Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

tel922001

Harry 'waste of space' Kewell is out for another 5-6 Weeks with a hernia operation, dock him his wages every time he gets injured

p.pete

mada999 wrote:

Can I ask a question??

Where does Bannor get his transfer news??

I'm pretty sure he copies it from The Sun - we'd have him sussed except that paper is taboo. But seriously, that question has been asked and answered a few times before if you want to dig backwards and take a look

Bannor

PiE wrote:

Oh that's the first mention I've seen of Galetti in a while... so the deal's back on? Any idea how much he'll cost? Looks a very decent player.

Benitez wants Milito. Milito wants Liverpool. Zaragoza want £11.5M. Benitez also wanted Galletti but was put off by the asking price because the player is in the final year of his contract and Benitez was prepared to wait to get him in January for a knock down fee. The latest offer to Zaragoza is include Galletti with Milito and we'll do the deal - Zaragoza haven't said no.

Bannor

mada999 wrote:

Can I ask a question??

Where does Bannor get his transfer news??

I make them up.

Scraps of information from agents and translators mostly.

midget lord

tel922001 wrote:

Harry 'waste of space' Kewell is out for another 5-6 Weeks with a hernia operation, dock him his wages every time he gets injured

Hey, quit that :mad:

Better to get the op done now than a few weeks into the season.

tel922001

midget lord wrote:

Hey, quit that :mad:

Better to get the op done now than a few weeks into the season.

True the sooner the better he gets them out of the way, im loosing faith in harry , starting to piss me off now ,

LizardKing

Lawro stickin up for Crouch ...

Lawro in the Daily Post wrote:

WE LAUGH, BUT THIS BEANPOLE COULD BE A FAIRYTALE
Daily Post 19 July 2005
ON the day after Liverpool won the Champions League, if anyone would have suggested Peter Crouch was on Rafael Benitez's wish list, they'd have been laughed out of Istanbul.
Just a few weeks on though and it looks like the Southampton beanpole is on his way to Anfield - and I have to say I think it is a good signing.

I know people have yet to be convinced, but I believe Crouch would be a signing purely with the Premiership in mind. Liverpool would buy him purely to help them breach the top three clubs, and at domestic level, you can't deny that he is a handful.

Playing for a relegated team, he scored 16 goals last season so there's no reason to believe he wouldn't be able to do that for Liverpool in a team that creates more chances and has more possession.

I'd bet that Benitez has looked at last season when, lest we forget, Liverpool lost 14 games in the league and thought I know how to play in Europe, but I need to change my style domestically.

Of course his options were limited at time last season with Djibril Cisse's injury, Fernando Morientes still settling in and Milan Baros misfiring at times. Now that those three are fit, someone like Crouch gives him another option of a traditional target man.

I always thought Morientes would fulfill that role, but I believe he is more comfortable playing off another striker, as is Cisse. At times, Baros gives the impression he wouldn't notice if Lord Lucan and Father Christmas were his strike partners, but he always does well alongside Jan Koller for the Czech Republic.

Crouch offers more of an aerial threat than Liverpool's other strikers, and in a season when I can see Benitez trying several formations, that is a priceless attribute.

As to whether we will see Crouch linking up with Michael Owen this season, I have my doubts. Obviously if Michael is available, any club would be interested because he virtually guarentees 20 goals a season. He also has a very strong link with Liverpool, meaning any move back would be a comfortable,familiar option.

The first problem though is that Real Madrid have not signed anyone to replace him yet, despite all the talk about Robinho. Secondly they also appear to want a big fee for him, which Liverpool may not have.

Finally, one of the oldest adages in football is that you should never go back. Of course, every rule has an exception - just ask Ian Rush - and you can never say never.

Speaking as a former player, I was delighted to welcome Rushie back and I'd bet Liverpool's current players would say the same about Michael.

