Florian Wirtz could be a ‘lightweight short-arse getting bullied every week’

Liverpool fans might be getting giddy but Florian Wirtz will have to be the Premier League’s best by Xmas at that price.

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It could go Wirtz…
Gentle reminder that hugely expensive transfers are at least as likely to flop as they are to succeed. Wirtz is obviously a hugely talented player, but it’s not like he’s a seasoned lynchpin of a big team hoovering up trophies season in, season out.

I hope Liverpool do get him at the money Leverkusen want, I either get to watch a great footballer ripping it up whilst cursing under my breath, or I can belly laugh at a lightweight short-arse getting bullied every week while the many Liverpool following eejits here repeat the Nunez defence for Wirtz. I suspect the truth, as ever, will be somewhere in the middle though.

Oh, and remind me what the score was last time Liverpool played Leverkusen, with both of their shiny new toys in the opposing lineup?
RHT/TS x

MORE ON LIVERPOOL’S BIG SUMMER FROM F365:
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👉 Liverpool can easily make top five first transfer windows for Premier League champions this century
👉 Florian Wirtz to Liverpool next? Van Dijk tops ranking of all 17 £70m-plus Premier League signings

…I see the Liverpool fans are starting to get very giddy, which I usually find a good sign. Often comes back to bite them in the arse; pride before a fall and all that.

On Wirtz, I’ll be perfectly honest, I’ve not seen a lot of him so hold no strong opinion, but I hear from many pundits that he’s the business. However, coming into a new league with a likely record transfer tag on his head comes with a hell of a lot of pressure.

For £120m, he can’t come in and just be good, he’s got to be one of the top 5 players in the league before Christmas or the flop labels will start coming out. This is especially true of players at United and Liverpool, and to a slightly lesser extent Arsenal, because that’s where the scrutiny is highest and the noise the loudest.

Darwin Nunez contributed more to Liverpool’s last two campaigns than Grealish has to City’s, but there’s been much more chatter about the former because neutrals don’t really care about City.

In sum, he might be a wonderful signing and be the league’s new de Bruyne, but just be aware there’s still plenty of pitfalls, it’s not a certainty.
Lewis, Busby Way

…To Badwolf: Liverpool doing some fine bizness and sewing up the title next season.

Thank you for you kind words. Unfortunately, as a fan of a weather beaten snakebit lfc who suffered thru 89 (hillsboro 97 rip; 2-0 to Arsenal welp), and had our signings hijacked many times over since 1990 … we’ve signed a grand total of one Trentsfer replacement. And it seems my nails have grown more visibly than Lfc have made progress on other signings. Besides, Fergie’s Juan Seb Veron was supposed to be a UCL trumpcard.. I hope if we do sign Wirtz, he’ll turn out much better.

The only transfer joy I have had at the moment is apparently seeing off other clubs for Kerkez and Wirtz. Still, until the players are signed and delivered… let’s not get ahead of ourselves here.
Gab YNWA
PS of course this means more; it’s only our 2nd title in 35 yrs! Hopefully the 2nd of many more 😊 Some vacated titles from City wouldn’t hurt either 😊

We do talk about Bruno
A lot of column inches have been written about Bruno’s prospective Saudi move and whether the player should be prepared to accept such a gulf in class of teammate should he make the move to the Gulf.

I honestly don’t think the United players are as bad as everyone says and I truly think that given a period of adjustment, Bruno would be able to make the step up to his new teammates and could ultimately become a better player even in his latter years.

It’s time to lay off Bruno and his beleaguered teammates.
Steven McBain, Singapore

…As a Liverpool fan, I was a bit gutted that Bruno was leaving Manu. They would get £100mil and the chance to buy some players.

However, he has turned down £700k a week (allegedly) because and I quote both Romano and Plettenburg “he wants to stay and play at the highest level of European football”. Crooky from Talksport changed it to ‘stay in the highest league’ to get round the obvious and easy piss-takes about levels and Europe.

I, as a Liverpool fan, am perfectly happy with his choice, as I really really think he is still part of the Manu entitlement issue and do believe he is a much a part of the problem they have as anyone.

As Arne Slot said to Mo after watching a warm up, about his attitude and how it reflects on the youngsters and their attitude was perfect. In my opinion Bruno is the epitome of this horrible attitude running the whole team down.

