Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

empirix

Malouda, Macini, Eto or Henry will have signed for Liverpool by the end of next week - mark my words.

I have heard from a mate who knows a mate that a fairly high profile irish journalist told hime Henry was looking for a property in the Wirral a few weeks ago - maybe rubbish maybe not!

Now we will have a championship winning squad - no doubts

zing

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premiership/liverpool/article1896446.ece

I know everyone needs to cut loose every so often but can't see this going down to well with Rafa

raven136

Rafa will not take too well to this news,drinking heavily before hand.Do you think he would have learned his lessons.Wouldnt be surprised to see Rafa let him go over it,he is notoriously ruthless

yom 1

raven136 wrote:

Rafa will not take too well to this news,drinking heavily before hand.Do you think he would have learned his lessons.Wouldnt be surprised to see Rafa let him go over it,he is notoriously ruthless

That would be very harsh in my opinion. He got drunk the night before and was dehydrated. Its not the worst thing he could do on his holidays. He doesnt have to report back to melwood for a month. Rafa is ruthless yeah but ruthless enough to sack a player for being drunk on his holidays i would hope not.

Tusky

Liverpool sign Eto'o, Henry & Tevez!

My brothers fiances ex postman has spotted Rafa having a bath with both Eto'o & Henry @ Melwood. Eto'o is signing a 4 year deal worth £27m while Henry is being loaned for one season before he joins Barca just to see what its like to play in front of the Kop. Rafa was also seen washing Eto'os back but not the Henrys, which didnt seem to go down too well with the Frenchman.

Also, my mates uncle in Liverpool has a friend who works for a delivery chain. While making a delivery to a cornershop he spotted Carlos Tevez buying a strawberry Yazoo. Tevez will sign a four year deal worth £20.

Malice

Tusky wrote:

Tevez will sign a four year deal worth £20.

He's got to be worth at least £30 unless there's a percentage based off any future sales or maybe a merchandising deal as well?

yom 1

Tusky wrote:

..... Carlos Tevez buying a strawberry Yazoo. Tevez will sign a four year deal worth £20.

Man a 4yr deal with strawberry Yazoo, and I thought I would never see a deal top Beckham to LA!!:D

Tusky

Bargain of the season.

Zapp Brannigan

New gonzalez info.
http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=470677&CPID=23&clid=14&lid=&title=Betis+aim+to+strike+Reds+deal
And we get first option on...wait for it... another defensive midfielder!!

dardoz

we can go for the record of most 0-0 draws in 1 season now. Can't wait

Mr Alan

would like the idea of us having some sort or buy back clause in the sale, like we have we Barragan (as far as i know!), in case he turns into the world beater we were all hoping he would be!

Tusky

Kop trio set to signJun 7 2007
by Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo

XABI ALONSO, Momo Sissoko and Pepe Reina are ready to sign new contracts at Anfield after being convinced their long-term futures are on Merseyside.

The trio are now extremely close to penning deals following successful negotiations with the club.

Manager Rafa Benitez will be delighted with the progress made when he returns to his desk at Melwood today, as Liverpool have fended off serious interest in all three players from abroad.

It’s hoped the formalities of the deals will be concluded shortly.

Of the three, Reina’s future always looked most secure. Although Valencia wanted to tempt him back to La Liga, Benitez made it clear to the new owners he saw his keeper as an essential component of the team.

Greater uncertainty surrounded the future of Alonso and Sissoko.

Barcelona have shadowed Alonso for months and it seemed a distinct possibility he may leave this summer.

Not now. The feeling within Anfield is the Basque star is certain to reject those overtures and remain with Liverpool.

The same is true of Sissoko, who was the subject of interest from Juventus.

He’s also been offered a lucrative new deal and has indicated he wants to stay.

Meanwhile, West Ham are hoping to blow away their rivals in the race for Craig Bellamy by offering a mega pay deal to the Welsh striker.

The Londoners are understood to have offered a staggering £70,000 a week to the 27-year-old, which would seriously undermine Aston Villa, Newcastle and Blackburn’s hopes of signing the Welsh striker.

Liverpool have not yet received an official approach for the forward, but it’s acknowledged they’re ready to listen to offers.