Mark Lawrenson

el rabitos

True the sooner the better he gets them out of the way, im loosing faith in harry , starting to piss me off now ,

agreed. i think harry kewell has pretty much used up all his lives at pool, but at the same time i think everyone wants to have one more look at how he does without having any injury.

galletti and militio as a package would be a great bit of business and would make liverpool look like a far more complete squad. having figo hovering around the pitch would be a good addition too. here's hoping the deals go through

tel922001

this is not about transfers or any player its just one of the funniest things i have read , and if u havent read it id advise u too, oh yes copy and paste it to any other fans of football , u willl roll aound laughing






To any f*cker who says we were lucky.....!!!!

It's the year 2007 and little bluenose Duncan is talking to his
bluenose Dad.

SON "Dad, my mates in school told me that Liverpool won the
European Cup for the 5th time in 2005 - are they right dad?

DAD "Yes son, it's true, but they were dead lucky son, all the way
through the tournament"

SON "Why dad?"

DAD "Well in the group stages ..."

SON "What dad, did they have a team from Azerbaijan, Israel, and
Ireland in their group?"

DAD "Well no, they had Monaco, Deportivo la Coruna, and
Olympiakos"

SON "Well they still sound like 3 easy teams to me dad"

DAD "Actually Monaco reached the final the year before,
Olympiakos had won their league 7 times out of the previous 8 seasons,
and Deportivo
finished above the galacticos of Real Madrid in their league".

SON "Jeez dad, that sounds like quite a difficult group then".

DAD "yeh I suppose your right son, but they were still lucky - it
took a mi**** shot by Gerrard against Olympiakos to get through".

SON "oh is that the goal were your hero Andy Gray goes berserk
shouting "you beauty, you beauty, what a hit son, what a hit!!!!"

DAD "yes son it is"

SON "oh ok. Well what happened in the last 16 dad, who did they
draw?"

DAD "Bayer Leverkusen"

SON "Bayer who?"

DAD "Exactly son, but they had beaten Real Madrid 3-0 at home,
and won their group that included Dinamo Kiev and Roma too."

SON "bloody hell dad, they sound good".

DAD "yes, I suppose you're right son"

SON "so did they win on away goals or something"

DAD "errrrr, no, they won both legs 3-1 each"

SON "oh - well who next then dad"

DAD "Juventus"

SON "How the f#ck did they get past them Dad?"

DAD "Well they did - they won 2-1 at home, and cruised to a 0-0 away
draw without Juve having hardly any chances".

SON "were Juve sh#t at that time - had all their decent players gone or
something?"

DAD "well actually they still had players like Del Piero, Nedved,
Ibrahimovic, Thuram, and Buffon in the side. And they won Serie A a few
weeks later."

SON "wow, they beat the Italian champions elect - which p*ss easy team
did
they get in the semi then?"

DAD "Chelsea"

SON "Chelsea - for f#cks sake - what a piss easy draw - they've won
nothing, Everton have won more than them".

DAD "well that season they won the Premiership and League Cup but the
Red
sh*te didn't let them score in 186 minutes of football"

SON "Jesus Christ - so Liverpool beat the English Champions elect too"

DAD "yes son, they bloody well did".

SON "so after all that I suppose all the good teams had been knocked
out"

DAD "not quite son, AC Milan awaited them in the final"

SON "no way - aren't they the 2nd most successful team in the
competition's history".

DAD "yes son they are"

SON "so were Liverpool lucky because Milan had all their good players
out
with injuries"

DAD "no - they had Shevchenko, Crespo, Maldini, Nesta, Cafu, Kaka, Stam,
Dida, Gattuso, Pirlo, and Seedorf".

SON "your 'avin a laff"

DAD "it gets worse son, Milan were cruising 3-0 up at half-time".

SON "what happened, did they have 3 men sent off in the second half -
how
did Liverpool get back into the game?"

DAD "no, Milan had no men sent off, the Red sh*te scored 3 goals in 6
minutes"

SON "against the best defence in Europe"

DAD "yes!!!, against the best defence in Europe"

SON "so what happened next - extra time?"

