Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009

Melion

Thats another 10m added to his pricetag.

And he hugged Torres, good job tapping him up Nando

machiavellianme

Melion wrote: »

Thats another 10m added to his pricetag.

And he hugged Torres, good job tapping him up Nando

Maybe its already agreed and kept quiet?

Tusky

machiavellianme wrote: »

Maybe its already agreed and kept quiet?

Rafa -

"If we had a lot of money to spend it would obviously be better. But if we don't it doesn't matter.

"It is not about buying the most expensive players, it is about buying the right players and we can sell some players to get the others we need.

"We have the spine of the team and we just need others in other positions.

"Some teams around us are spending £20m and £30m on one or two players. But the important thing is to get the right players and my staff are working hard to do that."

Doubt it.

MementoMori

Tusky - Could it be that Rafa is creating a smokescreen? Hoping to give the impression that Liverpool have no money and then pulling something out of the bag. I'm choosing to be optimistic until shown otherwise.

Pyjamarama

Well bang went our chances of Villa (not that we were ever actually in for him). It's a shame because I genuinely think that he'd jump at the chance to join us. Running to Nando after the hat trick... Mr. Alan will be washing his pants for the next week after that one!

Silva would be awesome though. Please please please let DIC buy the club and buy Villa and Silva as a statement of intent! One can dream...

As for Rafas statement... fup we must be REALLY broke!

redzerdrog

MementoMori wrote: »

Tusky - Could it be that Rafa is creating a smokescreen? Hoping to give the impression that Liverpool have no money and then pulling something out of the bag. I'm choosing to be optimistic until shown otherwise.

me too!!!! please please god let it be so!!!

Guy:Incognito

MementoMori wrote: »

Tusky - Could it be that Rafa is creating a smokescreen? Hoping to give the impression that Liverpool have no money and then pulling something out of the bag. I'm choosing to be optimistic until shown otherwise.

Rafa doesnt need to create any impressions. Sady the facts are there for all to see.

Tusky

MementoMori wrote: »

Tusky - Could it be that Rafa is creating a smokescreen? Hoping to give the impression that Liverpool have no money and then pulling something out of the bag. I'm choosing to be optimistic until shown otherwise.

I think when you look at the statement, coupled with Ballague saying that Barry will be our biggest transfer, and also the players we have been linked with - Sergio Garcia, Riera, Downing, Milner etc there is only one conclusion that you can come to.

If we only have 10-15m to spend, fine, but please spend it all on one player Rafa!

Tusky

Spurs receive two bitchslaps!

Bitchslap 1 - A team mate of Giovani Dos Santos on his transfer to Spurs.

"I hope things go well for him at Tottenham, that he gets the minutes he wasn't given at Barcelona and that he shows what he can do.

"He is a very good player and let's hope he can then move on to a better team."

Bitchslap 2 - Eto'o on Spurs offer.

"Tottenham, and I hope the English fans will forgive me, are a club in mid-table and I need more," Eto'o told CRTV.

Excellent.

mike65

Damn we need a Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009 winning eurolotto ticket!

Mike

Melion

The first one was Carlos Vela, what a way to endear himself to the Arsenal fans before he's even played a game

IrishMike

Great insight there for Souness
"Imagine how good Torres would have been if he hadnt been rotated"
Then Ronnie Whelan agrees.
Tossers both of them, seriously.
Complete morons.
Villa looked excellent, thought he was a lot quicker though.
Oh and to the people who said Pirlo is too old then ye are insane, seriously.
The guy has 4-5 top class years left, sell flipping lucas and alonso and put the money
towards pirlo, he is better than both put together!

The G Child

Boggles wrote: »

Pirlo is just gone 29, has won everything and is one of the top players in the world. Judging him and writing him off on last nights match is farcical, Milan have had a crap season but they have there own problems and certainly wasn't all down to him.

That said Liverpool have as much chance of getting Ronaldo than they do have getting Pirlo, he is a midfielder at his peak. Zidane was 29 when he moved to Madrid busting the world transfer record, so to suggest Pirlo is too old is nonsense.

20 million for Pirlo - Hilarious!!! :D

I wasn't doubting Pirlo as a player, he is quality. My point was that there is no way that Liverpool will spend that money on a player who will be 30 by the end of the season. The way he plays he could go on for another 4 years. I'm not saying he wouldnt be a great addition, just that it's not going to happen. Real could afford to do it with Zidane, and Chelsea could afford it with Shevchencko. But Rafa won't do it with Liverpool. I didn't bring up the £20m figure either, I dont know where that came from and I dont know what Milan would look for. It would be like saying sign Xavii from Barca. Just wont happen.

