Hi guys, I'll try an reply to both your posts in one go.
Signing our first choice striker this window would have been great. However, January windows are notoriously expensive and low on available players. Given that we are still building our squad from scratch with limited funds, I think the club is right to take the gamble (I admit it is bit of a gamble), cut some corners, and reserve funds to go for primary targets in the summer. If the Wiredu rumors are correct, we've demonstrated exactly what I'm saying, that we were willing to go for primary targets this window if they were available. I hope (and believe) that's the type of summer transfer window we are gearing up for.
As for the idea that we have a bloated and imbalanced squad, I wrote about a few days ago, and I just don't see it. We have some who will not take us forward, but I don't put any the players we have signed for a fee in that bracket (outside Asamoah most likely). To put some numbers to my perspective (they'll not stack up completely, as I'm not accounting for loans going back etc.)
From Transfermarkt:
- Current squad has 33 players (that's counting everyone: including the likes of Lonergan, Joe Adams etc.)
- 17 of the current squad have been signed this season (I believe in total we have signed 21)
- Only 4 of the current squad were signed last season (one of them being McManaman)
- The remaining players, who were with us at the start of Maloney's tenure are:
Sam Tickle, Tom Watson, Jason Kerr, James Carragher, Luke Robinson, Baba Adeeko, Scott Smith, Harry McHugh, Kai Payne (possibly, not sure), Chris Sze, Joe Adams (possibly, not sure).
I think you get the picture. Bar Kerr that's ALL academy players. Point being, outside of our Academy players, our current squad has essentially been built THIS season and clearly on tight budget.
So that some raw numbers providing context for my position. We have had a massive turnover of players since Maloney came in. To expect that we have a completely balanced squad, room to send our youngsters on loan etc. is, in my view, turning a blind eye to the realities of our rebuild (imagine we didn't have Smith and McHugh available right now). We should be happy we have a solid foundation we can add quality to in the summer, even though it is lacking quality in some areas right now. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it took Klopp 3 seasons to make Liverpool compete. I think we can allow Gregor and Shaun a little more grace.
That's a lot of words, and there is a lot more to be said if we could have a live dialogue, so I'll leave it here.
Love the conversation guys, thanks for reading (if you did

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