Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

el rabitos

joaquin has been a disaster for he most part since he moved to valencia. he hasnt replicated his best form since the move. we dodged a bullet there, an expensive one too it seems.

quality wingers are a must, someone with the intelligence not to blast shot after shot at the first defender (looking at you bolo) would be a start. no point spending 30 million on a striker if he has no supply.

the biggest concern is the amount of potential new players coming in. in one sense the team needed as little tampering with as possible this summer so as to hit the ground running at the start of the new campaign, but needs must, the current crop are just lacking in the quality and dept to sustain a competative fight on 4 fronts.

leninbenjamin

joe123 wrote:

We need wingers secondly.

i think the proprity should be the otherway around. the biggest problem i see with pool is the lack of an ability to play the through ball, ball over the top or the inch perfect cross... no good having a fantastic striker if you can't create the chances he needs, and currently when Liverpool are up against it the bulk of the chances they create aren't chances at all, just half chances. hell if you've got a midfield getting enough the can bring the others into play and spread the goals around, but with almost everyball that goes into the box a direct one you dont see enough of this happening.

i didn't see much of bellamy this season but of what i remember i dont recall many balls over the top being played into him to run onto, which was a waste of his pace. Liverpools build up is too laboured, and by the time the ball gets in there's no real space for the strikers. that's why i feel wingers and attacking midfielders are much more the immdiate. you need players who can make things happen out of nothing, and deliver the ball quicker and to where the striker needs it.

Edit: el rabitos beat me to it.

Mr Alan

joe123 wrote:

whos this gulliem ballague? and whos son are you on about? The guy thats supposed to be replacing parry is it??

Not to gone on malouda although I havent really seen much of him, but I barely remember him in the world cup last year so thats not really a good thing.

We really need to make sure we sign a top striker I feel thats the main priority.A striker who gets goals. Eto or even Owen. Im not sure if about Villa or Torres as I feel there names go before their actual ability.They are great players though Id have no problem with one of them joining but I think Eto should be number one. I wouldnt mind seeing Owen coming in round 9 million along side eto (wishful thinking)

We need wingers secondly. Ricardo Quaresma is a great player, very christy ronaldo style but with a brain :P. Not gone on simao either although hes not bad. Joaquin would be a good signing no? Although he probably has a hefty price tag.Frank Ribery isnt bad either.

Speaking of strikers Luca Toni joined Bayern today for 11 million. Bit of a bargain if you ask me. Hes big and has talent although he is 30...

gulliem ballague is skys spanish football correspondant, he is also a mate of Rafas. he is always going on about inside knowledge in relation to all signings to and from spain, but he aint always right, in fact i think he mite be a little full of ****! also not really sure how close him and rafa are, he makes out they are best mates but wouldnt imagine rafa would want a close friend blabbing about all his dealings and boardroom relations on sky like he does.

Mr Alan

this thread is now being quoted on the manc one . . . . .

see if they fancy quoting this too . . . . . .

its frightening how much money united have spent of inexperienced and unproven players in the last few hours. 34 million !

~Rebel~

joe123 wrote:

whos this gulliem ballague? and whos son are you on about? The guy thats supposed to be replacing parry is it??

Not to gone on malouda although I havent really seen much of him, but I barely remember him in the world cup last year so thats not really a good thing.

We really need to make sure we sign a top striker I feel thats the main priority.A striker who gets goals. Eto or even Owen. Im not sure if about Villa or Torres as I feel there names go before their actual ability.They are great players though Id have no problem with one of them joining but I think Eto should be number one. I wouldnt mind seeing Owen coming in round 9 million along side eto (wishful thinking)

We need wingers secondly. Ricardo Quaresma is a great player, very christy ronaldo style but with a brain :P. Not gone on simao either although hes not bad. Joaquin would be a good signing no? Although he probably has a hefty price tag.Frank Ribery isnt bad either.

Speaking of strikers Luca Toni joined Bayern today for 11 million. Bit of a bargain if you ask me. Hes big and has talent although he is 30...

Guilliem Ballague wrote Rafa's book, and is Sky's main man in Spain. Regularly has the inside track on transfer dealings in spain (though gets em wrong a fair amount of the time too), imo probably Sky's best pundit.

