Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2007/2008

Kulgan

Lucas

He'd want to be a wonderkid to be worth all that!

I haven't played football manager in a while

ButcherOfNog

I can see the sense in that, Plessis will be able to take over from Lucas in the junior midfielder role, and we can keep Alonso.

Did we have to give them Lucas to make up for giving them Voronin?

event

lucas to be sold?

sure i thought he was going to be class

IrishMike

Tusky wrote: »

http://www.bleskovky.sk/cl/14/252119/FUTBAL-Hamsik-do-Liverpoolu

This Slovakian site is saying that Marek Hamsik to Liverpool is a done deal. The price is 16m euro + Lucas & Voronin. I dont know anything about the guy apart from the fact that he is very very highly rated.

Lucas being sold kind of makes the Barry transfer make sense.

Would love to see this happen.
For me would kill 3 birds with 1 stone.
Get rid of Voronin and Lucas both of whom i think are a mile from a Championship winning level and you get a young player with quality.
He is like a more polished version of Babel.
He has great pace is largely 2 footed and has an excellent touch.
Can be a bit wasteful from what i have seen of him but he is a fine player.
Fee is very high though which is the only thing i would say.
He seems to be in demand
From wikiepdia

During the 2006-07 summer transfer season clubs such as Inter Milan were rumoured to be interested in buying him.[5] He later also attracted the interest of FA Premier League clubs Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United.[6] But he decided to join Napoli. Recently Juventus have showed that they will do anything to sign Hamsik. They are prepared to offer cash, plus allow Marcelo Zalayeta and Manuele Blasi to sign on permanently with Napoli.

The now mandatory youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpfjNGkhnwQ&feature=related

Lucas is worth 6-8m and voronin is worth at least a mars bar
so that values Hamsik at at 16m which is a lot
Id much MUCH prefer to see him join than bentley though who i think will be yet another 1 season wonder type player

Chardee MacDennis

he's only been at Napoli a year, looks like he had a good season though. not sure about losing Lucas.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DpfjNGkhnwQ&feature=related

edit: too fast for me IrishMike!

Tusky

IrishMike wrote: »

Would love to see this happen.
For me would kill 3 birds with 1 stone.
Get rid of Voronin and Lucas both of whom i think are a mile from a Championship winning level and you get a young player with quality.
He is like a more polished version of Babel.
He has great pace is largely 2 footed and has an excellent touch.
Can be a bit wasteful from what i have seen of him but he is a fine player.
Fee is very high though which is the only thing i would say.
He seems to be in demand
From wikiepdia



The now mandatory youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpfjNGkhnwQ&feature=related

Lucas is worth 6-8m and voronin is worth at least a mars bar
so that values Hamsik at at 16m which is a lot
Id much MUCH prefer to see him join than bentley though who i think will be yet another 1 season wonder type player

A bit like Babel ? From what I have read hes a box to box central midfielder.

Jesus Wept

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=104427&cc=3888

Says he is a midfielder... any idea where in midfield?


Napoli Italian Serie A
2007/08 Season Totals

34 games, 9 goals, 35 assists...

Melion

35 assists in 34 games :eek:

That cant be right

missingtime

and voronin is worth at least a mars bar

Ha ha ha thanks for that.
Pity if its true about lucas. I wanted him to kick ass or at least do better than anderson. If he does go i feel its due to rafa's game plan

missingtime

The-Rigger wrote: »

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=104427&cc=3888

Says he is a midfielder... any idea where in midfield?


Napoli Italian Serie A
2007/08 Season Totals

34 games, 9 goals, 35 assists...

That should read 3 assists. Mistake in the table on soccernet. Any chance he plays on the wing?!?

Chardee MacDennis

The-Rigger wrote: »

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=104427&cc=3888

Says he is a midfielder... any idea where in midfield?


Napoli Italian Serie A
2007/08 Season Totals

34 games, 9 goals, 35 assists...

:eek: 35 assists! i'd take that....

highest in the PL is cesc with 17.

