Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009

Guy:Incognito

mayordenis wrote: »

we should keep xabi and swap gerrard for villa

Keep Xabi and just use the Barry money and the money from one or two lesser sales (extra €10-15m or so from Riise/Carson and/or Crouch). Cant see why we cant just do that.

Guy:Incognito

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.

If Chelsea come in it means they were always going to come in. I would be amazed if any club are only thinking to themselves after yesterdays game that he might be worth a punt. Clubs will have their summer targets sorted out a good while ago. It's not like he's an unknown kid that people are only finding out about.

Chardee MacDennis

Stekelly wrote: »

Keep Xabi and just use the Barry money and the money from one or two lesser sales (extra €10-15m or so from Riise/Carson and/or Crouch). Cant see why we cant just do that.

what Barry money? It seems pretty clear that Rafa is using Xabi money to get Barry thats why we havent made a cash only bid yet. if we had the money for Barry without the Alonso money, he would have signed by now.

Guy:Incognito

Call_me_al wrote: »

what Barry money? It seems pretty clear that Rafa is using Xabi money to get Barry thats why we havent made a cash only bid yet. if we had the money for Barry without the Alonso money, he would have signed by now.

Well if the story of Juve looking elsewhere now due to our supposed over valuation ofXabi is true then Barry is going to have to go back to Villa with his tail between his legs.

MementoMori

Boo - No Degen for the Swiss again :mad:

Thanx 4 The Fish

Not sure he will be playing much in this comp. They are not great in the backs and they need a defender will stay in their half of the pitch

MementoMori

The worry is that Lichtsteiner was no great shakes the last day.

IrishMike

The worry is that even if Riise hadnt played for 6 months he would probably still walk into a
Norway team which is vastly superior to this Swiss team
However in Rafa we trust*


Providing he doesnt buy Milner or Riera

jesus_thats_gre

MementoMori wrote: »

The worry is that Lichtsteiner was no great shakes the last day.

He has been injured and is not back to match fitness..

Don't infer anything from a so so player playing in his position as a result.

MementoMori

Just impatient to get a view of him

mormank

Mr Alan wrote: »

Only one position i want that lad in

is that doggy??? some interesting discussions going on here today. i think cisse never really got his chance at the pool. he scored on his debut for us iirc. was playin well until he broke his leg and then came back in the run up to winning the champions league. showed great determination and desire to make it back as soon as he did. i liked him. then he was played out of position for the rest of his anfield carreer and then shipped out as a 'failure'. i dont think he got a fair crack at the whip!!!

what is rafa's obsession with playin strikers as wingers?? it just doesnt work. cisse, babel and kuyt to name but a few. whilst babel can play as a winger i would like to him played up front. he is so direct and has pace and power. of course we cannot play him there in the system that worked so well to help us finish in 4th!!??? i like the sytsem but i think a top class winger is needed for it to work more effectively...my next line was gonna be that we cannot rely on gerrard and torres all the time but having thought about it it is nice to have two ppl on that list, for so long it has been a case of if gerrard doesnt play well the pool are screwed. but just imagine havin one or two more of those match winnings players. a silva, villa or quaresma for example..

the topic of kuyt on here has changed my thinkin on him a bit. ok he did have a good end to the season. give him another year, see how it goes. i think he just needs confidence more than anything. he can cover alot of positions and therefore ppl for us. we still need a quaresma or even bentley imo with kuyt stayin. say for example we continue with this formation with two defensive midfielders, we have torres leading the line with gerrard close behind. quaresma on one side and babel on the other (they can rotate during a match easily btw) now we have a strong forward line up and we have kuyt who can cover each one of these players..might not be the worst thing in the world if we do keep kuyt after all, but only if we get another top notch winger. lets be realistic, our 5th player for the 4 positions will still easily make 50 appearances in a season with us playin 4 comps in a season but it is the difference between kuyt covering for our 4 starting players and someone like pennant or voronin gettin squeezed out, not kuyt being squeezed out by a new winger being signed...

our defense and defensive midfielders look as strong as they have for a long time now so we are really a plyer away from challenging, maybe two. after that it is just up to those players to take their finger out and perform consistently. you cannot keep blaming rafa for everything.

estebancambias

IrishMike wrote: »

The worry is that even if Riise hadnt played for 6 months he would probably still walk into a
Norway team which is vastly superior to this Swiss team
However in Rafa we trust*


Providing he doesnt buy Milner or Riera

Can't agree with that to be honest. They were in an easier group than us, and we have been particulary bad.

