Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

Dr Galen

on the face of tonight and indeed the whole season the sooner the better. We really lacked that bit of class especially, a game winner and a really proven striker too.

For all his running and effort Kuyt is not going to be that man. He needs a "drogba" to play off. Zenden was and has been muck. Pennant hasn't been too bad overall. But i really get the feeling that having a game winner or 1 or 2 world class players to compliment Stevie G, Alonso and Masch we'd have won tonight

leninbenjamin

nurse_baz wrote:

on the face of tonight and indeed the whole season the sooner the better. We really lacked that bit of class especially, a game winner and a really proven striker too.

For all his running and effort Kuyt is not going to be that man. He needs a "drogba" to play off. Zenden was and has been muck. Pennant hasn't been too bad overall. But i really get the feeling that having a game winner or 1 or 2 world class players to compliment Stevie G, Alonso and Masch we'd have won tonight

what i really though was missing tonight was the ability to pick out the first time ball. to many times there were liverpool players up top and in space, but whoever had possession in midfield would take too many touches and allow the defenders to close in not only on themselves, but the men up further too. I was literally screaming at the TV at times for them to just give it early, particularly at pennant. i hear this guy Lucas is a bit of a playmaker, could he be the man needed to do this job?

LostinBlanch

leninbenjamin wrote:

what i really though was missing tonight was the ability to pick out the first time ball. to many times there were liverpool players up top and in space, but whoever had possession in midfield would take too many touches and allow the defenders to close in not only on themselves, but the men up further too. I was literally screaming at the TV at times for them to just give it early, particularly at pennant. i hear this guy Lucas is a bit of a playmaker, could he be the man needed to do this job?

You mean you wanted someone like Scholes?

leninbenjamin

LostinBlanch wrote:

You mean you wanted someone like Scholes?

it doesn't really make a difference what kind of mould they are in as long as they can make stuff happen. 'pool currently just labour rather than create. maybe an Alonso on form would do the job, but just the quick ball through, the early diagonal, the little ball over the top were all missing tonight. players took as much out of the ball as they possibly could until it became obvious they were going nowhere. it's just a lack of vision or something in the squad.

~Rebel~

I agree actually. Was infuriating at times. Kuyt had this excellently early on, remember his skillful little touches and passes around the box for bellamy and gerrard. We lose that side of him when he's just running around the field trying to get the ball. If the midfielders could cop on and do what you're saying with the simple clever passes, he's the perfect man to have up there alongside a proper finisher.

Liverpool still definitely a work in progress.

Dr Galen

does anyone know how much we made from the CL run this season?

PHB

I know you made about 3 million more than United, I'd wager at abour 13 million for TV stuff + Prize money

Zapp Brannigan

Rafa will be a busy man. I'd say he wants to bring players in as soon as possible so as to get a good pre-season in and let the new ones adapt!
C'mon Eto'o you know you wanna live in Liverpool!

RE*AC*TOR

Certainly someone who can hit the back of the goal would be nice.

We need a Van Nistelrooy type.

dardoz

On LFC site this morning...Gonzales is gone

LFC wrote:

Mark Gonzalez is set to leave Liverpool for Real Betis after one season at the club.
Rafa Benitez today confirmed the two sides had "almost" reached an agreement over the Chilean winger.

Bolo Zenden, whose contract expires in the summer, has also been told he can talk to other clubs.

Benitez said: "I was talking with him before and I said he could talk with other teams. He knows the situation.

"It's clear some players will leave. We almost have an agreement with Real Betis for Mark Gonzalez."

RE*AC*TOR

Left winger being bought then.

I don't think Gonzalez should be sold yet. But in truth he had a poor season.

raven136

Gonzalez might yet be sold not justa loan deal,if we recoup the same money i wouldnt mind seeing him leave.

Gone

Fowler
Zenden
La Tallec
Pongolle
Cisse
Gonzalez
Hypia
Bellamy
Pennant

Honestly i can see rafa letting them all go,just hope he replaces them with more quality.Like for pennant,alves or gamst pedersen and for bellamy a quality striker.

He should have around 50-60 mill but world class players dont come cheap

Little-Devil

I' ve heard that Hyypia might be signing for either Wigan or Bolton in next few weeks, but newcastle are insterested, but he doesnt want to move his family all the way to the north east. You heard it first

Gonzalez is only on loan to Betis as well.

dardoz

Benitez wrote:

"We have a deal nearly completed for Gonzalez and I have told Bolo that he can talk to other clubs. We know the situation we have now."