Jesus Wept

Yea it seemed a bit much

Daemonic

missingtime wrote: »

That should read 3 assists. Mistake in the table on soccernet. Any chance he plays on the wing?!?

3 is poor for a player in a creative position. Kuyt had a better return than that :eek:

hunter164

I wouldn't like Lucas to leave. He's only here a season and is probably still adapting.I think it's harsh as he could become a good midfielder.

Vokes

I had thought Hamsik was a playmaker CM like Alonso...? Haven't seen him play though.

Shame about Lucas moving on if true.

Tusky

Setanta Sports News reporting that we have signed Deegan on a free. BLAH.

Chelsea sign Bosingwa, Barcelona probably signing Alves, Utd probably signing Lahm and we get Deegan.

RE*AC*TOR

Tusky wrote: »

Setanta Sports News reporting that we have signed Deegan on a free. BLAH.

Chelsea sign Bosingwa, Barcelona probably signing Alves, Utd probably signing Lamb and we get Deegan.

I'm happy enough for Rafa to gather up squad players on frees and cheap if it means we spend £20M on a player (like Torres last year), and maybe £10-15M on another player (like Bable last year).

Whether that ends up being the case or not we'll see.

hunter164

I think rafa is trying to keep what little money he has to sign someone relatively big. (hope is a wonderful thing)

jesus_thats_gre

Tusky wrote: »

Setanta Sports News reporting that we have signed Deegan on a free. BLAH.

Chelsea sign Bosingwa, Barcelona probably signing Alves, Utd probably signing Lamb and we get Deegan.

jesus...

Tusky

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

I'm happy enough for Rafa to gather up squad players on frees and cheap if it means we spend £20M on a player (like Torres last year), and maybe £10-15M on another player (like Bable last year).

Whether that ends up being the case or not we'll see.

Well cant see that happening as we have been linked with lots of players in various different positions and they have for the most part been average to good players. There have been no links to anyone in the 15-20m price range. I hope I'm wrong.

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

jesus...

thats_gre

Daemonic

My main hope is, of the 2 big transfers last year, the Torres one was speculated about, probably too big for it not to leak out. But, with the papers printing anything even remotely possible, Babel's signing was still a surprise. Hopefully all the rumours are just that again this year and we're pleasantly suprised.
Rafa likes his smoke and mirrors.

eZe^

Tusky wrote: »

Utd probably signing Lamb

That'd hardly cost that much though, about 7 quid down in your local tesco should do the trick!

eZe^

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

jesus...

He'd cost a fortune though, and at this stage he's fairly anonymous, and even if you found him, he's well past it now.. Sunday league stuff like.

Tusky

Daemonic wrote: »

My main hope is, of the 2 big transfers last year, the Torres one was speculated about, probably too big for it not to leak out. But, with the papers printing anything even remotely possible, Babel's signing was still a surprise. Hopefully all the rumours are just that again this year and we're pleasantly suprised.
Rafa likes his smoke and mirrors.

It wasnt really... we had made a couple of bids for Malouda around the 12m price range. That story was going around for most of the summer. When he chose Chelsea above us we signed Babel pretty quick. The player himself was a surprise but not the position or transfer fee.

Tusky

eZe^ wrote: »

That'd hardly cost that much though, about 7 quid down in your local tesco should do the trick!

oops! Lahm*

Dub13

I wounder why Rafa has the lads training this week.

Dont be at yourself

Lads, we don't need 'wingers' in the traditional mode. Rafa's seemingly settled on his 4-2-3-1 system, a system is also used with regularity, and success, at Valencia. It gets the best out of Torres, Gerrard, Babel, Macherano and Alonso, so I can't seem him switching to a 4-4-2 with wingers.

With that in mind, I cant see us moving for Bentley or (shudder) Downing. Queresma is a possibility, but his attitude leaves a little to be desired, and Rafa has been making noises about temperment being the most important thing. David Silva of Valencia, Diego of Werder Bremen or perhaps even Aimar of relegated Zaragoza would all fit the 4-2-3-1 system perfectly.

