Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

The Rooster

Tusky wrote:

Veronin

Its Voronin according to the LFC official website

zing

The Rooster wrote:

New reserve coach appointed.
I sense an axe hanging over Gary Ablett's head...

Ablett is the reserve team manager - not the coach. iirc he's got a couple of coaches working under him. Same way Rafa has the likes of a 1st team coach, goalkeeping coach, fitness coach, etc.. under him.

Kanney

Dudek gone to Real.

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=476483&CPID=23&clid=186&lid=2&title=Dudek+seals+Real+deal

RE*AC*TOR

Best of luck to Jerzy - you'll always be a Liverpool legend for Athens Istanbul.

Hope he does well at Real, Casillas can be flakey at times, so who knows.

lpool2k05

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

Best of luck to Jerzy - you'll always be a Liverpool legend for Athens.

Hope he does well at Real, Casillas can be flakey at times, so who knows.

he was a massive hero in Istanbul!!!what did he do in athens???

RE*AC*TOR

lpool2k05 wrote:

he was a massive hero in Istanbul!!!what did he do in athens???

yeah - meant istanbul, all these ancient civilization cities....

The Rooster

written by Dave Needham
on Wed 11 Jul 07 at 17:07

Ryan Babel, the Ajax and Dutch 20 year old winger has today passed a medical with Liverpool FC. The player arrived in the city late last night and undertook his medical at Melwood today.

Liverpool are expected to complete the deal for the player before the end of the week.

The reds are expected to pay around £8 million up front in a deal worth a potential £12 million dependant on appearances and bonuses.

The 20 year old plays on the left wing and places pressure on Harry Kewell. With Gabriel Heinze still one of Rafa’s targets - suggestions in the media are that Newcastle will attempt a move for John Arne Riise.

Babel has moved through the ranks at Ajax to the first team and has scored 14 times in 73 appearances for the first team.

Only last month the player took part in the Under-21 European Championships and was man of the match in the final - a game in which Holland beat Serbia 4-1, Babel scoring twice.

Davei141

I would be gutted if we let Riise go.

StickyMcGinty

ditto, at the very least he's a great squad player to have

rahim

Davei141 wrote:

I would be gutted if we let Riise go.

So would I, if only for that canon he has instead of a leg.

zing

Hammill off on loan again. Mustn't have liked the Scottish weather so trying to get as far away from it as he can

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/6895736.stm

The Rooster

Celtic wanted Hamill. Thats a good sign. Will he ever get a chance at Liverpool though....

Tusky

Lex Luthor wrote:

obviously Babel will now change things but I still think Rafa learnt that the team is better with Gerrard in the middle

What are you basing it on ? Gerrard played on the right up until the end of last season. He played behind the strikers in the CL final and possibly (can't remember 100%) in the middle in the second leg against Chelsea and only a couple of other games in the middle. Im pretty sure he will play the majority of next season on the right.

yom 1

zing wrote:

Hammill off on loan again. Mustn't have liked the Scottish weather so trying to get as far away from it as he can

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/southampton/6895736.stm

Thats a great deal for him and us. He'll gain alot of experience there in a title challenging side. Hopefully he does well.

marco_polo

Tusky wrote:

What are you basing it on ? Gerrard played on the right up until the end of last season. He played behind the strikers in the CL final and possibly (can't remember 100%) in the middle in the second leg against Chelsea. Im pretty sure he will play the majority of next season on the right.

I would also be surprised to see Gerrard in the middle of a 442 in any games bar a few league games next season. Was he really that much improved in the Middle last year or was it more that Xavi had a bit of a dip in form?

He may be in the middle in a 451/433 formation more often next season.

Stky10

yom 1 wrote:

Thats a great deal for him and us. He'll gain alot of experience there in a title challenging side. Hopefully he does well.

Its not just experience of playing in games. George Burley is a good manager. A year there should bring him along nicely.

The Rooster

Re Gerrard's position - it should be said that Mascherano will presumably need a rest after Copa America. Playing him too soon too often could have a heavy cost later in the season.

LFC TV have pictures of Torres in pre-season training
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N156358070712-1125.htm

One slightly odd thing I noticed is that Voronin started off wearing number 10 (pic 6, he's behind Agger), but then changed into number 11 (pics 8 and 9). Might mean nothing, or it might mean Babel claimed the 10 jersey!

yom 1

The Rooster wrote:

One slightly odd thing I noticed is that Voronin started off wearing number 10 (pic 6, he's behind Agger), but then changed into number 11 (pics 8 and 9). Might mean nothing, or it might mean Babel claimed the 10 jersey!

