Liverpool Signings and General Rumours Thread

PiE

And if we don't hear... we'll just make up some rumours. Hurrah.

Huntelaar looked very good last night.

thewing

Agreed - 6m from Heerenveen to Ajax...where are our scouts?

spockety

Officially confirmed.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N153193060817-0947.htm

Tusky

wooo!

With Bellamy, Dirk, Fowler, Crouch & Sinama surely they are going to have to play two up front ?

....and if they do who will they drop from midfield from Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Pennant & Gonzalez/Kewell.

Decisions decisions.

p.pete

Tusky wrote:

wooo!

With Bellamy, Dirk, Fowler, Crouch & Sinama surely they are going to have to play two up front ?

....and if they do who will they drop from midfield from Gerrard, Sissoko, Alonso, Pennant & Gonzalez/Kewell.

Decisions decisions.

Well I think the good thing is that we can see different systems in place e.g. we'll be able to switch from 442 to 451 with 2 wingers fairly easily.

Hopefully everyone can be kept happy - my main fear would be Bellamy. I know eirebhoy was banned for his comments on him but they were worrying all the same as far as I'm concerned.

zing

Fee for Kuyt was apparently 9m UKP - not the 10m being reported recently
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liverpoolfc/0100news/tm_objectid=17577775%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26headline=reds%2dland%2d%2d9m%2dkuyt-name_page.html

Bascombe also reports three clubs chasing each of Flo & Kromkamp

DaBreno

Delighted. Rafa has been chasing Kuyt almost since he took charge. I know he didnt have a good WC, but our manager obviously rates him quite highly and thats good enough for me. A good end to a productive transfer season.

One que : If Krongkamp goes the other way and with Barragan already gone, who deputises for Steve Finnan?

p.pete

From 9th of May:

Bannor wrote:

Duff - at the moment it's looking like he's going to Newcastle.

RVN - not a chance. Kuyt is younger and quicker.

Was Bannor first to talk about this? Search facilities suck...

woodyg

Well i believe i'm going to have to role out the saying in Raffa we trust in relation to Kuyt.

I watched him in the world cup and he didnt impress me at all, and after seeing him live at the game last night he still didnt impress me.

He does posses some qualities, i.e. 1st touch, awareness, strenght, and also the ability to put the ball in the net.

His lack of pace does worry me as the Premiership requires high tempo movement, but as Bergkamp and Sheringham showed speed of mind can all ways out manoeuvre speed of foot.

But if Raffa believes he's worth the €9 million i'm happy enough to see him arrive.
he could be the missing link in Europe were he could play of the front and provide a link.
He does seem to be more off a link striker than out and out front man.

spockety

p.pete wrote:

Well I think the good thing is that we can see different systems in place e.g. we'll be able to switch from 442 to 451 with 2 wingers fairly easily.

Hopefully everyone can be kept happy - my main fear would be Bellamy. I know eirebhoy was banned for his comments on him but they were worrying all the same as far as I'm concerned.

What does this mean? Without getting banned yourself, can you allude to the nature of the comments about Bellamy? Why were they worrying?

p.pete

He was insulting towards Bellamy, but also made a lot of comments regarding how he's gotten on previously with previous team-mates and managers and also when previously playing against former-team mates. I don't know if his comments were deleted - might be worth your while checking back a few pages on this thread or the bellamy v crouch tread that was about a few days ago...

And for me they were worrying because Bellamy has previously played for the club that eirebhoy supports, and in general eirebhoy is fairly level-headed and knows a fair bit about football.

The Rooster

Personally I believe Rafa will have big problem keeping his two best individual players (IMO - Stevie and Bellamy) happy throughout the season.

Bellamy has an alleged history of being a total prat. But with a new club comes a clean slate. He seemed relaxed enough about rotation in his Charity Shield interview. But we know he has become very upset with being rotated and played out of position in the past. If Rafa can keep Bellamy happy, Bellamy will undoubtedly keep all of us happy. He's going to be brilliant if he's played often enough and is given enough support.

If StevieG has many more games like Haifa - i.e. plays upfront, on the left, then taken off - he's going to get unhappy. He's constantly told he's one of the best central midfielders in the world, yet cannot get his place in central midfield with his club! Or his country! Again Rafa needs to keep him happy.

p.pete

Re Gerrard, on account of living in England at the moment I watched the England game last night instead of treking to the pub for what sounded like a memorable Ireland match. Gerrard was started on the right but given pretty much a free-role and was outstanding in the first half. Made some runs down both the left and right, some excellent crosses occasionally found himself in the middle to add to Lampard and Hargreaves.

With Pennant now at the club I see him being used more on the right and Gerrard being in the centre a lot more. That shouldn't cause any headaches when we play with just one up front (i.e. with a five man midfield we can accomodate Alonso, Sisoko and Gerrard as Rafa is going to want to do) though he may have to be shifted wide if we change tactics during a match.

