10 Best Signings of the Season

JimiTime

Whatever way you want to do the Maths. Torres has been an outstanding signing! What a player. I'd have much preferred to see him in an Arsenal or Man U shirt though. Imagine him playing in an exciting attacking side, rather than a dull defensive one:eek: Drools.....

Jazzy

PHB wrote: »

Sorry, this is actually a list of who is the best player from those signings, not who is the best signing.

How do you know this?
Santa Cruz - 3.5 million - 18 goals
Torres - 26.5 million - 28 goals

To me, it's very clear who the better signing is, like it's just stupidly obvious.

i dunno, i think its sorta like "the best signing for their club" if ya get me. pool have been missing a top goalscorer since owen went out and Djibril "POWER DRIVE!!!" Cisse came in. Torres was exactly what liverpool needed and actually makes them a credible team that can compete with the other big 3... its just a pity that our form was completely terrible for 2 and a half months. but torres shows now that we can actually compete in the future instead of harking on pointlessly saying "this is our year".
not saying santa cruz isnt needed by blackburn, im just saying in regards to stepping their club up a level he doesnt do that as much as torres. not his fault, more the rest of the blackburn team

stick-dan

estebancambias wrote: »

Some of those inclusions are stupid!!!! Zarate has gone on a good run in the last 3/4 games but prior to that he didn't really do anything.

Why is Mascherano on the list?

You have to be joking right? You'd even ask that question. Quality springs to mind!

Tusky

To add to my earlier point, Torres only needs one more goal to equal the best ever first season of a foreign striker in the premier league.

anonymous_joe

I'm a United fan, so I can't believe I'm saying this, but... How can anyone doubt Torres deserving his place?

He was a massive gamble by Benitez, given the fact his talent was undoubted, whether he'd ever be a proven goalscorer, or whether he'd make it in the Premiership were truly major doubts.

He has brought something Liverpool have needed for a while - fear. Like Ronaldo, Henry at L'Arse, Drogba on form, players like that can be the difference on the day. Cissé wasn't of that calibre, Crouch is brilliant, but only good at scoring week-in week-out (as opposed to excellent).

Liverpool have added dimensions to themselves with the Spaniard, and have a lot to build on now. Seems pretty much perfect to me.

Mitch Connor

stick-dan wrote: »

You have to be joking right? You'd even ask that question. Quality springs to mind!

Yeah, quality signing last season:rolleyes:

stick-dan

Some-one stated above that santa-cruz was a relative unknown to these shores but maybe thats a bit of a generalisation, Santa-Cruz was very well known to those who wished to pay attention and if we are comparing the player's it's pointless because you can't put cruz beside torres. Bargain no doubt but by no means at all of the equal or better quality. Torres Undoubtidly deserves his place!No other player signed this season has made such a difference to a team. That's what it should be measured on the difference they made to the team they joined not their price. Torres was bound to be dearer because other big clubs were in for him and that allowed athletico to dictate their price because huis persuers were bound to start a bidding war.

stick-dan

Tauren wrote: »

Yeah, quality signing last season:rolleyes:

Correction quality loan last season! Signed this season!:D:cool:

PHB

i dunno, i think its sorta like "the best signing for their club" if ya get me. pool have been missing a top goalscorer since owen went out and Djibril "POWER DRIVE!!!" Cisse came in. Torres was exactly what liverpool needed and actually makes them a credible team that can compete with the other big 3... its just a pity that our form was completely terrible for 2 and a half months. but torres shows now that we can actually compete in the future instead of harking on pointlessly saying "this is our year".

Sorry, but that would make Carrick the signing of the season last year.

Charlie

Another mention for Beye, quality quality signing. If I was trying to show someone how a full back should play, this is the man I would direct them to watch.

How is Lassana Diarra not on this list. Truly awesome player and I genuinely believe he would have given Arsenal a massive boost when they needed it most. Had they not sold him I think they would still be contending for the title.

Technically Defoe is not a signing, he is on loan, but that's just being padentic.

Can't agree with people putting forward Kenwyn Jones. He's been good, but went missing for large parts of the season.

I would agree with PHB. The amount of money involved in a transfer is a determining factor (is that not why people are slting Bent as a bad singning??). That's why if Ronaldo went to Real for 100 million, he would never be the best signing of that given season. Torres has been quality.