Foster Gillett is the son of one of the new american owners and will be taking over Rick Parry's job on the day to day running of LFC in due course.

Malouda i thought had a very good world cup, and has had a fantastic season for Lyon this year. I think he won the french league's player of the year too.

Id agree Torres still gets mentioned a lot because of his name, having so much potential at such a young age. Still a top player but maybe an unfair amount of pressure of expectatin on him. Villa on the otehr hand has his name because he reached his potential. At Zaragoza he was potential, since he's joined Valencia he's been unreal, sets up as much as he scores. The only worry id have would be if he could adapt, but would be delighted to get him. Eto'o still my first choice, with tevez up there as well.

No chance of Joaquin i'd say, only been at Valencia a year and that was a big money move. Was crap for the first half of the season (wasnt even a regular starter), put in some great performances in the second half though.

leninbenjamin

millersangel wrote:

this thread is now being quoted on the manc one . . . . .

see if they fancy quoting this too . . . . . .

its frightening how much money united have spent of inexperienced and unproven players in the last few hours. 34 million !

tbh honest they are no more of a gamble than more established players (e.g. Veron, Duff etc.). and if they want to flip 'em quick because of them not looking the part i would hazard they would tend to devalue less as they would still be young and have unfulfilled potential. I would like to see rafa go for more adventurous buys similar to these. they might be Rafa's only way of getting the world class superstars in the squad they desire because as much as the Americans will invest, i can't see them buying the likes of a Rooney/Kaka already established.

~Rebel~

millersangel wrote:

this thread is now being quoted on the manc one . . . . .

see if they fancy quoting this too . . . . . .

its frightening how much money united have spent of inexperienced and unproven players in the last few hours. 34 million !

2 top top quality players though! Dare i say id take either of them in a heartbeat! Probably overpriced, but thats the cost of being a rich club.

zing

PHB wrote:

Next season, no matter who they sign, Milan, Chelsea, and United are going to be competing in all four comps,

Milan, Chelsea & United will be competing in the same 4 comps ? Or are there only 4 comps worth talking about now ?

and they have as good a chance as anyone at winning their leagues and the CL (although I think Milan and Chelsea have a better chance at it than United) Liverpool can not say the same. Arsenal is different, as while it has the same chance of winning things (although I think the fact that they equalled Liverpools league position this season despite their spat of injuries shows that they are going to be more likely to challenge next year), but Arsenal have the pull of being an emerging team with incredibly talented players. Although I could see why the pull of Arsenal and Liverpool are the same, although, personally I think Arsenal would have a bigger pull.

I agree with you about the pull of the likes of Chelsea, Milan, Real, United + a few others and while Liverpool are very much up there amongst the most famous clubs in the world they may not appear to some as an equally attractive proposition to the 4 or so aforementioned clubs. However at the same time everyone is aware of the 2 Champions League finals in three years & some of the teams we've beaten along the way to get to those finals. I don't think I'm being too naive to think that that would significantly push up our attractiveness to potential players as the CL is seen by many to be the ultimate prize. Doesn't put us in the same league as the other clubs but certainly raises our profile a lot imo. e.g. a decent finisher watching this years final could be forgiven for thinking they could have easily gotten a CL winners medal for themselves if they'd been part of the team.

This isn't just random thoughts, just look at the facts. When was the last time Liverpool signed a big name player? Like a world star? When was the last time they were even in for one? Tevez if he has the choice of Real Madrid and Liverpool, will pick Real Madrid, unless he desperately wants to stay in the premiership, although I can't see any reason why he would. Real Madrid are going to be challenging for the league and the CL next season irrespective of whether he joins or not.

I think part of what Rafa is trying to do is strike early and not give the players that choice. Get in there while other clubs are taking a break between end of season and pre-season. True we've not been knocking on the door of too many world class players recently. However if given the money I think Rafa has a damn good chance of signing the players he wants.

I think they have shown that they are going to spend money, but I don't think they've done anything to show they are going to spend mega bucks. I would be gobsmacked if Liverpools net spend was above 40 million, and I expect it to be maybe around.