Zenden on the way out too

Benitez wrote:

"I have been told by the new owners that they will back my plans. But when you look at the champions Manchester United spending £20million on a midfield player, and we have been paying just £8 to £9m for our strikers, you know what must be done.

"We must spend big and spend now. Our fans know what we need to do and so do I. We need to pay the price needed for each position."

Big money signings ahead it seems. Looking forward to this summer

RE*AC*TOR

Teamtalk are stating the Gonzalez / Betis move is for £5M fee. A loan hasn't been suggested anywhere that I've read...

I don't see how it would make sense for Liverpool to have him on loan in Spain.

leninbenjamin

it doesn't really make sense to get rid of him so soon either. the bulk of foreigners who come in dont look fantastic in their first season but many come good after.

RE*AC*TOR

I actually can't think of any left wingers off-hand who Liverpool might be interested in.

After a few years being linked with a move, are we finally going to sign Darren Bent? Is he the quality we need? Personally i don't think so.

Chardee MacDennis

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

I actually can't think of any left wingers off-hand who Liverpool might be interested in.

After a few years being linked with a move, are we finally going to sign Darren Bent? Is he the quality we need? Personally i don't think so.

please for the love of god no Darren Bent.... he is just another Crouch, we need an Etoo, Torres, Villa - a big name

RE*AC*TOR

It looks like Eto'o is ruling out a move to the premeriship.

Torres/Villa - maybe. No concrete reports. I'm not sure which player I'd prefer of the two, I think Torres is a better athlete, there have been a few times I've been dissapointed with Villa. Again questions about Spanish players adapting to the english game....

Iaquinta - he's going to Juve.

Amauri - might depend on whether or not he gets an EU (italian passport), yet yo be convinced he is top class though.

Simao can play on either wing. Would be a good acquisition. Reports suggesting a swap for Cissé... Cissé would probably scupper that as I don't think he wants to play in portugal...

Michael Owen - I think this would be a silly move. He left Liverpool under bad terms. He did ok at Real, but moved to Newcastle the following year, and has shown no loyalty to them whatsoever. He spends most of his time injured and his number one priority is playing for England.

Tusky

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Michael Owen - I think this would be a silly move. He left Liverpool under bad terms. He did ok at Real, but moved to Newcastle the following year, and has shown no loyalty to them whatsoever. He spends most of his time injured and his number one priority is playing for England.

He didnt want to move to Newcastle though. Id take him back for 9m but no more. I wish Rafa hadnt bought Veronin because then we could look forward to two new top class strikers. I would prefer

NEW STRIKER
NEW STRIKER
Kuyt
Crouch

But now its gonna be

NEW STRIKER
Kuyt
Crouch
Veronin

I suppose someone needs to be 4th choice though. I really hope Rafa goes for a top quality, proven striker and doesnt let the cost turn him off. World class players cost alot. More than they are worth...but you have to pay it. You cant always look for bargain buys. Although you could argue that Rafa has had to look at bargain buys in the past because the funds havent been there.

I think we also need a winger that can play on both wings so that we can facilitate Gerrard on the right or the in center. That would leave...

Right

---

New winger
Gerrard
Pennant
Garcia

Left

---

New winger
Kewell
Leto

The only other position we need to add to is cover for CB. With all that in mind and the fact that we supposedly have a large transfer kitty and funds coming in from the Champions League final & the sales of Gonzalez, Bellamy, Cisse, Pongolle, Hypia& Carson (with Dudek, Zenden & Fowler leaving on free transfers) I dont see any reason why Rafa couldnt spend 25m on a striker and 15m on a winger. Who would I like to see join ?

I like Villa, Torres & Tevez. I would take Owen back if he was less than 10m too. In regards to wingers I like Quaresma...Simao is good too & I wouldnt say no to Alves.

zAbbo

If we're dealing with Betis, maybe something can be done with Rafael Sóbis, Odonkor or Xisco.

They'll offload a forward, becuase Roque Santa Cruz is joining.

raven136

how about rafa signing two quality wingers,simao for the left and alves for the right and one top quality forward.Villa or torres with genuine service would be excellent for us.
At least rafa's quotes give us hope that it will be big name signings this time

Stky10

I saw Guillem Balague on Sky Sports News yesterday before the match, and he was saying that Rafa has been working on next season for the past two months. So with the sale of Gonzalez being so soon, I'd imagine we'll see some signings very quickly. Whereas before we had to try and see what became available and spend time wheeling and dealing on a strict budget, we have the money this time around to strike a quick deal and not let others come in and gazump us.

