Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

DaBreno

SSN reporting we have just signed Jordi Brouwer, a striker, from Ajax.
Anyone know who he is?

Chardee MacDennis

is he fully fit though?

mike65

Georgie Brewer (as I like to call him) is an U-18 international who was on the verge of a professional contract with Ajax before Liverpool swooped. He's cost all of 10k euro per year compensation for the duration of his youth contract so thats about 40 grand I think!

Salif Diao is with Stoke until May at least and Paletta is wanted on loan by a La Liga side called Nastic.

Mike.

spockety

The guys at AJAX were surprised that Liverpool came in for Jordy, saying they didn't see much in him to warrant a professional contract, but wished him all the best anyway.. hrm.

mike65

Maybe that had to say that to avoid embarrasment!

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

heard that too - interesting buy there. wonder how many of these players will come through.

also are moves being made to improve our academy as clearly rafa isn;t happy with the output of it.

missingtime

Liverpool seal deal for Brouwer

Benitez has now made three signings in the transfer window
Liverpool have signed 18-year-old Dutch striker Jordy Brouwer from Ajax.

The player joins goalkeeper Daniele Padelli and defender Emiliano Insua as the new arrivals at Anfield in the transfer window.

"We've made a good signing for the future in Jordy," club chief executive Rick Parry told Liverpool's website.

"He had a youth contract at Ajax, but opted to build his career at Liverpool. We've monitored his progress and look forward to developing his potential."

Link -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6294667.stm


Edit: Ahh! the page didn't refresh - thought I was posting first.

zing

mike65 wrote:

Gonzo is back! Well he was on the bench against Chelsea.

Mike.

He was on the pitch too - came on for Kuyt towards the very end of the game (possibly in injury time).

Chardee MacDennis

remember that now!!!

mike65

:

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

Liverpool midfielder David Mannix has had his contract terminated by mutual consent and is understood to be on trial with Norwegian club HamKam. (The Times)

yet another example of Rafa's unhappiness with the current youth system.

The Rooster

Call_me_al wrote:

Liverpool midfielder David Mannix has had his contract terminated by mutual consent and is understood to be on trial with Norwegian club HamKam. (The Times)

yet another example of Rafa's unhappiness with the current youth system.

Mannix was the youngest ever player to play in the Liverpool U17 team - he was only 13.

At 16 he was the star Liverpool youngster, but then got a bad knee injury which required 5 operations and kept him out of the game for 3 years.

He came back, Liverpool showed faith by giving him a new contract and he seemed to be progressing well, played the best part of a season in the reserve team, but being a central midfielder got no chances in the first team. Then last season he broke his ankle. This year he went on loan to Accrington but again got injured and was sent back.

He's still only 21, but probably best for everyone that he moves on. I hope he manages to find a new club and has more luck there.

LizardKing

What ever happened to Richie Partridge then ??

Chardee MacDennis

richie is now at rotherham united.

zing

LizardKing wrote:

What ever happened to Richie Partridge then ??

iirc he signed for the owls after he was released by LFC but only lasted a season there and was released again - now with Rotherham or some club like that.

Chardee MacDennis

i think he was only on loan at wednesday and never signed with them.

jesus_thats_gre

The sensation that was Richie Partridge.

PiE

Surely you mean the "Champ Manager Sensation that was..."

eirebhoy

He's more than a Champ Man sensation. Houllier discovered Steven Gerrard when he went to a reserve match to have a look at Partridge. I believe if Partridge was lucky with injuries he'd be well established in the premiership by now.

Kimbot

eirebhoy wrote:

He's more than a Champ Man sensation. Houllier discovered Steven Gerrard when he went to a reserve match to have a look at Partridge. I believe if Partridge was lucky with injuries he'd be well established in the premiership by now.

Actually Houllier didn't discover Gerrard!! Read Gerrard's autobiography if you want to know more but before Houllier was even there he was thought of very highly by LFC!!

Ardent

eirebhoy wrote:

He's more than a Champ Man sensation. Houllier discovered Steven Gerrard when he went to a reserve match to have a look at Partridge. I believe if Partridge was lucky with injuries he'd be well established in the premiership by now.