There's been no indication as to how much they'll spend but that's never been "the Liverpool way". And now that they potentially have cash it would be mad to shoot themselves in the foot and tell the world just how much is in the bank. Gillet & Hicks seem to have a huge amount of faith in Rafa and I do think there'll be a higher than usual net spend this summer - just how much remains to be seen. You're probably not too far off the mark with 40m - but 40m net is a lot to play with considering it could be say 60+m total (selling the likes of Bellamy, Gonzalez, Kewell, Carson, Sissoko, etc..). However until we start to see some signings coming in it's way to early to second guess what the budget will be.

~Rebel~

zing wrote:

Milan, Chelsea & United will be competing in the same 4 comps ? Or are there only 4 comps worth talking about now ?

Huh? League, Champions League, 2 domestic cups..regardless which league..

I think one of the massive draws for Liverpool is Rafa and the Champions League knowledge he brings.

Rafa Benitez has been in the Champions league final 4 times in the last 7 years. Thats simply incredible!

Especially when he won the Uefa cup one of the other 3 years! Even more so when you look at the Liverpool teams he's brought there. This years team is an improvement over 2005's but theres still plenty of scope to push on. Scary! I think theres a lot of good players out there could see a trend with Rafa and be interested in joining his project.

PHB

I'm not saying there isn't, I'm just saying that there are still big clubs ahead of them, and that Liverpool will lose out to those clubs if they go in a head to head. They will need to get a top player that other big clubs don't want, and that means to an extent, they'll have to wait for a bit, to see what other clubs do.

Mr Alan

~Rebel~ wrote:

2 top top quality players though! Dare i say id take either of them in a heartbeat! Probably overpriced, but thats the cost of being a rich club.

ah i know, i was only half joking!

Unearthly

Rafa Benitez has been in the Champions league final 4 times in the last 7 years. Thats simply incredible!

No he hasn't. Hecter Cuper was the manager of Valencia for the 2 consecutive final defeats.

~Rebel~

bugger, my mistake!

BrookieD

OK guys, I dont post often as most has already been said by someone so i stick to reading. On one of my many daily visit to various LFC Forums i caught this forum title today
Did you hear about Rafa resigning on Monday? Link here
http://forums.lfconline.com/showthread.php?t=58128

Not saying its true, I bloody hope its just internet *****s gone mad but I truly hope nothing comes of this as we are well and truly fu*ked if this is true.

Mitch Connor

papers this morning saying Rafa had 'clear the air' talks with the owners and everything is sorted now.

I doubt he'll be leaving.

raven136

cant you see Rafa just fuming that united just spent 51m in 2 weeks and he has to haggle over whether Benfica will take Cisse and money for Simao.
We all hate the mancs but those signings look pretty exciting

dardoz

I am raging as much as Rafa I think. Well, may not, but those 2 Manc signings really are top class.

It's really getting to me at this stage that Rafa is on holidays and we still haven't announced any big name signing.

yom 1

dardoz wrote:

It's really getting to me at this stage that Rafa is on holidays and we still haven't announced any big name signing.

The mans entitled to have his holidays!:p

Liverpools season is only finished a week ago. The only way there would be a big name announced by now is if there was a deal already struck before the end of the season. If this was the case we would have heard rumblings by now. As it stands Liverpool seem to be in for everyone and there granny according to the press. We'll hear in due course.

In Rafa we trust!!

Mr Alan

. . . true enough about rafa deserving his holidays, did ya see when he went on his rant after the CL final and he said something along the lines of, "i can no longer work 20 hour days!"

Wat sort of a nut works 20 hour days!?!?!

Rafa = Legend

Tusky

People need to calm down. The transfer market hasnt even opened yet & Liverpools season is only over a week ago. Lets not forget we have already signed Leto, Lucas & Veronin aswell as all the youth prospects. We dont know what is going on behind the scenes, for all we know we could have agreed terms for a number of players but they arent being anounced until Rafa is back from holidays.

raven136

im not blaming rafa,he knows who he wants and its up to the americans and parry to get them for him.
we are in for simao,should we not have been in for nani.Just a thought,we lost c ronaldo because thompson and gh thought he was too expensive.Simao is 27 and although good should we not be looking for the next superstar.