Tusky

Ballague -

"People, you must forget about new signings at the level of Fernando Torres. The club doesn’t need those players as urgently as it needs restructuring itself in a way that in a few years it can create enough income to be able to always get the first choices that the manager wants in the transfer market.

For instance, Aaron Ramsey could have been a Liverpool player three months ago, but now the club cannot compete with what Manchester United or Arsenal are offering. If shops around the world don’t run out of Liverpool shirts; if commercial deals are done to produce four times more money than comes in now; if the club is run a bit more professionally, then not only can you guarantee a progression in the near future, you will also be able to keep the manager in the long term. Otherwise, we will see"

Also - whoever suggested that Pirlo would be a good option is talking retard laguage. Im looking at you IrishMike.

Guy:Incognito

mike65 wrote: »

Damn we need a Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009 winning eurolotto ticket!

Mike

We should do a syndicate and all sign a legal document that the winnings (should we win) would be used to buy a player(or players) for Liverpool.

Tusky wrote: »

I think when you look at the statement, coupled with Ballague saying that Barry will be our biggest !

Maybe he rates Barry higher than Villa?

Sherifu

So when is Villa coming? :pac:

gixerfixer

MementoMori wrote: »

Tusky - Could it be that Rafa is creating a smokescreen? Hoping to give the impression that Liverpool have no money and then pulling something out of the bag. I'm choosing to be optimistic until shown otherwise.

No.We are broke.

GBX

I dont its a case of being broke and not having funds. Like every year, Rafa knows who he wants and what funds are available. He will have been told yes you can spend X amount but if you want more, you will need to offload some players from the current squad.

gixerfixer

Sorry we'll have to agree to disagree.We are going for players of the quality of milner,barry and degan.Squad players not matchwinnners.Ok we might not be broke in comparison to say fulham but in the big picture of what it takes to win the league we are broke.Whilst Chelsea,Arsenal etc.....talk about going for the likes of benzema,quaresma,pirlo etc.. says it all really

IrishMike

Tusky wrote: »

Ballague -



Also - whoever suggested that Pirlo would be a good option is talking retard laguage. Im looking at you IrishMike.

....ok
May i ask why going for one of the best CM in the world to replace Alonso,
a player who would single handly contribute more than the signings of 4
squad players of the likes of downing, milner etc at the same price
as their combined cost is retarded language?
Sell Crouch (10), Alonso(15) and Riise(5) for £30m+
Surely the club will give Rafa £15m
Buy Dossena for £8m and a backup striker for another £8.
That leaves us with £30m+ so why not make a move for Pirlo instead of
throwing away money on crap like Riera at £12m or Milner at £10m when
neither are better than the wingers we already have.
Would you not see a bigger benefit in spending big on 1 or 2 players
instead of buying 3rd rate players of the likes of Riera and Milner for 20m+
combined fees?
I would much prefer to see Pirlo and Gudjohnson as the only 2 buys Rafa
makes instead of seeing 4 or 5 players of questionable quality being brought
in at the same combined price.

The squad is already good, there are very few crap players left.
1 or 2 top class players would be a lot more beneficial than 4 or 5 players
slightly better (or slightly worse) than what we have already.

Am looking forward to hearing how this is "retarded language"

MementoMori

Long long long post concerning transfer speculation and what could happen in the next while.

Just wondering - could the planets align - could we end up with Villa?

Well if not Villa then, could we at least end up actually buying another player in the £10m plus category as well as Barry this summer?

This is full of assumptions, but I’ve tried to mash all the various bits and bobs I’ve heard/read (from various plausible sources) and is filtered by my own biases but I like to think it’s realistic and not completely nuts. Also it based on what I’d believe is a realistic real-world optimism. In general I’m going to trust Rafa in the transfer market. I think he’s canny and also I think he’s not above planting stories with the press to throw people off. To put it an other way I think he’d be a handy poker player.

It primarily focuses on the selling of players from Liverpool as I think that it’s a hell of a lot easily to make assumptions about these players and where they might end up/what they’re worth as opposed to players at other clubs. My motivation was trying to work out if we would have any money whatsoever to buy anyone as everyone is saying we’re skint. So even if G&H don’t let Rafa have any transfer funds is there a possibility of strengthening the squad? {Nuts I know}

Alonso - Minimum £14m Maximum £18m - Think it was Tony Barrett who said Juve had put in an initial offer of £12m which was rejected. Quite rightly too. Seems Liverpool responded with an £18m valuation. Seems to be a fair bit of talk about the £14m mark at the moment.

