Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009

Tusky

event wrote: »

do they play well together though?

i thought they are both quite similar and am not too sure how they would play.

will see more at euro 2008 im sure though

Not really that similar. Villa drops much deeper I would say. Like Torres, he is very clinical, good in the air and can score from difficult angles.

zing

Mr Alan wrote: »

Ha Ha Ha....this has to be a pisstake?

http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=506917

Looks like it came to nothing either way. 'twould appear that Ancelotti is on his way to the bridge.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3645403,00.html

Chardee MacDennis

zing wrote: »

Looks like it came to nothing either way. 'twould appear that Ancelotti is on his way to the bridge.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3645403,00.html

or not!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7434461.stm

missingtime

event wrote: »

do they play well together though?

i thought they are both quite similar and am not too sure how they would play.

will see more at euro 2008 im sure though

They said the same bout rooney and tevez though.
It is an exciting prospect..torres AND villa
Christ! Thats mental.

Tusky

Looks like the Dossena deal is done.

It has not been made official yet, but Andrea Dossena can almost certainly be considered a Liverpool player according to his agent Federico Pastorello.

The 26-year-old full-back has been linked to the Reds for some time now and, despite a few hiccups in the negotiations with Udinese, he should be playing at Anfield next season.

“Everything is confirmed and we have already exchanged all the documents via fax. The deal is practically done,” explained Pastorello.

Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez will pay around £7m, although the Friulani are yet to confirm the deal. Dossena is expected to undergo a medical at Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon.

Dossena has been outstanding this season, proving to be one of Serie A’s best full-backs. In his 35 appearances he managed to hit the back of the net twice while delivering plenty of assists for the Zebrette strikers.

However, the former Verona and Treviso player didn’t manage to persuade Italy boss Roberto Donadoni to take him to Euro 2008. This means that he will have more time to prepare for his new adventure on Merseyside.

The Friulani are now planning to find a valid replacement and Coach Pasquale Marino has already tipped Luca Antonini as the possible capture. Antonini is currently co-owned by Milan and Empoli, and would be delighted at the possibility of joining the Zebrette.

~Rebel~

Tusky wrote: »

Looks like the Dossena deal is done.

excellent stuff, nice to have the backline fully sorted finally (in theory). Will be good to have a bit of offensive bite as well. Also to be spending 7mill on a fullback is a decent sign for the kitty, as well as Rafa's future.

Tusky

~Rebel~ wrote: »

excellent stuff, nice to have the backline fully sorted finally (in theory). Will be good to have a bit of offensive bite as well. Also to be spending 7mill on a fullback is a decent sign for the kitty, as well as Rafa's future.

Not really. We needed two full backs and we got two, for 7m. We wont be able to judge until we see how much he spends on other areas.

~Rebel~

Tusky wrote: »

Not really. Not really. We needed two full backs and we got two, for 7m. We wont be able to judge until we see how much he spends on other areas.

i've decided this summer to be an eternal optimist. regardless what happens im gonna try and find the good in it, the ray of sunshine to make me believe the next Torres or Mascherano is right around the corner, waiting poised in his liverpool jersey ready to set Anfield alight! So, like, shuddup man..ya basterd

Tusky

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i've decided this summer to be an eternal optimist. regardless what happens im gonna try and find the good in it, the ray of sunshine to make me believe the next Torres or Mascherano is right around the corner, waiting poised in his liverpool jersey ready to set Anfield alight! So, like, shuddup man..ya basterd

I'm gonna moan my way through to September! Unless we sign Silva.

shatners basoon

missingtime wrote: »

They said the same bout rooney and tevez though.
It is an exciting prospect..torres AND villa
Christ! Thats mental.

Well we'll all hope that they do well for Spain then and then we'll naturally progress in hoping that we sign him! Another good striker is needed though, especially if Crouch goes, which is likely. Not to mention the fact is that if Torres gets injured; we'll be screwed!

King John V

shatners basoon wrote: »

Well we'll all hope that they do well for Spain then and then we'll naturally progress in hoping that we sign him! Another good striker is needed though, especially if Crouch goes, which is likely. Not to mention the fact is that if Torres gets injured; we'll be screwed!

Agree with the need for another striker, if only to provide a few more options. Villa's certainly most people's expensive dream signing for the role. A prospect in the reserves, Nemeth is being touted as a good squad striker for next season. Voronin will probably be there next season. 5 goals in about 19 appearances (most as a sub) can hardly be complained about if he's the third choice option. So like Rebel, I'll stay optimistic myself.

jesus_thats_gre

Eh Kuyt is still gonna be there too lads...

