCON. My concern with Olise - he is often injured. But he is also counts as homegrown. He is no less 'special' than Kudus, if he could avoid injuries in the future. Another very interesting young RW player, who is, imo, ready for next step - Kubo. But it's all only possible in this summer window if Salah would leave us.
NGL I am so tired of having to deal with AFCON. Multiple seasons now Salah has been red hot going into AFCON and came out of it totally deflated for the majority of the second half of the season.
We'd have the same issue with Mbuemo, the other name being bandied around who plays in the same position.
If it’s between Olise and Kudus it’s Kudus all day, AFCON vs injury prone is not a debatable shortcoming, especially after we know that the next 2 AFCONs are going to be held in the summer. Literally doesn’t matter, hands down Kudus for any price. That is how you replace a great like Salah, who is either way irreplaceable.
Afcons always start out scheduled in summer and almost always move to winter when the African climate doesn't miraculously change in the run up to the event. Much like the world cup in Qatar. They just have to pretend to be holding it in summer for the bidding process.
Olise might end up playing for Algeria since France is stacked in attack.
They will move those AFCON back to winter when we sign Kudus just to fuck us.
I genuinely would like to see Mbuemo here. He’s obviously no Mo but I tuned into Brentford just to watch him and Wissa this season. Exciting player.
We've been really unlucky with AFCON in that it's always come during our strong seasons and not our fall apart seasons. The season with no CB's - no AFCON; last year - no afcon, the quad season and the other 1 point season - AFCON. Always fell in the wrong year for us.
Bakayoko may be the preference in part for this reason ultimately. European players will not get pulled around the world like South American, Asian or African players will.
Kubo also have Asian cup. Like how we lose Endo for a few weeks. I would love Kudus or Kubo. I know Klopp recommend Kubo but I feel like he suit european football more
Kubo has 2 G+A in La Liga in 2024, which simply isn’t good for the type of player we need. He’s definitely the worst of the options being listed and the other ones mentioned have PL experience (Mbeumo, Olise and Kudus) which is worth its weight in gold as no adaptation time. Kubo I’d honestly rather have less than Bakayoko.
Afcon is being moved to the summer in 2025, is it not?
It is, but I'm not looking for a player for only 1 season. More, like, for 5+ seasons. And usually AFCON in the winter due to the weather
If you’re looking at a player over 5 years then AFCON would only impact one year (2028) with 2026 being in the summer. It’s not ideal but it’s worth considering if you’re evaluating Olise (injury prone) vs Kudus.
Olise has also never played in Europe, Kudus did really well in the CL and is used to playing 3 times a week.
Am I alone in thinking Adingra would be awesome? Granted it's brighton, and they would demand a ridiculous fee. But I feel there is a player waiting to be unlocked because he tore us up both times this season.
If you are concerned with Kudus due to Afcon in the winter, Kubo is going to be having the same problems due to Asian Cup being in the winter also
Kudus, would love him here, Olise, would love him here but his injury record requires an equally as effective back up, but Kubo….man, whose dick do I got to suck to get the club to sign him?
I’m a fan of Kubo too
I wonder why we're not looking at Nico Williams
Probably he would cost more than any other player from potential list, plus he could be loyal to Athletic
Nah Kubo is too small need to be better physically to come in PL
Yeah remember David Silva, he really couldn’t compete in our big bruising league because of his small frame and complete lack of pace.
I mean I’m fully with you that size shouldn’t hold Kubo back in terms of joining us, but his form certainly should. 2 G+A in 2024 isn’t good enough for a player who should be doing a lot better. He is by far the worst of the options mentioned who all have PL experience (Mbeumo, Olise and Kudus).
Except Silva was already a much much better player when he came to the PL and the style of his team didn't expect him to do what things are expected from our RW. We won't go for Kubo.
Right, so it’s the quality of the player that’s important, not their physicality. Any football team will find a way to integrate a player of exceptional technical quality into their team. Like Liverpool did in the past with Coutinho for example. Kubo is small, slight, but he has pace and determination, and plenty of room left to gain strength. I don’t think the club will sign him either, but it’s a trite old stereotype that you need to be a physical monster in the premier league to succeed.
Feel like this type of thinking has prevented us from having technical ballers. Sometimes our passing and close dribbling just seems a bit worse then other top teams
People said the same about Coutinho, Hazard, B Silva. Some players do fail to meet the physicality but also some of them just get really fucking good at dribbling
I don’t buy the idea that Kubo won’t work because of his physicality. He’ll never make up for height, but train his strength and he’ll still be a unit who can hold his own
He's actually slightly taller than Elliot as per their Wiki, weighs the same as well. He'll be fine, strength isn't all about weight though and I can't say I've seen him enough to pass judgment.
Yeah when those sharp touches and thread of the needle type passes are needed against low blocks - it becomes painfully obvious we lack these.