For £26 million you could have gotten Petrov, Santa Cruz, Sagna, and Yakubu, is that not an indication itself? Torres has been superb for Liverpool, but they had to pay for that. Put it this way, had he only scored half those goals this season people would be questioning the amount paid, so in a sense, he's only justifying what Liverpool paid for him.

DerekD Goldfish

What are the changes of Santa-Cruz doing a benni mccarthy next year?

citytillidie

PHB wrote: »

Rafa said that the total cost of the deal, i.e. the net spend, was 20 million.

Torres went to Liverpool for 26.5 million
Luis Garcia went to A. Madrid for 6.5 million

Garcia went for 4m

The fee is 20M for Torres i dunno where people have been pulling 26M from.

Yes there is claues in Torres contract that can add up to more like he has scored 30 goals so far this season and Liverpool have had to pay an extra £400000, just like United are still paying for clauses in Rooney contract with Everton

astrofool

It was 20m + Luis Garica, so whatever Garcia was valued at is the difference.

Jazzy

PHB wrote: »

Sorry, but that would make Carrick the signing of the season last year.

and they won the league didnt they? he was the only real signing that summer too wasnt he? going against a chelski that spent tons and tons on 2 of europes best (scheva and ballack) as well as the rest of their squad. in the season before utd were out of the race for the PL quite early considering and then the next year they buy one player and win the league. pretty good signing id say. oh, they got evra and vidic too in january but the were comparitively poor for their settling in period.

ppl just liked giving carrick stick and saying Utd over spent on him. but these are the same reactionary ppl that once said ronaldo will never make it so u can draw your own conclusions from that.

Chardee MacDennis

Deleted User wrote: »

Yea that reminded me, my friend pointed out that most, not all, but most of his goals this season were against teams in the bottom half of the league.

and as we all know goals against teams in the bottom half dont count.... :rolleyes:

Tusky wrote: »

Posted on another forum. Torres has scored against 15 of the 19 Premiership teams.

1. Chelsea – 1 (league)
2. Arsenal -1(CL)
3. Everton – 1 (league)
4. Pompey – 2 (league)
5. Blackburn – 1 (league)
6. Westham – 3 (league)
7. Spurs – 1 (league)
8. Newcastle – 1 (league)
9. Middlesbrough – 4 (league)
10. Sunderland – 1 (league)
11. Wigan – 1 (league)
12. Reading – 1+ 3 (league/ Carling Cup)
13. Bolton – 1 (league)
14. Fulham – 1 (League)
15. Derby – 3 (league)

Hero Of College

Tevez- On a free, has been influential at United.
Benayoun- 4.5mill, scores a good haul, brings variety to deadlocked games.
Diarra- biggest mistake Wenger ever made. Another one of Pompeys cheapo brilliants.
Skrtel- Has done a Vidic on it- but don't expect Dunphy to notice.
Mauro Zarate- has got Birmingham 4 points in 2 games- on a free. 4 points that will keep them up.
Fernando Torres: Indispensable to Liverpool this year. Only down the list cos he cost a lot.
Rocque Santa Cruz- 15 league goals, cost peanuts, scores spectacular ones too.
Ryan Babel- even if he only played one game, the Arsenal game was worth £10m to Liverpool anyways. Throw in another 7 goals and you're onto a winner.
Yakubu- Cost a lot but has been central to Evertons push for 4th.
Paul McShane. Cost **** all, has done **** all, which means he has done nothing wrong....just seeing if you were still paying attention.

Hero Of College

Jazzy wrote: »

and they won the league didnt they? he was the only real signing that summer too wasnt he? going against a chelski that spent tons and tons on 2 of europes best (scheva and ballack) as well as the rest of their squad. in the season before utd were out of the race for the PL quite early considering and then the next year they buy one player and win the league. pretty good signing id say. oh, they got evra and vidic too in january but the were comparitively poor for their settling in period.

ppl just liked giving carrick stick and saying Utd over spent on him. but these are the same reactionary ppl that once said ronaldo will never make it so u can draw your own conclusions from that.

Ballack came on a FREE from Munich.

Shevchenko and Ballack actually had a cost-average of LESS than what United paid for Michael Carried I mean Michael Carrick.