IrishMike

Could try Riise in a strikers role

Thanx 4 The Fish

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Eh Kuyt is still gonna be there too lads...

Yeah but reckon he will be played as a winger.

zing

King John V wrote: »

Nemeth is being touted as a good squad striker for next season. Voronin will probably be there next season.

Nemeth looks great alright and hopefully the 7 subs change will give the likes of him and some of the fringe players more of a chance.

As for Voronin - there's been a few clubs linked with him so I'd say he'll be gone. Itandje also looks to be on the way out after just the one season.

zing

There's a good few reports coming out this evening that we're ready to go back to Villa with a revised bid. Some say 12m others say 15m - I'd hazard a guess at somewhere between the two unless Rafa wants to get this done and dusted now that the internationals are over and he's not picked up injuries, etc.. Crouch may be included in that revised offer.

Dont be at yourself

From goal.com:

Contrary to earlier reports that Valencia valued their star David Villa at €40 million, the Daily Mail reports that he could leave the club for as little as £17 million...

The Spanish international is being watched by Real Madrid, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, with Arsenal - a club he singled out for praise last month - also outside contenders for his signature.

17 million sterling is a lot of money to pay for a striker, considering we already have Torres, and have a real need for a top-class attacking midfielder. We couldnt compete with the likes of Real financially anyway...

mormank

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

From goal.com:



17 million sterling is a lot of money to pay for a striker, considering we already have Torres, and have a real need for a top-class attacking midfielder. We couldnt compete with the likes of Real financially anyway...

i love the use of two different currencies in your post for effect. he isnt worth €40 million, its closer to £17!!!

and i thought bein a pool fan meant you had to be an eternal optimist rebel!!!

zing

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/footballnation/football-news/2008/06/04/premier-big-guns-in-battle-for-ramsey-91466-21019278/

Reckons we'll throw in loans of Anderson & Hamill into the pot for a revised bid for Ramsey

EDIT: Everton also in the race now according to BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/cardiff_city/7433277.stm

IrishMike

£17m for Villa and you are having second thoughts?
We should be biting the hand off of Valencia for that money.
Give them £20m and take Aimar aswell.
That would make me a very happy panda!

King John V

They could be in with a good shout with that revised offer. He certainly looked sharpish after coming on against Porstmouth in the FA cup final.

IrishMike

Elsewhere, and Aston Villa manager Martin O'Naill wants £8m plus Peter Crouch if he is to allow Gareth Barry a move to Liverpool. The Mirror believes this is what O'Neill will tell Rafa Benitez when he makes an improved offer for the England midfielder.

Apparently, O'Neill believes Barry is worth at least £15m and will only do business if Crouch is thrown into the equation. It is reported Liverpool are willing to use Jermaine Pennant in a player-plus-cash deal, but that Villa are not keen on this proposal.

£8m + a player with only 1 year left on his contract seems like a good bit of business to me

King John V

If Villa came for less than £20m that would truly be something special. Xabi going to Juventus would practically finance the deal by itself. Seems suspiciously good to be true but who knows.

machiavellianme

IrishMike wrote: »

£8m + a player with only 1 year left on his contract seems like a good bit of business to me

especially for someone as versatile as Barry. Gives us defensive and midfield options and seems to be capable of chipping in a few goals too. It'd be like having another more defensive Stevie.

zing

King John V wrote: »

If Villa came for less than £20m yhat would truly be something special. Xabi going to Juventus would practically finance the deal by itself. Seems suspiciously good to be true but who knows.

On the finance side - the guy who reported our interest on RAWK claimed our initial (only so far?) bid had failed because of the way the deal was structured - in this case Valencia wanting most of the fee up front (whereas we presumably wanted to do some of it based on incentives/performance/etc..). Given that they are offering him at such a low fee I suspect they'd still be in a position to demand a large chunk of the fee up front as there'll be no shortage of interest in him.

IrishMike

**** it lets do a whip around.
Alan give me the first €1000, Torres would want you to!

King John V

zing wrote: »

On the finance side - the guy who reported our interest on RAWK claimed our initial (only so far?) bid had failed because of the way the deal was structured - in this case Valencia wanting most of the fee up front (whereas we presumably wanted to do some of it based on incentives/performance/etc..). Given that they are offering him at such a low fee I suspect they'd still be in a position to demand a large chunk of the fee up front as there'll be no shortage of interest in him.