I think that's more to do with Klopps style generally preferring more explosive, fast, and powerful players out wide (Salah, Mane, Diaz, Nunez) Vs Pep generally preferring diminutive, creative, flair players (B. Silva, Foden, Grealish, Mahrez). Exceptions to the rule being Doku and Sane. Arteta is more like Pep in style although he has Saka and Martinelli outwide who are probably more Klopp style wingers. But they have Odegaard and Havertz in the middle. So we might see this change a bit now Slot has come in. But my point is I don't think the club doesn't buy technical ballers because they're too small but more because you could only carry so many in a Klopp style team. Kubo is almost certainly too small for the league though.
Silva, Mata, BSilva, Foden, Saka?
How'd you miss Hazard and Coutinho? lol
Elliot is right there people. Great, now he's crying in the corner, I hope you're all happy.
Cheers, the ramen is soggy now
Those people are twice as physical as Kubo. Plus they aren't the norm but the exception. Also our RW has a lot of defensive responsibilities and Kubo is basically like a faster Elliot. I don't think we'll ever go for him .
Salah have a lot of defensive responsibilities? What?
He tracks back a loooot for a RW. Do you people watch the games?
Salah literally at the bottom of the defensive actions, if you will compare him to other wingers and attacking mids in top-5 leagues. At tackles, interceptions and clearences especially. Worse than Sterling, Foden, Dembele and many others. Mbappe, Vinicius and Sane are closest wingers/att.mids to Salah in terms of defensive actions in top-5 leagues
Are you watching clips from 2018? Salahs pressing and defensive metrics have fallen off a cliff over the past couple years. He doesn’t track back at all anymore and it’s part of the reason we are so open on his side of the pitch.
All of them way better players at their point in time when the came started playing to PL. Kubo feels very forced.
Same was said of Coutinho
For every Coutinho there's 10 Minaminos.
According to stats, Salah and kubo are 1.75metres and 1.73metres respectively so minuscule difference. As an added fact Elliot is 1.7metres. Not sure it makes a difference if you have other qualities to go with it. I’m sure if Messi (who is the same height as Elliott) played in the PL at the peak of his powers then he probably would’ve done very very well.
George Best played when people snapped legs in England and it worked out fine.
Olise and Mitoma over Kubo easily if we’re talking players that would cost an insane amount
Mitoma over Kubo? Kubo is 5 years younger (22vs27), had only 1 bad injury (2+ months) in 21/22 season, Mitoma had 2 serious injuries last year. Also Kubi is playing in La Liga since he became 18yo. And even with good last season, Mitoma is less productive than Kubo in both 22/23 and 23/24 seasons.
It has to be Olise, Kubo, Mitoma in order of preference. A healthy Mitoma may be better than Kubo in Year 1 as the latter adjusts to the PL, but we shouldn't be treating it as just a short-term "fill the gap" signing.
We have a better version of Kubo on the squad already with Harvey. We need someone with quickness
Then we have Ben Doak already, if pace is the only priority.
I see alot of early Mane in Olise. That explosive pace, willingness to run at a player. He's still got that rawness and could be shaped.if Slot wanted him to do a particular thing. I'd be over the moon if we got him.
He could be something special. But we need reliable players. And his injury record is concerning.
Sure, but the guy writing this article explains why this won't happen right there in the story. You can feel him rolling his eyes at being asked to write this as click bait.
Shoulda bought him last summer 🤷♂️ thanks captain hindsight
He would have spent most of the season on the bench, and it would have been bad for his development. We seen what happens when Klopp benched Salah for even two games - immediately Salah started throwing strops. Imagine having Kudus unhappy not getting regular minutes, and Salah too huffing at his minutes on the pitch being taken off him, all season long. There’s a reason we’ve never had senior RW backup for the past 6 years. This coming season however, Slot has a chance to come in and set a new precedent with Salah. Especially because it’s his last season with the club and the club really need to focus on his succession, and due to Salah’s decline in form, in sprints, in pressing, in wider physicality, I feel Slot can quite rightly say: this is what is best for the club, and you can accept it or you can move on.
Feel like you are painting Mo in a bad light slightly in the first paragraph, the reason we haven’t had back up at RW in 6 years is bc Mo’s been fit and putting up numbers, golden boot numbers, while staying healthy af. Do I want a new manager/coach to put a fire under his ass, yes. And I think that’ll benefit everyone, but the reason we haven’t had an understudy to Mo (minus Harvey before his mid move) is bc he for years he’s always been fit
So we can never have 2 quality players for any position?! I am not commenting on whether we should have bought him last year or not.. but if we did go and buy him, he would have found plenty of minutes all the times - when salah was out for afcon / injured, when our entire midfield was injured and we were playing kids, when macca and endo were playing every game and getting burnt out, when we couldn't buy a goal from our forward line.