Lucas could be that mind,hopefully

Tusky

raven136 wrote:

im not blaming rafa,he knows who he wants and its up to the americans and parry to get them for him.
we are in for simao,should we not have been in for nani.Just a thought,we lost c ronaldo because thompson and gh thought he was too expensive.Simao is 27 and although good should we not be looking for the next superstar.

Lucas could be that mind,hopefully

You could also argue that we need someone who can perform instantly and not in three years. It will take Nani & Anderson time to settle. Its a bit soon to cream your pants over them seeing as most people havent even seen them play yet.

raven136

you are probably right its just very disappointing to see two young talents who are so highly rated join the team who finished 20 odd points ahead of us.

if thats the level united are playing at then we should be signing the talent the like of alves and putting down our own marker.simao will do ajob for us but there isnt a ton of top clubs after him

PHB

Who cares who puts down what marker once the transfer are done at the end?
Liverpool don't need young talents, they need proven quality who can step in instantly.
United have Giggs already, they need cover
Liverpool need a Giggs right now

raven136

PHB wrote:

Who cares who puts down what marker once the transfer are done at the end?
Liverpool don't need young talents, they need proven quality who can step in instantly.
United have Giggs already, they need cover
Liverpool need a Giggs right now

nah we dont,a player who had a good season but tailed off and at max has 2 decent level seasons left in him.we're grand thanks;)

RE*AC*TOR

I'm fairly sure that said Ronaldo before PHB changed it to Giggs. Strange edit.

Mitch Connor

millersangel wrote:

. . . true enough about rafa deserving his holidays, did ya see when he went on his rant after the CL final and he said something along the lines of, "i can no longer work 20 hour days!"

Wat sort of a nut works 20 hour days!?!?!

Rafa = Legend

my girlfriend went through a period of working 20 hours a day, for a few days at a time for a while. However, she is my girlfried, so must be a special kind of nut....

missingtime

raven136 wrote:

we lost c ronaldo because thompson and gh thought he was too expensive.

:eek:

RE*AC*TOR

I take it from your edit PHB that you don't consider C Ronaldo a proven talent.

For the record, I agree. But we don't need a Giggs either. He's too old. We need someone who will give consistent high performances. Personally I'd prefer someone who isn't a dancer.

Tusky

raven136 wrote:

you are probably right its just very disappointing to see two young talents who are so highly rated join the team who finished 20 odd points ahead of us.

if thats the level united are playing at then we should be signing the talent the like of alves and putting down our own marker.simao will do ajob for us but there isnt a ton of top clubs after him

Alves is still playing in the Spanish league, its not even over yet! No Spanish players will be announced until their league is over.

raven136

i just think instead of signing good players(simao,pennant,crouch)we should be signing excellent players.Alves would be an amzing signing,he has performed brilliant all season and would do for us what C Ronaldo does for united.

we need to break our transfer record to really get a good player,mind you for a big 4 team that wouldnt be hard with Cisse being our record signing.

To me two quality wingers a more of a priority than a striker as crouch and kuyt would do better with good service.If rafa does sign a wide right man he must be moving Gerrard into the middle.

Tusky

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=469491&CPID=23&clid=14&lid=&title=ALVES+ADMIRERS+ON+ALERT

Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Liverpool and Milan have been put on alert after Daniel Alves's agent confirmed that the player could be set to leave Sevilla this summer.

The four European giants are all fans of the Brazilian star and will be monitoring the situation after Jose Rodriguez Baster 'Rodri' stated that now is the perfect time for him to step up a level.

Alves has attracted interest from across Europe with his dynamic displays for Sevilla and Rodri believes that the club should cash in now.

"This type of player always ends up moving because that is the way that market dictates it," the agent told Punto Radio.

"One has to be realistic and recognise that the best players always end up playing for the biggest clubs.

"I am not saying that Sevilla are no a big club, but they are a level behind some on both a sporting and an economic front.

"It is the right time to sell Daniel and besides, (club president, Jose Maria) Del Nido has already said that nobody is indispensable at the club.