Rumours are we're in talks with Valencia, who value Silva at 16 million. Arsenal are in for Diego, and surely we could match them. Rafa has previously made attempts to sign Aimar, and he'll be available, and probably on the cheap too. For me, any one of those players are buyable and would improve our attacking positions.

Tusky

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Lads, we don't need 'wingers' in the traditional mode. Rafa's seemingly settled on his 4-2-3-1 system, a system is also used with regularity, and success, at Valencia. It gets the best out of Torres, Gerrard, Babel, Macherano and Alonso, so I can't seem him switching to a 4-4-2 with wingers.

With that in mind, I cant see us moving for Bentley or (shudder) Downing. Queresma is a possibility, but his attitude leaves a little to be desired, and Rafa has been making noises about temperment being the most important thing. David Silva of Valencia, Diego of Werder Bremen or perhaps even Aimar of relegated Zaragoza would all fit the 4-2-3-1 system perfectly.

Rumours are we're in talks with Valencia, who value Silva at 16 million. Arsenal are in for Diego, and surely we could match them. Rafa has previously made attempts to sign Aimar, and he'll be available, and probably on the cheap too. For me, any one of those players are buyable and would improve our attacking positions.

We played 4-2-3-1 for less than half of the season. Its entirely possible that Rafa started playing that way because it gets the best out of what we currently have. Doesnt mean we dont need traditional wingers. I also dont think the 4-2-3-1 formation would work at all with anyone but Torres at the helm. Can you see Crouch, Kuyt or Voronin getting on the end of Gerrards through balls ?

We need a plan B.

IrishMike

Tusky wrote: »

We played 4-2-3-1 for less than half of the season. Its entirely possible that Rafa started playing that way because it gets the best out of what we currently have. Doesnt mean we dont need traditional wingers. I also dont think the 4-2-3-1 formation would work at all with anyone but Torres at the helm. Can you see Crouch, Kuyt or Voronin getting on the end of Gerrards through balls ?

We need a plan B.

4-2-3-1 would work well with another striker who can hold the ball up though.
Crouch is on his way as is voronin.
We are obviously going to be buying another striker so why not buy another
player who can hold the ball up so we can use the same formation for the entire year?
I know im like a broken record but Jones from sunderland would be the
perfect signing for our #2 striker.
Similiar in ways to Torres but offers something different which would
allow him to change a game.

We badly need attacking players, Babel is still not at the level to be first choice.
Kuyt should be a squad player and not first choice.
Honestly think Liverpool need 6 players to challenge for the league.
Backup goalkeeper.
2 Full backs
2 Wide players
1 Striker

Thats persuming riise, pennant, crouch, carson, kewell etc are all gone.
Could also see Finnan being close to leaving too as he has been awful this year.
Surely the sale of those players would bring in enough cash to cover the full backs and 1 wide position.
Then another 30m would buy a quality winger, backup striker and a bosman goalkeeper would give you a really strong squad.

Trampas

Anyone know what the price of the new jersey is going to be?

zing

Degen confirmed
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N159977080520-0812.htm

prendy

IrishMike wrote: »

Thats persuming riise, pennant, crouch, carson, kewell etc are all gone.
Could also see Finnan being close to leaving too as he has been awful this year.
.

i think Finnans injurys were why he wasnt playing regularly. i still think he'll play a part in a title tilt.

Boom_Bap

zing wrote: »

Degen confirmed
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N159977080520-0812.htm

Dont know much about this fella....but thank god for the Europa Championship where
a)we can watch football during the summer
b)get to see Degen in action
c)speculate about which players from which national sides will be moving

raven136

the game podcast had balague saying that rafa had signed another wingback along with degen already.He also says that Barry will be on his way and another striker and thats it.

IrishMike

Bit of info about Degan
http://www.worldcup365.com/profile/0,16726,8386_1216673,00.html

Degen is extremely fast with a seemingly endless energy supply which lets him run all day. He gets forward frequently and delivers precise crosses which cause opposition defences no end of difficulties.