DAD "yes son, and Dudek made the luckiest save ever to stop a Shevchenko
shot from a yard"

SON "why was it lucky dad - did it hit him on the arse, nose, shoulder
or
something"

DAD "no son, his hand"

SON "well aren't goalies meant to save shots with their hands"

DAD "yeah but that's besides the point"

SON "then what"

DAD "penalties!"

SON "English teams are crap at penalties"

DAD "not this f#ckin time they weren't - they only missed one. And
that's how Liverpool became the luckiest team to win the European Cup".

SON "but I bet when they brought the cup home there was hardly anyone to
watch as all Liverpool fans live anywhere but Liverpool you say. How
many
was there, 5,,000 or so?"

DAD "1 million people lined the streets".

SON "so let's get this straight dad - Liverpool had 3 good teams in
their
group, they then knocked out a team who had beaten Real Madrid 3-0, they
then knocked out the future Serie A champions, then knocked out the
future
Premiership champions, before coming back from 3-0 down to beat the 2nd
most successful club in Europe. And then the whole population of
Liverpool
came out to welcome them home!!!!

DAD "that about sums it up son"

SON "dad?"

DAD "yes son"

SON "can I have a Liverpool shirt for my birthday next week, and can you
stop calling me Duncan - I'm Stevie from now on"

~Rebel~

Heh, its funny alright, alas someone beat you to the punch! Already posted on page 41.

~Rebel~

Crouch move tied up apparantly..

source: http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=292777&cpid=8&CLID=14&lid=&title=CROUCH+TO+SEAL+REDS+MOVE&channel=premiership

Peter Crouch is travelling to Liverpool with a view to sealing a move to Anfield.

The Southampton striker, capped by England during the end-of-season tour of the United States, is to undergo a medical with the UEFA Champions League winners after being allowed to complete a dream switch.

More to follow..

el rabitos

speaking of funny....

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N149398050719-1453.htm

bandwaggon supporters

cruiserweight

BBC have confirmed the Crouch move for £7 million subject to a medical

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/4677639.stm

Crouch to make £7m Liverpool move
Peter Crouch
Crouch scored 16 goals last season for Southampton
Southampton striker Peter Crouch will complete a £7m move to Liverpool on Wednesday, subject to a medical.

Reds manager Rafael Benitez has been keen on signing the 24-year-old with Middlesbrough, Charlton and West Ham joining the chase for his services.

But Crouch is believed to have favoured a move to Anfield and has got his wish after Liverpool outbid their rivals.

Crouch made his England debut in the 3-2 win over Colombia on 31 May and scored 16 goals for Saints last season.

He was not at training with Saints on Tuesday as a move neared completion and the switch is expected to be rubber stamped on Wednesday barring any problems with the medical.

The move will put the Reds future of striker Milan Baros, 24, in further doubt as he has also been left out of the club's Champions League first roound, second leg qualifier against TNS on Tuesday.

Baros was an unused substitute in the first leg and Benitez has been careful not to cup tie the Czech international and reduce his sell-on value.

uberwolf

in Benetiz we trust...

mike65

uberwolf wrote:

in Benetiz we trust...

Keep repeating that! Nah I can see a role for him, Niall Quinn rides again.

Mike.

Dub13

I would say he will mostly be played away from home as a lone striker with Figo etc pushing up....god that sounds good.

HashSlinging

is the match on telly tonight, I only have TG4 TV3 RTE 1,2

Dub13

HashSlinging wrote:

I only have TG4 TV3 RTE 1,2

I did not think there were people like you still out there...

I think its only on ITV2,but you can watch it on the net.

PiE

Dub13 wrote:

I think its only on ITV2,but you can watch it on the net.

Link?

tibor

www.liverpoolfc.tv

Guy:Incognito

Anyone got a link to a stream?

cregser

I found one link to a stream that has 10 free slots and the rest PPV. The link was hit 40,000 times when I clicked on it - didn't work!

have t settle for this
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4697147.stm

Davei141

http://216.12.162.56:6690/;stream.nsv

tel922001

The Bean Pole has landed on liverpool soil, crouch signs today , if he clears his medical and will be unveiled as a liverpool player at lunch time

Lex Luthor

tel922001 wrote:

The Bean Pole has landed on liverpool soil, crouch signs today , if he clears his medical and will be unveiled as a liverpool player at lunch time

don't worry terry, crouch is gonna be a great signing....not too many 6'7" strikers in the world. I bet in 4-5 yrs he will sell for more than double his €7m fee.