Bellamy has made it clear he’s not looking for a move, but privately recognises there’s little prospect of him being part of Benitez’s plans next season as he hunts for more striking talent.

Benitez will be looking to make a handsome profit on the £6m Liverpool paid for Bellamy just a year ago.

West Ham look destined to be the Premiership’s biggest spenders this summer and having been warned off Everton’s Andrew Johnson, Alan Curbishley has turned his attention to Bellamy.

Benitez’s first priority when he returns to his office today will be to assess developments in Liverpool’s ongoing pursuit of Lyon’s Florent Malouda.

Mr Alan

Good news.

Still think Alonso or Sissoko will leave this summer or in Jan though

evil_seed

Some youngsters have been let go - Goalkeeper David Roberts will be looking for a new club after his release from Melwood. The Academy have also announced that Paul Barratt, Lee Woodward, Ryan Wignall, Jon Pringle and Stephen Behan have been released.

el rabitos

reina signs a new deal until 2012

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N156123070607-1525.htm

dardoz

evil_seed wrote:

Some youngsters have been let go - Goalkeeper David Roberts will be looking for a new club after his release from Melwood. The Academy have also announced that Paul Barratt, Lee Woodward, Ryan Wignall, Jon Pringle and Stephen Behan have been released.

Judging by the names, looks like more uk players getting the door.

5starpool

probably guys that have been there since 10 or so just didn't make the grade I guess. Far more likely to be British/Irish than not in this age bracket.

Dr Galen

according to Football 365 the Malouda deal might be hijacked by the Arse now that Ribery has signed for Bayern. Rafa won't be pleased

Tusky

The new contracts fo Momo, Gerrard, Alonso and the signing of Lucas has got me thinking. Rafa must plan on playing alot of 4-5-1 next season. I dont think its going to be 5 CM battling for 2 or even three spots. It will be Gerrard on the right with Momo, Macherano, Alonso & Lucas after the other 3 spots. As is I thik this will how we line up.

---

Mascherano

---

Alonso/ Sissoko

Gerrard/Pennant

---

Lucas

---

Kewell/Leto

---

Kuyt / Crouch / Veronin

With Gerrard occasionally taking Lucas's place with Pennant out right and Sissoko swapping with either Alonso or Mascherano. He can also interchange by dropping the AM (Lucas/Garcia/Veronin etc) in the center for an extra striker, changing it to 4-4-2.

If this is the system that he will be playing, It basically means that a right winger will not be signed...hence our dropped interest in Alves. Also, I believe that it means signing a striker will not be top priority seeing as as he plans to play 4-5-1 alot of the time and we have Kuyt, Crouch, Veronin, Garcia, Gerrard & Kewell who can play in that role. This disappoints me and I hope Im wrong.

I haven't put Garcia on the team sheet because it takes up too much space as he can play so many positions. Yea may also wonder how Lucas has simply walked into the first choice team. He hasnt, Im implying that Lucas, Mascherano, Alonso & Sissoko will be rotated. At 8m euro I dont think he has been signed to sit on the bench though. He is captain of the U21 Brazil team & won the Bola de Ouro (Golden Ball) this year so I have high hopes for him. Heres a list of the 10 winners before him.

# 2006 : Flag of Brazil Lucas (Grêmio)
# 2005 : Flag of Argentina Carlos Tévez (Corinthians)
# 2004 : Flag of Brazil Robinho (Santos FC)
# 2003 : Flag of Brazil Alex (Cruzeiro)
# 2002 : Flag of Brazil Kaká (São Paulo FC)
# 2001 : Flag of Brazil Alex Mineiro (Atlético Paranaense)
# 2000 : Flag of Brazil Romario (Vasco da Gama)
# 1999 : Flag of Brazil Marcelinho (Corinthians)
# 1998 : Flag of Brazil Edilson (Corinthians)
# 1997 : Flag of Brazil Edmundo (Vasco da Gama)

With that in mind I think we will line up like this next year.