Tusky

raven136 wrote:

how about rafa signing two quality wingers,simao for the left and alves for the right and one top quality forward.Villa or torres with genuine service would be excellent for us.
At least rafa's quotes give us hope that it will be big name signings this time

That would leave Gerrard, Mascherano, Sissoko, Alonso & Lucas fighting it out for 2 centre midfield spots...can't see that working as it would require MASSIVE rotation. At least with Gerrard out right we can accomodate 2 of them in the center.

Necronomicon

Why did Benitez persist with Zenden in recent games if he was going to sell him? The CL semis and final aren't exactly the type of games you want to judge a player you're unsure about...

shatners basoon

^
Wouldnt be surprised if one of Alonso or Sissoko is sold, looking at Mascherano yesterday though i can't say i'd mind too much. Gotta keep one of them though, maybe Sissoko so we can still kick the Sh!t out of the opposition.

i'm presuming playing Zenden was a tactical decision. Gonzales wouldn't track back as much and Kewell not fit enough.

RE*AC*TOR

Playing Zenden to get more money for him?

That would be very cynical.

shatners basoon

Isn't he on a free anyway?
Heck he's not a very good advert for himself what with whacking the ball against the first defender everytime he crosses except for when he whacks it over everyone's head to compensate every now and again... I think watching him yesterday was actually more depressing than losing.

leninbenjamin

shatners basoon wrote:

Isn't he on a free anyway?
Heck he's not a very good advert for himself what with whacking the ball against the first defender everytime he crosses except for when he whacks it over everyone's head to compensate every now and again... I think watching him yesterday was actually more depressing than losing.

dya no, i think momo would have done a better job on the wing than zenden. at least he'd have been able to take out one or two.

RE*AC*TOR

shatners basoon wrote:

Isn't he on a free anyway?
Heck he's not a very good advert for himself what with whacking the ball against the first defender everytime he crosses except for when he whacks it over everyone's head to compensate every now and again... I think watching him yesterday was actually more depressing than losing.

oh yeah, he is on a free, how silly of me.

Benitez is just eccentric. I guess he thought Zenden was the most disciplined and fit of his left wing options.

raven136

Rafa was damning of the squad at the press conference,basically saying there is alot of players here just aint good enough.
radio and web reports that he has asked the owners for 100m sterling to spend.When hicks took over the texas rangers thats exacty what they did,bought straight away with a huge deal for alex rodriguez.

100m would buy the striker and wingers we need although with that money strange to see rafa targetted distin before he left city

zAbbo

Zenden has compromising photos of Rafa and a black labrador, there's no other explanation of his inclusion in the starting XI, let alone the squad.

He doesn't even do impressions of a footballer.

It's a results business, and Rafa has not done it yet, this could be the 3rd and final year if he gets his big money spend, and fails to achieve a realistic challenge for the League.

PHB

The way people are talking is nuts. A top class striker alone will cost 25-30 million. A top class winger will cost 17-25 million. Especially if people know that there is money. I can't see more than two world class players coming in, and that's if they have a 50 million transfer budget. And that's all assuming that the players want to come to Liverpool.

RE*AC*TOR

Having a look at La Liga, with Athletico only getting UEFA Cup qualification, maybe Torres is the more likely to want to leave and have a crack at the Champions League with the Pool.

PHB

Maybe, but Torres seems to love Athletico, and the thing is, if he does become availible, Liverpool will have to compete with lots of other clubs to get him. ALthough that said, he really hasn't progressed as one would expect, so maybe not.

Rafa says the owners have backed his plans, what that means I don't know. New owners are always weird, it'd be pretty nuts to invest more than 50 million in your first season in terms of cost benefit, especially with the state of the league when even with 100 million on two top strikers and a top winger, Liverpool will only have a decent chance of winning the league. It'll be interesting either way though.

