Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

eyerer

why would depor get 4m, i thought he was on a free at the end of the season

Vokes

Just guessing here - maybe he is still contracted beyond this year, maybe till the end of next season. Perhaps Deportiva were (for whatever reasons) willing to let him leave on a free in January but have now had a change of heart.

~Rebel~

Yeah i was pretty sure Victor is at the end of his contract too..

Looks like Mark Gonzalez is single handedly trying to keep Sociadad in the top flight after another fantastic strike this weekend. Thats 4 points in 2 games he's pretty much single handedly earned the team. Christ, can't wait for next year!!

eyerer

yeah, really hope he's allowed to play next season

Shaque attack

any links to his goal?

Hydromonkey

Shaque attack wrote:

any links to his goal?

First goal in this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9JE9NUJtOY

Bannor

The Bellamy-esque player is Kahveci Nihat. He'll be leaving Real Sociedad in the summer on a bosman and Benitez is interested.

Kuyt is more than happy to join Liverpool. The deal isn't signed yet, but it will be before the World Cup.

Bannor

eyerer wrote:

why would depor get 4m, i thought he was on a free at the end of the season

Lazy journalism, he's on a bosman in the summer.

I heard that Victor gets a loyalty bonus if he stays until the end of his contract. In January he was looking to get paid off by Deportivo to leave, i.e. pay up his salary until the end of the season and he'd leave without looking for the bonus or he'd stay on until the summer and leave on a bosman. He then told Liverpool he wanted more money to 'compensate' him. He was told to drop the wage demands and Liverpool have since been looking else where for a right winger.

Bannor

SofaKing wrote:

More Joaquin and Victor rumours...

http://www.tribalfootball.com/april/spanishnews180406.html

The Joaquin story is twisted - Betis have been touting him for €30M, Benitez's response was that on this season's form the player is only worth €10M.

el rabitos

i think joaquin would be alot of fans top choice as the right winger to be brought in, i'm not sure if he's the best team player around but going forward i rate him really highly. i wonder how much rafa is willing to spend on his first choice right winger

Vokes

@Bannor: Do you think then that neither of those wingers will be moving to Liverpool in the summer ?

Bannor

I would say Victor is a last resort at this stage - there are younger players who aren't looking for a final big pay day. If he hadn't been so greedy he would now be a Liverpool player.

Joaquin has an unrealistic price tag and so long as that remains the case a deal isn't likely.

Others are more likely:

Simao wants to join Liverpool. Liverpool however aren't prepared to pay a grossly inflated fee.

Shaun Wright-Phillips wants to join Liverpool. Chelsea won't let him go without having a replacement in place. Benitez would be interested if the player becomes available but again the price is likely to be a stumbling block.

Prieto (Real Sociedad) keeps being mentioned as a posibility for a creative player who could play wide right or behind the strikers. A possible replacement for Garcia.

Alves (Sevilla) - Liverpool have named Luis Garcia as a possibility for a part exchange deal.

Then there are players who's circumstances will change in the coming month.

For example:

Gera - if West Brom are relegated he'll be out of there and Benitez is a big fan.

Malbranque - his agent has been in touch with Liverpool, the player intends to leave Fulham this summer.

Pennant's move fell through in January. He has since said he'll stay with Birmingham if they are relegated.

With Benitez it is impossible to tell who the right midfield player is likely to be because there are so many possibilities and then there is the name that is signed out of the blue ala Sissoko last season. Cover for the entire defense is sorted now. Kuyt is looking likely to be tied up before the end of the month in a deal for £8M over 4/5 years and if Nihat is secured on a bosman that will leave a serious transfer budget to secure right midfielders and youth players taking in to account that there will be quite a few departures in the summer.

Potential signing out of the blue - don't be surprised to see Tim Cahill linked with a move to Liverpool.

segadreamcast

This isn't really news in my mind - but, hey, it's on BBC's front page so...

Real confirm Gerrard is a target
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard
Real Madrid want Steven Gerrard
Real Madrid's footballing director Benito Floro has confirmed that Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard is on their list of transfer targets.

Gerrard, 25, signed a new four-year contract last summer to end speculation linking him with a move to Chelsea.

Real have targeted England midfielder Gerrard and Inter Milan striker Adriano as "priority" signings.

Floro told Spanish radio station Cadena Star: "Gerrard is a player on the list that we wanted to sign previously."

Real are keen to add fresh blood to an ageing squad after enduring a third successive season with a trophy.