---

Reina


Finnan/Arbeloa--Carragher/Hypia--Agger/New signing---Riise/Aurelio

---

Mascherano---Alonso/Sissoko

Gerrard/Pennant

---

Lucas

---

New signing/Kewell/Leto

---

Kuyt / Crouch / Veronin / possible new signing?


Who will be signed for the left wing ? Last week I would have said Simao but its now looking like Molouda even though Arsenal appear to have entered the race. Id prefer Mancini to both of them though. I have no idea who will sign for center back cover.

My transfer prediction :

Leto
Veronin
Lucas
Molouda
Center back

Im probably wrong and we will most likely get a new striker seeing as Bellamy is off along with Fowler. I refuse to get my hopes up though and If we do sign a striker I dont expect it to be Eto'o, Tevez, Villa or Torres although Torres would be the most likely from that list.

Zapp Brannigan

nurse_baz wrote:

according to Football 365 the Malouda deal might be hijacked by the Arse now that Ribery has signed for Bayern. Rafa won't be pleased

Yeah, this is exactly what he wouldn't have wanted. If the Americans had've moved quick we'd probably have Malouda in the bag and we'd be laughing. Now we're looking at a long drawn out transfer saga (possibly)

Tusky I agree with you on Mancini, I wouldn't care what position he plays I just want to see him at Liverpool!

zing

Slurms wrote:

Yeah, this is exactly what he wouldn't have wanted. If the Americans had've moved quick we'd probably have Malouda in the bag and we'd be laughing. Now we're looking at a long drawn out transfer saga (possibly)

Tusky I agree with you on Mancini, I wouldn't care what position he plays I just want to see him at Liverpool!

None of us know what's happening with Malouda. The deal could already be in the bag for all we know or it could just be a smoke screen for some other player. Nothing any of us can do about it so not worth worrying too much about it imo.

Agree about Mancini - would love to see him in red next season.

Zapp Brannigan

At least there's some good news about Ribery's transfer. Marseille now have the cash to take the Djib off our hands!

zing

From scanning others forums Parry confirmed at a meeting with the RTK crowd this evening that Rafa does indeed have money to spend but for obvious reasons declined to say how much.

zing

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N156124070608-0828.htm

Of those players Rafa highlighted as being core to the team I think that just leaves Finnan & momo to sign new deals and whatever about momo I certainly can't see Finnan not signing.

redspider

Tusky wrote:

XABI ALONSO, Momo Sissoko and Pepe Reina are ready to sign new contracts at Anfield after being convinced their long-term futures are on Merseyside.

Bellamy has made it clear he’s not looking for a move, but privately recognises there’s little prospect of him being part of Benitez’s plans next season as he hunts for more striking talent.

RTE wrote:

On Monday it was Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher penning new four-year deals, and yesterday goalkeeper Jose Reina signed a five-year contract.

Now his fellow Spanish international Alonso has made it four players committing their futures with a five-year deal of his own, and it is expected that Mohamed Sissoko and Steve Finnan will follow over the weekend.

That will make it six in six days and complete a busy round of negotiations that will keep key members of the squad that reached the Champions League Final last season in Athens, at the club long-term.

Thats all good news overall. With new owners, there is a lot of 're-hires' going on and its good that stability is being put in. I understand that Riise was also in talks but its not clear if he is definitely in Rafa's plans or not.

Redspider

ps: Tusky, in relation to your sig, did you get the centipedes out of yer wan's vagina yet? Time for a new sig perhaps?

----
Think Eco: a blank sig saves space and speeds up boards.ie

Tusky

redspider wrote:

Thats all good news overall. With new owners, there is a lot of 're-hires' going on and its good that stability is being put in. I understand that Riise was also in talks but its not clear if he is definitely in Rafa's plans or not.

Redspider

ps: Tusky, in relation to your sig, did you get the centipedes out of yer wan's vagina yet? Time for a new sig perhaps?

----
Think Eco: a blank sig saves space and speeds up boards.ie

I have a super fast internet connection, no need to think eco. I wish there was some news, I visit this thread too often...

redzerdrog

Just heard on the radio Henry has rejected a new contract from Arsenal;)

Zapp Brannigan

Chelsea and Liverpool have made contact with Lyon over Malouda. Great

sweetie

Slurms wrote:

Chelsea and Liverpool have made contact with Lyon over Malouda. Great

source?

