What can Arsenal learn from the Red Sox?

by .

Enjoy the monthly column from Jonathan. Make sure to follow him @jblauphoto 

It’s Monday, January 28th, (as I write this,) and Arsenal are the 6th best football club in England.

(I don’t want to hear that we’re still ahead of United on goal different. Shut your mouth.)

It’s a cold, sunny Monday here in the Rocky Mountains, and I’m trying to synopsize the last month for you, since I wrote my “what the fuck is Emery thinking?” column at the end of the year.

At this point, 8 months into his reign, I’d say that the jury is still out on Unai Emery, but doubts are beginning to creep into the global fan base.

(Will he ever stick with one line-up? Or formation? Does he have a grand plan?)

Personally, I was pretty surprised he didn’t run out the same lineup for the United FA Cup match that crushed Chelsea earlier in the week.

Surely, outside of changing the goal-keeper, I thought he would have to play the same team, given how well they handled Chelsea.

Three DM’s supporting 2 (finally) capable CBs, with Ramsey feeding Lacazette and Aubameyang.

I was sure he’d go back to the well.

But, of course, I was wrong.

You can understand why he put Iwobi into the team ahead of Guendouzi, and it’s not like it was a crazy idea. It’s just that almost anyone else would have said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But not Unai Emery, who seemingly loves to chop and change more than my 6 year old daughter playing with her squishies and Shopkins. (Don’t ask.)

Lots of media coverage has focused on Emery the tactical coach, or lately, Emery the failed motivator. On and on, we focus on his rebuild or his vision.

But during the last month, lots of ink was also spilled about the departure of Sven Mislintat, and the nasty power struggle that ended with his shanking out back behind the basketball court.

Surely, to the outside observer, it looks like Arsenal are in turmoil, as there is no firm system in place to replace the “Arsene decides” battle plan that was wheat-pasted up in the board room for the last 22 years.

The truth of the matter is, if you want to understand where we stand in the Premier League right now, you have to look to the Boston Red Sox.

Really, the Red Sox have all the answers.

I’ve noticed lately that Pete has begun to make comparisons to the American sports leagues, but normally he’s cutting and pasting from other articles.

I can tell you right off the top of my head what you need to know.

For a hundred years, the Red Sox were laughing stocks. They were a joke, as they suffered under the curse of Babe Ruth. Having sold the famed ballplayer to the Yankees, their rival, they watched the Yanks win all sorts of things, while their trophy cabinet collected dust like my daughter collects little plastic toys. (She’s got enough to choke a blue whale.)

Always, the Sox were chokers.

They couldn’t win.

But then, a hedge-fund type with partners rolling in Cosby-show-money bought the team, and they became very early adopters of the now-ubiquitous use of analytics.

Yes, that’s right.

Numbers.

Around the time Billy Beane was getting famous for Moneyball, the Sox ownership group, (Henry, Werner et al) went out and hired the man who invented the field, Bill James.

Apparently, he was the numbers geek of all geeks, as he sent out his own photocopied zine that made waves around the sports industry, back in the day.

They hired Bill James, and all of a sudden, began coveting players who drew walks, and got on base a lot. They went after fat guys, (like Kevin Youkilis,) and at first, there was little competition for the players they wanted.

And unlike the Oakland A’s, whose penny-pinching drove them to look for undervalued assets, the Red Sox were a big market team in a sports-crazed city, and they matched their numbers-crunching with some serious investments.

You might not have heard of Big Papi, or Jonny Damon, but the Red Sox players of the early century became Boston legends when they came from 3-0 down in the American League Championship, against the dreaded Yankees, and beat them, going on to win their first World Series in nearly a century.

But that wasn’t the end.

Continuing to invest and innovate, and leaning on their back-room nerds, the Red Sox have now won 3 more World Series.

(Making 4 championships this century for a club that went forever without winning.)

Even better, another of their hero-number-crunchers, Theo Epstein, went to the Chicago Cubs, an equally big loser, and after installing the same operating system, he won a World Series there as well.

So that’s 5 Championships for the analytics team put together by the (gulp) Liverpool owners.

It’s been enough years that I don’t remember when I saw it, but at some point after they bought Liverpool, I read an article about how the owners were investing in football analytics, and expected to be ahead of the curve, as the “right” numbers were not completely understood at the management level across global football.

