In two media conferences yesterday, one for broadcaster and the other for daily newspapers/websites there was one obvious question that no-one put to Brendan Rodgers.
The answer seems equally obvious but for whatever reasons there was no mention of Albian Ajeti or Ismaila Soro who both appear to be missing from the Algarve Training camp.
Costing a combined £7m in 2020 with wages to match that level of expenditure, Ajeti and Soro are the two main legacy issues from Neil Lennon and Peter Lawwell’s time heading up recruitment.
An agreement was recently reached with Vasilis Barkas over the final year of his contract with Boli Bolingoli, Marian Shved and Vakoun Bayo quietly slipping out the door as Ange Postecoglou took control. Patryk Klimala left for RB New York just before the appointment of the former Yokohama F Marinos boss.
Ajeti and Soro were sent out on loans last season, tellingly there has been no interest from Strum Gram or Arouca in following up with permanent offers.
Barkas impressed at Utrecht and has recently been linked with Swansea and some Turkish sides but it looks like like shifting Ajeti and Soro won’t be done without financial pain.
Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide also seem to be missing from the squad in Portugal with the former Sheffield Wednesday duo halfway through their four year contracts.
Rodgers has inherited a great squad but beyond a core of 14 or 15 the quality does dip as we saw at the end of last season with a couple of legacy issues still to be resolved (paid off)s.