Floro added: "I've recommended as priority signings a powerful central striker like Adriano and a top midfielder in case Zinedine Zidane leaves."

France World Cup winner Zidane has a one-year option after this season and will make a decision on a return to the Bernabeu after this summer's World Cup.

Gerrard looked set to join Chelsea last summer, but changed his mind at the last moment to sign his new deal at Liverpool.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle
Sinama-Pongolle has fallen down the Anfield pecking order

There has been no suggestion Gerrard is keen to leave Anfield, although a move to Real would enable him to link up with England captain David Beckham and defender Jonathan Woodgate.

Liverpool boss Benitez, previously coach at Valencia, had been mentioned by Real as a possible contender to take over from Juan Roman Lopez Caro.

Meanwhile, striker Florent Sinama Pongolle is ready to leave Liverpool if boss Rafael Benitez adds to his strike force this summer.

Pongolle is due to return to Anfield at the end of the season after a loan spell at Blackburn.

The 21-year-old's place in the pecking order has dropped even further with the return of Robbie Fowler on a short-term contract.


Im 21 and I need to play, I want to play
Liverpool's Florent Sinama-Pongollename here

He said: "If Benitez signs two new strikers I won't be back, it would be impossible."

Sinama-Pongolle jumped at the chance to join Blackburn on loan due to his growing frustration at his lack of opportunity at Anfield.

He would be just as eager to turn his loan at Ewood Park into a permanent move.

Sinama-Pongolle said: "I know Blackburn have spoken to my agent about staying which is good for me.

"But nothing has been decided. I'm still thinking about my future because I know I face an important decision at the end of the season.

"Blackburn have at least given me a chance to play games, and the manager speaks to me more.

"Im 21 and I need to play, I want to play. It's difficult and frustrating when you're sat on the bench."

I'd like to see both players stay, naturally. Fecking Madrid - that place is a curse for a players career these days I think, but maybe that's just me.

Drag00n79

Bannor wrote:

...if Nihat is secured on a bosman that will leave a serious transfer budget to secure right midfielders and youth players taking in to account that there will be quite a few departures in the summer.

Bannor, some of the Spanish press seem to be convinced that Nihat will be joining Villarreal.
Source

cruiserweight

NoelRock wrote:

This isn't really news in my mind - but, hey, it's on BBC's front page so...



I'd like to see both players stay, naturally. Fecking Madrid - that place is a curse for a players career these days I think, but maybe that's just me.

Guillem Balague was on Sky Sports news this morning saying that this is all crap ! Apparently Benito Floro has been recommending players for a while and nobody in the club listens to him, so he is leaving the club this summer!

Bacchus

Haha, I'v this wierd image of Guillem Balague wandering around the stadium (kinda like Jack running around the woods in the episode of Father Ted with yer man from the BBC) grabbing random people and recommending players to sign. Nobody listens though and pretend he's not there.

eyerer

Bacchus wrote:

Haha, I'v this wierd image of Guillem Balague wandering around the stadium (kinda like Jack running around the woods in the episode of Father Ted with yer man from the BBC) grabbing random people and recommending players to sign. Nobody listens though and pretend he's not there.

don't you mean Benito Floro?

Big Nelly

eyerer wrote:

don't you mean Benito Floro?

Was thinking that myself, Guillem Balague is usually fairly on the money with his transfer tips, rumours in Spain etc, he was the first to say Cappello would move to Madrid and I still think this will happen,

Bacchus

Sry, my bad. :rolleyes:

eyerer

Bacchus wrote:

Sry, my bad. :rolleyes:

I wasn't having a go, chill.

Emmo

Hey Bannor is this Guily talk just hot air?

Emmo

redspider

Good to see Gerrard committing to the cause:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/4930616.stm

"I am settled and happy at Liverpool. I will be staying here until the day someone tells me they don't want me."

He added: "I am not going to get involved in all that kind of speculation again. I am not going to go through another summer like the last two."

+++

I'll hold him to that.

I cant comment on the possibilities of wingers as discussed above. I just hope that whoever is signed works out reasonable. Can Rafa dig out another Alonso -class player for 11m?

redspider

missingtime

Read about it on TeamTalk

More about Guily:
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/fo/profiles/2694.html

He will be 30 before he starts for liverpool. I dunno enough about him to say anything else.
Personally i think he is too old. I said it before but i want benitez to start buying some younger players. Hopefully the board will give him the money he needs or he could be off (along with Gerrard) to Real...

eirebhoy

Garcia's probably as good as Giuly so I can't see Liverpool being interested in him.

mike65

missingtime wrote:

Hopefully the board will give him the money he needs or he could be off (along with Gerrard) to Real...