"Daniel is happy and the president did everything when it came to renewing his contract the last time."

The 24-year-old, who is renowened for his attacking flourishes, joined Sevilla in 2002 from Bahia and won his first cap for Brazil last year.


Who actually still wants Danielle Alves here? Personally, I don't.

raven136 wrote:

i just think instead of signing good players(simao,pennant,crouch)we should be signing excellent players.Alves would be an amzing signing,he has performed brilliant all season and would do for us what C Ronaldo does for united.

we need to break our transfer record to really get a good player,mind you for a big 4 team that wouldnt be hard with Cisse being our record signing.

To me two quality wingers a more of a priority than a striker as crouch and kuyt would do better with good service.If rafa does sign a wide right man he must be moving Gerrard into the middle.

Not half bad.

---

new signing/Kuyt/Crouch/Veronin/Garcia


Molouda/Kewell/Garcia/Leto

---

Gerrard/Lucas/Garcia

---

Alves/Pennant/Garcia

---

Alonso/Sissoko---Mascherano/Sissoko

---

Riise/Aurelio----Carragher/Hypia---Agger/(new signing)---Finnan/Arbeloa/Alves

Thoughts ?

jesus_thats_gre

raven136 wrote:

nah we dont,a player who had a good season but tailed off and at max has 2 decent level seasons left in him.we're grand thanks;)

Sap.. And I am a Liverpool supporter. PHB is making an extremely valid point. Regardless of whether he is talking about Ronaldo or Giggs!

raven136

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Sap.. And I am a Liverpool supporter. PHB is making an extremely valid point. Regardless of whether he is talking about Ronaldo or Giggs!

giggs is not the type of player liverpool need,the point i made validly.How exactly does this make me a sap?

Bounty Hunter

i think they more so mean a giggs type or if you want to be exact him from 3/4yrs ago i.e an experience quality winger who can do the job right now

RE*AC*TOR

Tusky wrote:

Not half bad.

---

Kuyt/Crouch/Veronin/new signing


Molouda/Kewell/Garcia/Leto

---

Gerrard/Lucas/Garcia

---

Alves/Pennant/Garcia

---

Alonso/Sissoko---Mascherano/Sissoko

---

Riise/Aurelio----Carragher/Hypia---Agger/(new signing)---Finnan/Arbeloa/Alves

Thoughts ?

Is the Milito deal done? I'd pencil him in beside Agger.

I imagine Kewell is gone. I don't think Leto is a winger as such. I have a feeling someone will be brought in for left back. I'm not sure Rafa is convinced by any of our current players in that position.

Tusky

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Is the Milito deal done? I'd pencil him in beside Agger.

I imagine Kewell is gone. I don't think Leto is a winger as such. I have a feeling someone will be brought in for left back. I'm not sure Rafa is convinced by any of our current players in that position.

Milito deal isnt done, I have a feeling that Kewell will be kept next season.

Mr Alan

yea i think Kewell will be kept as well, for th small fee we'd get for him i think it'd be worth hanging onto him and giving him one last chance to shine.

rondeco

PHB wrote:

. When was the last time Liverpool signed a big name player? Like a world star? When was the last time they were even in for one? Tevez if he has the choice of Real Madrid and Liverpool, will pick Real Madrid, unless he desperately wants to stay in the premiership, although I can't see any reason why he would. Real Madrid are going to be challenging for the league and the CL next season irrespective of whether he joins or not.

Mascherano, Alonso. And I will put a 50 euro bet that tevez will join Liverpool. Proceeds to the hjc.

zing

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_headline=benitez-warning-hyypia-bidders%26method=full%26objectid=19224755%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

In summary:
Hypia to stay but indications are we won't be competing for Tevez at 30m which is extremely disappointing to see. Alves a possibility and Spurs thought to be preparing a 3m bid for Kewell.

EDIT: Is 30m a realistic price for Tevez anyway ?

PiE

rondeco wrote:

Mascherano, Alonso. And I will put a 50 euro bet that tevez will join Liverpool. Proceeds to the hjc.

Don't forget Morientes... oh wait.

