In hindsight, how would you have spent our summer budget?

Yes of course you would, if midtable was your objective.

El Cujo wrote:I would take Howedes over Alderweireld as well, but there's no indication that he was available.

Moisander arguably better than Alderweireld...one of the strangest things I've read on this forum. It's not even close when Toby was at Ajax. Again, I didn't watch him in Spain so I can't speak to his time there, but Vertonghen is a fantastic defender when healthy -- his first season even in the EPL was very, very good. I would take an Alderweireld + Vertonghen pairing any day of the week almost any combination in the EPL right now.

Kompany - Mangala, Kos - Mert and Cahill - Terry are all superior to Alderweierld - Vertonghen.

Just because a player isn't openly available, doesn't mean they cannot be bought.

We got Filipe Luis despite there being no indication of him being available.

I think, if the offer was right and Howedes considered the move to be good for him. It could of happened.

Kick wrote:Kompany - Mangala, Kos - Mert and Cahill - Terry are all superior to Alderweierld - Vertonghen.

Mangala has been very underwhelming but Kompany is better than all of them so I think he slightly tips it there. I would take Toby/Jan over Kos/Mert every day of the week...those two are glorified pylons. Cahill/Terry is another pairing I would take over them.

That said even if all three were better that's still in line with what I said.

I think, if the offer was right and Howedes considered the move to be good for him. It could of happened.

True enough, but this speculation is kind of pointless. Rodgers made his targets very clear and he got the players he wanted. He has a bit of leash to try and fit them into the team or adapt to the players that he has chosen. We'll see what happens. I've not been overly impressed with Liverpool's transfer policy for a long time...a few big hits but mostly very underwhelming.

I think most clubs transfer policies have been pretty bad. Arsenal's, Milan's, Barca's, to name a few.

Chelsea's only clicked after we won the CL, tbh.

I also thought Alderweierld was genuine but after the Spain stint, I realised he is not so good. I was really sad that Atletico got him and not us. But he is def little above average, nothing more.