That deserves a ban from this thread.

Mike.

mike65

Another investor mooted this from the Guardian

A consortium of Norwegian businessmen, who include in their number an environmental activist who once chained himself to the gates of Sellafield, are preparing a financial package which they hope will allow them to buy into Liverpool and end the European champions' lengthy search for major new investment.

The group have been put together by Oystein Stray Spetalen, a financial investor worth an estimated £150m, with their principal backer the hotel magnate Petter Stordalen. The 43-year-old Stordalen is something of a celebrity in Norway, having championed the country's tourist industry and tied himself to a footbridge over a drainage pipe at Sellafield in 2002 after claiming radioactive emissions from the nuclear power plant were polluting the Norwegian coast. "It is my policy not to comment on any potential investments," Spetalen told the Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.

Stordalen owns 90% of the Choice Hotels Scandinavia group, Norway's largest hotel chain, and is believed to be attracted by the potential of building a hotel alongside Liverpool's proposed new stadium on Stanley Park, together with a possible casino. The Norwegian pair have already sought advice on English football and Liverpool's future potential from the former Swindon, Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Barnsley striker Jan Aage Fjortoft on the scheme. Fjortoft is currently manager at Lillestrom and Spetalen hopes he would play some role at Liverpool should they succeed in buying significantly into the club.

Liverpool opted against commenting last night but are aware of the group's interest, though privately they are sceptical whether the Norwegians value the club at the £200m the current chairman David Moores believes it to be worth. The Norwegians' clout could be increased significantly should the building magnate and long-standing Liverpool suitor Steve Morgan become involved in their bid, as has been mentioned in Norway.

Morgan, Liverpool's third largest shareholder with a 5.5% stake in the club, has twice been knocked back by Moores having submitted proposals to increase his holding, the chairman insisting he had undervalued the club. The Garston-born businessman sold shares estimated to be worth around £240m in his Redrow building firm in 2000 and boasts an estimated fortune nearer £370m.

Sighs....why can't Pool attract a bunch of boring investors rather than 'colourful characters'?

Mike.

KdjaCL

mike65 wrote:

That deserves a ban from this thread.

Mike.

Hes kinda right if Rafa doesnt get money to spend he may well leave, last season 4th and CL,this season 3rd and possible Fa Cup, hes doing his job so up to the board to back him up if they want to get better.



kdjac

mike65

My comment was a quip not to be taken seriously.

As for Rafa leaving it won't happen. Any objective view of the two clubs and the way they are run tells me he would be foolish to leave and he is not foolish.

Mike.

rondeco

missingtime wrote:

Personally i think he is too old. I said it before but i want benitez to start buying some younger players. Hopefully the board will give him the money he needs or he could be off (along with Gerrard) to Real...

Barragan, Roque, Agger, sissoko, carson...there's alot more to the list.

PHB

Don't forget Alonso!

mike65

Gonzales scores again in 2-0 win over Villarreal.

Mike.

RE*AC*TOR

mike65 wrote:

Gonzales scores again in 2-0 win over Villarreal.

Mike.

i can't wait till he arrives - wonder what kind og difference he could have made this season...

el rabitos

any word on how bad kewell's injury was from today? looked like the groin injury was back

rondeco

And so we sign another argentinian...http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_d...&l_id=1&t_id=44

mike65

That site won't even load

Mike.

byte

mike65 wrote:

That site won't even load

Mike.

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_details.aspx?story_id=337734&sport=football&nf=1

rondeco

byte wrote:

http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_details.aspx?story_id=337734&sport=football&nf=1

Thanks byte!

mike65

Hmmmmm, these stories are 10 a penny and I'll only give it credence when its reported on a more reputable wesbsite.

Mike.

mike65

Rafa wins Manager of the Year award (in Spain of course!)

Rafael Benitez has picked up a Spanish Coaching Award.
Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez has picked up a coaching award in his native Spain.
He recieved the prize from regional group La Comunidad de Madrid, as part of their Seven Starts of Sports Awards, following his massive achievement in leading Liverpool to EuopeanCup success in May last year. Speaking to the clubs website, Benitez dedicated the award to all the team and backroom staff "I am very proud to accept this award.

"But it is recognition for everyone at Liverpool including the players, backroom staff and the supporters.