I hope you don't mean by "Houllier discovered Gerrard" that he somehow magically unearthed Gerrard from obscurity? Gerrard was brought up through the ranks at LFC as a result of his wonderful potential and the foresight of others at the club.

MrJoeSoap

eirebhoy wrote:

Houllier discovered Steven Gerrard when he went to a reserve match to have a look at Partridge.

That still doesn't make him a sensation! Though he did do very well at Coventry, and I agree that injuries are certainly the main reason he's not doing better these days.

Good to see he's still playing at a decent level though.

eirebhoy

Ardent wrote:

I hope you don't mean by "Houllier discovered Gerrard" that he somehow magically unearthed Gerrard from obscurity? Gerrard was brought up through the ranks at LFC as a result of his wonderful potential and the foresight of others at the club.

What I meant was Partridge was the star man in a reserve team containing Gerrard. Houllier went to a reserve game for a look at Partridge, he ended up calling Gerrard and Partridge into the first team. Gerrard went on to become the only player to come through the ranks and establish himself in Houllier's team. Partridge was great on loan at Coventry which got him an Ireland call up. Then came the injuries. Even back from injury I had high hopes for him under Benitez as he did very well in the league cup (had a fantastic sub appearance against Boro I think).

redspider

Youth policy's are prone to a large element of luck. I guess you can increase your chances by 'spreading your bets' more, which is what Benitez seems to be doing now. By that I mean, you purchase/acquire players that have potential at the 17-19 year old level rather than groom youths (14 year olds upwards) who may or may not come good. eg: the recent signings Daniele Padelli, Emiliano Insua and Jordy Brouwer.

This is the policy that Arsenal have adopted and it seems to be working well for them, althought they seem to be buying youths that are coser to the finished article and spending a lot more.

Redspider

Stky10

Partridge was unlucky on two accounts, certainly with injuries, but also that Houllier had no faith in him or his type of player. I remember an article about how in a game against Newcastle when they were suffering from injuries, and it came down to either him or Biscan to start wide right midfield, and Houllier being Houllier went with Biscan. Now big Igor had some qualities, but a wide midfield player he will never be.

But yes, Mannix was very highly regarded for many years, but suffered so many injuries his development was curtailed and he couldn't be relied upon. For a player to make it, he not only needs to have the required skill, physical and mental qualities needed, they need a strong slice of luck staying away from injuries and illness. Its the way its always been

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Frodsham

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-15722.html

So it shows how well Steve Warnock did in getting back from two broken legs to make his mark in the squad, even if he was never a first team regular.

PiE

More news on the Gillett chap.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6304467.stm

Liverpool reveal Gillett approach
Liverpool
Liverpool have received an approach about a possible takeover of the club from American tycoon George Gillett.

The Anfield club issued a statement to the Stock Exchange under the Takeover Code rules about Gillett's interest.

Liverpool said the approach "may or may not lead to an offer" and "shareholders will be kept informed as appropriate."

Dubai International Capital (DIC), a rival consortium, is still regarded as favourites to take over the club having already analysed Liverpool's finances.

Gillett, the owner of Montreal Canadiens ice hockey club, recently improved his offer for the club and as a bidder can now also perform due diligence, which is the process of examining the finances of the club.

But, despite Gillett's interest in Liverpool, the Merseysiders are believed to prefer going with DIC, which is the investment arm of the Dubai government.

Liverpool chairman David Moores, who owns 51.6%, is thought to have received a higher bid for his shares from Gillett but favours DIC because he believes it would be better for the club.

He has already reportedly reached an agreement with DIC in a deal which would see it purchase majority control for around £155m, assume £80m of debt and fund a new 60,000-seater stadium close to the club's existing Anfield home.

One of the areas of concern over the Gillett bid is that the Reds board believe the American would be keen to debate a groundshare with Everton.

Apart from the said Groundsharing, I reckon he'd be decent enough.

jesus_thats_gre

While I wouldn't be happy with the Groundsharing, it makes sense. Liverpool would also likely own the ground so the extra revenue from a percentage Everton's gates receipts would be welcome.

mike65

Everton paying rent to Liverpool? Oh the irony!

I wuz kinda hoping we'd got past this stage tbh.