I would wonder why Cunha wants to join them. Oh he’s the 3rd or 4th highest paid player at the club (that is famously struggling to get rid of players because they massively over pay them) gotya.. makes sense and means they have learned nothing.

Mbeumo wants to join too? Amazing. Assume they have offered him £300k a week?

As long as the whining, whinging, arm waving, ‘best player at the club’, (who still somehow seems not to annoy refs enough to get yellow carded every game for dissent) stays then I don’t think they will change.

Maybe having no Europe will hep them concentrate on their formation and run out of excuses?

Dont believe me or agree… See Garnacho, Rashford, Sancho, Antony …. The 1 guy that tried and tried and never stopped, despite being pilloried by all of their ‘fans’ hes too slow, he turns like a ship, etc was Harry Maguire, Now there’s an attitude that should be congratulated and encouraged.

So I am happy that the club’s cancer continues to stay within. Long may they keep him.

I mean I realise it’s all the Glazers fault so nothing will change until they go… (they spent how much? They bought who? blimey… but they could have spent way more and paid even more.. are you sure!!!!)
Al – LFC – Hoping Florian Wirtz arrives and is in fact ‘all that’. Should be really good fun next season

…In news that Bruno has rejected the move to Saudi, is anyone shocked that a selfish footballer is… selfish?

Yeah, I’m sure he wants to keep playing in a serious league longer. I get that. Shame though. I guess we’ll have to sell the future because we can’t shift the past.

In a similar vein, I’m also guessing Dalot, Maguire, Casemiro and Shaw won’t be going anywhere either. That rebuild is going to be great. Just like all the previous ones.

Oh, in other news, the last of Ten Hag’s staff have now left having already been replaced earlier this season. All in on the Amorim Titanic. That Director of Football plan is really on track. I certainly noticed a massive up-tick in our set piece work since Amorim’s guy took over…
Badwolf

Wrong on Man Utd targets
Look lads, it feels like you’re a little bit late to the party with your list of players United could buy. Considering we’ve pretty much signed Cunha and Mbeumo has apparently told us he fancies it very muchly, you would expect us to have the number 10 spots covered. Particularly looking at the current squad as well as three of the wastrels currently trying their hardest (without giving up wages obviously) to get away from us.

So why have you included 3 players who would likely play in those spots for Amorim? Or are you converting those to wing backs?

My other point is that the vast majority of those players do not fit the profile of players United are generally looking to sign. Bowen (28), Robinson (28 in August), Munoz (29) and Mitoma (28) are all good players at the peak of their powers but what sort of value would they represent? With the exception of Munoz, they are hefty fees for players that are likely to have little resale value. Surely these are the sorts of signing the old United made?

Murillo is potentially a good shout but I’d prefer United to target an actual striker and a midfielder that can dominate the position for the next ten years. If you’re going to talk about fantasy signings, please focus on those positions and make sure they fit the profile!
Ashmundo (get Bruno a statue)

(Look lad, it was a throwaway feature about the best players at various Premier League clubs. Not the best idea, not the worst. It wasn’t meant to be taken with any degree of seriousness – Ed)

The state of play at Arsenal
Now the dust has settled and the season is finally over, here are a few Arsenal thoughts as I sit frustrated that, despite poor form throughout most of 24/25 (Liverpool excepted), quite a few of our rivals have ended up with a shiny trinket to put in the cabinet. Let’s face it, that’s what the game is all about. The trophy will feature in their list of honours, as opposed to constant reminders of a mid or low table finish in the league. Just missing out on a cup and finishing second, third or fourth will never be remembered.

Mind you, if I’d been given the (awful) choice of losing the semi-final or the final of the Champions League, I prefer the semi-final. The pain of losing a final in terms of getting so close but failing would have been too hard to bear a second time. PSG are currently a force to be reckoned with, it softens the blow a bit to have gone out to them.

Generally, we need more of the killer instinct to not only finish off our possession based game but also come back from the adversity of being a goal behind or the opposition finding an unexpected equaliser.

Nervousness during matches at The Emirates when either happens is still palpable, and brought about by years of weaker squads with some potential not performing and/or caving in. We are not a crowd that has yet learned to surround every visiting team with an intimidating atmosphere (regardless of the number of tourist fans in the stadium). Funny how we are loudest when we have less to lose, like the Real Madrid game. In my opinion that was the best the stadium has ever been, even before the goals were scored. Pre-match outside the ground was also fantastic. We – club and fans – must do what we can to change that, and maybe the suggestion of moving the away section up to a higher tier isn’t such a bad one, if safe to do so. However, basically it boils down to having more belief that we won’t throw points away. Chicken and egg, the players have also got to stop it from happening.

