Lallana's Left Peg

Hmm, the clause was always there to protect Atletico in the first place - in that if Toby 'outperformed' his £6.8m agreed fee they could cancel that deal for £1.5m and then sell for more. Them behaving like this is a little off, though I suppose they are entitled to do what they want. If Toby really does want to join us then it doesn't matter, meanwhile I suppose Spurs see an opportunity to try and get a deal done.

Levy wouldn't be flying out if he didn't think the deal was possible (and had been given an indication that the player would join Spurs). He could be in Spain has he has other business to conduct (Spurs have been linked with a lot of La Liga players, and they also need to find buyers for a lot of their own dross), but I'm actually more encouraged that he has flown out there - £12m or so should be nothing for Spurs, so there are obviously some complexities to the deal that mean he needs to go out there and speak to Atletico. They could be him offering players as a part of the deal, for example. If we don't get Toby, as long as it isn't for want of trying then that's fine.

Every club is relevant to their fans. But are they relevant to the rest of football? Liverpool are far more irrelevant now than they were from 1970 - 2010.

I think you're going to need to set the MLG signal for that sort of thing.

He'd fit in well here then!

Atletico Madrid have re-loaned Emiliano Velazquez to Getafe for another season, so if there is to be a Miranda replacement, it's either Toby or another signing.

I heard Tadic was carrying a groin injury long before he finally submitted and sat out the last few weeks of the season and even went home to Serbia before the end of the season to rest up. Anyone know if this is true? Groin injuries have a nasty habit of reoccurring many times a season - Schneiderlin in particular has issues with them, and Lallana always has to look after his when he was with us.

I don't believe that's our primary objective of signing players at all. I think we want to sign players who will get better and retain value, and Toby fits that bill for us. I think a big attraction to him is not only his outstanding performances for us last season, but also that he can cover several positions (not that I would want him to play anywhere other than centre back for us, but that is a debate for another day, perhaps if he signs).

West Ham are streaming their game on their official website tonight. Hopefully Saints will do the same for our games if they aren't on TV.

If he could do that we may as well have loaned him out? I suspect the market for him is tiny?

I wouldn't mind betting he's been paid the vast majority of what he would have earned at Saints over the course of the last two years of his deal. What would be his motivation to accept a nominal amount?

This is good news but publicly we were confident that Clyne would sign a new deal and he didn't. I think it's 50:50.

Maybe we just can't afford it. I can understand that - there isn't much money about.

History is the only thing that makes you a big club to be fair - lots of money doesn't and you can't be called big on the basis of what might happen in the future either. I think it's fairly clear which clubs are and are not big. The main issue is that people confuse big with good. Or in Liverpool's case, big with relevant. Liverpool are a big club - huge in fact. But they are also irrelevant domestically and in Europe. Big and irrelevant.

Find it hard to believe you make an opening bid of £20m for a player and then walk away. I would imagine the only circumstance where that happens is when all of a sudden a different deal opens up for you.

I suspect right now our fourth choice centre-back last season is looking over his shoulder wondering how good the youngsters are rather than believing he is a starter for a club with our stated ambition.

How would he be causing trouble? He wouldn't train with us and it gives us another two months to find someone to take him off our hands without the need for severance pay.

So Clasie goes past players like Cazorla? I've not seen him play, so I have no idea.

Yep - as others have said, you'd presume Saints are saving a bit of money doing this, but if he was due to earn £60k a week for the next two years and we've paid him off at 50k a week, we've only really free'd up 10k a week of wages (for example) in terms of money saved. But the club must have been really desperate to see him go - they could have waited until the 1st September to do this.

Completely different type of player though. Unless you can tell me Clasie is an attacking midfielder? But my point is: A Feyenoord supporter says on here that Clasie isn't up to much physically, Clasie is small and undersized for central midfield in this league, and we know that our best performing central midfielders (the ones in front of the back four) all have a physical presence about them. He may be a good footballer but is he the right footballer for the front of our back four?

£13m of that is the transfer fee? So £12m over two seasons in wages and severance agreement!?! Some money back from Juventus, Inter, and Boca but still, what a mistake he has turned out to be.

He is very small though. Not many small players who aren't physical beasts do well in central midfield in the Premier League any more, do they?

Brendan Rodgers has not improved a single defender during his three years at the club. Brendan Rodgers has not been able to craft a team that has an equal balance between attack and defence during his three years at the club. Brendan Rodgers is on borrowed time and Clyne will be exercising his one-on-one ability with his winger on the pitch more than he will be with his Manager on the training pitch.

Stephens, McCarthy, and Mugabi can all play right back but none are typically built for it or have the characteristics of the modern full back, plus their natural position is centre back.

So, do we sign another right back or not?