Malice

There's a quote from a Football 365 article saying

Liverpool and Chelsea have shown their interest. I don't know how it's going to end but in my head I'm going to leave (Lyon).

If Robben leaves Chelsea then we might miss out. With that said, if he's daft enough to join Chelsea then we won't need his type of player anyway.

Vokes

Malouda himself has said the clubs have made contact but could be him trying to engineer the move initally.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=international_feed/07/06/08/SOCCER_Fra-Lyon_Malouda.html&TEAMHD=soccer

Chardee MacDennis

Padelli has gone back to Sampdoria - seems he didnt impress Rafa.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6734513.stm

darkskol

Samuel Eto'o's agent has vehemently denied the Barcelona striker held a meeting with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2175365,00.html

zing

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpoolecho/liverpoolfc/news/tm_headline=forlanis-new-anfield-target%26method=full%26objectid=19268810%26siteid=50061-name_page.html

I just don't buy this tbh - Bascombe is up to something but I'm not altogether sure what. I would be so so so disappointed if we even made an enquiry about Forlan let alone made an offer.

~Rebel~

To be honest, if we got one of malouda/quaresma/simao and Mancini, together with a decent striker (even if not the very tip top, maybe amauri or alfonso alves) id be delighted with this window. 2 proper talented wingers would totally transform everything about the team.

Not Forlan though. Definately not Forlan.

Dont be at yourself

Why not Forlan? He's not the same player as he was at United. He's one of the top strikers in La Liga. I'd take him over Darren Bent and other names that we're linked with.

el rabitos

i find it hard to think of why the owners cannot give beinitez a figure of how much money he has to spend.

is it really that hard to give him a number? show him what he has to work with

sure if all he has is champions league money and cash generated from sales, moores may aswell have stayed in his job.

Guy:Incognito

NekkidBibleMan wrote:

Why not Forlan? He's not the same player as he was at United. He's one of the top strikers in La Liga. I'd take him over Darren Bent and other names that we're linked with.

He is th esame playe rhe was with Utd, just like Morientes is te same player he was either side of his stint with Liverpool. Some players just plain are not suited to the Premiership. For a lot of foreigners its too physical and/or pacey. The game is more based on running and power than out and out skill. Some players just cant handle that.

el rabitos wrote:

i find it hard to think of why the owners cannot give beinitez a figure of how much money he has to spend.

is it really that hard to give him a number? show him what he has to work with

I'd imagine he does have a figure. It's just not known to the public. Like 99% of things (player wages, exact transfer fees etc) the figures we see are guesstemations.

Tusky

Reports today suggesting that Rafa is looking into Darren Bent & Forlan. I really hope this isnt true.

PHB

I'd imagine he does have a figure. It's just not known to the public.

And for them to tell the public is ****ing retarded. Hell, it's the best thing the owners can do is leak stories about how they aren't backing Benetiz to the hilt. Because that will bring potential prices down. If they came out and said, hey, Benetiz has 70 million to spend, and Benetiz goes to Barca, we want Eto, Barca will say, well, 70 million sounds good. It's possible to see all these leaks in a good light, it'll be known what really happened after the summer.

The Muppet

18 Million for Forlan is a huge gamble, He has already had a chance in the premiership and failed. I'd be very surprised if liverpool signed him.

copacetic

PHB wrote:

And for them to tell the public is ****ing retarded. Hell, it's the best thing the owners can do is leak stories about how they aren't backing Benetiz to the hilt. Because that will bring potential prices down. If they came out and said, hey, Benetiz has 70 million to spend, and Benetiz goes to Barca, we want Eto, Barca will say, well, 70 million sounds good. It's possible to see all these leaks in a good light, it'll be known what really happened after the summer.

QFT

el rabitos

Stekelly wrote:

I'd imagine he does have a figure. It's just not known to the public. Like 99% of things (player wages, exact transfer fees etc) the figures we see are guesstemations.

thats my point though, the recurring theme coming out of bascombe and skysports and any other source is that benitez himself has not been given an number on what he has to spend. in the article above bascombe is suggesting that benitez is working off a list of targets he thinks he can afford after he sells some players and generates cash...

