Liverpool have surpassed and are going far and away with their ambition and scouting. Fekir, Keita, VVD, Salah (ok he might be going), Mane. Meanwhile we’re sniffering around Sokratis. It seems Sven wasn’t the brains behind Dortmund’s scouting.
WTF does Arteta know anyway. I believe he maybe able to coach, it doesn’t mean he can pick and identify players
@Craigie - The model isn’t as refined in England so different clubs may use different names and titles for what is effectively a head coach model where a manager has reduced say over football matters.
It has certainly been attempted. Liverpool’s transfer committee which peaked under Rogers comes to mind. Funny enough it was Klopp who demanded more sway over 1st team transfer dealings and his success to date is evident.
Baldini and Spurs comes to mind too.
We have a very broad pre-existing identity imo. Wenger developed 2 distinct attacking identities during his time here and the disjointed shit he served up in his final years.
Our identity has not been developed to the point where it’s clearly defined and specific for anybody tbh. Sure there’s a mandate to play “attacking football” but there’s more than one way you can do that and different players will suit different attack minded systems.
@arsenescoatmaker - Part of a manager responsibility is player evaluation wrt to transfers and squad selection. Part of coaching is knowing if a player has the desired attributes which you can mould to your tactics and style.
It would be very worrying if we were signing players with little input from the head coach. I certainly trust a manager’s opinion on a player more than a scout
That’s not the point, it’s obvious a manager job is not to find talent.
A manager should be involved in player evaluation when shortlists for potential transfer targets are drawn up. I don’t know if Arteta has done so regarding this sokratis deal
I acknowledged that which is why I was asking initially the extent of his involvement, if any at all, in the deal.
I’m interested to know because I don’t like the idea of signing players without the manager’s input. Raises many accountability issues imo plus I don’t think 20m euros for a defender that turns 30 in June is a great deal. I’m interested to know if the manager who has to use him next season actually wants him or is it Sven using his initiative
Would love him here over Sokratis that’s for sure.
Come on Sven. If you were going to recreate 2015 Dortmund, you should have at least got the same manager. If not, give big Mikel all the tools available to succeed.
He is a class CB.
I’m not sure what his injury record is like but if he is unsettled I can see him going to any of the big clubs in the PL, that have a lot more pulling power than us.