Reading a few comments about him and it looks as if he will be a squad player rather
than first choice. Good offensively but not great defensively.
He looks like a gay right footed version of Riise.

IrishMike

raven136 wrote: »

the game podcast had balague saying that rafa had signed another wingback along with degen already.He also says that Barry will be on his way and another striker and thats it.

Well if that is true then Rafas hands have obviously been tied due to lack of funds.
Will mean another season of finishing 4th as the squad we have cant really
compete without 2 more quality additions.
Hope its not true

Crapjob Sean

Finnan should stop acting the bollix now and make himself available for Ireland again.
A joke's a joke.

raven136

the boardroom sh#t must be sorted out or we will be left miles behind.Im glad we sign players like degen and barry as every title aspiring team needs good squad players.But we cant be left standing as Chelsea buy Boswinga and rumored deco,united go for benzema or berbatov and Arsenal Toure and Eto.

We need to be able to buy a quality player or two or suddenly the thought of a return to la liga will appear great to rafa.We will sign sh#t in comparison to the other 3 and still the media will blame rafa's rotation when we fall away.

I heard someone say the his average net spend is 20-25 mill every summer,bloody keane got double that in his first season.This could be another gloomy summer(hopefully the rumors of silva will turn out to be true and you can discard everything ive just written:D)

~Rebel~

Can look at a bit of Degen in action Here. There's a video section on the right. Not massively impressive, but seems to only be from 2 or 3 internationals. Just try and ignore the pictures!

Could see him largely as a game changer, the way Barca used to use Beletti, bringing him on for Oleguer when they needed a goal.

IrishMike

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/05/17/liverpool-fc-eye-swoop-for-top-italian-andreas-dossena-100252-20923581/

Anyone know anything about him?
Says he is a left back/left wing back who loves to get forward.
Same seems to be true of Degan.
Never heard of either of these players to be honest but then again i had never
heard of Skyrtl or Agger.
Overlapping fullbacks would be a huge addition to the team as the formation we play
means we have no real width with Babel and Kuyt cutting inside all the time.

IrishMike

Pretty informative stat

Papers Rumour Accuracy For Liverpool

Paper Right Total Num Accuracy
The Guardian 7 15 46.67%
Daily Record 1 3 33.33%
The Independent 9 28 32.14%
The Sun 26 98 26.53%
Daily Mail 14 53 26.42%
Daily Telegraph 4 17 23.53%
The Express 9 39 23.08%
Daily Star 12 66 18.18%
The Times 7 41 17.07%
Daily Mirror 21 145 14.48%

MementoMori

From the BBC website

Liverpool are close to signing Udinese's £8m-rated left-back Andrea Dossena. (Various)

Don't know anything about him but he's an Italian defender - always a good thing, always he was Rafa's first choice so that's a positive, plus seems like he can get forward (wouldn't have been played at wing back if not I presume?)

"Renowned for his ability to get forward into attacking positions, Dossena has featured at both left back and wing back for Udinese, who finished seventh in Serie A last season."

Seems like the LB and RB position are on there way to being sorted for £8m with two attacking options. Not bad IMO. If this is the case, then seems like at least there is the possibility of biggish name signings for the other open spots in the squad. Dossena looks like he'd be first choice for LB, while Degen offers squad depth and would be competingg stongly for a place while offering something slightly different in the position.

"His strength is going forward," Anfield manager Rafael Benitez told Liverpool's website.

"He is an offensive player with great energy and a winning mentality.

I'm pleased by this.

Also as regards third choice keeper - possibly second? {from the Echo article}

Meanwhile, reserve team goalkeeper David Martin has signed a new contract with the club which will keep him at Anfield until June 2010.The 22-year-old has yet to make a first-team appearance since joining the club from MK Dons in January 2006 although he did make the bench when Reading came to Anfield for a Carling Cup clash in October later that year.