Call_me_al

Call_me_al wrote: »

and as we all know goals against teams in the bottom half dont count.... :rolleyes:

Please read the thread before u quote out of context. That remark was in retort to someone sayin "who has Santa Cruz scored against"


But as I can see he's done well. His anonymity against United made me believe that without reading too much up on it.

Chardee MacDennis

Hero Of College wrote: »

Ballack came on a FREE from Munich.

Shevchenko and Ballack actually cost less than Carrick and Hargreaves- FACT.

stop saying FACT please. also i doubt they did when you take into account the cost of ownership....

herbieflowers

Jazzy wrote: »

and they won the league didnt they? he was the only real signing that summer too wasnt he? going against a chelski that spent tons and tons on 2 of europes best (scheva and ballack) as well as the rest of their squad. in the season before utd were out of the race for the PL quite early considering and then the next year they buy one player and win the league. pretty good signing id say. oh, they got evra and vidic too in january but the were comparitively poor for their settling in period.

ppl just liked giving carrick stick and saying Utd over spent on him. but these are the same reactionary ppl that once said ronaldo will never make it so u can draw your own conclusions from that.

that's a ridiculous conclusion. True, Carrick was a good signing but it wasn't solely because he was signed that Man U won the league, it was a numner of things - solid defence, Ronaldo coming into his own, etc etc

Chardee MacDennis

Deleted User wrote: »

PHB wrote: »

Also he scored quite a few goals against teams when Liverpool were just dominating. Something that doesn't happen to Blackburn.

Yea that reminded me, my friend pointed out that most, not all, but most of his goals this season were against teams in the bottom half of the league.

Deleted User wrote: »

Please read the thread before u quote out of context. That remark was in retort to someone sayin "who has Santa Cruz scored against"

there's your quote in context and it still sounds like you're talking about Torres so . maybe you can be more specific next time and not so quick to jump down peoples throat.....

citytillidie

astrofool wrote: »

It was 20m + Luis Garica, so whatever Garcia was valued at is the difference.

Madrid paid for Garcia

Hero Of College

citytillidie wrote: »

Madrid paid for Garcia

Torres said in The Game podcast that Liverpool paid 20 mill for him. Garcia also cost Madrid 14.5 which gave Liverpool a net price on Torres of 16.5.

Let the haters chew on that.

PHB

That's not what Rafa said though, it was posted in the Liverpool thread that the total cost of the transfers had been 20 million.

Chardee MacDennis

Hero Of College wrote: »

Torres said in The Game podcast that Liverpool paid 20 mill for him. Garcia also cost Madrid 14.5 which gave Liverpool a net price on Torres of 16.5.

Let the haters chew on that.

garcia didnt cost 14.5, he cost 4.5, liverpool then paid 20m, with the fee rising to 26.5 depending on appearances and winning the league or cl etc....

therefore Torres cost us 20m up front, potentially 26.5m. with Garcia being sold separately for 4.5. the deal was structured this way due to the fact that torres minimum release clause was 26.5m (which athletico would need to be activated so they could appease the fans), but liverpool wanted a player exchange.

PHB

Jazzy wrote: »

and they won the league didnt they? he was the only real signing that summer too wasnt he? going against a chelski that spent tons and tons on 2 of europes best (scheva and ballack) as well as the rest of their squad. in the season before utd were out of the race for the PL quite early considering and then the next year they buy one player and win the league. pretty good signing id say. oh, they got evra and vidic too in january but the were comparitively poor for their settling in period.

ppl just liked giving carrick stick and saying Utd over spent on him. but these are the same reactionary ppl that once said ronaldo will never make it so u can draw your own conclusions from that.

Hey, if we're using this criteria, then Carrick was defo the signing of the season. But that's not how people do it. Also, if you were going on that criteria, Torres hasn't actually changed how well Liverpool have done, they are in a pretty similar position to where they were last season.

Call_me_al

Call_me_al wrote: »

there's your quote in context and it still sounds like you're talking about Torres so . maybe you can be more specific next time and not so quick to jump down peoples throat.....

joe123 wrote:

You cant compare Santa cruz's goal tally to torres.

The simple fact is when teams go out to play liverpool (apart from the big three) they set there team out to defend a HELL of a lot more than they would if they were playing blackburn. Thus torres would be marked tighter and have less space than santa cruz would.

