I'm getting tired of explaining the same things over and over again. I'm not worried about the scouting because the scouting at the club is strong from what I've read about the scouts and who they they're and who they've discovered in the past. And every player that is being signed will have to be ratified by the likes of Jose Mayorga and Simon Wells who are currently the head scouts after they replaced Bout and Lawlor last year. And the scout in charge of the European contintent is former Ajax scout Henny de Regt. We will sign players of all nationalities and from different leagues. I'm not worried about ten Hag targeting Eredivisie players because I'm a firm believer he should target players like Onana, because Onana will help us evolve as a football team.
I was disappointed with the likes of Mourinho and Solskjaer who I feel could've done more to target some very talented players from Portugal and Norway. Players like Bernardo Silva and Cancelo joined Man City without us seemingly challenging City for their signatures. And even though Solkskjaer attempted to sign Haaland, I feel he missed a trick with Martin Odegaard.
Klopp at Liverpool has signed countless players who are either associated with the German or Austrian Bundesliga. Their latest signing is again from Red Bull Leipzig, and it's due to those players being ready made for his play style. Below is a list of players Klopp has signed who were either directly or indirectly associated with the German or Austrian Bundesliga. Sadio Mane was a player that the Liverpool data analytics team deemed him not good enough in 2014, but Klopp overuled them and signed him on the basis that he had followed him since he was playing at Red Bull Salzburg. And the signing of Coutinho came about after Brendan Rodgers bought the player after a scouting recommendation from Lee Congerton who was a personal scout of Brendan Rodgers. And Liverpool benefitted immensely from that signing due to the stupidity of Barcelona who shelled out €140m for him.
The top 5 in the list were signed in Klopp's first summer window in 2016.
Sadio Mane
Ragnar Klavan
Joel Matip
Alex Manninger
Loris Karius
Naby Keita
Xherdan Shakiri
Takumi Minamino
Thiago Alcantara
Ibrahima Konate
Ozan Kabak (loan)
Dominic Szoboszlai
The only thing I'm worried about is the ownership situation right now. Because in addition to Mason Mount, I feel we need at least another first phase midfielder, striker, and GK as a minimum requirement. But you can have the best scouts in the world, but they'll only be as good as the investment that comes down from the owners. It's not difficult to sign good players if everyone is working together towards a clear and defined way of playing the game. But you need consistent investment from the very top to succeed against the wealth funds.
Players like Declan Rice, Caicedo, Lavia etc are our targets in this window imo. But we can't sign them in the current window. I think we're going to go on a spending spree late in the window with potential new owners in place by the start of August. I think the Glazers will make a decision in July.