TheMonster

Lex Luthor wrote:

don't worry terry, crouch is gonna be a great signing....not too many 6'7" strikers in the world. I bet in 4-5 yrs he will sell for more than double his €7m fee.

lol - bet Villa fans were saying that 2 years ago.

Drag00n79

TheMonster wrote:

lol - bet Villa fans were saying that 2 years ago.

Hmmm, another anti-Pool post, Monster? Rafa will get the best out of Crouch — something which a certain Mr G.Taylor at Villa could not do.

Villain

When we bought him I thought it was a terrible signing mainly because I thought Taylor was going to rely on him in a long ball system. I saw him playing in a pre-season friendly for Villa 2 years ago and I though he was excellent I was surprised he didn't get more of a chance at Villa, I think he's a good player but I don't think he will suit Liverpool unless they change their style of play.

The Muppet

He's reminds me of Niall Quinn. , A decent player but not prolific. Not the type of player I would expect Liverpool to be signing.

mike65

Pardew now deffo interested in Baros for Hammers, on Crouch think Quinn or Carew at Valencia.

Mike.

midget lord

The Muppet wrote:

He's reminds me of Niall Quinn. , A decent player but not prolific. Not the type of player I would expect Liverpool to be signing.

He has outscored Baros in the Premiership.


Anyway, Rafa says:

"He is very good in the air, he can keep the ball and he always knows what to do with the ball.

"When a team loses 11 games away from home in the Premiership, you need to change things. With Crouch we will have another option and in some games, that may mean we score the kind of goals we did not score last season."

"Now we have Le Tallec, Garcia, Baros, Cisse, Morientes and Crouch, so we have more options.

"We must select from those players so they must work hard. So that is good for me this early in the season, the competitiveness will be good for us."

From the echo.


Is anyone in doubt that Crouchinho will improve the squad.

midget lord

mike65 wrote:

Pardew now deffo interested in Baros for Hammers, on Crouch think Quinn or Carew at Valencia.

Mike.

Crouch is also good on the ground, a thing niall quinn only used for falling on.

The Muppet

midget lord wrote:

He has outscored Baros in the Premiership.

WOW! I'm Impressed

redspider

Well, I'm not happy with the Crouch purchase. I've put the reasons on record on this thread before but here goes again.

The first thing is that he is way too expensive at 7m (10.5m eur). I havent heard his salary level, but this is money that could have been spent elsewhere.

I do understand the point that in some games, Crouch could come on and cause problems for the opposition, such as in the much touted difficult away games, but the difficulty we have had in away games has been application, not capability, and all across the team, so its mindsets, not player capability. Mind you, poor formation selections and players, such as Pellegrino, by Benitez did not help at all and was a big factor. So, Crouch could help in some games, but only some games.

His purchase also means that Benitez wants to offload Baros. He is a very skilful player, a great finisher and Liverpool have not utilised him to his full potential, so it will be sorry to see him go. He has a proven record at CZ, and his finishes for Liverpool and even in the recent friendlies have been excellent. He also did well in the CL at crucial stages. Setting uo the Garcia goal against Chelsea, and the 3rd goal in the final with his backheel. So he has been a loyal servant, and of course played with his head down for far too much, but was this coaching selection problems.

It seems strange that we are getting in Crouch, yet selling probably our most talented goal finisher. There are issues with his attitude according to Benitez, and he is not Spanish, and according to recent reports he is not following Benitez's tactics. Talented players can be difficult to manage, an to me, Benitez is taking an easy way out.

Another thing is will the team adjust to Crouch being on? Lets say the preferred Benitez two-player front-line is Cisse and Morientes. Does he bring on Crouch for Morientes? probably. Also, what does he do in the away games, just play one up front, play the long-ball game for the last 30 mins. This is a style of football that I think many Liverpool fans, and indeed the players, wont fancy at all, such as Garcia, Alonso and Gerrard. And the long ball has no guarantee of success.