How many times do you see a player bag 15 goals for one club, he moves to a bigger club and it just doesnt happen. Alot of its down to teams tactics.

Deleted User wrote:

The counter to that is that Torres gets better service and playing in a teamlike Liverpool means opposition defences have more players to watch out for.

Conveniently ignored that didnt you.

Chardee MacDennis

Deleted User wrote: »

Conveniently ignored that didnt you.

can't say i did....:pac:

Hero Of College

Call_me_al wrote: »

garcia didnt cost 14.5, he cost 4.5, liverpool then paid 20m, with the fee rising to 26.5 depending on appearances and winning the league or cl etc....

therefore Torres cost us 20m up front, potentially 26.5m. with Garcia being sold separately for 4.5. the deal was structured this way due to the fact that torres minimum release clause was 26.5m (which athletico would need to be activated so they could appease the fans), but liverpool wanted a player exchange.

That was a typo. For the love of jaysus......

Maybe we can send Atletico tape recordings of Peter Collins and Andy Gray so as to give Atletico the impression that Torres never played.....:rolleyes:

Mr Alan

good work PHB, wat does Carrick have to do with this thread? nothing.

Torres has undeniably been the signing of the season-value for money is only a tiny fraction of wats important when judging a signing.

but dont let that bother ya. carry on arguing santa cruz is the best signing this year. or talking about Carrick.

MrJoeSoap

Stern John, cost about -£6m and banged in the goals when nobody else would.

Jazzy

PHB wrote: »

Also, if you were going on that criteria, Torres hasn't actually changed how well Liverpool have done, they are in a pretty similar position to where they were last season.

yeah good point. i didnt really figure in the fact that we havent really done much better this season then we have in 05.
spose if u were to mathematical then Santa Cruz is the better signing. still bloody glad we got torres instead of him

Seaneh

Alexandre Pato, easily the best signing in world football this year.

18 years old and already world class!

pickarooney

For me, the signings of the season would be those players have made the most difference to a club. In that respect Torres is a worthless signing. Liverpool are still a distant fourth in the league and still 'fluking' their way through to the latter stages of the Champions' League.
Signing a player for ten, twenty, thirty million is just fun and games for the richer clubs, they can all easily absorb the financial loss of a Veron or a Jeffers (sold for the price of a Yukubu, no?) whereas the borderline clubs are forced to take risks paying over the odds for players of uncertain pedigree in a bid to avoid the death-drop to the Championship where anyone and everyone can wind up in the promotion or relegation fights (would that the Premiership had half the drama).

People sniggered and rolled their eyes when Sunderland pissed six million into the gutter on Kenwyne Jones, but his comparably modest goal return and constant hustle will save the Black Cats more than the price of Fernando Torres by keeping them alive to fight another day in the transfer window, with more credibility and pull this time.

My balls-on-the-bacon-slicer signing of the season is the Trinidadian.

Woodgate, had he arrived in August could have been the player to give a lost Spurs some direction in the grim period when the Tottenham élite stood about waiting for Ledley to come back and lead them or Jol to lose the rag and dole out some much-needed arse-kickings and his mid-season arrival has radically improved their back line. Hutton looks like the continuation of a shrewd renewal, time will tell. They needed an honest grafter or two in place of the execrable attitude of Chimbonda et al and I think next season will show this pair up as a couple of star buys,particularly if Bale gets fit and spices up their left side.

Glen Johnson and Jermaine Defoe have blossomed at Portsmouth after periods of stagnation as nearly-men in London and they, and the oft-derided Redknapp deserve credit for their sock-pulling approaches to life on the south coast. Distin on a free can't be overlooked either.

Antoine Sieberski, though he quietened down as the campaign wore on, scored vital goals early doors, goals that will be as important in Wigan's successful battle with the trap as Marcus Bent's later on. The pair came for under a penny. Bruce may have cost a shade more to bring to the JJB though he probably would have jumped ship for a lollipo, but his signing could well have been the deal-breaker in Wigan's bid for continued premiership satus.

Mr.Nice Guy

The top 10 if I was to judge it would be...