So here we are, in 2019, and it’s all worked out for them.

Klopp is great, don’t get me wrong, but really, their success has come from finding the right players, mostly for affordable prices, and then making good decisions.

Yes, Van Dijk and Alison were super-expensive, but only because Liverpool got to the point where they were minting enough high-level assets to afford them.

Just think: Mané, Salah, Firmino, Coutinho, Winjaldum… Arsenal could have bought any of them.

(Mané was playing in the Premier League, for heaven’s sake, and had already roasted Arsenal at Southampton.)

But Arsenal, perhaps using the wrong type of analytic analysis, bought Xhaka, Mustafi, and some old guys.

And here we are, in 2019, with a team in need of a massive defensive rebuild, and seemingly requiring player sales of improved assets of fuel the new purchases.

Because unlike the Liverpool ownership group, Stan Kroenke is famous for not wanting to put one of his own dollars into running the club.

So where does that leave us?

Most of you guys probably read this blog each day, and know that Pete has taken on this subject rather often, whether we’ll be a development/analytics club going forward, or a “let me pull out my Rolodex” kind of club, with Raul running the show.

At this point, unlike the last few years, the Kroenkes are finally experiencing genuine success in LA and Denver. (The Washington Post even did a cover story on Stan’s big stadium play in Inglewood.)

The mustache-dude is not averse to spending money in all cases, apparently. And now, he’s getting some serious visuals on how brand-building and winning turn into hard currency.

So that’s where we are now.

I’m hoping that Arsenal will see the writing on the wall, invest in scouting and asset building, and buckle down to work our way back up into the Top 4, and then hopefully into genuine contention by the time Klopp and Pep leave in 2-4 seasons.

There is a blue print out there for us, if we follow it.

Unfortunately, given the resurgence of Man U, and the unlimited funds available at City, plus Abramovich’s addiction to winning, the future does not look rosy.

Not yet.

Not now, at the end of January, 2019.

But, as usual, we’ll know more in May.

Remember, follow him @jblauphoto 

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DM

DM

DM

2

DM

3

DM

Tr4phy (again)

grooveydaddy

Damn you DM

Receding Hairline

I think it was more a case of Wenger trying to be too smart with his signings

You want VVD i will give you Mustafi

You want Kante i will give you Xhaka

You want a new striker well let me unearth Sanogo

He did make some obvious signings too like Santi, Sanchez

And some out of the blue good ones like Sagna, Monreal and Koscielny

It wasn’t all bad really. Just wasn’t done with any real plan in mind

HighburyLegend

“But, as usual, we’ll know more in May.”

“Judge me in May!!”

Marko

Carrasco seems like it might be on.

HighburyLegend

In Carrasco I trust!!

HighburyLegend

Seriously, why don’t they keep our (very little) amount of cash for next summer ??

Marko

They’ll have more in the summer

Receding Hairline

Seriously, why don’t they keep our (very little) amount of cash for next summer ??

All loan deals with very loan fees

2.4 for Suarez or is it 1.4m

We are not spending any money this window, just trying to do what we can

Danny

Who wrote the article?

Graham62

So we have four Captains at the club, one being Mr Mesut Ozil.

Not exactly your Concise Oxford English Dictionary definition of a Captain.

PR stunt?

Lol!

Un na naai

Wenger, a man who couldn’t coach, couldn’t do tactics, didn’t have a plan and didn’t sign anyone decent apart from 5 players cited

He did rather well to keep us in the top four then didn’t he?

Marko

He did rather well to keep us in the top four then didn’t he?

did rather well

keep us in the top four

Keep.

Us.

In.

The.

Top 4.

This is what you’re dealing with.

G8

Giroud to westham could happen

World class and all that..

Danny

So we have four Captains at the club, one being Mr Mesut Ozil.
———————-
Kos is the team captain. When he’s injured then there are a bunch of possible replacements including Ozil.

Marko

Giroud and Andy Carroll up top would honestly make me gouge my own eyes out

salpardisenyc

Whose hanging in the Rocky’s on a Sunday penning LG?

HighburyLegend

Ozil is our Fortnite Captain.