Benitez has made errors before, and my faith in him is with his ability to recognise his mistakes and make a good effort at correcting them. He has demonstrated this. Buying Crouch may be another one of these mistakes. We'll all have to wait and see what happens, and if it is an error, how he rectifies it.

The CL win may have brought in money, but it looks like Liverpool are spending it just as quickly and as frivously as when it came in.

redspider

StickyMcGinty

redspider: thats a bit harsh on benitez. he doesnt want wasters at liverpool, so he's getting rid of baros after 3/4 overall poor seasons. the only reason why baros is merited with any sort of success is because of his euro 2004 golden boot, he hasnt done anything significant really at liverpool in all his time here. he was joint top scorer with the club last year with 13 goals - shameful for a premiership top team striker.

i dont agree with the signing of crouch either, but i feel we've just got to trust benitez on this one. maybe crouch will surprise us all and get a 20 goal season??

i dont think he's been frivolous with his money so far at all, he's not even spend 6 million, and he's brought in 6 players so far. working out at just over 2 million a signing, not too bad at all.

PHB

Could somebody tell me the following, cause I'm quite confused about Liverpools transfer dealings.

Who has
Signed
Zenden
?
?
Is going to be signed definately
Gonzalez
Crouch
?
Is very very strongly linked
Kuyt
Figo
?
?
Linked
Aimar
?
?

Could somebody fill that out for me

Pepe LeFrits

Crouch gets way too much criticism because of his height. He is an extremely skillful player and is much better with his feet than his head. He obviously causes defenders a headache because of his height but I think signing Crouch indicates that Benitez is working towards a playing style based on technique and zipping it about on the floor.

cruiserweight

PHB wrote:

Could somebody tell me the following, cause I'm quite confused about Liverpools transfer dealings.

Who has
Signed
Zenden
?
?
Is going to be signed definately
Gonzalez
Crouch
?
Is very very strongly linked
Kuyt
Figo
?
?
Linked
Aimar
?
?

Could somebody fill that out for me

Look at

http://www.itv-football.co.uk/Features/Ins_Outs/index.shtml
or
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N149022050603-1134.htm

But signed are :
Mohamed Sissoko - £5.6m
Boudewijn Zenden - Free
Jose Reina - £6m
Mark Gonzales - Loan
Antonio Barragan - Undisclosed

and Crouch is going to sign today subject to a medical!

redspider

VinnyL wrote:

thats a bit harsh on benitez. he doesnt want wasters at liverpool, so he's getting rid of baros after 3/4 overall poor seasons. i dont agree with the signing of crouch either, but i feel we've just got to trust benitez on this one. maybe crouch will surprise us all and get a 20 goal season?? i dont think he's been frivolous with his money so far at all, he's not even spend 6 million.

I agree we can only judge Benitez for the signing of Crouch by what happens on the pitch. But he is paying 7m for him. That is too much money imo. Baros is young and difficult, and I feel that if he can be used correctly in whatever club he goes to, he will do well. This is proven with CZ, not only at Euro2004, but also in the qualifiers for the same and the current WC qualifiers. Baros is a good finisher.

In terms of the overall spend:
Mohamed Sissoko - £5.6m
Boudewijn Zenden - Free
Jose Reina - £6m (at one point 8m was mentioned)
Mark Gonzales - Loan
Crouch 7m

And Gonzales is something like 4m if his loan proves a success, so you could say 23m or so. I dont know how much Liverpool got back in with player sales, or how much salaries have gone up in new deals, but I'm sure that if the costs are compared between 2004/05 and 2005/06, they will have gone up substantially.

I dont mind Benitez spending money on quality, but Crouch is hardly quality. Yes, he has an ok touch for a "big man", but is he CL standard? Not really. Is he top-class premiership standard? hardly? Were there a queue of other clubs wanting him, no there wasnt. Would he get into the Chelsea team, Arsenal or Man U. No, he wouldn't? So why should Liverpool be aiming for anything less. Lets compare him with Heskey, is he a better player than Heskey? Probably not. (btw, I wasnt happy with the Heskey signing at the time and was proven right in the end).

