JazzG They've let their squad age and left it too late for replacements.
Indeed. I've often argued for us to look to Liverpool for guidance on how to approach our squad building and I think they're still a useful example, but for different reasons now... it partly is why I started the thread on player farming. I think our approach this summer is in some ways similar to Liverpool when they went close to the league and then spent big on the likes of Van Dijk and Fabinho. Those signings helped got them over the top with regard to the league and CL, and I hope that the likes of Rice and Havertz can have a similar effect for us, but I'd be a little concerned that we'll become overly focused on the short term desire to get the perfect squad (e.g. spending £30m on Raya) and take our eye off the ball on long term squad building as Liverpool have done.
FWIW I don't object to the signing of Raya, but if we spend the next few windows in a similar vein, padding our bench with big money signings with no young fellas coming in to the reserves/loan system, I will grow concerned. Looking at our squad now, there aren't many positions where you'd think another splurge is justified, unless the target is very special. If we can get someone very special at CF or maybe a high quality wide player I'll be happy, but otherwise I want to us filling out our books with modestly expensive 16-20 year olds who can go on loan for a few seasons ala Saliba and give us options when our current guys start to age out.