RE*AC*TOR

Time will tell on the spending front. Rafa's track record though, is if he's not getting the support he needs he'll bugger off. I'm sure Hicks and Gillett know this, so they'll provide sufficient money. A lot of commentators are throwing around that £100million figure. Personally I don't see Liverpool spending that, not in one summer anyway. I don't think we need to buy two strikers for 100million as you suggest either. One striker who can find the back of the net if provided with an opportunity, maybe £30M max. £15M a piece on a couple of wingers (Alves and Simao). Voronin is coming on a free, Lucas Leiva from Gremio is £6M I think (could turn out to be the bargain of the summer).

interesting little picture from the BBC...


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42967000/gif/_42967045_liverpool_20078_203.gif

and comment

Definitely going: Robbie Fowler, Jerzy Dudek

Likely to leave: Bolo Zenden, Mark Gonzalez, Sami Hyypia, Craig Bellamy

Will listen to offers for: Peter Crouch, Harry Kewell, Jermaine Pennant

Linked with: Samuel Eto'o, Carlos Tevez, David Villa, Aaron Lennon, Fernando Torres, Daniel Alves


edit...


as you can't post images here, the bbc article shows a potential starting XI for liverpool for Next season...

---

Reina
Alves---Carra--Agger---Riise
Gerrard-Alonso-Masch--Pedersen

---

Tevez

---

Eto'o

its nothing if not ambitious. I don't think the Eto'o transfer is a goer.

Orizio

Bolo, Gonzalez, Fowler and Jerzy are all defintely on thier way out.Lets hope Kewell is right behind.

Some of the speculation seems insane.The likes of Torres or Eto would completely break the bank.

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

One striker who can find the back of the net if provided with an opportunity, maybe £30M max. £15M a piece on a couple of wingers (Alves and Simao). Voronin is coming on a free, Lucas Leiva from Gremio is £4M I think (could turn out to be the bargain of the summer).

That looks more likely.Villa as the other striker?Hope we don't sign Simao though.

raven136

wouldnt swap finnan for alves,finnan is our 2nd best player.

eto would be sweet but not a chance nor tevez.villa and kuyt up top

pedersen of blackburn looks very good but i can see rafa signing simao consdering parry said they were still monitoring him

IrishMike

Dunno bout everyone else but i dont want Torres at the club to be honest
He has 12 goals from 33 starts and 4 assists.
Kuyt and crouch are both more prolific than that.
Surely there are better strikers out there for 30 million?
Would be paying twice what he was worth imho.
Tevez for as much as £25 million is a better buy than Torres, plus he is also used
to playing in the premership so no settling down period

PHB

---

Reina
Alves---Carra--Agger---Riise
Gerrard-Alonso-Masch--Pedersen

---

Tevez

---

Eto'o

its nothing if not ambitious. I don't think the Eto'o transfer is a goer.

Lets see, Tevez 30, Eto 30, Alves 15 (at least), Pederson 15 (at least), that's 90 million at least right there.

I can't see a netspend of at the absolute max, max, 50 million. Hicks is a business man after all, it's just not worth it in terms of cost benefit.
If that's the case, unless Liverpool get a lot of money from sales, at most two big players will be brought in.

RE*AC*TOR

Benitez had been told he could have in excess of £40million to spend, but that figure is now hopelessly out of date. Say £200million instead and you might appease the Spaniard.

from... http://www.sportinglife.com/fanzine/story_get.dor?STORY_NAME=soccer/07/05/24/SOCCER_Liverpool_Future.html

Orizio

TBH, Benitez getting the players he is certainly after would be a push financially.Villa, Alves and Simao would come to 60+ and I'm going to assume he will want another back up center half so the talk of getting people like Eto seems crazy.

PHB

I'd agree with a lot of that Article, but to be honest, I think Benetiz has wasted a lot of money. He has bought the wrong sort of players over the years, and while of course he was financially restrained, instead of attempting to work with what he had, he replaced the entire squad bit by bit, however, only got a slight improvement.

However, he seems to have realised his mistakes, which is the mark of a champion. I just can't see Liverpool having enough to do what they need to do in one summer.

raven136

Rafa says hicks and gillet agree with his plans for the summer and money is in place.Max 20 mill from sales and add 65 to it and i think he will have 85 mill to spend,taking into account the 15 mill from the champions league run.

Villa-30 mill
Alves-15
Siamo-15
milito brothers-25m

that with what we have would be title winning stuff

Zapp Brannigan

I really can't wait til the summer. All this tranfer speculation is going to be great!