I'm willing to wait and see what happens on the pitch, but like the signing of Josemi last year, and Pellegrino, I'm not confident of Crouch being a major success at Liverpool or being a contributor worthy of a 7m purchase.

redspider

StickyMcGinty

redspider wrote:

Were there a queue of other clubs wanting him, no there wasnt. Would he get into the Chelsea team, Arsenal or Man U.

i dont think thats a valid excuse for not signing a player, because no other clubs are after him.

different clubs have different styles and therefore, go for different players.

i dont like crouch as a player, and like yourself i didnt like heskey either. i do think crouch will be found out this year, but in the same breath i do think he should be given a chance. i think part of the reason why benitez signed him was because he felt there was pressure to sign an english player (god knows why) but i would have prefered upson to be honest.

rafa has a problem now though with the signing of crouch - who is he going to start up front?

we'll see on August 13th

PHB

Signed
Zenden
Mohamed Sissoko
Jose Reina

Is going to be signed definately
Gonzalez
Crouch

Is very very strongly linked
Kuyt(I assume not with Crouch now)
Figo

Who else is being talked about after Crouch?
Has he signed any defenders?

PiE

Milito's a central defender and Galetti's a right sided player. Dunno how close they are to signing.

We've all heard the arguments against Crouch lads, it's just going over well trodden ground at this stage. He's signing and that's that, let the lad have a crack.

Drag00n79

redspider wrote:

Is he top-class premiership standard? hardly?

He scored 16 goals from 33 starts last season with a very poor team. While, he is not top class, you're naive to think a top class premiership standard player (Henry, RvN etc.) would be bought for £7m.

mada999

I'm kinda glad that we are signing Crouch....

I watched the TNS game last night and Zenden and Potter were crossing some sweet balls into the box, but alas there was no one in the box.....I don't think Cisse likes being in the box (i know last night he scored from inside the box) but he's always hugging the right touch line when, in fact, he should be getting on the end of a good cross. Of what I seen of Crouch he hangs around in the box and can hold up the ball for other players, which Cisse does not do at the moment....I like cisse hes got great pace and ability but his positional sense leaves alot to be desired! and I can't seem him scoring more than 15 goals per season....but I hope he proves me wrong...........

Maybe he only needs time to readjust after his leg injury, hopefully this is the reason!

Just my 2 cents!

PHB

Morientes is better than Crouch in the air and on the ground, and this signing makes no sense to me.

mada999

From what I have seen of Morientes so far I think he needs more time to adjust to the english style of play also....he goes to ground far too easily and I think he is a yard off the pace (i know its only pre-season, but he was the same season)......he needs more games under his belt....

The Rooster

Morientes is very good in the air for someone of his height, though has missed a few handy ones for Liverpool in his time. Crouch would beat him to a cross most times if they were competing IMO.

Liverpool will only pay £3m this year for Crouch. Another £3m will be paid over a number of years and the balance of £1m will only be paid if certain performance conditions are met relating to Liverpool winning trophies and Crouch making appearances and scoring goals.

StickyMcGinty

hardly impressive...

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N149396050720-0907.htm

is that really the best they could dig up?

The Rooster

Peter Crouch's career: caps-goals

Tottenham Hotspur = 0-0
Queens Park Rangers = ?-?
Portsmouth = 37-18
Aston Villa = ?-?
Norwich City = ?-?
Southampton = 24-16
England under-21 = 6-1
England = 1-0

Anyone know a way of finding the missing stats?

meditraitor

What it didnt show was who he scored against in the PL last season
scored at least 2 against Bolton(maybe 3, not sure)
2 against middlesborough
against everton
against Crystal palace
against arsenal

and against us

These (as far as I recall ) are teams that gave us more trouble(*arsen) than they should have, if he can belt them in against this type of opposition, that ill dooooo nicelly