I see the much larger issue being to keep the front-men happy. Fowler and Crouch are likely to be patient (not to say that they won't be itching to play) but Kuyt and Bellamy could cause issues, though I can't say I know anything about Kuyt's temperment.

madds

Slurms wrote:

Thats just from the WC though. Henry had a piss-poor WC, but he's still quality. Same with Sheva.

True. I just don't get the George Hamilton feeling of "danger here" when Kuyt gets on the ball, and that was true during last night's match as well.

Having said that, he'll probably score a hat-trick against us in OT now I've said that.

We'll see how he gets on in the next few weeks/months.

Tusky

maybe ?

---

Bellamy

Gonzalez---Gerrard---Pennant

---

Alonso----Sissoko

Risse---Carragher---Hypia---finnan


OR

---

Bellamy---Kuyt

Gonzalez---Alonso---sissoko---Gerrard

Risse---Carragher---Hypia---Finnan

p.pete

Yep, and also depending on form and opposition we could drop either Sisoko or Alonso in the 4-4-2 and keep Gerrard in the middle every now and again. For example, Alonso doesn't seem to be brilliant at the moment...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Dunno about the rest of you but I have my reservations about Kuyt. Liverpool have an awful track record with paying high fees for 'world class' strikers - especially those form abroad.

Collymore - Heskey - Diouf - Cisse ... ?

Is he worth the 10 mil?

Zapp Brannigan

I dont think Kuyts gonna be a scorer. I reckon he'll play the Crouch role but better because he's strong and can actually head the ball in the air.

I still think we shoulda broke the bank for Huntelaar. He just has a knack for scoring!

p.pete

Slurms wrote:

I still think we shoulda broke the bank for Huntelaar. He just has a knack for scoring!

What are you basing that on? So does Kuyt if you're looking at the dutch league, what players do internationally means little (Don't see Crouch maintaining his English scoring rate for Liverpool).

Re Liverpool and paying big money for front men, I totally agree. I can't actually think of one that's been as good as we've hoped for, our best strikers in the last decade (or longer maybe) have been home grown or at least youth produced.

ansan

I must admit I'm impressed with Huntelaar's stats, but overall they're not too far apart.

Kuyt
Year + Team + League Appearances + Goals
2003–2006 + Feyenoord + 101 + 71

Huntelaar
Year + Team + League Appearances + Goals
2003-2004 + AGOVV Apeldoorn + 35 + 26
2004-2006 + SC Heerenveen + 46 + 34
2006- + Ajax + 15 + 16

Seaneh

ansan wrote:

I must admit I'm impressed with Huntelaar's stats, but overall they're not too far apart.

Kuyt
Year + Team + League Appearances + Goals
2003–2006 + Feyenoord + 101 + 71

Huntelaar
Year + Team + League Appearances + Goals
2003-2004 + AGOVV Apeldoorn + 35 + 26
2004-2006 + SC Heerenveen + 46 + 34
2006- + Ajax + 15 + 16

They are pretty far apart as far as games played/goals scored goes, Huntelaar is a bloody montser.

jesus_thats_gre

101 games and 71 goals compared to 96 games and 76 goal is not far apart..

Seaneh

one is 25, the other is 22 and getting better by the week.

rondeco

Strong rumour that we are in for Lucas Neill.

rondeco

BTW, Kuyt passed his medical.

Marcais

rondeco wrote:

BTW, Kuyt passed his medical.

Some great business by Benitez, Bellamy could be Premiership top scorer and 'pool will definitely challenge.

mike65

Ah y'see expectations are running riot already!

Bellamy 20 goals, Kuyt 20 goals, Fowler 10 goals, Crouch 10-15 goals, Gerrard 20 goals, Garcia 10 goals, Gonzo 8 goals, Kewell 8 goals Riise 5 goals, Alonso 5 goals, Pennant 4 goals, Hyypia 3 goals, Carragher 1 goals!

Mike.

Time Magazine

Liverpool's new signing.
A great.

The similarities..

Guy:Incognito

mike65 wrote:

Carragher 1 goals

The rest maybe , but your losing the run of yourself with that one.:)

p.pete

Going back to Huntelaar, looking at the stats posted above and the fact that he's a bit younger and doing his stuff at a slightly better club, I'd say there's a good chance he's the better player. We struggled to get to Kuyt's asking price and I can't imagine Huntelaar being any cheaper - ye may as well be asking why didn't we concentrate on Teves or Ronaldinho? Point is Benitez has wanted him for the last 2 seasons, in my opinion we haven't broken the bank for him (Liverpool and breaking the bank for strikers is a bad idea) so I'm hoping he's a success, obviously

event

p.pete wrote:

Yep, and also depending on form and opposition we could drop either Sisoko or Alonso in the 4-4-2 and keep Gerrard in the middle every now and again. For example, Alonso doesn't seem to be brilliant at the moment...

he's played 1 and a half games?

zing

Le Tallec undergoing medical today ahead of proposed 1 year loan deal to Sochaux.