Stky10

PHB wrote:

I'd agree with a lot of that Article, but to be honest, I think Benetiz has wasted a lot of money. He has bought the wrong sort of players over the years, and while of course he was financially restrained, instead of attempting to work with what he had, he replaced the entire squad bit by bit, however, only got a slight improvement.

I wouldn't agree. Look at the team that won the CL in 2005. Only Alonso, Garcia and Cisse (not his choice) were new from the team the year before that had done so hopelessly bad. Of that team, 5 started again last night (Kewell coming on would make it 6). Compare that to the Man U FA Cup Final team of the same year. Of that team only 6 started the FA Cup Final last weekend. All teams change by a few players from year to year, and that team needed radical surgery.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/fa_cup/4558271.stm

As for wasting money, sure some signings didn't come off (name a manager for whom they do), but nobody that he was responsible for signing has lost much value (especially when compared to the Houllier days, and the 20m summer of Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou), and I'd say some like Bellamy will go for more than they cost. Same with Alonso and/or Sissoko and a few others if they're sold.

As for the article itself, I think its standard lazy journalism. Plucking random figures out of the sky. Not even Real Madrid in their worst galactico excesses would spend 200m net on players in one summer. No doubt some other lazy hack though will beat it with an even more outlandish figure. 300m anyone?

leninbenjamin

i think Benitez's biggest flaw has been impatience on the transfer front. he's tried to plug the gaps too much too soon and spread his resources thin. if he had cut down on the numbers and instead looked to add fewer players but of higher quality over the past few seasons i think Liverpool would be a lot better off now.

i kinda mean, both Bellamy and Kuyt were ok buys, but wouldn't have been better off going for just one with a bit more quality and having more room on the books to pay more attractive wages? he's ended up having to add another this year again.

i think Arsenal's current predicament is the perfect example of what happens when your forced to chop and change your team too much. In theory an overhaul of the team sounds good, but in practice it's very hard to do, there's no room to allow people time to settle and you can end up going backwards if you're no careful.

2 high profile signings at most is what i'd like too see this summer, one winger, one striker. he already has a rake of signings coming in, leto, lucas, Voronin, anyway. consistency doesn't figure hugely with Benitez, but how can he give all these players the runs in the team they'll need to adapt to the prem without sacrificing on the competative front?

Bounty Hunter

time for a prediction, why not..

Tevez (20+million) rejoin Masch and become a real creative outlet liverpool need up front.
Simao (15million) a top quality winger who is being tracked and needed by the reds.
Alves (15millon+) I fear finnan may get the chop as they try to go from v.good to world class.

plus make Masch a permanent signing (negotiating this might also improve the Tevez deal likelyhood)
----

Meanwhile Out

Dudek, Fowler and Zenden (free)
Cisse (5million ish)
Bellamy (7million ish)... to west ham as a Tevez replacement prehaps
Gonzales (5million/Loan) to betis

---

with around 50million(+players out) in the kitty this would be possible, and the bellow could be liverpools starting line-up come August

---

Reina
Alves-Carragher-Agger-Riise/Arbeloa

Gerrard-Masch-Alonso-Simao

---

Tevez

---

Kuyt/Crouch

mike65

Exciting/worrying time ahead. but no way will the net summer spend be greater than 40-45 million. That may be just as well, too many "names" arriving at once could cause more problems than it solves.

Expect movement to shift Bellamy very quickly.

Alonso to stay says Rafa.

Mike.

zing

leninbenjamin wrote:

i think Benitez's biggest flaw has been impatience on the transfer front. he's tried to plug the gaps too much too soon and spread his resources thin. if he had cut down on the numbers and instead looked to add fewer players but of higher quality over the past few seasons i think Liverpool would be a lot better off now.

Cutting down the numbers is a huge huge risk as it leaves you well and truely up **** creek in the event of injuries. Take Rafa's first season with us - we had 10 or 11 players out injured at one stage - if he had cut the numbers there's no way we'd have gotten to Cardiff or Istanbul that year. Rafa has been forced to spend carefully and try and pick up players who were ideally somewhat versatile on the cheap .. or for free wherever he could - e.g. Zenden, Aurelio, Pellegrino, Nunez, Kromkamp, etc..

Now hopefully that can change and he can get the players he wants this year rather than trying to get players he can afford that'll do the job. However people keep throwing Villas name about as a potential target - his release clause is said to be in the region of 85m sterling. I know a release clause is very different to an actual transfer fee but I think the chances of him wearing red next season are very very slim.