Marko

More likely to get you an assist in Fortnite than on an actual football pitch these days.

Un na naai

Marko

Yes. He kept us in the top 4 for 21 years. Lol

You just put da letta troo door.
That’s about your limit.

This is what I’m dealing with.

Receding Hairline

Lucas Perez leaving West Ham to Schalke on loan is the gossip

Purchased for 17m, barely played sold for 4m….and we expect Kroenke to hand us his own money to play with.

Dream10

Believe the Lucas Perez signing was an Ivan special

Dissenter

First we have to learn from the LA Rams, now it’s learn for the Boston Red sox

At some point we may just do better by inviting the makers of Fortnite over, ozil can make the intro.

Receding Hairline

Believe the Lucas Perez signing was an Ivan special

Whoever was in charge Dream it was a horrible waste of money made worse by not even playing him. He wasn’t even that bad when played Not playing him pushed down his value

Champagne charlie

“and we expect Kroenke to hand us his own money to play with.“

Speak for yourself once again. The expectations of Kroenke are simple, put the time in to make the right appointments as per a unified vision, and go from there.

Maybe don’t just buy a club and let it run untouched for a decade.

Receding Hairline

Then you hear that Tottenham are holding out for 15m for Jansen and Man City sold two youth players this window for a combined 32m and you understand why we are where we are

I repeat if i owned this club i would be prosecuting certain people

Receding Hairline

Not engaging …………..try next door

Dream10

Receding

We’re awful at extracting value in the transfer market. We sold Gabriel for 10m to Valencia. Spurs sold Kevin Wimmer to Stoke for 18m ffs. The shit hasn’t hit the fan yet. If you think Arsenal fans moan a lot, sit back and watch us if we don’t get CL football this season. The limited spending and chaos in the summer will cause Arsenal fans to lose their heads. The Kroenkes will be lighting up a pair of Cuban cigars as if nothing happened.

gambon

As Pedro says, recruitment is the most important thing in the game, and a squad can change quickly with good recruitment.

Liverpool have basically become the PLs best team (this season) due to the signings of Salah, Van Dijk, Alisson, as well as a good supporting cast.

People constantly saying we need Kroenke to invest £200bn are missing what Liverpool have done.

Receding Hairline

Dream Kroenke left everything in the hands of Gazidis and Wenger. This blog turned on Wenger long ago but only got round to Gazidis when he failed to appoint someone they liked or approved of. Then knowing fully well he hid behind Wenger for a decade Gazidis left for AC Milan the first chance he got leaving behind a club in absolute tatters Don’t let the we have a great squad capable of this and that fool you, we don’t have a great squad, our wage bill is an abomination compared to our achievements. Kroenke trusted the wrong people with… Read more »

salpardisenyc

Its incredible the waste bin filled with cash from litany of transfer mistakes, goes way back as well. A few of my recent favorites, Rambo leaving on bossman, Mesut Ozil deal, turning City Sanchez offer down only to sell to united 3 months later for half price…. Luis Suarez who would of nearly trebled in value had they put in a lil extra.

Club created a nightmare to sell mid level talent putting many of these players on un realistic wages.

No surprise club can only operate loan deals this window.

azed

For the 1,523,459th time, Guendozi is not DM.

Uwot?

There can be no doubt Ivan”The snake oil salesman” & The ditherer have royally f** ked our club before they left,ousted.take your pick.AFC was little more than a gravy train.pick up you’re bucks for doing as little as poss aided by an absent landlord.Like it or not it’s going to take 2/3 seasons by Emery or whoever to put it right again.when he had Sevilla at first he had to rip up the squad expect the same eventually….

Dissenter

CC “Speak for yourself once again. The expectations of Kroenke are simple, put the time in to make the right appointments as per a unified vision, and go from there.” Which is what he did previously He came on board just as the club was appointing Gazidis to join a world class footballing mind in Arsene Wenger [he was just that in 2008]. He bought into a club with famed values and traditions. He chose to respect those values, one of which was self-sustaining business model. He was an American buying a foreign club that had ruin itself exceptionally well… Read more »

Champagne charlie

Dissenter

I don’t need an Arsenal history lesson thanks, but maybe you ought to read what’s said a bit more and stop interpreting what you want.