I'm estimating £15m with the possibility of it going a wee bit higher - if we do get any cash north of £15m I'd assume it would be delayed cash i.e. in 6 months or a year. I don’t know though. Also I don't know how much of the £15m we'd get straight away. However even if it was a case of £5m cash straight away, £5m in six months and £5m in a year, we would surely be able to finance £15m liquid cash on the back of this sale.

Xabi has said that he won’t be sorting anything out until the final ball is kicked for the Spanish in Euro 2008. Could be a while before anything breaks so. Also it seems that some of the money we get from this is being used to finance the Barry move. On the other side there have been rumours that Barry is keen to get his future sorted out. Can see LFC being hesitant to sign Barry ahead of agreeing a deal with Juve. We don’t want to be in a situation where we sign Barry and Juve go “actually we’ll only offer you £10m” => we won’t see any movement until after Euro 2008 on Barry or Alonso. Also MON is in Swisstria at the moment with the BBC while Rafa is in Valencia at the moment. Got an honoury degree there, a day or two ago. We might possibly be able to use this to our advantage in that we can try and convince Villa to take Carson and/or Finnan.

Carson - Minimum £4m Maximum £8m - Think it will be around the £6m mark. Could well see him being used in a part-swap with Villa for Barry. Doesn't seem to be much else interest in him. Clearly wants first-team action .Given reports Jasski is supposed to have signed a contract at Bolton, think Villa will be eventually destination. Would help if we got a bid for him from someone else. Can't think of any club who is looking for a first-choice keeper urgently. Maybe one of the promoted sides might be interested? Thought Hull have a kitty and surely they could be interested - someone should point out the importance of a good keeper to sides wanting to stay up e.g. Gordon for Sunderland.

Finnan - Minimum £2m Maximum £4m - Signed a 3 year contract last summer.
Rumours linking him to Newcastle, Villa, Fulham - Definately can see him moving on given we seem to be adeqately covered defensively. Could well see him going to Villa as part of a Barry deal and given Villa's small squad size. If MON got Carson plus Finnan plus cash, it might make up someway for the loss of Barry, in fan's eyes. Cant see us getting any less than £2m for him or much more than £4m given his age and the fact that he would probably be seen as surplus to requirements. Cant see a big side coming in for him, but could see him doing the business for a mid-table side. If he doesn’t go to Villa could see him at Newcastle alongside Given.

However I think what would get us the best value for us and I think this is a realistic possibility in this is Xabi to Juve for £15m; Carson plus £10m to Villa for Barry (This £10m is the completely highest amount of cash I could see Villa would get with Carson) Would prefer it to be in the £8m range.

We might also include Finnian with the deal.

Villa do seem to have cash and they know we don’t really need Carson. Also given that we clearly don’t want to buy Barry before we have sold Xabi, but that once we sell Xabi, Villa will know we have cash and that we will really need to get Barry in to replace him, we will have to walk a tightrope on this one, which I could see working against us when negotiating with Villa. Just don’t know how this will turn out.

However I think it will be the most likely case is that we will get Barry, Villa will get Carson and Juve will get Xabi and we might have £5m cash left over.

Also Finnan ends up in Newcastle for £3m cash

Riise - Minimum £3m Maximum £6m Roma - I believe the £5m rumour from Roma is plausible, and would be very happy with this. Wouldn't like to see him go to Newcastle for Milner as I think Newcastle would be looking for maybe £2m cash plus Riise, and I don't rate Milner anywhere near this (£7m). Roma £5m cash please

Crouch - Minimum £8m Maximum £15m - The £15m is there because Rafa came out with that as his valuation but I'd very very surprised if Rafa expected to get that for him. Def seemed liked an starting point for negotiations. Some of the noise regarding Crouch seemed to be of the sort that we're not really looking to bring in a player until after Crouch leaves. Can see it making sense especially if we are currently cash poor.

Seems Harry at Porstmouth is interested around the £10m mark and think this makes sense as it would be a good fit for Crouch what with linking up with Defoe (little and large combo), playing in Europe, wouldn't hurt his international chances a bit, near London and heard a rumour he has a house down there from previously. Even given his contract situation I think we would get a minimum of £8m cash for him off Porstmouth; maybe even £10m which would be a good deal given his contract situation. Porstmouth seem to be interested in player swap deals but cant see anyone they have who would benefit us much. Think Muntari and Kranjkar were mentioned in dispatches but don't think they have anything great to offer us. Anyone dare make mention Nugent or Baros should remember we've gotten rid of them before. Cash please

Also seemed to be rumours about Villa taking him plus £8m for Barry, which I don't think would be good business. Seems to value Crouch too low and/or Barry too high. I also think Crouch would prefer to go to Porsmouth over Villa. Also with Villa having Carew is seems very strange. I know MON likes tall players but seriously. Likeliest best outcome £9m cash

Danny Guthrie - Recent news suggest Bolton have offered £1.5m Could be that they think we need cash money and be looking to pick him up on the cheap. Also the fact that we have so much cover in his position. For a young ex-Pool player with definite potential who got a fair bit of first team action for them last season seems to be a cheeky one on the low side imo. Would be happy with £3m, think £2m is the probable outcome, unless someone else show an interest in him.