Bounty Hunter

after the summers dealings which are seemingly complete for liverpool the squad is looking very good in my non-liverpool fans opinion.

---

Reina/Dudek

---

Finnan

---

Hypia----Carragher---Riise/Auriello

---

Sissoko

---

Alonso

---

Gerrard/Pennant

---

Mark Gonzales

---

Bellamy/Fowler

---

Crouch/Kuyt----

depending on Injurys, form and importance of matches this is a team which can easily be alterd to fit other formations very well. Personally i think this squad should almost be the one team pushing Chelsea for the title prehaps ahead of united for the first timein a long while.

p.pete

event wrote:

he's played 1 and a half games?

you have to stop the rot quick

Vokes

from the Beeb...

Liverpool complete deal for Kuyt

Liverpool have completed the signing of striker Dirk Kuyt from Feyenoord.

The 26-year-old completed his move from the Dutch club after undergoing a medical at Anfield on Thursday.

Reds boss Rafael Benitez told Liverpool's official website he was delighted to sign Kuyt and added: "He will be a good player for us.

"He's a player with good game intelligence. He knows what to do with the ball and without the ball and he's also a very good worker."

Wonder if he'll be on the bench tomorrow.

p.pete

I'd rather see Fowler on the bench as he came through 45 minutes on Wednesday. Kuyt can watch from the stands and perhaps push for a place against Macabi after he's had a chance or two to train with the squad and listen to how Rafa wants him to play...

HashSlinging

Just score loads of goals is the general message I'd say.

Zapp Brannigan

p.pete wrote:

I'd rather see Fowler on the bench as he came through 45 minutes on Wednesday. Kuyt can watch from the stands and perhaps push for a place against Macabi after he's had a chance or two to train with the squad and listen to how Rafa wants him to play...

He won't be registered to play against Haifa.
I reckon he's starting tomorrow, him and Bellamy up front.

BTW, Kuyt will be wearing 18.

The Rooster

Team selection and formation tomorrow will be very interesting. I'd like to see Agger get a run of games at CB in place of Sami.

el rabitos

agreed, i reckon its time to get pro-active in replacing sami.

he should probably still play the majority of games, but agger should definitely be starting his fair share of matches

emc2

Liverpool are poised to snap up teenage Moroccan star Nabil El Zhar from St Etienne for £200,000

from football365.com

Has anyone heard about this or Him?

(100th post!!!!!)

zAbbo

And that more or less completes a very succussful summer in the transfer market.

If at the start of the summer, We'd be given.

Pennant,Auerlio,Kuyt and Bellamy, as well as added bonus's like Gonzalez and the young CB Paletta.

Along with getting rid of a few players, It's been brilliant.

copacetic

p.pete wrote:

Going back to Huntelaar, looking at the stats posted above and the fact that he's a bit younger and doing his stuff at a slightly better club, I'd say there's a good chance he's the better player. We struggled to get to Kuyt's asking price and I can't imagine Huntelaar being any cheaper - ye may as well be asking why didn't we concentrate on Teves or Ronaldinho? Point is Benitez has wanted him for the last 2 seasons, in my opinion we haven't broken the bank for him (Liverpool and breaking the bank for strikers is a bad idea) so I'm hoping he's a success, obviously

not too pushed by kuyt in world cup or on wed, but going by rafa's opinion of him and the various goals on the interweb he looks like he could be a finisher, 20 goals looks possible..

Hydromonkey

Video of Nabil El Zhar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Fn-OKuwVU

Certainly likes his stepovers.

Apparently he did very well at the world youth championship (link), worth a try for £200,000

p.pete

The price is right, hope he's better then that video suggests though - awful!

mike65

Kuyt will be in the squad for tomorrow.

Mike.

Chardee MacDennis

i read an article about Alonso being the man to make way from the midfield rather than Stevie out to the wing. so i reckon the team will look like this tomorrow:

---

Reina

---

Finnan

---

Hypia----Carragher---Riise

---

Sissoko

---

Gerrard

---

Pennant

---

Mark Gonzales

---

Bellamy

---

Crouch

---

el rabitos

carra and riise out for 2 weeks

risse - twisted ankle

carra - strained ankle ligaments

Tusky

el rabitos wrote:

carra and riise out for 2 weeks

risse - twisted ankle

carra - strained ankle ligaments

Finnan---Hypia---Agger---Aurilio

Good chance for Agger & Aurilio to impress.

Zapp Brannigan

Tusky wrote:

Finnan---Hypia---Agger---Aurilio

Good chance for Agger & Aurilio to impress.

didnt see the match but I heard Aurelio was poor. Which surpised me because when I saw him in the Charity Shield he seemed very good.

It will be nice to see Agger get a run out, as he impressed me in the Charity Shield considering he had no pre-season. Warnock will also get a look in at LB.