They must have a few A list transfers lined up themselves when their pitching a deal like that for Villa. Surely that's too good even for the Americans to let slip away.















But, probably not .

Dont be at yourself

Valencia asking for the money up front would make sense - they've got some pretty significant financial problems apparently - they've spent a load of money on the new Mestalla, but I don't think they've found a buyer for the current one!

Perhaps one of the regular La Liga followers can shed more light on the situation.

raven136

but do all the rumors from villa himself not indicate he wants to stay in spain preferably to barca?
all the spanish football reporters such as sid lowe and balague have reported this.
Jesus him and torres would be fuc##ng amazing

kida

King John V wrote: »

They could be in with a good shout with that revised offer. He certainly looked sharpish after coming on against Porstmouth in the FA cup final.

lol - he was muck and looked so out of his depth. not saying he is not a good player but certainly was no evidence in the cup final. Love the positive spin pool fans put on everything.:pac:

zing

Didn't get to see much of the final but from the reports I saw he didn't exactly shine.

Was most likely just being put in the shop window rather than expected to make a difference in the game.

King John V

You have to be positive, Kida!!! Things are looking pretty good right now. From the highlights his overall game was average enough by his standards. He looked 'sharpish' on the few occasions Cardiff were able to get men forward. A back heel pass on the edge of the box stood out in my mind earlier. Ultimately it came to nothing but you can hardly blame the lad for the follow up play.

Have to agree with zing. His appearance did have an advertising feel about it

Tusky

raven136 wrote: »

but do all the rumors from villa himself not indicate he wants to stay in spain preferably to barca?
all the spanish football reporters such as sid lowe and balague have reported this.
Jesus him and torres would be fuc##ng amazing

No. He gave a long interview a month ago stating that he would like to play in England. He said he had lots of friends at Liverpool and liked Arsenals style of play. He also said that he would like to play under Benitez. Reina is one of his best friends also.

If we offered the asking price I think he would come to us.

hunter164

Tusky wrote: »

No. He gave a long interview a month ago stating that he would like to play in England. He said he had lots of friends at Liverpool and liked Arsenals style of play. He also said that he would like to play under Benitez. Reina is one of his best friends also.

If we offered the asking price I think he would come to us.

He'd run to us and we'd greet him with open arms!
And tell him to bring his mate Silva.

zing

The real confirmation of the Dossena deal fee around 7m
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/06/04/andrea-dossena-flies-in-to-sign-7m-liverpool-deal-100252-21021529/

Roma and barcodes leading the chase (cough) for Riise

mike65

Guardian are reporting a substantial increase for Barry - 14 million. Rafa looking to push the sale of Alonso through to fund this. Mirror still talking about 8 million + Crouch.

Also "Liverpool were reported last night to have approached Manchester City's chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, regarding him moving to Anfield. The move would cast doubt on the future of Rick Parry, who was called upon to resign by the club's co-owner Tom Hicks last season."

zing the Echo is not Official!

Mike.

King John V

Tusky wrote: »

No. He gave a long interview a month ago stating that he would like to play in England. He said he had lots of friends at Liverpool and liked Arsenals style of play. He also said that he would like to play under Benitez. Reina is one of his best friends also.

If we offered the asking price I think he would come to us.

hunter164 wrote: »

And tell him to bring his mate Silva.

Have to agree with that. For £17m Spurs and Arsenal would be in contention but in a straight choice the strong Spanish contingent in Liverpool would have to play a big factor.

zAbbo

Tusky wrote: »

No. He gave a long interview a month ago stating that he would like to play in England. He said he had lots of friends at Liverpool and liked Arsenals style of play. He also said that he would like to play under Benitez. Reina is one of his best friends also.

If we offered the asking price I think he would come to us.

I've no doubt once a bid is accepted, Villa would come to Liverpool, there's just such a strong Spanish contingent that it would be a simple decision for him.

The problem would be agreeing a price with Valencia, and agreeing how that would be paid.

I think we can easily pay €20-25m for him, if there's only a small amount of that paid upfront and based on staggered payments + clauses

Handsome Bob

Tusky wrote: »

No. He gave a long interview a month ago stating that he would like to play in England. He said he had lots of friends at Liverpool and liked Arsenals style of play. He also said that he would like to play under Benitez. Reina is one of his best friends also.