Pennant - Unloved - could well see a situation where we still have him next season.

Voronin - Also unloved - Rumours about heading back to the Bundesliga. Think everyone would be happy with this. Fearful that Rafa might be kept busy with other deals and forget about him.

In : Degen, Dossena and Barry
Out : Xabi, Carson, Kewell; Guthrie; Riise; Finnan; Crouch

Dossena £7m Out
Xabi, Barry & Carson Deal £5m In
Kewell £0
Riise £5m In
Finnan £3m In
Crouch £9m In
Guthrie £2m In

That leaves us up £17m cash but really needing a backup striker / winger.

Surely we could scrounge up £5m to offer Valencia £20m for Villa as an opening bid? :pac:;):rolleyes::):cool:

At the very least it would mean we would have some cash.

Totally agree re signing 1 or 2 top players as opposed to 4-5 lower level ones. Given the amount of flexibility with the current players in squad think that would be ok as regards injuries, unless we were very very unlucky

zing

Stekelly wrote: »

We should do a syndicate and all sign a legal document that the winnings (should we win) would be used to buy a player(or players) for Liverpool.

No No - we to set up a dodgy Kia Joorabchian/MSI style company and us the lotto winning to buy players and then loan them to LFC. That way Hicks & Gillet don't get to claim them as assets but Rafa gets the players he wants anyway.

Maybe we should just start donations via paypal to the cause now

raven136

seems to be a bit of hopeful thinking around here.Anyone thinking with their head and not their hearts knows we are in the mire regarding signings.We arre broke,we aint got no money,its sad to see a club this size that we all love just cannot compete at the top end of the market.
Barry will be a good signing but i dont hold any hope for a viall or silva type signing.
More worryingly i fear United getting to 18 before we win another one and thats not a pleasant thought.Feel very sorry for rafa,he has a transfer budget of 10m or so before sales.Compare Rafa's outlay before sales to united,arsenal and chelsea by august.:mad:

gixerfixer

raven136 wrote: »

seems to be a bit of hopeful thinking around here.Anyone thinking with their head and not their hearts knows we are in the mire regarding signings.We arre broke,we aint got no money,its sad to see a club this size that we all love just cannot compete at the top end of the market.
Barry will be a good signing but i dont hold any hope for a viall or silva type signing.
More worryingly i fear United getting to 18 before we win another one and thats not a pleasant thought.Feel very sorry for rafa,he has a transfer budget of 10m or so before sales.Compare Rafa's outlay before sales to united,arsenal and chelsea by august.:mad:

+1.hey im liverpool through and through but lets just face it,we are broke.The likes of Portsmouth will outmuscle us this summer in the transfer market:(

monkey9

MementoMori wrote: »

Long long long post concerning transfer speculation and what could happen in the next while.

Just wondering - could the planets align - could we end up with Villa?

Well if not Villa then, could we at least end up actually buying another player in the £10m plus category as well as Barry this summer?

This is full of assumptions, but I’ve tried to mash all the various bits and bobs I’ve heard/read (from various plausible sources) and is filtered by my own biases but I like to think it’s realistic and not completely nuts. Also it based on what I’d believe is a realistic real-world optimism. In general I’m going to trust Rafa in the transfer market. I think he’s canny and also I think he’s not above planting stories with the press to throw people off. To put it an other way I think he’d be a handy poker player.

It primarily focuses on the selling of players from Liverpool as I think that it’s a hell of a lot easily to make assumptions about these players and where they might end up/what they’re worth as opposed to players at other clubs. My motivation was trying to work out if we would have any money whatsoever to buy anyone as everyone is saying we’re skint. So even if G&H don’t let Rafa have any transfer funds is there a possibility of strengthening the squad? {Nuts I know}

Alonso - Minimum £14m Maximum £18m - Think it was Tony Barrett who said Juve had put in an initial offer of £12m which was rejected. Quite rightly too. Seems Liverpool responded with an £18m valuation. Seems to be a fair bit of talk about the £14m mark at the moment.