1. Fernando Torres
2. Anderson
3. Javier Mascherano
4. Carlos Tevez
5. Roque Santa Cruz
6. Jermaine Defoe
7. Martin Petrov
8. Kenwyne Jones
9. Jonathan Woodgate
10. Mauro Zarate

I'm surprised Woodgate hasn't been mentioned more. He played a big part in helping Tottenham win the Carling Cup. Not bad for a guy who'd only been there a few months.

Hero Of College

Mr Alan wrote: »

good work PHB, wat does Carrick have to do with this thread? nothing.

Torres has undeniably been the signing of the season-value for money is only a tiny fraction of wats important when judging a signing.

but dont let that bother ya. carry on arguing santa cruz is the best signing this year. or talking about Carrick.

Oh, so will the first person who mentioned carrick now have a Carrick thread in their honour??? Usually how it works around here....

Hero Of College

pickarooney wrote: »

For me, the signings of the season would be those players have made the most difference to a club. In that respect Torres is a worthless signing. Liverpool are still a distant fourth in the league and still 'fluking' their way through to the latter stages of the Champions' League.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner. Liverpool "fluking" on through to the Semis with 26 goals in 7 games and Torres, a "worthless" signing. A "distant" fourth. 4th is worth around £20m to Liverpool and Torres has got them there, so he basically paid his ass back. So Roy Keane spendt £6m on Kenlose Jones to be a distant....Fourteenth??? They might even still get relegated.

pickarooney

Hero Of College wrote: »

4th is worth around £20m to Liverpool and Torres has got them there.

They've been 4th for as long as anyone can remember. He hasn't 'got them' anywhere. They spent 26 million to secure that 20 million which is the absolute minimum they should expect from a season. Survival is worth 30 million to the league's bottom feeders.

Hero Of College wrote:

They might even still get relegated

They won't though, and that's a priceless nuance. Sunderland didn't come up aiming for the Champions League, they needed to survive. Liverpool, for all the Torres-worship (and he has been extraordinary) have failed, one again, to make any progress.

genericgoon

pickarooney wrote: »

They've been 4th for as long as anyone can remember. He hasn't 'got them' anywhere.

Well thats not true since they'd probably be 5th/6th without those goals. I think Torres has been incredibly important for Liverpool this season, as their strongest asset in previous seasons i.e their defense, has not been as formidable as usual this season. Particularly earlier in the season. Injuries played their part of course. The question is without Torres, they would of had what up front? Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin, Babel? Not awful players (except Voronin) but not prolific goalscorers either. So Torres has been an instrumental in just keeping them, at least in terms of the league, static with his large tally of goals. He has finally added a bit of bite to the Liverpool attack besides Steven Gerrard. As a Man United fan, I can't deny the kids got talent and will probably go on to do great things in the EPL and thus is an excellent piece of business for the Pool.

Tusky

fluking their way to the semis finals again. bahaha.

You've been drinking too much schweppes bitter lemon mate.

Hero Of College

genericgoon wrote: »

Well thats not true since they'd probably be 5th/6th without those goals. I think Torres has been incredibly important for Liverpool this season, as their strongest asset in previous seasons i.e their defense, has not been as formidable as usual this season. Particularly earlier in the season. Injuries played their part of course. The question is without Torres, they would of had what up front? Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin, Babel? Not awful players (except Voronin) but not prolific goalscorers either. So Torres has been an instrumental in just keeping them, at least in terms of the league, static with his large tally of goals. He has finally added a bit of bite to the Liverpool attack besides Steven Gerrard. As a Man United fan, I can't deny the kids got talent and will probably go on to do great things in the EPL and thus is an excellent piece of business for the Pool.

People like Picarooney are narrow minded- they look at Liverpool finishing 3rd and reaching a CL final in 2006/2007- so they make the assumption that a failure to improve on that in 2007/2008 means that Torres was "worthless". As you point out- even a cursory examination of the stats proved that Torres was the difference between success and failure for much of the year. Its not Torres lack of effort that has result in a failure to "progress" {you can't really hope to be getting CL semis all the time!} but a slight defensive regression and an improvement in the quality of the chasing pack.

As for the "fluking" it in Europe, thats just plain silly. You don't just bop your way through games against Inter and Arsenal with 3-0 and 4-2 agg wins.

Hero Of College

Tusky wrote: »

fluking their way to the semis finals again. bahaha.