If we offered the asking price I think he would come to us.

Good ol' Reina! He's best friends with the two finest spanish strikers, maybe even the two finest strikers in europe, that there is!

If Villa came it would be like a dream. Back when we signed Torres I was disappointed (I know, I know!) because I wanted Villa. I felt Villa was the better all round player (though Torres crushed the myth that he couldn't add enough goals to his game). But I still think that Villa is the better finisher. The goals I have seen him score just on instinct have been amazing. He's like a Torres/ Fowler hybrid! (In terms of all round play and finishing instinct respectively)

Tusky

zAbbo wrote: »

I've no doubt once a bid is accepted, Villa would come to Liverpool, there's just such a strong Spanish contingent that it would be a simple decision for him.

The problem would be agreeing a price with Valencia, and agreeing how that would be paid.

I think we can easily pay €20-25m for him, if there's only a small amount of that paid upfront and based on staggered payments + clauses

The only thing that worries me is that we have supposedly had a bid turned down for Villa because of the way the deal was structured. We also had a bid turned down for Ramsey because of the way the bid was structured. And finally, we had a bid turned down for Barry because of the way the bid was structured.

zing

mike65 wrote: »

Also "Liverpool were reported last night to have approached Manchester City's chief executive, Alistair Mackintosh, regarding him moving to Anfield. The move would cast doubt on the future of Rick Parry, who was called upon to resign by the club's co-owner Tom Hicks last season."

Read that last night and there can't be too much to it if the papers aren't making a huge deal about it. If they have approached someone then Gillet must have changed his tune about Parry - remember Hicks seemed to want Ian Ayre to take over from Parry so a third party could be a compromise by both of them.

zing the Echo is not Official!

What ? That's sacrilegious that is

hunter164

Tusky wrote: »

The only thing that worries me is that we have supposedly had a bit turned down for Villa because of the way the deal was structured. We also had a big turned down for Ramsey because of the way the bid was structured. And finally, we had a bid turned down for Barry because of the way the bid was structured.

That's just Rafa trying to get a good a deal as possible.

Tusky

hunter164 wrote: »

That's just Rafa trying to get a good a deal as possible.

If they are offering Villa for 17m just pay it! We are about to pay 15m for Gareth Barry for gods sake!

zing

Tusky wrote: »

The only thing that worries me is that we have supposedly had a bit turned down for Villa because of the way the deal was structured. We also had a big turned down for Ramsey because of the way the bid was structured. And finally, we had a bid turned down for Barry because of the way the bid was structured.

Rick mustn't have taken his holidays early this year so. Certainly still seems to be about to mess things up.

IrishMike

Tusky wrote: »

If they are offering Villa for 17m just pay it! We are about to pay 15m for Gareth Barry for gods sake!

£25m is a good price for Villa for crying out loud.
There are very very few outstanding forwards in Europe.
He is also used to playing with Torres and is a proven International player.
His age is also a positive.
Would be seriously pissed if spurs bid and we dont.
Whatever about being outbid, to not bid at all would be criminal!

Tusky

IrishMike wrote: »

£25m is a good price for Villa for crying out loud.
There are very very few outstanding forwards in Europe.
He is also used to playing with Torres and is a proven International player.
His age is also a positive.
Would be seriously pissed if spurs bid and we dont.
Whatever about being outbid, to not bid at all would be criminal!

My only problem is that he doesn't really fit into our system. It would mean either him or Gerrard playing out wide. If we change to 4-4-2 it would mean Gerrard playing on the right. Still...I dont really care about systems, I just want to watch him play every week!

zAbbo

hunter164 wrote: »

That's just Rafa trying to get a good a deal as possible.

Rafa would have little input to that end, more a case of Rick Parry (God Help us)

Although I think Rafa got his own man to negotiate the Torres deal last summer

zing

Redknapp prepared to pay 10m for Crouch.
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/frattonlatest/Harry-I-won39t-be-held.4149308.jp

10m from Pompey or 8m + Crouch for Barry ?

staker

any1 feel bad for alonso?? i think rafa undermined him constantly with his rotation policy. i know he was injured this season, was available for a lot of games but never got a look?

kaimera

staker wrote: »

any1 feel bad for alonso?? i think rafa undermined him constantly with his rotation policy. i know he was injured this season, was available for a lot of games but never got a look?

I'd rather Alonso stay and Crouch go to Pompey tbph.

Villa for ~17m...sure why not