I'm estimating £15m with the possibility of it going a wee bit higher - if we do get any cash north of £15m I'd assume it would be delayed cash i.e. in 6 months or a year. I don’t know though. Also I don't know how much of the £15m we'd get straight away. However even if it was a case of £5m cash straight away, £5m in six months and £5m in a year, we would surely be able to finance £15m liquid cash on the back of this sale.

Xabi has said that he won’t be sorting anything out until the final ball is kicked for the Spanish in Euro 2008. Could be a while before anything breaks so. Also it seems that some of the money we get from this is being used to finance the Barry move. On the other side there have been rumours that Barry is keen to get his future sorted out. Can see LFC being hesitant to sign Barry ahead of agreeing a deal with Juve. We don’t want to be in a situation where we sign Barry and Juve go “actually we’ll only offer you £10m” => we won’t see any movement until after Euro 2008 on Barry or Alonso. Also MON is in Swisstria at the moment with the BBC while Rafa is in Valencia at the moment. Got an honoury degree there, a day or two ago. We might possibly be able to use this to our advantage in that we can try and convince Villa to take Carson and/or Finnan.

Carson - Minimum £4m Maximum £8m - Think it will be around the £6m mark. Could well see him being used in a part-swap with Villa for Barry. Doesn't seem to be much else interest in him. Clearly wants first-team action .Given reports Jasski is supposed to have signed a contract at Bolton, think Villa will be eventually destination. Would help if we got a bid for him from someone else. Can't think of any club who is looking for a first-choice keeper urgently. Maybe one of the promoted sides might be interested? Thought Hull have a kitty and surely they could be interested - someone should point out the importance of a good keeper to sides wanting to stay up e.g. Gordon for Sunderland.

Finnan - Minimum £2m Maximum £4m - Signed a 3 year contract last summer.
Rumours linking him to Newcastle, Villa, Fulham - Definately can see him moving on given we seem to be adeqately covered defensively. Could well see him going to Villa as part of a Barry deal and given Villa's small squad size. If MON got Carson plus Finnan plus cash, it might make up someway for the loss of Barry, in fan's eyes. Cant see us getting any less than £2m for him or much more than £4m given his age and the fact that he would probably be seen as surplus to requirements. Cant see a big side coming in for him, but could see him doing the business for a mid-table side. If he doesn’t go to Villa could see him at Newcastle alongside Given.

However I think what would get us the best value for us and I think this is a realistic possibility in this is Xabi to Juve for £15m; Carson plus £10m to Villa for Barry (This £10m is the completely highest amount of cash I could see Villa would get with Carson) Would prefer it to be in the £8m range.

We might also include Finnian with the deal.

Villa do seem to have cash and they know we don’t really need Carson. Also given that we clearly don’t want to buy Barry before we have sold Xabi, but that once we sell Xabi, Villa will know we have cash and that we will really need to get Barry in to replace him, we will have to walk a tightrope on this one, which I could see working against us when negotiating with Villa. Just don’t know how this will turn out.

However I think it will be the most likely case is that we will get Barry, Villa will get Carson and Juve will get Xabi and we might have £5m cash left over.

Also Finnan ends up in Newcastle for £3m cash

Riise - Minimum £3m Maximum £6m Roma - I believe the £5m rumour from Roma is plausible, and would be very happy with this. Wouldn't like to see him go to Newcastle for Milner as I think Newcastle would be looking for maybe £2m cash plus Riise, and I don't rate Milner anywhere near this (£7m). Roma £5m cash please

Crouch - Minimum £8m Maximum £15m - The £15m is there because Rafa came out with that as his valuation but I'd very very surprised if Rafa expected to get that for him. Def seemed liked an starting point for negotiations. Some of the noise regarding Crouch seemed to be of the sort that we're not really looking to bring in a player until after Crouch leaves. Can see it making sense especially if we are currently cash poor.

