flobaba . I guess I really just got triggered by the statement that without Gabriel the project was dead and that he’s irreplaceable.

As Arsène once said, "the cemeteries are full of useful people". Nobody is truly irreplaceable.

But maybe big Gabi comes close... 😃

    Sound like it is imminent.

    Quite a situation for Liverpool. Arguably 3 of their best 4/5 players are potentially going to walk for free this summer, after winning the PL with them. Salah and Van Dijk have both given their peak years to the club, both well into their 30s and I think the fans will accept that.

    Trent is gonna sting like hell for them. Entering his peak and will walk away, local boy who has come through the academy on top. I don't blame him, he is 26 and a move like Real Madrid is a once in a lifetime opportunity, would be worse if he joined another PL club.

    Losing Trent is a huge blow for them. His creation numbers are off the chart and while he's not a great defender, he's such a difference maker for them from that right back spot - literally no one else in the world does what he does from that position. I still expect them to hold onto Salah and VVD but even that end result of undoubtedly overpaying two players on the wrong side of 30 is a scary proposition.

    Rumours that Nunez wants out and so does Diaz as well. Liverpool potentially will be losing a lot of key players in the summer.

    Trent has won a PL, CL, World club cup, Super cup, FA Cup and Carabao Cup with Liverpool so he's won it all with them.

    If Pool lose even half of the players mentioned (between TAA, VVD, Salah, Diaz and Nunez), they are potentially gonna take a significant hit next year.

    At least city have some semblance of a plan in place for losing players like De Bruyne, Grealish (no big loss on the pitch), Stones, Silva, Gundogan, Walker, Kovacic. They will have Rodri back and have purchased some players in January that might be a bit more settled by next season. And they will bring in plenty more (unless they are sanctioned)

    And we all know what our needs are. Extremely significant summer for the top teams.

    Liverpool already needed to spend on a new LB, new CM and a new ST and that was assuming Nunez leaves this summer. Now they need to sign a new RB and also ensure they re-sign Salah and VVD, which will be no small feat. If they let Diaz go, that's another top player they need to replace. Even if they keep Salah and VVD, if Salah doesn't have another Balon D'Or quality year and his performance goes down by just 10-20%, that's such a huge hole to fill with his performances, no TAA, and new players around the pitch. Clearly winning a title is worth it but I would not feel great going into this summer as a Liverpool fan.

    You would think with all of the players they'd need to replace - it almost rules them out of the running for Isak as they probably can't allocate such a significant portion of their budget to one player.

    I also don't think they will be as hurt as people think. Sadly, they have excellent talent ID.

      daredevil I don't think they will fall back to like mid-table like United, Spurs or Chelsea have since they have a solid manager with good players. But I do think that Salah and TAA have saved them multiple times this year and in past years due to their awesome attacking and creating abilities. If you take out TAA and just put in a solid RB, they'll arguably get better defensively but they lose that X-factor that has been so crucial for them this season.

        I'd love for all of you to be right but I just know that Liverpool have had the gods with them for a decade now.

        There's no accounting for every chance or setback as we've seen this season, but most judges would say we've got more squad upside than Liverpool.

        A lot more if Salah heads off, but I wouldn't be surprised if Salah stayed on for three seasons for Haaland's wages or even more.

        In any case, if we have the summer we need and normal luck, I think we are better than Liverpool.

        They could keep Salah and VVD, and add Isak

          Claudius I doubt that'll happen. If Salah and Virgil were going to stay why haven't they agreed a deal already? The whole situation has been handled horribly by Liverpool. They're lucky Salah is having an all time season because if they weren't riding the good vibes from that there would be a lot more scrutiny.

              Qwiss result of a bad handover of multiple executive roles. We are going through a similar phase of transition. The risk that our new DoF doesn’t handle Saka, Saliba, Gabriel and Martinelli is high.
              Also Trossard, Zinchenko and Tomi all expire in a year.

                  Claudius later 3 all need to be sold. No value running those contracts down and none should be renewed. Tomi may prove unsellable with his fitness

                      Even if Salah stays, his performance level will drop if not through ageing through reduced motivation

                        lorddulaarsenal he's in his usual late season slump now too. One of the greats but you can outrun father time.