"They have been magnificent since I came to the club."

http://www.madrid.org/lapresidencia/img/noticias/20060424/01_ampliada_16.jpg

Mike.

midget lord

el rabitos wrote:

any word on how bad kewell's injury was from today? looked like the groin injury was back

Mendic has said he will only miss one match, that being tommorrows rehersal.

el rabitos

Mendic has said he will only miss one match, that being tommorrows rehersal

cheers man, thanks for the info.

midget lord

el rabitos wrote:

cheers man, thanks for the info.

But my pleasure messire.

mike65

Guily latest + Rafa extension.


http://www.anfieldroad.com/news/latest/2006104/a34165017b.html

Barcelona midfielder Ludovic Giuly yesterday used the media in an attempt to get his current club, Barcelona, to start talks on a new deal for him. In the process he acknowledged he'd heard rumours of Liverpool interest, but no direct contact with the Reds.

The 29-year-old French international wants a two-year extension to his current deal, which enters its final year in the summer. Giuly has been playing a central role for Barca of late, but was better known as a right-sided player before that.

He's also stressing to Barca that he won't sign a new deal unless they agree to all of his demands: "I'd need a two-year extension to my contract because my current deal expires in June 2007. I'd only sign a new contract at Barca if it was on my terms. If the club rate me and want me to stay, they'll offer me the deal or at least enter into negotiations on it."

Just to try and give Barca the impression they have to make some progress soon, he mentioned Liverpool's boss Rafa Benitez: "I haven't heard from Rafael Benitez yet, but maybe he'll call me soon as people keep telling me."

Benitez was in Spain himself, to pick up the Spanish Coach of the Year award. It is a prestigious award, given by La Comunidad de Madrid. Inevitably the fact he was in Madrid, and seen talking to officials from Madrid, has seen new rumours surface that he's on his way to becoming Real boss. Rafa made it clear how much he's content with life at Anfield: "I am very happy at Liverpool and enjoying life in England." Those close to Rafa insist that he has no intentions of leaving Anfield, and that he'll be signing a new deal very soon. New investment plans are closer than ever to being put into place, meaning Rafa will have even more funds at his disposal to take the next step with the Reds, which is to bring home the 19th league title for the record-holders.

Mike.

eyerer

i like rafa more and more

mike65

Oh dear, I'm not religious but I think I'm facing Mecca!

from liverpoolfc.tv

Rafael Benitez has made his decision on whether or not to offer Robbie Fowler a new contract at the end of the season.

The Liverpool striker signed a six month deal in January and is desperately hoping to extend his Anfield career into next year.

With four goals to his name since his return from Manchester City, Fowler appears to have done his chances no harm at all but Benitez is refusing to reveal whether the Kop idol will still be at the club next season.

"If he can keep scoring it will be easier for me," said Benitez. "We all know he has a lot of passion for the club. I know what I want to do but I need to talk to my staff.

"We will continue working with Robbie. When a player is playing every game he cannot improve a lot in his physical condition.

"We cannot expect to see the best of him now. Perhaps in pre-season we will see him progress but we need to decide on his future first."

I guess the last line gives me hope. He would'nt have said it unless Fowler was staying surely?

Mike.

shatners basoon

Excellent, all the fans want him to stay so it looks like its helping Rafa to make up his mind (his goals, workrate and immediate working partnership with crouch dont' do much damage either!)
A fantastic player to have in Rafa's rotation policy though if he gets to full fitness and produces his 90s form to be first a team guarantee thatd be nice too

Bannor

Have faith, I posted this a couple of weeks ago.

Bannor wrote:

Fowler - If he keeps up the work rate in training and on the pitch, he will be offered a 12 month contract with the option of a further 12 months.

Expect an announcement before the Villa game.

DaBreno

Rafa has played a blinder on this one. He has been dangling this carrot of another 12 months in front of Robbies (ample) nose and the lad has responded brilliantly. Has he been this good since he left us? I dont think so. He wants the football badly, more than any money, and whats Rafa is using to keep him motivated, fit and scoring. Of course there will be another 12 months!

Shaque attack

Bannor wrote:

Have faith, I posted this a couple of weeks ago.



Expect an announcement before the Villa game.

excellent - i sure hope so anyway because i'm going to be at that game. would love to be part of the crowd when that gets announced .

rondeco

Bannor wrote:

Have faith, I posted this a couple of weeks ago.



Expect an announcement before the Villa game.

You, my friend, are the bearer of good news. My eternal thanks to you.