Seems Harry at Porstmouth is interested around the £10m mark and think this makes sense as it would be a good fit for Crouch what with linking up with Defoe (little and large combo), playing in Europe, wouldn't hurt his international chances a bit, near London and heard a rumour he has a house down there from previously. Even given his contract situation I think we would get a minimum of £8m cash for him off Porstmouth; maybe even £10m which would be a good deal given his contract situation. Porstmouth seem to be interested in player swap deals but cant see anyone they have who would benefit us much. Think Muntari and Kranjkar were mentioned in dispatches but don't think they have anything great to offer us. Anyone dare make mention Nugent or Baros should remember we've gotten rid of them before. Cash please

Also seemed to be rumours about Villa taking him plus £8m for Barry, which I don't think would be good business. Seems to value Crouch too low and/or Barry too high. I also think Crouch would prefer to go to Porsmouth over Villa. Also with Villa having Carew is seems very strange. I know MON likes tall players but seriously. Likeliest best outcome £9m cash

Danny Guthrie - Recent news suggest Bolton have offered £1.5m Could be that they think we need cash money and be looking to pick him up on the cheap. Also the fact that we have so much cover in his position. For a young ex-Pool player with definite potential who got a fair bit of first team action for them last season seems to be a cheeky one on the low side imo. Would be happy with £3m, think £2m is the probable outcome, unless someone else show an interest in him.

Pennant - Unloved - could well see a situation where we still have him next season.

Voronin - Also unloved - Rumours about heading back to the Bundesliga. Think everyone would be happy with this. Fearful that Rafa might be kept busy with other deals and forget about him.

In : Degen, Dossena and Barry
Out : Xabi, Carson, Kewell; Guthrie; Riise; Finnan; Crouch

Dossena £7m Out
Xabi, Barry & Carson Deal £5m In
Kewell £0
Riise £5m In
Finnan £3m In
Crouch £9m In
Guthrie £2m In

That leaves us up £17m cash but really needing a backup striker / winger.

Surely we could scrounge up £5m to offer Valencia £20m for Villa as an opening bid? :pac:;):rolleyes::):cool:

At the very least it would mean we would have some cash.

Totally agree re signing 1 or 2 top players as opposed to 4-5 lower level ones. Given the amount of flexibility with the current players in squad think that would be ok as regards injuries, unless we were very very unlucky

Have to say, quality post. At least you've put some thought and effort into that! What do we get for E17M though? Assumuming Barry is in the bag, there is not much else.
This is what annoys me about anti-Rafa people. At least i can say this now before the season starts. People expect us to challenge for the title (i always do being a Liverpool fan), but why do we? I know what i'm about to say is open season for Utd...etc fans to hop on, but we are basing our hopes on the past. We are Liverpooll!!!!! Win things!!
We are of course a huge club and in certain parts of europe, bigger than the likes of Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal etc, but that brings about certain pressures. We have the hopes and expectations of a Real Madrid, Barca, Inter etc, but the financial input of a Sunderland (and sweet Jesus, they may actually outspend us this summer). Yet people think if Rafa does not win the league he should go. It's not his fault that Chelsea were taken over by a billionaire who can buy them titles, Utd who have had a manager in charge for over twenty years and who has the funds to buy who he wants (in fairness to that lot, funds made through footballing success, unlike Chelski) and Arsenal who gave time to their manager (no one else at that time could challenge Utd except for the Gooners).
Now we know that we have no money. The thought of buying Downing depresses me so much. For a club like Liverpool to be linked with the likes of him is disgraceful, same goes gor Milner.
You can say they are decent enough players. but if we struggle next season, people will give Rafa so much stick for the awful signings he has made. So i say this now before the inevitable happens ie other fans slating Rafa for any non success that MAY!!!!!! arrive, before the Utd fans start their trolling
of the money Rafa spends, it's all gonna be made on profits made by signings that he has made, if we can just get rid of the lying bas*ards and get someone in who cares about Liverpool success, which must surely lead to financial happiness and proper success. Viva Rafa

Boggles

monkey9 wrote: »

made. So i say this now before the inevitable happens ie other fans slating Rafa for any non success that MAY!!!!!! arrive, before the Utd fans start their trolling

Why would the United fans be slating Rafa for non success?

DRakE

Villa running right to Torres when he got his third... come to Anfield David!

missingtime

Nice pic with torres and villa.
Its torture though. I cant take much more...

What i cant understand is why would the club be sold to people wit no money? Moore just saw the money HE would make by selling to the yanks.

I'm a very sad panda.

monkey9

Boggles wrote: »

Why would the United fans be slating Rafa for non success?

Ya bollox, good effort, But you know what i mean

leninbenjamin

missingtime wrote: »

What i cant understand is why would the club be sold to people wit no money? Moore just saw the money HE would make by selling to the yanks.

this is normally how business works. the highest bidder wins :rolleyes: (sorry; couldn't resist the wee patronising dig )
I think at this stage it's more their actual loathing for each other that prevents them investing more than lack of funds. that and i don't think Pool has performed as well commercially as they expected. a lot rides on future projections with these things.

anyway, to drag up the dirty linen again, with all the talk of transfers and the EUROs we haven't heard a single thing on the Gillet and Hicks debacle. any progress or developements on that front?

mayordenis

we should keep xabi and swap gerrard for villa

Dont be at yourself

anyway, to drag up the dirty linen again, with all the talk of transfers and the EUROs we haven't heard a single thing on the Gillet and Hicks debacle. any progress or developements on that front?