I don’t blame Kroenke fully, I blame him for what he’s culpable for. He’s simply the only guy around from the previous mess so spotlight should be on him big time seeing as he was incompetent before yet now has greater influence arguably than before. Some reward.

Dissenter

I haven’t forgotten how many times Pedro lined up to back Gazidis 100%. There was a time when Gazidis was the good guy and Wenger was the asinine fool stumbling across the room. There was a time when majority wrote to tell Usmanov to shut up when he repeatedly proposed to infuse the club with money. We wanted a self-sustaining approach once upon a time, it separated us from the Chavs and their “dirty money” owner. Now, its all about petty revisionism. Kroenke is bad partly because he wont put money . Kroenke is bad because he didn’t sak Wenger… Read more »

Un na naai

Dissenter

Did you manage to get your head around what creating a chance means yet?

Marko

People constantly saying we need Kroenke to invest £200bn are missing what Liverpool have done.

Klopp has spent 393 million since taking over. Smart investment sure but that’s 393 million. Wenger during a comparable time spent about 270 million on absolute piss and shit

Dissenter

Kroenke’s problem was being too respectful of the Arsenal value system and traditions.
He was buying a veritable traditional English institution. There’s a natural deference that Americans have of you lot in the UK. There’s a feeling here that you know what you’re doing even though you do it differently, so just stay out of their way.
Arsenal was well run before Kroenke came on board. He came on board and left the well run business as it were, probably left it too long because the main actors grew too stale.

Dissenter

Un na You’re the one who posted “chances created’ from a skysports article. You obviously engage it cognitively before you decided to throw it around. The onus is ON YOU to define what it means. I repeatedly asked you what it meant because I consider it statistical mumbo jumbo, the type “lefties” use to bamboozle people. What is the methodology for defining a “chance created”? is there a committee for this like the dubious goal panel? What is is the inclusion criteria – do you consider only chances that lead to goals or chances that forced a save What are… Read more »

gambon

Marko

The point im trying to make is that Arsenal can easily do what Liverpool have done in the last few years.

It really is just a question of signing the right players.

Jadon Sancho was £7m just 18 months ago, possibly the best player in Germany
Nicholas Pepe was £10m 18 months ago, one of the best in France
NDombele was £8m 6 months ago
Van Dijk & Alderweireld were £23m combined when they moved to the PL
Alisson cost Roma £6m

That lot cost £54m and would have us up competing for the PL.

HighburyLegend

I thought it was the 1,523,460th time ?

Benjamin

This article is crap. Author should NOT write again!

Marko

I agree gambon. The only thing I will say though is that I think people like Sancho have changed how clubs are able to target up and coming prospects going forward. I mean City just sold a nobody to Schalke for about 15 million. Hudson Odoi who has really down zero to warrant such interest is apparently a 30-40 million player now. Point is that I don’t think you’re getting a Sancho for 8 million anymore. But I totally agree with you in recent seasons we’ve seen affordable young talent that we could have signed and Wenger simply did nothing.… Read more »

azed

“I thought it was the 1,523,460th time ?”

HL its hard keeping track..

azed

“The point im trying to make is that Arsenal can easily do what Liverpool have done in the last few years. It really is just a question of signing the right players.”

Gambon

The problem is we are stuck with a lot of average unsellable players with massive wages so we have to clean house first.

Until we get the likes of Ozil, Jenkinson and Elneny of the wage bills, there’s little the club can do.

Left testicle

Gambon,

I share your views on almost all things Arsenal, however, you seem to contradict yourself at 14:27. Stating that ‘people constantly saying we need Kroenke to invest £200bn are missing what Liverpool have done’ and then list players who cost a combined £164m?

Salah £38m
Alisson £56m
Van Dijk £70m
Total £164m

Micheal

People are right to be suspicious about Kroenke. We still have no idea what Kroenke wants from his soccer-ball franchie – i.e. an investment to make money or perhaps a plaything which occasionally brings free Cup Final tickets ? Or perhaps an expensive PR platform to buy respectability on the international sporting stages like the monstrous owners of Man City and PSG. Stan has never made it clear about his motives and ambitions for Arsenal Football Club, beyond that inflammatory statement of not buying the cub to win trophies. In the absence of a clear message people are right to… Read more »

Marc

Marko

The £393 million Liverpool have spent – is that net or gross?