I would think we are on or maby just above the Swiss level.

IrishMike

mormank wrote: »

our defense and defensive midfielders look as strong as they have for a long time now so we are really a plyer away from challenging, maybe two. after that it is just up to those players to take their finger out and perform consistently. you cannot keep blaming rafa for everything.

Dont really agree with that.
I think our full backs have been poor over the course of the season.
A lot of that is down to a variety of injuries but they have still been a weak link especially going forward.

mormank

IrishMike wrote: »

Dont really agree with that.
I think our full backs have been poor over the course of the season.
A lot of that is down to a variety of injuries but they have still been a weak link especially going forward.

no i meant as in for next season. dossena is a good signing and we have finnan arbeloa degen and carra for the right back position...

Kimbot

Tusky wrote: »

From the website that I posted up or ? Word of warning. I never got a confirmation email from them and after I paid & the status never changed from 'awaiting payment'. This worried me so I emailed them twice about it and got no reply. I ordered on the 22nd and it arrived on the 29th.

Also, we have had a 9.5m bid rejected for Riera.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3624185,00.html

Tusky, I ordered on the 28th and still no sign... should I be worried??
Its down as sent on the site.

Tusky

jonny24ie wrote: »

Tusky, I ordered on the 28th and still no sign... should I be worried??
Its down as sent on the site.

Maybe send them an email ? Ive not received my Argentina one either. Id say they just have loads of orders.

email : sales@bestway4you.com

Kimbot

Tusky wrote: »

Maybe send them an email ? Ive not received my Argentina one either. Id say they just have loads of orders.

email : sales@bestway4you.com

Cool, they say the delivery can be 7-14 days. The status changed on the 30th so I will wait until the end of the week. AN post aren't the greatest down this way aswell.

How is the Spain jersey?? Did you wash it yet?? If so did it survive well?

Tusky

jonny24ie wrote: »

Cool, they say the delivery can be 7-14 days. The status changed on the 30th so I will wait until the end of the week. AN post aren't the greatest down this way aswell.

How is the Spain jersey?? Did you wash it yet?? If so did it survive well?

Yeah washed a couple of times and its perfecto. From looking on another forum I gather that everyone seems to be having delays on their shirts arriving...but they are arriving, just taking longer.

Kimbot

Tusky wrote: »

Yeah washed a couple of times and its perfecto. From looking on another forum I gather that everyone seems to be having delays on their shirts arriving...but they are arriving, just taking longer.

Cool.

Oh and thanks for the link to the place and the pics.

tok9

i know i'm just being lazy but what is that link again?

Tusky

tok9 wrote: »

i know i'm just being lazy but what is that link again?

Check your PMs.

tok9

Tusky wrote: »

Check your PMs.

thanks tusky

~Rebel~

Really have to get ordering off that site soon!

leninbenjamin

Tusky wrote: »

Check your PMs.

or look at the email i'm guessing? are they real? obviously they can't have been authorised by the brands at those prices, but could they be coming from the same factories or something?

Tusky

leninbenjamin wrote: »

or look at the email i'm guessing? are they real? obviously they can't have been authorised by the brands at those prices, but could they be coming from the same factories or something?

Depends what you mean by real. They look and feel 100% real. Couldnt tell the difference from a store bought jersey.

IrishMike

Roma are lining up a £3m bid for Liverpool defender John Arne Riise. (Daily Mirror)

Liverpool could beat Villa to the signing of Newcastle winger James Milner with Jermaine Pennant likely to leave Anfield. (Daily Mirror)

Aston Villa will hold out for £18m before allowing midfielder Gareth Barry to move to Liverpool. (Various)


All 3 stories depress me

Dont be at yourself

Yeah, not particularly encouraging. Perhaps after the Euros we may get some good news, but so far it's been a transfer window to forget!