I was wondering about this myself. It's been disappointingly quiet recently with regards to ousting the yanks. Last I heard, Gillet had fudged the paperwork in selling to DIC, meaning that the 90-day period for Hicks to exercise his first-option had to be restarted. I don't know how close to the truth that was though.

http://jp.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=731133

Villa dedicates his third goal to Torres, and Reina steps in to talk the ref around to giving Villa the matchball. I don't think there's any doubt that Villa will be a red by August!

internelligent

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

I was wondering about this myself. It's been disappointingly quiet recently with regards to ousting the yanks. Last I heard, Gillet had fudged the paperwork in selling to DIC, meaning that the 90-day period for Hicks to exercise his first-option had to be restarted. I don't know how close to the truth that was though.

http://jp.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=731133

Villa dedicates his third goal to Torres, and Reina steps in to talk the ref around to giving Villa the matchball. I don't think there's any doubt that Villa will be a red by August!

If I knew that now, it'd make my summer. Must say, to see Villa's celebration of his 3rd goal with Torres can only be a good thing. I honestly feel that if Rafa had the funds, Villa would choose Liverpool, or maybe it's just wishful thinking:o Good man Torres, tap him up.

zing

leninbenjamin wrote: »

anyway, to drag up the dirty linen again, with all the talk of transfers and the EUROs we haven't heard a single thing on the Gillet and Hicks debacle. any progress or developements on that front?

There are some reports that talks between Gillet, Hicks & DIC have started again but are being kept very very quite this time round for obvious reasons. No details being leaked other than a few people saying they've started talking again so it's not worth getting ones hopes up over at this stage.

On signing the likes of Villa I could see them giving the go ahead for it if they are indeed in takeover talks again as someone of that quality would be likely increase the overall value for the club so they'd get to squeeze more blood out of the potential buyer. i.e. Torres may have cost us twentywhatever million but right now he's likely to be worth at least 30m to us. If they could repeat that again I doubt if they'd complain too much.

gucci

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Villa dedicates his third goal to Torres, and Reina steps in to talk the ref around to giving Villa the matchball. I don't think there's any doubt that Villa will be a red by August!

If he moves to the reds, he would want to start looking up a bit more often, few times before Torres came off he took a shot when it wasnt really on and could have played in 'nando. Maybe I'm just slightly bitter because my 10 on Torres being top scorer is pretty fecked now!

The G Child

I think Villa's hat trick could well have cost us the chance of signing him. While I know we are pretty skint at the moment in terms of other teams, I think we could have one £15m signing in us (apart drom Barry) and with Valencia in a bit of trouble after their season I think we could have got Villa for that sum. Now I imagine the likes of Chelsea will come in and the price will rocket up.

zing

I've also seen comments that Rafa won't do business with Valencia right now and try take their best players as he doesn't want to kick them when they're down. While I'm sure he stills holds Valencia dear to him I can't see him letting sentiment getting in his way if it was a case that the funds were available.

The G Child

I think Rafa is one of the most ruthless managers in the world and cant see him letting sentiment get in the way. I'd look at that as more of a "Keep Valencia sweet" type comment. Everyones gonna kick them when they're down, and I'd say Rafa was just saying that so Valencia might be more inclined to sell to him.

Mr Alan

zing wrote: »

While I'm sure he stills holds Valencia dear to him I can't see him letting sentiment getting in his way if it was a case that the funds were available.

Agree 100%

Not Rafas style at all, look at him and Alonso, he loves the lad like a son by all accounts but is shipping him out in order to get a more consistant man in.

gucci

The G Child wrote: »

I think Villa's hat trick could well have cost us the chance of signing him. While I know we are pretty skint at the moment in terms of other teams, I think we could have one £15m signing in us (apart drom Barry) and with Valencia in a bit of trouble after their season I think we could have got Villa for that sum. Now I imagine the likes of Chelsea will come in and the price will rocket up.

Thats exactly what i said to my mate when we were watching him, his hatrick probably added 5m to his price, and 1 or 2 more decent performances and your in crazy price town :mad:

zing

Don't click here Mr Alan - it'll hurt too much

Boggles

Mr Alan wrote: »

Agree 100%

Not Rafas style at all, look at him and Alonso, he loves the lad like a son by all accounts but is shipping him out in order to get a more consistant man in.