Mike.

Malice

Liverpool will never groundshare with Everton. There's too much opposition to the proposal on both sides.

missingtime

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez is confident Javier Mascherano will be allowed to join the club.

The Reds are looking to sign Mascherano on loan from West Ham despite the fact the Argentine has already played for two clubs in the past 12 months.

Fifa rules permit any player turning out for more than two clubs over a one-year period between 1st July and 30th June the following year, but Liverpool have asked Fifa for special dispensation to allow the move to happen.

Liverpool have agreed a deal with West Ham and have held talks with the player about a move to West Ham.

Benitez remains hopeful that Fifa will agree to let the defensive midfielder join Liverpool even after the transfer window closes on Wednesday.

"We are waiting for Fifa to make a decision, but even if that does not come before the deadline, I believe he will still be able to join us," said Benitez.

"I hope he will join us, he has great experience.

"We know the rule says he cannot play for three clubs, but he is unable to play at West Ham and we must take into consideration the law, and the law is more important than the rules.

"He is unable to work at the moment, nobody can say you cannot work."

Benitez has held a long-term interest in Mascherano and he believes he would be a good addition to his squad.

"We were aware of the player when he was at River Plate, he was in the national team at 18," said Benitez."There is no doubt about the quality of the player.

"He played well in the World Cup and he is a great professional with talent and quality.

"We have good midfielders in Alonso, Gerrard, Sissoko and Zenden, but the only holding midfielder is Alonso and the idea is to bring Mascherano here to put pressure on in that role.

"If we sign him it will be on loan for one and a half years, at least. He is a good option and has the character and ability to do well in the Premiership.

"We have an agreement, but we must wait for the Fifa decision. We hope that will come in the next two days, but if it does not we still believe we will be able to sign him.

"We are doing our best as a club to sort this out. Fifa need to do something before January 31. But if they do not, I still feel we can achieve what we want.

"We talked to West Ham and had permission to talk to Mascherano, that says that he is not likely to play for them again.

"They used Tevez because they needed strikers, but they had other midfield players with different styles, that made it difficult."

Liverpool face Mascherano's West Ham on Tuesday night and Benitez is expecting a tough test

"West Ham players should be more motivated with a new manager," added Benitez.

"When a team changes a manager, they normally win the first game because everyone wants to impress, then the situation can return to what it was like before.

"We need to win the game before talking about the future and how far we are behind Chelsea.

"We know how important this game is and if we can beat Everton as well it will be six points, and that could make a big difference.

"This stage of the season is very important for us. We have difficult games with Manchester United and Arsenal still to come here, but if we can win some games in a row now it will make us closer to the top as the season comes to an end."

Link -- http://home.skysports.com/transferarticle.aspx?hlid=444835

Weird that he mentions Alonso as the only holding midfielder. Surely Sissoko would be in that bracket as well

missingtime

Former Liverpool starlet David Mannix has signed a three-year deal with Norwegian club HamKam.

The 21-year-old midfielder was regarded as one to watch in Merseyside, with some even comparing him to Xabi Alonso.

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=444866&CPID=90&clid=14&lid=&title=Mannix+completes+Hamkam+move

Pity.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

missingtime wrote:

Weird that he mentions Alonso as the only holding midfielder. Surely Sissoko would be in that bracket as well

Presumebaly, he meant fit. And with out injury record over the last few months you can never have too many midfielders!

el rabitos

Ikky Poo2 wrote:

Presumebaly, he meant fit. And with out injury record over the last few months you can never have too many midfielders!

sissoko is no holding midfielder, a holding midfielder dictates the play, is a good plasser of the ball, has good vision. sissoko's job when he's playing is to simply break up opposition attacks and regain possession for liverpool, which he's excellent at. his passing is not great and neither is his ability to dictate the pace of a game. those are alonso's strenghts and macherano's.

eirebhoy

missingtime wrote:

Weird that he mentions Alonso as the only holding midfielder. Surely Sissoko would be in that bracket as well

Sissoko is combative but I wouldn't say he's a holding midfielder. I haven't seen a lot of him but he seems similar to Gatusso and he isn't a holding midfielder.

zing

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=432371&in_page_id=1779

A tabloid says so so it must be true :rolleyes:

Stky10

Another day, another european youth team signing, and speculation over others

http://liverpoolfc.co.za/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1126051643/m/2211084823

http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=26999

The Rooster

Sissoko and Zenden both back in full training and should be available for the derby on Saturday, may even have an outside chance of a place on the bench tonight.

missingtime

Stky10 wrote:

Another day, another european youth team signing, and speculation over others

http://liverpoolfc.co.za/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1126051643/m/2211084823

http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=26999

I believe arsenal are looking at that french striker too.