Before all this West Ham hullabaloo, I wouldn't have been shocked to see Tevez moving to a big club in a £20m+ deal.

jesus_thats_gre

raven136 wrote:

giggs is not the type of player liverpool need,the point i made validly.How exactly does this make me a sap?

Because you totally ignored the point he was making and made an sorry attempt at being witty.

Liverpool need a ready made players with genuine quality. Ones that can step in to the first team from the get go. United have had this for years in Giggs. Last season, Giggs was probably better than most of our wingers put together - as was Ronaldo to be honest.

Mr Alan

honestly didnt think Giggs was great last year and i think Liverpool need to sign better players than Giggs current level.

Main difference in my opinion between Giggs and Kewell, is that Giggs is playing in a championship winning side.

Really hoping that this isnt true but my brother just rang me and said that on SSN they are saying that Villa are looking to buy Finnan from Liverpool and that Rafa hasn't ruled in out.

This would be a shocking mistake in my opinion

jesus_thats_gre

Again, focusing on Giggs and not the actual point..

RE*AC*TOR

Selling Finnan would be absolutely ridiculous. He's a rock. How much would it cost to get a replacement of equal quality / consistency? £10M?

Mr Alan

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Selling Finnan would be absolutely ridiculous. He's a rock. How much would it cost to get a replacement of equal quality / consistency? £10M?

i really dont think there is one person on this whole board who doesn't agree that Liverpool need to bring in genuine quality
edit: oops quoted the worng post!

Chardee MacDennis

According to Malouda he could be worth 17m or 35m pounds?!?! lets hope not!

http://rss1.mediafed.com/feed/skysports/Football/?link=40a0cb06404bfa8aaff5903e4ab3677d

Dont be at yourself

Tusky wrote:

---

new signing/Kuyt/Crouch/Veronin/Garcia


Molouda/Kewell/Garcia/Leto

---

Gerrard/Lucas/Garcia

---

Alves/Pennant/Garcia

---

Alonso/Sissoko---Mascherano/Sissoko

---

Riise/Aurelio----Carragher/Hypia---Agger/(new signing)---Finnan/Arbeloa/Alves

Thoughts ?

Whatever about the players, I think this will be the formation we'll be seeing next season. Rafa played something similar at Valencia and it worked well. We've undoubtedly got the spine of such a team sorted in:

---

Kuyt
Winger--Gerrard--Winger

---

Alonso--Mach
Riise-Agger-Carra-Finnan

Two wingers (although Pennant or Garcia can do the job) possibly a striker and cover for LB and CB and we're sorted.

PHB

I take it from your edit PHB that you don't consider C Ronaldo a proven talent.

For the record, I agree. But we don't need a Giggs either. He's too old. We need someone who will give consistent high performances. Personally I'd prefer someone who isn't a dancer.

It's cute how much you consider how I think Well, actually, I was thinking, why use Ronaldo as an example considering the debate about him, so I thought Giggs would make the point a lot better, it's tougher to ignore Giggs talent than it is to ignores Ronaldos.
My opinions on Ronaldo are well known at this stage Giggs talent is undeniable. Hell, he was in the running for player of the season, so that really says it all. So I decided to edit
Hope that explains it all for ya

Some of you are still just missing the point, let me explain it really really clearly,
Kewell, Gonzalez, Zenden are all crap/broken beyond repair. Liverpool do not need another Nani, cause if you remember carefully, Gonzalez was another Nani last season. He hasn't worked out (something I'm quite surprised at, as normally they take a year to settle in England, but Rafa is sending him packing despite his clear talent) They sometimes work out, sometimes don't, and you can never be sure. Liverpool need somebody who can come in an improve the squad drastically. Giggs is maybe too old an example, but the point is still the same. If Liverpool waste their money on 'emerging' talent again it'll be at least 3 seasons before they can become the talent they are meant to be, so three seasons until Liverpool can challenge.

Mascherano, Alonso. And I will put a 50 euro bet that tevez will join Liverpool. Proceeds to the hjc.

They were emerging talents. I'm talking about a world class player. Nani and Anderson aren't world class players, they are emerging talents. A world class player is signing somebody like Shevchenko or somebody.

herbieflowers

...not on last season's performance!