Anyone see him in action for the reserves this season. I assume he has the potential to be of premiership standard? Anyone any insights to share. Could he replace Idtanje as number two keeper

Dub13

IrishMike wrote: »

Pretty informative stat

Papers Rumour Accuracy For Liverpool

Paper Right Total Num Accuracy
The Guardian 7 15 46.67%
Daily Record 1 3 33.33%
The Independent 9 28 32.14%
The Sun 26 98 26.53%
Daily Mail 14 53 26.42%
Daily Telegraph 4 17 23.53%
The Express 9 39 23.08%
Daily Star 12 66 18.18%
The Times 7 41 17.07%
Daily Mirror 21 145 14.48%

Were did you pick this up from...?

Chardee MacDennis

MementoMori wrote: »

Seems like the LB and RB position are on there way to being sorted for £8m with two attacking options. Not bad IMO.

tbh thats not bad if we sort our those positions for 8m.

Anyone see him in action for the reserves this season. I assume he has the potential to be of premiership standard? Anyone any insights to share. Could he replace Idtanje as number two keeper

i have seen him in the reserves a few times, seems a bit error prone but has time to develop a bit more. I reckon Itandje will move on this summer as well.

anyone know what the story is with Mihaylov, he didnt make one appearance for FC Twente according to wikipedia.

MementoMori

the game podcast had balague saying that rafa had signed another wingback along with degen already.He also says that Barry will be on his way and another striker and thats it.

Well this appears to be 25%, if not 50% accurate already. Matters depend greatly on who the striker would be. But what about the wide players Rafa? What about the wide players?

If Barry comes to us and Carson goes to Villa what would the cash amount be? Surely utter maximum of £10m, more likely in the £6m to £8m range especially given we bid £10m already. Don't think this would be a bad bit of business at all.

Assume £7m for Barry, with £8m for Degen and Dossena, that would take the net spend to £15m for the summer.

Surely this would leave us with a solid wedge of cash for a striker and at least one wide player? Preferably right-sided.

[OT] This transfer speculation is driving me spare. Mad. Nuts. How many days til the premiership kicks off again?

Chardee MacDennis

no way we will get Barry for 7m and Carson! the transfer window hasnt even opened yet Mori, another 90 days or so till prem football again!!

any news on friendlies yet? besides the usual wrexham one...

MementoMori

Updated from the BBC website

The agent of Liverpool's reported target Albert Riera said his player has not been in contact with any Premier League clubs, but is open to offers. (BBC Sport, 1025 BST)

What do people think? Seems liek someone is looked for a move. I can't remember any rumours about Riera.

On the Carson-Barry deal :
We value Carson at £10m
Villa value Carson at £6m
Split the difference Carson = £8m

We value Barry at £12m
Villa value Barry at £18m
Split the difference Barry = £15m

£15m minus £8m => £7m cash

I think there is room for flexibility in these types of palyer plus cash deals

Villa could say - Well initially Liverpool valued Carson at £10m, we got him plus £7m for Barry, who was valued by Liverpool at £10m too, therefore we managed to up get an extra £7m out of Liverpool, for a player who wanted to come here for a player who wanted to leave. I don't know if this is feasible but I do think there is a possibility.

Man I'm so productive today.:)

Boggles

MementoMori wrote: »

We value Carson at £10m

That would make him dearer than Gordon.

Anyone confirm that he has only 12 months left on his contract and have Villa already paid some money for him?

Edit
Found it meself, they extended his contract til 2011.

Chardee MacDennis

Boggles wrote: »

That would make him dearer than Gordon.

Anyone confirm that he has only 12 months left on his contract and have Villa already paid some money for him?

Edit
Found it meself, they extended his contract til 2011.

Villa paid 2m for the loan apparently, Charlton have also paid money for his loan but i am not sure how much.

IrishMike

Dub13 wrote: »

Were did you pick this up from...?

Sorry forgot the link
http://www.footballtransferleague.co.uk/football_club.aspx?football_club=Liverpool

Website is a bit of a nightmate its so slow but is worth it.