Chardee MacDennis

and another youth player - from bbc.co.uk

Liverpool are set to sign Spanish midfielder Francis Duran from Malaga, BBC Sport understands.

The 18-year-old is expected to be heading to Anfield on Tuesday to sign a contract with the Reds.

Duran made his debut with Malaga's first team earlier this month but does not have a professional contract with the second division club.

"It's a unique opportunity and I couldn't let it go by," Duran told the Spanish press.

zing

According to one poster on RAWK who seems to be well informed on what's happening with the takeover Gillet's people held talks with LFC yesterday and are back again today. Gillet himself or someone very close to him most likely involved as his personal jet was at Liverpool airport.

I personally wouldn't read too much into it though as all indications are that DIC are the preferred route (esp as Moores & Parry get to keep their gigs). However it would be incredibly stupid of the board not to listen to what Gillet has to say. His new revised offer could be far superior to DIC's and only after seeing what's on the table can the board make any sort of an informed decision as to which to recommend to share holders.

zing

And we have a new full back finally..

23 year old Alvaro Arbeloa from Deportivo for EUR 4m
http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?HLID=444972&CPID=8&title=Rafa+to+raid+Depor+for+defender&lid=&channel=Premiership&f=rss&clid=14

yom 1

I dont know much about him, infact I have never heard anythin about him but I wonder have we paid too much. It seems his value has shot from 1.5 to 4m in just 6 months. This would suggest he is a rapidly improving player. It just has me wondering why are depor selling him after such a short time, surely if he was doing as well as the price increase would suggest they'd at least keep him till the end of the season.

PHB

Isn't he a right-back? I thought Finnan has been playing well this year

missingtime

To encourage competition for places I suppose...

LizardKing

and cover injuries etc.

~Rebel~

PHB wrote:

Isn't he a right-back? I thought Finnan has been playing well this year

Finnan's the only first squad right back since Kromkamp left. Thankfully he's stayed fit up till now, but decent cover was badly needed, even just so he can be rested the odd time. so far he's been one of the few who rarely if ever got rotated, and nearly always has to the play the full 90 minutes as well.

On top of that theres his age to consider, a long term replacement needs to be looked at, so its better to be trying people out now, seeing if they can make it rather then having to rely on them full time when/finnan is past it (though he's showing no signs whatsoever of his age this year thankfully!)

redspider

Yeah, another defender and a youth player. Thats a typical week for Rafa in the transfer market. How many right backs do we have anyway?

Maschereno may happen tomorow after the West Ham match this evening but my understanding is that the hold up is FIFA, as I have seen no evidence that they have given their sanction or did I miss that. Whether he would add to the team is conjecture. He has been out of action for a long while now and may not be suited to the english league style of play at all. Time will tell.

Redspider

Vokes

2 senior RBs now.

Will be interesting to see if Arbeloa (have never seen him play before) can wrestle the spot away from Finnan, because in addition to doing the regular full-back stuff pretty well, Finnan is also in the team's top 5 for assists i think.

Chardee MacDennis

and he's the best wrong footed crosser in the league according to sky sports!

gary the great

yom 1 wrote:

I dont know much about him, infact I have never heard anythin about him but I wonder have we paid too much. It seems his value has shot from 1.5 to 4m in just 6 months. This would suggest he is a rapidly improving player. It just has me wondering why are depor selling him after such a short time, surely if he was doing as well as the price increase would suggest they'd at least keep him till the end of the season.

I think you got your currencies mixed up. They bought him from Real Madrid for 1.5 million sterling and are selling him for 2.5 million sterling.

You got your euros and pounds mixed up