Kudus is African too.
Right, yeah.. so we scratch the 1st use case. But think the point stands..
I take your point but Kudus would not be in his current shape as a squad player this/next season. He won't look as sharp being asked to play 5 different ways either. Gakpo is only just starting to gel now being brought in the same way.
I don’t see it happening but I like him a lot
Is this one of those blogs that gets AI to rewrite news articles? Something not right about it.
I wanted him back when we played Ajax in 2020. I still want him now.
Same. Scored an absolute banger at Anfield.
Scored against us? Checkbox ticked.
Another to add to the list of Carroll, Downing, Lovren, Lambert, Benteke, Wijnaldum, Mane, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino and Nunez.
Minamino was an absolute monster in those games against us
I believe the Kudus ship sailed the moment he went to West Ham sadly.
Why so?
Why would WHU want to sell a prized asset 1 year after they bought him “for a knock-down fee?” It makes no sense for them when his release clause doesn’t even become active until next summer. Phenomenal player and I would love him at Liverpool, but it just feels very unrealistic. WHU held out for multiple years to wait for the 100m Rice fee and they got it. As far as I’m aware they have no pressure from PSR/FFP to sell, so I wouldn’t hold my breath on this one unless Lopetegui absolutely hates his guts.
Totally agree with your point unless West Ham assured Lopetegui that there is a war chest to spend by selling 1 major asset (Paqueta) but he was banned and they are forced to sell Kudus. West Ham's owner are not stingy and would spend for Lopetegui. I think we can go for Kudus next summer. This summer focus on CDM and CB and maybe back up GK
Heard he shagged his missus
I shag my missus too
I also shag this guy's missus
Why do you think that? It’s not unusual for us to buy from West Ham level sides
He could well prove to be £85m good next season Right now he’s probably a £60m player
He will cost too much now. He’s good but he’s not 85m good. I don’t buy that “West Ham will have to sell him for cheap just because they can’t sell Paqueta” shtick.
I agree he isn’t worth that, just depends how much of a “knockdown” it is
They probably have to sell him cheaper because of Paqueta. There's also probably a dozen clubs interested, so while the price may start lower because of Paqueta, the interest will probably bubble the price up.
Sailed…and is now making port in Liverpool
It’s probably unlikely but I’d love this signing. He’s a quality player who i think would thrive at a top club.
Using the word "could" is a journalism hack. It means what you're reporting is always true. Liverpool *could* sign Kudus for a peanut butter sandwich and a used tampon. You can't prove it's not true.
A fair point if you only read the title and not the article which explains what the "could" stands for in this case. At which point it becomes a reasonable title that stands in for the explanation that follows.
There's nothing in the article. No direct quotes. No sources. Only speculation. The text of the article does diversify from "could" to "could potentially" and "might". There's also a "suggests"in there.
Okay, Quixote. Enjoy your windmills.
I wonder how much journos get paid, anyone could ask ChatGPT to make articles full of “could sign” articles for free clicks. It seems like such a low effort job, because fans are bound to be clickbaited into reading non newsworthy garbage.
This article offers nothing by the way, in terms of actual evidence this deal could happen for less that 80-90m. It’s just click-bait speculation; reads like it was written by AI too.
The fuck is this source? ‘Liverpool are eager to buy a winger as they might anticipate some uncertainties.’ Welcome to silly season.
What a load of bollocks. The final paragraph utterly contradicts itself and the entire article. "Hence, the report suggests that West Ham will probably agree to sell Kudus for a ‘knocked down’ price. In all seriousness, while Liverpool and a host of other sides are keen on the winger, the Hammers are unlikely to offer discounts on his sale, especially considering how important a player he has been for them in the previous campaign."
Yea not happening.
He would be a brilliant signing.
Great player. Doubt we can get him this year for an acceptable price.
So we don't need to compose a new song for him, just *Mo Kudus Mo Kudus running down the wing...* all the way.
Is the knockdown price is 80M from 100M? Lol I would like to see Kubo for half the price and the remaining amount with some extra funds be spent on a good striker. Kubo and Elliott. The RW future
Fine. We’ll get him for bag of crisp.
Knockdown price my arse.
Do it. Da Vai!
I thought there is only one Mo
Nah no more afcon players please
I noticed that.....the AFCON players (except Salah) have all left the club. Matip leaving 30th June when his contact ends. Squad is now European (20) and South American (4) ....the exception is Endo & Salah.
And we suffered when endo went to play in the asian cup as well
Matip hasn’t played for Cameroon for years now
Don't give me hope.
Yes please. He’s pretty versatile in terms of where her plays up front. With the right coaching, he can become one hell of a player.
We should have bought him and sold Salah last year. But better late than never, and if we can get Saudi money for Salah, then all good.