Marko

That is the other thing Liverpool were extremely fortunate in that they had someone like Coutinho who was a huge sellable asset that helped fund signings. We don’t have that. We’d have to sell half a dozen to get near what they sold for one and even then you’d have idiot fans who incessantly argue about keeping this player and that player

Marko

Marc that’s just what Klopp has spent at Liverpool

Dissenter

Klopp didn’t buy Coutinho though. He didn’t create the advantages that Liverpool now have. He is benefiting from coming into a club that had a fantastical scouting approach. He said as much when he commented about Firminho. “”The first thing I did when I left Dortmund [was] I took my phone and deleted all the numbers so I was not reachable,” Klopp told the press, “so I didn’t speak to anyone to offer advice, about Firmino or anyone else. “Nobody asked me about him but he was a player I thought was one of the best in the Bundesliga so,… Read more »

Bamford10

Micheal More nonsense from you. Stan & company have made it quite clear what their goals are. Below, for example, is Venkatesham speaking about the club’s goals in an interview in October. “We want to win the biggest trophies in the game and, if you compete in the Premier League, there are only two: the Premier League and the Champions League. The short‑term ambition is to get back in the Champions League. That is a step on the journey, but not the ultimate ambition. Raúl and I were out in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago and spent a… Read more »

Un na naai

Dissenter

I know what it means
It means Mesut Ozil has created 500 chances in the premier league
Which if you break it down further means his pass creates an opportunity from which to shoot and score a goal.

If you can’t get the basics right then I’m not sure soccer ball is the sport for you. 🤪

Bamford10

Champagne

“I blame [Kroenke] for what he’s culpable for.”

Right, and that is one thing and one thing alone: trusting too much in Wenger, keeping Wenger around too long.

Otherwise, he has allowed the football men to make the footballing decisions, and he has never limited what they can spend; only the s-s model limits that.

gambon

Left Testicle

I think you will find all of them players couldve been bought earlier for much less.

Even so, we couldve done what Liverpool have done. £164m? No problem…

Sell Sanchez for £60m, sell Ramsey for £35m, sell Ozil for £40m, sell Welbeck for £15m, sell Chambers for £15m.

None of these sales would have been unachievable.

Micheal

Bamf

I hope you are being well paid to recycle pro-Kroenke pulp. And having you as the arbiter of what represents nonsense on this blog is an insult to our intellgience.

salpardisenyc

Problem lies with club seemingly making same mistakes, how is it that Ramsay is leaving on bossman. We could equate his situation to previous regime but pretty dire getting nothing for an asset valued around £40m.

Left testicle

Apologies, I thought you were talking about the current situation. As you were.

Receding Hairline

Problem lies with club seemingly making same mistakes, how is it that Ramsay is leaving on bossman. We could equate his situation to previous regime but pretty dire getting nothing for an asset valued around £40m.

If we re-signed Ramsey on the wages he wanted i doubt anyone would have offered us 40m for him later. Look at the Ozil situation for instance.

Marc

Marko

So that’s gross spend. Put’s to bed this myth that the Liverpool owners are putting fortunes into the club.

gambon

“He is benefiting from coming into a club that had a fantastical scouting approach”

Dissenter

Is that a joke?

Klopp inherited a Liverpool that had been dreadful in the transfer market. Brendan Rodgers was a joke.

Klopp had to clear out just as much rubbish as Emery will have to.

Benteke, Joe Allen, Skrtel, Sakho, Ibe, Lucas Leiva.

Pierre

Un
Just take it that there are certain posters who can’t stand anything positive written about Ozil…..It gets right up their nose.

Like Arsenal haven’t lost a league game this season with Ozil starting since the 2nd game of the season.

Or Arsenal have lost their last 5 games without Ozil in the starting line up.

Receding Hairline

Klopp inherited a Liverpool that had been dreadful in the transfer market. Brendan Rodgers was a joke.

