This is not about this window. Put that completely on the back of your mind.

Never in our history have we made a WC signing. You could argue that Kenny was or wasn't the one and ONLY world class signing we've ever made. Do you think we'll ever be able to attract one of the best players in the world in their primes? What sort of stability and success to we need to be able to turn absolute WC players heads towards Liverpool? What sort cash do you think it'll take? Do you think it'll most likely be a forward, midfielder, defender?

Sure we've nurtured plenty of top stars at our club. We've even bought world class players past their primes. (Litmanen, Morientes?). But all things do come to an end eventually, I know at least once in my lifetime we'll sign a world class player just wondering what and how long it will take to put us in that position.

I believe within the next 5 years the truly elite will want to join Liverpool if the money is there.

We were close to that threshhold in 2008-09 with Rafa obviously we didnt have the money .But we are recognised as one of the best in Europe and most players would have joined us but unfortunately we collapsed

Need similar success in CL for 2-3 years before we start spending on world class players.But the English weather and City of Liverpool not being London/Madrid/Milan will always be a hinderance to keep hold of them unfortunately

You are right BG, think under Rafa after that 2005-2009 run of doing really well in CL (1 win, 1 final, 1 semi, 1 quarter, 1 round of 16) really helped establish us as big time players in the market.

The saddest thing was that that period was probably the worst in terms of ownership and having the availability of cash.

So that's probably the biggest factor here. Above all we need consistent success in CL. We are historically one of the most prestigious European Cup teams so that definitely plays to our advantage. But before we get ahead of ourselves we need to look at another major hurdle to getting there. PL is probably the toughest league to get CL as 6 really good teams all can get top 4 and have the finances to get there. And then another 2-3 always end up fighting tooth and nail on top of that.

So the actual first and most important step for us after 4 years of mediocrity is consistent stability in the league in terms of finishing in the top 4.


What else?

I wouldn't hold my breath

There will always be some half a dozen more desirable cities & clubs for players to move to.

We should try hard to sign players who are just under the super star status and young players who could become world-class (but accept they may move away if they reach that quality).

I'm fine with that.

I'm with Art. Just as you can't expect some clubs (Real, Barca, PSG, MU) to nurture young talents to maturity, Liverpool (along with some other clubs) can't be expected to sign star players.

I like it this way                 .

Well, expanding the stadium is clearly a step in the right direction in that regard.

Alright so

1. Consistent top 4
2. Relative success in CL
3. 60k stadium

What else?

Our finances are definitely improving. Broadcasting wise we are second to none in the whole league. Not even United. TV money is divided fairly in the PL but top teams receive almost as much as your Madrid/Barca anyways even though they monopolize their league. Broadcasting should trigger us commercially even further. Don't think we'll ever reach United level on that but we are improving. We've signed some great deals recently. And with more success once the deals run out we'll get better deals. In the recent past we've been fairly behind the rest of the top dogs commercially so we're seeing the effects of that mediocrity now a bit. And for years we've been behind in matchday revenue even though we've got some of the best match going fan base in the whole world (but the new stadium redevelopment should change that).

What else?

Would you say our wage structure is a hindrance?

Would you say our wage structure is a hindrance?

Our wage to revenue ratio is pretty high, but that's because our revenue is pretty low as well. With Suarez gone and other high-wage players expected to leave/retire in few years, I wouldn't mind if we implement some wage-regime like Arsenal, Dortmund, Bayern.

We won't in the near future, this summer was probably our best bet.

There's no way we're going to be able to attract a WC player AND pay off the redevelopment of Anfield.

We finally had money to spend this summer (reportedly over 100m+) and we spent it on squad players rather than improving the initial starting XI. And I'd argue our starting XI is probably worse off if Lovren is a guaranteed starter and Suarez is out of this team.

We'll make one next summer provided we finish in a CL spot and reach at least the quarters this time.