Unless the club’s American owners are more specific on what Benitez can afford, he’ll continue to monitor his alternative list of strike targets.

...i might be a bit slow, but i'm not really seeing the point of this whole takeover, if we're still buying the talent one notch below the standard bearers.

i'm aware we needed the money to fund the stadium, but the new owners came in and were talking up about how we can now "compete" with man utd and chelsea and the rest of the top clubs in europe.

now correct me if i'm wrong, but in my head, the word "compete" means if milan table a bid of 20 million for eto, we table a bid of 21...?

so far its looking like, "oh we'd like to sign malouda....hmm...i dunno, lets see how much chelsea bid for him, then we'll know how much to bid"

fcuk sake like, a little bit of a kick up the hole wouldnt go a miss

Guy:Incognito

Clubs should have to post pricelists on their websites, it'd make life much easier.

It'd be like FM. YOu could leaf through various club sites and bid online.:-)

The Muppet

el rabitos wrote:

i'm aware we needed the money to fund the stadium, but the new owners came in and were talking up about how we can now "compete" with man utd and chelsea and the rest of the top clubs in europe.

now correct me if i'm wrong, but in my head, the word "compete" means if milan table a bid of 20 million for eto, we table a bid of 21...?

But Benitze already competes favourably with 99% of the league (Chelsea are/were in a league of their own) in the transfer market. I think the yanks are waiting for the results of this this spending review before making any decisions. Benitze's spending will not be portayed in a very favourable light by it.

el rabitos

The Muppet wrote:

But Benitze already competes favourably with 99% of the league (Chelsea are/were in a league of their own) in the transfer market. I think the yanks are waiting for the results of this this spending review before making any decisions. Benitze's spending will not be portayed in a very favourable light by it.

it doesnt take a spending review to see that rafa's highest transfer spend has been a pretty pathetic £10.5 million on xabi alonso.

compare that to what utd and chelsea have been spending and you'll see how much "support" he's had.

benitez has had to put alot more time in at the office and has had to do alot more work with the money he's been given than fergie, wenger and mourinho.

competes favourably? far from it.

mike65

Owen to Anfield - yeah right.

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_details.aspx?story_id=580486&l_id=1&t_id=44

Mike.

Tusky

The Muppet wrote:

But Benitze already competes favourably with 99% of the league (Chelsea are/were in a league of their own) in the transfer market. I think the yanks are waiting for the results of this this spending review before making any decisions. Benitze's spending will not be portayed in a very favourable light by it.

Wont it ? He has a net spend of 44m over the last 3 years. His biggest transfer was 10.5m and during that time he has got them to the champions league final twice, won it once, won the FA Cup, finished 5th, 3rd & 3rd and on a record amount of points for the club. Also in this time he has completely transformed the squad itself. Look how much of the fist team has been brought in under Rafa.

Reina, Arbeloa, Agger, Aurelio, Sissoko, Mascherano, Alonso, Pennant, Garcia, Kuyt, Crouch...

zing

The Muppet wrote:

Benitze's spending will not be portayed in a very favourable light by it.

You (and others) have said as much before but so far you've not indicated how the money could have been better spent.

PHB

Also in this time he has completely transformed the squad itself. Look how much of the fist team has been brought in under Rafa.

I think that's been Benetiz's problem. He didn't want to try get the best out of Houlliers players, and instead of using Houlliers riftraft, he has brought in his own.
Now finally he thinks he has a squad he can work with, but in reality, it's not much better than it was after his first, bar a few notable exceptions.

His actions in the transfer market have ensured that Liverpool can only start to consider competing for the league now. IMO, he should have brought in top players using Houlliers squad, rather than making it entirely his squad, and then bringing in top players.

That would be my major critcism of him.

The best example of it was say this summer.
Benetiz signed Pennant and Bellamy.
He couldn't afford Alves.

He had the choice between keeping Cisse and buying Alves
or buying Pennant and Bellamy.

IMO, one very good player and one average player is better than two good players. Benetiz did not agreed. He should have worked with what Houllier left him, rather than attempt to replace the old team.