Brendan nearly won a league title playing some of the best football we have seen in this division. You are going a bit overboard calling him a joke

Dissenter

We could easily have had 120-125 million from the routine sales of Sanchez, Ozil, Ramsey and Welbeck in 2017 summer. When I say routine sale,. I mean done by a lay person like Un na, Emirates stroller or myself. Any casual bystander would have gotten as much for these players if we had a plan. gambon would have gotten 150-200 million, Cesc appeal would have turned it into a class action lawsuit whereas Pierre would have kept all of them. Back then we had NO PLAN and Wenger was convincing the board that players running down their contracts was ideal;… Read more »

Left testicle

How many times? Ozil is selected for the ‘easier’ games as he can’t be trusted to put in a shift.

salpardisenyc

Receding

Misses the point, club chose to put Ozil on that money knowing it wasn’t an option for Ramsay after that deal went thru.

Should of sold right there to lessen load of other decision, shop window end of last season.

Bergkamp63

Should’v, would’v, could’v,

We didn’t !

We are where we are, get over it.

Anyone who thought this mess was going to be behind us after 7 months and a pre-season is deranged.

2 to 3 years at best, Man Utd haven’t progressed any further than us and have a lot more money at their disposal given their turnover tops half a billion and is £200 more than Arsenal.

gambon

“they had someone like Coutinho who was a huge sellable asset that helped fund signings. We don’t have that. We’d have to sell half a dozen to get near what they sold for one ”

Or…..we buy good young players that appreciate in value.

Its not rocket science.

Sancho has gone from a £7m to £80m player in 18 months
NDombele £8m to £60m
Pepe £10m to £50m in 18 months
Lozano £12m to £35m in 2 years
Richarlison £12m to £40m in 12 months
Alisson £6m to £56m in 3 years
Solanke £3m to £19m

Receding Hairline

Brendan’s team scored a 101 league goals and missed out on the title by 2 points.

Bergkamp63

*£200m

salpardisenyc

Lets not forget Rodgers relied HEAVILY on a Suarez season this league hasn’t seen since.

Once that was gone, so was Brendo’s magic.

Daglish made hell of signing with Luis, he also signed Carrol in same window for pile of money that took some of the magic off other.

TheBoyCornelius

Emery does need a cleanout of the squad – lets hope Sanllehi can get some decent cash for what we would be looking to ship out. However it would seem that most of what we would be looking to offload will go for little or no money but at least free up significant money from their wages.
Cech, Ospina, Martinez, Kos, Nacho, Jenks, Chambers, Mustafi, Ozil, Welbeck, Asano

Dissenter

gambon I wasn’t referring to the capability of the pre-Klopp squad to mount a sustained championship challenge even though Brendan Rodgers almost did it too. Liverpool had developed a penchant for buying players on the relative cheap that could be sold for lots of money to rebuild, Suarez – the real one Raheem Sterling Coutinho It wasn’t Klopp that brought this players in, it was the technical people in the club. “Benteke, Joe Allen, Skrtel, Sakho, Ibe, Lucas Leiva.” You do realize that Liverpool made some profit on everyone of these transfers, except for Lucas leiva who was sold for… Read more »

Freddie Ljungberg

gambon

How exactly is this approach going to work when fans are screaming for the managers head after half a season. Some fuckwits on here has been on it since day 1.

Going that route takes time. It’s easy to handpick examples from different clubs of players values exploding but what are the chances we get 5 buys like that right in 1 season?

Marko

None of these sales would have been unachievable

Big difference between then and now. Now our only true sellable assets are one of Auba or Lacazette, Xhaka, Mustafi and you have to keep in mind that certain fans don’t want these players sold. We could also sell Guendouzi and Torreira. But I get your meaning and I agree but it’s going to take time and is time a luxury we can afford

Receding Hairline

Sal

A manager relies on his players to deliver on the pitch, not only Rodgers

Zidane had Ronaldo

All Barca managers have had Messi

Dissenter

I’ve heard people lament about Emery’s tinkering. I beg to disagree. I think he has to tinker heavily this first season to figure out which players can cut it and be tactically competent in the modern game since they players have been fed tactics by a mummified manager for the past decade. You don’t go from “just express yourself” to being able to switch several times during games just like that. Part of our struggles is that many of the players have been starved of good tactical coaching for too long and are left gasping when something new comes on… Read more »