Thats some impressive number spotting:p

Thanx 4 The Fish

It most certainly is, is that anorak of yours in the dry cleaners Rooster ?

marco_polo

Babel is officially a liverpool player reportedly a £11.5m fee.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2494255,00.html

Bit on the high side perhaps but looking at the general transfer rates this summer not a bad piece of business if he turns out to be a top player.

zing

11.5m fee finally agreed for Babel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6285040.stm

Just 2.5m short of our previous record signing for someone who sounds like a fairly raw up and coming talent.

marco_polo

me wrote:

Babel is officially a liverpool player reportedly a £11.5m fee.

http://www.football365.com/story/0,1...494255,00.html

Bit on the high side perhaps but looking at the general transfer rates this summer not a bad piece of business if he turns out to be a top player.

zing wrote:

11.5m fee finally agreed for Babel.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/6285040.stm

Just 2.5m short of our previous record signing for someone who sounds like a fairly raw up and coming talent.

Guess that makes me an optimist and you a pesimist zing

zing

marco_polo wrote:

Guess that makes me an optimist and you a pesimist zing

Not pessimistic about him at all - quite the opposite. He does sound very promising. It's more about how times have changed and we can now afford to splash the cash on such players

Mr Alan

zing wrote:

Not pessimistic about him at all - quite the opposite. He does sound very promising. It's more about how times have changed and we can now afford to splash the cash on such players

far as i was aware it was 8.5 rising to 11.5?

good piece of business either way

Vokes

Just another defender in maybe and that's that then.

marco_polo

millersangel wrote:

far as i was aware it was 8.5 rising to 11.5?

good piece of business either way

That £11.5 I quoted was from football365 so they probably used a random number generator to come up with the figure. £8.5m looks much more likely.

In a world where D. Bent is worth 16m its a good piece of business alright.

woodyg

i love how in the space of 10-12 day's Liverpoolf fans have sudenly gone from 1 extreme to the next. All the talk of boardroom unrest and Rafa about to quit cause he wasn't gettin cash really seems like bull plop now.
I am thrilled so far with some of the signing's made. Torres was a real coup and Babel is a player to watch out for. We now have a powerful threat upfront to get the goals we need. I can see Benayon getting quite a few games in the league especially at home as he has that little something for opening up a defence.

Tusky

Looking forward to seeing him play. One thing that worries me is the fact that ajax fans don't seem bothered he is leaving and dont rate him v.highly. I havent heard any of them showering him with praise...

Most say he is very fast, with moments of skill but is inconsistent and a very bad finisher. They all see him as a striker as well. Really looking forward to next season either way.

Sky sports + Setanta = 90% of matches live & 100% of matches repeated on Liverpool FC tv

jank

Arsenal were interested in him aswell but baulked at the fee Ajax were putting him up for. 11.5 Million is a bit high alright

Mr Alan

rising to 11.5m

jank

What is it up front? 8.5?

Not a player that will win the league for ya. Benayoun too but I thought Rafa was going to sign some world class players?

griffdaddy

He did, his name is Torres, plus, by all accounts, there's more to come.

zAbbo

Marco Van Basten rated him above Romeo Castelen and Klaas Jan Huntelaar for the 2006 World Cup Squad, although I think he got a place due to Soloman Kalou not knowing about Tulips and Windmills (he failed his citizenship exam after declaring to play for Holland and not Ivory Coast)

So he was chosen to play on the right side, but has versatility to play either side or down the middle.

Mr Alan

Torres is world class
babel can be world class

who would you like us to sign? Kaka,messi,ronaldinho . . . that wat you expectin?!

yes think its 8.5 up front.

(or half an anderson or nani )

jank

millersangel wrote:

Torres is world class
babel can be world class

who would you like us to sign? Kaka,messi,ronaldinho . . . that wat you expectin?!

yes think its 8.5 up front.

Torres world class is debateable, its an arguement for another day,
Babel may be world class someday but so could every promising young player.

Not saying anything bad about the kid but its the same ol same ol with rafa.
Some of his signings are uninspiring
He signs good players that will do a job, not great players that will win you the league

After these 2 are wraped up id say thats more or less it for them this summer.
Would you be happy with that?

Mr Alan

If we got some cover at the back, yea i would.