You've been drinking too much schweppes bitter lemon mate.

Well when Everton move in with Tescos he can buy that in bulk and all!!!

leninbenjamin

Why is this a debate? there has been one outstanding Signing this season and it's been Bakary Sagna. of all the signings made this year arguably he has had the most impact on his club, and of all the players on that list frankly he's ahead of them on the road to being labelled 'world class' (at least for his position), at a fraction of the price too.

best signing of the season. no question for me.

edit:

Hero Of College wrote: »

As for the "fluking" it in Europe, thats just plain silly. You don't just bop your way through games against Inter and Arsenal with 3-0 and 4-2 agg wins.

once again they've had more than their fair share of luck though. Materazzi getting sent off (along with the other guy in the second leg for a 50-50, can't remember his name). And then getting two major penalty decisions in their favour against Arsenal, at least one of which shouldn't have gone their way.

Mr Alan

Hero, you're gonna burn yourself out pretty fast if you pick fights in every thread you post in! just a word of advice.

Xavi6

Oh look, another thread spoiled by the United/Liverpool gang :rolleyes:

"My Torres is better than your Anderson"

"Yeah well your Torres has you down in 4th. And Carrick is better"

Blah blah blah. Same shit, different day.

Mr Alan

Xavi, you just jealous City dont have a boards gang

(well they do, but your its sole member)

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Why is this a debate? there has been one outstanding Signing this season and it's been Bakary Sagna. of all the signings made this year arguably he has had the most impact on his club, and of all the players on that list frankly he's ahead of them on the road to being labelled 'world class' (at least for his position), at a fraction of the price too.

best signing of the season. no question for me.

edit:

once again they've had more than their fair share of luck though. Materazzi getting sent off (along with the other guy in the second leg for a 50-50, can't remember his name). And then getting two major penalty decisions in their favour against Arsenal, at least one of which shouldn't have gone their way.

What do you mean "once again"...against whom have Liverpool been having these great slices of "LUCK"...this is Orwellians newspeak. This is Dunphyland. Milan not up to it, lucky against Arsenal, Grant doesn't know his trade and Barcelona are weak at the back and there is strife at the Nou Camp and you can't get good coke in Dublin la-la-la-la-la-la-la....

It was the same last Season...barcelona had strife in the dressing room, Ronaldinho didn't want to know, then they were lucky to get PSV Eindhoven who were, per Giles, a "poor team" {Who had KO'd Arsenal, 2006's beaten finalists} and then they beat Chelsea and Chelsea were, per Dunphy, a "brave team"...and he had conveniently forgotten that he had described Benitez team selection as being "not on...its just not on Bill".....well.....then he said that "Liverpool had better Penalty takers, was all".....its junk.

Hero Of College

Mr Alan wrote: »

Hero, you're gonna burn yourself out pretty fast if you pick fights in every thread you post in! just a word of advice.

WHat fights??? We have a bitter bitter in here suggesting that LFC are lucky vs Arsenal and Inter Milan. I'm just putting the lad right!!

leninbenjamin

Hero Of College wrote: »

What do you mean "once again"...against whom have Liverpool been having these great slices of "LUCK"...this is Orwellians newspeak. This is Dunphyland. Milan not up to it, lucky against Arsenal, Grant doesn't know his trade and Barcelona are weak at the back and there is strife at the Nou Camp and you can't get good coke in Dublin la-la-la-la-la-la-la....

hmmm, i notice how you failed to respond to my post with any reasonable debunking of the points i made. are you saying that Arsenal not having a blatant penalty given in the first leg wasn't lucky?

Hero Of College

leninbenjamin wrote: »

hmmm, i notice how you failed to respond to my post with any reasonable debunking of the points i made. are you saying that Arsenal not having a blatant penalty given in the first leg wasn't lucky?

If I pull you by your left arm, to the left, how do you fall on your right side???

Hleb made the most of it. Just cause Baldy Liam jumped over the fence in the gantry and had a sh!t fit doesnt mean that Babel dived in the box at Anfield.

This RTE inspired ANTI LFC nonsense has got to come to and end.

They got beat 4-2. Just like the Germans, even if Hursts shot hadn't crossed the line he still burned on down the field and got a 4th.