The core of this team built by Arteta can achieve this, as long as he i) expands the squad and ii) broadens his tactical approach. And ideally iii) finds a medical magician.

As I mentioned before, overall the bench has been way too weak to have the flexibility to win the major competitions, even allowing for injuries. Not enough to change the game or sufficiently rest the best XI. This ‘must buy a striker’ talk actually should be ‘strikers’, as one injury to a new signing – which given our piss poor record on fitness is more likely than not – and we’re back to square one. There’s no shining light striker in the Academy able to step in, so two purchases are required. And we need to adapt the game to ensure the ball actually reaches the penalty area to give the man up top the chances.

In addition, we need to not only add to the squad but also replace those who we are told are leaving and/or perennially injured: Zinchenko, Sterling, Neto, Jorginho, Partey, Jesus, Tierney, Tomiyasu. A larger squad is required to cover all positions. I can’t see that being quite such an issue cost wise as some make out, as there’s some hefty wages to be saved in that list, plus additional income now from the Champions League run.

Speaking of squad size and adaptability of tactics, I wonder why more teams don’t move more towards the ‘special team’ mentality of American Football. I realise the whole team can’t be changed during the match but the total number of substitutes now allowed should enable a manager to swap from high press to counter attacking type players pretty quickly according to ‘what the game is asking for’, to coin a very recent TH14 phrase (doesn’t he speak so much sense?). The football media tend to pigeonhole a player or team with one specific style but personally I think players should be adaptable enough to alter to another way of playing on the pitch. Even so, why not select a more specialist bench to help that occur with fresh legs?

I’ll leave with a couple of Arsenal orientated pet peeves but they apply everywhere:

Signings: GET THEM DONE QUICK! I can’t stand all the messing around and then mad activity a few hours before the transfer window closes. Surely it’s better for the player to go on holiday already knowing where he’s playing next season? No phone calls from his agent whilst he’s relaxing in Dubai. Surely it’s also better for the club to know sooner what they’re spending and will budget for on wages? Most importantly, the player will be there for all pre-season to gel with his team-mates. It is so crucial to hit the ground running for the first games of the season. It will only take one or two large clubs to say ‘we will be concluding all of our business before our pre-season tour’ to have the agents suddenly realising they don’t hold the upper hand any more.

New kit: If it’s revealed as next season’s new kit, don’t wear it for the last game of this season! Looking at you, Adidas and Arsenal! I don’t care if you think it sells more, don’t launch it until the current season ends, ideally do so two weeks before the start of the season to get us excited again.

Speaking of which, why have there been so many kit clashes over the last few seasons? That never used to happen when clubs only had two kits. That applies to kit clashes for keepers with the officials and outfield players. All the colours of the rainbow to choose from and we still see refs in nearly the same colour as a keeper.

Anyway, I’m taking a break from the football now and calming down. Have a good summer one and all, regardless of your loyalties.
TyA, Essex (who will once again fail to ignore all the transfer talk during the close season)

READ: Arsenal must accept mantle of Banter Club in Premier League mood rankings

Toon trouble?
NUFC have “lost” their CEO (Darren Eales) and Sporting Director (Paul Mitchell) in the last week, and that makes two consecutive summers of upheaval in the club’s management. What the heck is going on at the club? Bryan Mbeumo was meant to be our priority target, the one player we needed most, and we were supposed to have a big jump on signing him. Reports yesterday had him in talks with Manchester United. NUFC supporters are already calling Mbeumo a “bald gimp.” We so fickle.

If it’s management chaos that has put him off or led the club not to make a sufficient and timely offer, that’s pretty troubling. Especially given what happened in last summer’s transfer window (not to mention the last two Januaries). And if it’s about being £5 million apart in valuations, that’s f*&king infuriating. Particularly since it’s tough to see how Manchester United can afford Cunha and Mbeumo at the moment. When Jim Ratliffe laid off all those workers, he justified it with the specter of bankruptcy, and the season just past means that the club will make even less money next year. Make it make sense.
Chris C, Toon Army DC (Maybe they pinched some of Chelsea’s accountants)