gambon

Marko Dont be silly. I remember everyone saying we would get nothing for Theo and Ox, we got £60m for them in the end. I remember everyone saying Coquelin was worthless, we got £12m for him. And as for “its going to take time” – well as I showed, you can completely turn over a squad in 2 years. As of May it will be 2 years out of the CL. If we had started a rebuild just after the FA Cup win against Chelsea, we could have a new, young, improving team by now. Theres no point dithering and… Read more »

bennydevito

Alisson – £56m Robertson – 8m Gomez – 4m Van Dijk- 71m Sturidge – £13m Kieta – 54m Fabinho – 40m Shaquiri – 13m Salah – 37m Mane – 37m Firminho – 37m Chamberlain – 34m Wijnaldum – 25m Clyne – 15m And this isn’t all of them. So in Klopp’s tenure he has spent £431m in over 3 years, yes he sold Coutinho for 140m and others but the point is in just over 3 seasons Klopp has spent an astronomical amount of money and still hasn’t actually won anything. If they don’t win the league this season then… Read more »

salpardisenyc

Receding

No doubt, but rarely do you see a club dragged along like Suarez did with Liverpool that season. A very high level with less of supporting cast than those you mention… IMO.

Bergkamp63

A 2 year window is more reasonable than one pre-season and 1 window.

bennydevito

I didn’t include Sturridge in the total sum as he’s pre klopp.

Dissenter

Sal
“No doubt, but rarely do you see a club dragged along like Suarez did with Liverpool that season. A very high level with less of supporting cast than those you mention… IMO.”

Similar to when Van Persie single-handedly got us into 4th place before penning his famous letter.

gambon

benny

Check your figures

Weve spent £200m in the last 2 years.

I think its highly likely we spend £400m in the next 3 years.

salpardisenyc

Dissenter

Indeed, I loved the letter as much as his plaudits that season. The elephant was no longer in the room.

gambon

Also If you are going to compare Klopp and Emery Klopp got Liverpool into the CL after 2 seasons, in fact only 1 full season. This was with a £0 net spend. Emery in his first window had a £65m net spend. The reason Liverpool have been able to spend so much in the last 12 months, was due to one big sale, but also the success that Klopp was able to deliver in his first full season. If Emery gets Arsenal into the CL he will likewise have a serious budget to play with. But even if he doesnt,… Read more »

azed

Gambon Raul took over from Gazidis after the summer window has closed. We can say/infer that withdrawing the Ramsey contract is the first stage of our wage correction restructuring. If we go buy the Suarez deal (getting him with the option to buy as opposed to the obligation to buy), then we can say Raul knows what he is doing. Last summer was a transition summer as Gazidis was still in charge. The clear out this summer as well as future purchases would show us were the team and squad is heading. Also by the summer Emery would be in… Read more »

Guns of SF

is the winter deadline midnight tonight or tomorrow night?

Receding Hairline

Why is anyone denying the fact that we have spent money?? So we can blame Kroenke??

We have spent money, we simply spent some of it badly, not all of it, some of it. We have also sold badly.

Dissenter

gambon
You’re still under-estimating the fact that Klopp walked into a club with a tested backroom that had proven their proficiency with wheeling an dealing.
Emery doesn’t have that Luxury.
I used the analogy of Arsenal being a super tanker being turned slowly around in a shallow wharf while loading/unloading had to still proceed.

gambon

Since Klopp took over, he has spent £385m, and taken Liverpool from 10th to 1st, and likely to win the PL

In the same time Arsenal have spent £305m, and gone from 2nd to 6th.

Dont tell me £305m is some pauper levels of money.

Bergkamp63

11pm tomorrow

Guns of SF

anyone have a choice between Carasco and Nkunku?
Argue your point

gambon

Nkunku for me

Carrasco is a talent, and if the rumours of £25m-30m are true then it could be a real bargain. Also feel though that it could go really wrong.

Best solution may be to take Suarez and Carrasco on loan for the next few months, then re-evaluate in the summer.

azed

GSF
My limited opinion based on youtube scouting.

Carrasco would be my preference. He’s a better dribbler which is something we lack, he’s at the right age (25) and more ready for first team action.

Receding Hairline

Carrasco for me

I wanted him at Arsenal before he went for the money in China

He is very very talented and he has a good work ethic, you cannot play for Simeone without being a worker

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