Thought you guaranteed he was going nowhere, even given out to me for suggesting such a thing a month back?

gucci

zing wrote: »

Don't click here Mr Alan - it'll hurt too much

Jesus....Stevie G will be not a happy bunny, 'nando never lets him get quite that close!

mike65

Thats it he's ours, well Nandos!

Mike.

dardoz

gucci wrote: »

Jesus....Stevie G will be not a happy bunny, 'nando never lets him get quite that close!

In Torres's defence. Villa jumped on him like a leprechaun much to Torres's surprise, so they fell over. Nothing to be jealous about there Stevie, don't mind it!

gucci

dardoz wrote: »

In Torres's defence. Villa jumped on him like a leprechaun much to Torres's surprise, so they fell over. Nothing to be jealous about there Stevie, don't mind it!

*takes notes for excuses* a woman would never believe an excuse like that would they?

Tusky

IrishMike wrote: »

....ok
May i ask why going for one of the best CM in the world to replace Alonso,
a player who would single handly contribute more than the signings of 4
squad players of the likes of downing, milner etc at the same price
as their combined cost is retarded language?
Sell Crouch (10), Alonso(15) and Riise(5) for £30m+
Surely the club will give Rafa £15m
Buy Dossena for £8m and a backup striker for another £8.
That leaves us with £30m+ so why not make a move for Pirlo instead of
throwing away money on crap like Riera at £12m or Milner at £10m when
neither are better than the wingers we already have.
Would you not see a bigger benefit in spending big on 1 or 2 players
instead of buying 3rd rate players of the likes of Riera and Milner for 20m+
combined fees?
I would much prefer to see Pirlo and Gudjohnson as the only 2 buys Rafa
makes instead of seeing 4 or 5 players of questionable quality being brought
in at the same combined price.

The squad is already good, there are very few crap players left.
1 or 2 top class players would be a lot more beneficial than 4 or 5 players
slightly better (or slightly worse) than what we have already.

Am looking forward to hearing how this is "retarded language"

First of all, Pirlo would not come here. Second of all, spending 20m on a 29 year old that has never played outside of Italy is foolish. He would have practically no resale value. What if he didnt adapt ? I think we should be spending the majority of our budget on the wide right position.

If we have as little money as I expect, selling a 26 year old Alonso for 15m and buying a 29 year old Pirlo for 20m, would be retarded.

Hes been with Milan 7 years, I reckon he will finish his career there.

IrishMike

Tusky wrote: »

First of all, Pirlo would not come here. Second of all, spending 20m on a 29 year old that has never played outside of Italy is foolish. He would have practically no resale value. What if he didnt adapt ? I think we should be spending the majority of our budget on the wide right position.

If we have as little money as I expect, selling a 26 year old Alonso for 15m and buying a 29 year old Pirlo for 20m, would be retarded.

Hes been with Milan 7 years, I reckon he will finish his career there.

The guy is one of the best players in the world right now.
Milan are not in the CL, how do you know he would not move?
And to say what if he didnt adapt is pretty pointless argument that could
be thrown at every single transfer target.
He is 29 not 34, he has 4 or 5 years at the very top left.

gucci

IrishMike wrote: »

Thought Pirlo was the only Italian to perform last night.
Gattuso was pretty ****e and so it was left to Pirlo to literally run beside the
central defenders, demand the ball off of them and try and start an attack
all by himself as he has literally nothing in front of him, be it strikers or wingers.
Why on earth De Natale is starting ahead of Del Piero ill never know.
Pirlo was very very good in a shocking team last night.
He looked like Alonso at the height of his powers.
And as for £20m being a lot for a 30 year old, we are about to sell Alonso for
£15m and £5m for Riise.

I actually watched the highlights on BBC sport again there now and yes, i was really harsh on Pirlo. Any of the chances that Italy created, he was the man to do it, he did play very well. But as stated, 20million for a 29yr old.....no thanks....would be too risky.

But I am worried, that selling Alonso and bringing in Barry, where it will help us from a defensive and cover point of view, will leave us lacking something more creative. I would prefer Xabi just to go back to the way he used to play.....and leave Barry where he is.

Dont be at yourself

There would be serious doubts over whether Pirlo could adapt to the English game. His game is very low-tempo, and Serie A affords him both a lot more time on the ball, and a lot more protection from referees. He may struggle to impose himself on a more physical, higher tempo game - especially as he's approaching 30.

That's not to say he wouldnt adapt - just that it would be somewhat of a risk, and 20 million is a lot to spend on such a risk.