As i said, who do you want him to sign? kaka? Messi? We aint Chelsea ya know!

empirix

I personally have very high hopes for Babel, Ajax's academy churns out a lot of top class players and is one of the oldest and best academies around

Tusky

I think hes a good singing but not the type of player we should be signing this season. I would rather the 11m from Babel and the 5m from Benayoun be put towards a world class winger for around 16m. We had bids turned down for Queresma, Malouda & Manchini for around 11-12m supposedly, why not up those bids? What happened to Simao aswell ?

As ive said before, Benayoun & Babel improve the squad but not the first 11. Maybe Babel will surprise us all and cement his place in the first team next season though...

Mr Alan

but are Queresma,Malouda or Manchini or Simao world class either?!

griffdaddy

jank wrote:

After these 2 are wraped up id say thats more or less it for them this summer.
Would you be happy with that?

Why would you say that? Did you read through the posts over the last few days? One of them had Hicks alluding to AT LEAST one more signing

yabadabado

what do ppl think liverpools starting 11 will be next season.will babel and benayoun be startersor is babel one for the future.
.cud it be 4-5-1.
finnan- carragher- agger- riise
benayoun-alonso-masherno-babel
-gerrard behind torres.

Vokes

Well i reckon our strongest 4-4-2 lineup is easily...

Reina

Finnan     Carragher      Agger       Riise

          
             Mascherano   Alonso 

Gerrard                                  Babel

     
                Kuyt
                         Torres

Kimbot

SofaKing wrote:

Well i reckon our strongest 4-4-2 lineup is easily...

Reina

Finnan     Carragher      Agger       Riise

          
             Mascherano   Alonso 

Gerrard                                  Babel

     
                Kuyt
                         Torres

I agree with that!! If nothing coming from up front then stick gerrard in for Kuyt and Benyoun on the right!!

spockety

SofaKing wrote:

Well i reckon our strongest 4-4-2 lineup is easily...

Reina

Finnan     Carragher      Agger       Riise

          
             Mascherano   Alonso 

Gerrard                                  Babel

     
                Kuyt
                         Torres

Ah come on You can't be serious.

Babel hasn't kicked a ball in anger for Liverpool yet, never mind making it to the starting 11.

Until we see that he is top class, you would surely have to say that our strongest left hand side as things stand at the moment is Aurelio at the back and Riise on the wing.

Zapp Brannigan

People really under-estimate Kewell. He can be a big part of the team. He's injury free so hopefully we'll see the Kewell of old.

PHB

Reports on united forums that heinze is off to Liverpool

Skittlebrau

spockety wrote:

Ah come on You can't be serious.

Babel hasn't kicked a ball in anger for Liverpool yet, never mind making it to the starting 11.

Until we see that he is top class, you would surely have to say that our strongest left hand side as things stand at the moment is Aurelio at the back and Riise on the wing.

Torres hasn't kicked a ball for Liverpool either but we all assume that he will automatically get his game.

Before we broke our signing record with Torres, if they had spent 8-11 mil on a player he would definitely be expected to be a first teamer. I don't see why that should change now.

Although I've never even seen the guy play yet so he could be muck for all I know

Zapp Brannigan

PHB wrote:

Reports on united forums that heinze is off Liverpool

How do you feel about that?

I know he's a bit of a legend at Utd but I can't really see him making the starting 11 and I doubt he'd be happy to warm the bench. I'm sure he could find another club where he'd be guaranteed a start?

On another note anyone think that Rafa seems to have hypnotic powers, once a player meets him they want to go to LFC

Vokes

spockety wrote:

Ah come on You can't be serious.

Babel hasn't kicked a ball in anger for Liverpool yet, never mind making it to the starting 11.

Until we see that he is top class, you would surely have to say that our strongest left hand side as things stand at the moment is Aurelio at the back and Riise on the wing.

And break up our best back 4 and mean defence? I don't believe Aurelio has done enough yet to be considered a better defender ahead of Riise - of course given time, that could change.

Im tired of Kewell now. He's undoubtedly talented but the injuries just keep acoming...

We spend the guts of £10mil on a powerful higly-rated left-sided player - I say throw him in!



edit/ Of course if Heinze really does sign for 'Pool, that renders what ive said above moot

Guy:Incognito

I'm always of the opinion that left full is a bit of a weak position for us defensivly. Riise is very good as a kind of wing back or a slightly defensive minded winger, but i think he is a bit weak as a proper left full. Heinze could be that player.