Malice

IrishMike wrote: »

Roma are lining up a £3m bid for Liverpool defender John Arne Riise. (Daily Mirror)

Liverpool could beat Villa to the signing of Newcastle winger James Milner with Jermaine Pennant likely to leave Anfield. (Daily Mirror)

Aston Villa will hold out for £18m before allowing midfielder Gareth Barry to move to Liverpool. (Various)


All 3 stories depress me

Whatever about the other two, why would Riise's departure depress you? £3 million for a defender long past his best and who's got at least two other defenders ahead of him in the pecking order at the club is fine by me.

Interestingly, Football 365 have the fee listed as £5 million which is even better . See here.

IrishMike

The fee is the reason i would be depressed.
Fee initally speculated was £7m, then £5m and now £3m

Malice

IrishMike wrote: »

The fee is the reason i would be depressed.
Fee initally speculated was £7m, then £5m and now £3m

Fair enough but I think we both know he's not worth £7 million and £5 million would be stretching it a bit. It reminds me of the Momo situation, plenty of Liverpool fans would have been happy to pay Juventus to have them take him away .

Dont be at yourself

Valencia director Juan Sanchez admits that David Villa's price tag will rise with every goal he scores at Euro 2008.

He looks destined to leave Los Che this summer, as the Primera Liga side's financial worries dictate that they will be required to reluctantly part with their biggest assets.

His star striker was expected to fetch in the region of around £17million, but that figure could rocket if he continues his electric form at the European Championship.

"He has a contract and is having a great Euro," the Spanish director said in The Sun.

"We are calm and we hope he will continue to score many goals. You never know what will happen if we get offers.

"It's not a question of putting a price on him.

"What will come in the future will be assessed then."

It remains to be seen whether Chelsea's interest will continue following the announcement that Luiz Felipe Scolari is set to become their new boss, while Barca are prepared to use the money generated by the sale of Samuel Eto'o to fund any move for Villa.

However, despite the growing speculation surrounding his future, the talented forward is refusing to be drawn on the issue until after Euro 2008.

"I'm not going to speak about my future until after the Championships," he insisted.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3680370,00.html

It's looking fairly certain that Villa will be on the move this summer, and it looks like they're trying to drum up a bidding war. I don't think we could compete with Barca or Madrid financially.

The G Child

I'd take Roma's hand off for a £5m bid for Riise. Yeah, we all remember the screamer he scored against United, but that was a long time ago. JAR is not the player he was and has been on the decline for a couple of years. Unfortunately, I'll always remember him for THAT goal against Chelsea, which is harsh coz he gave us some good years and service, but that's just how it is.

People should really start embracing this whole Barry move. Xabi has been off the boil for a while. While he I think he is a great player, he has stalled a bit for us. We will be getting a left footed midfielder who will give balance to the team, who is also a good passer, and offers more of a goal threat (scoring and assisting), and can add steel to the defence.

Milner, I have no positives on that one, and think along with Riera, would be a nothing signing.

MementoMori

All 3 stories depress me

I'm disappointed by these rumours too.

Regarding Barry I think the £18m figure is meant to be £15m plus £3m in add-ons. Even still this is a hell of a lot of money, especially given our needs elsewhere. Given we started with an opening bid valuation of £10m, with some part of the bid being surplus to requirement players as opposed to cash, and it looks like we're now making a £15m+£3m all cash bid, it just shows how poorly this has developed for us. Also if Juve don't buy Alonso, this could well mean there is no other funds available except for Milner type players :mad:

I think the disappoinment regarding £3m for JAR, was that initially it was £5m.
Also since then there have been rumours linking him to Newcastle, Villareal and even Celtic. It looked like we might actually come out ok of a transfer deal for a while there. £3m isnt a terrible price, it'd just that the extra £2m felt like a bit of a bonanza for a player who has been poor the last while and looks surplus to requirements.

The idea of Villa and Torres linking up for the Reds just seems like a very distant possibility.

David Villa is the most wanted striker in Europe with Scolari favourite to land the £25m Spaniard. (Daily Mirror)

MementoMori

Don't read on if you anyway depressed.

Liverpool win race to sign James Milner
By James Nursey 12/06/2008

Rafa Benitez is set to inflict more misery on Aston Villa by beating them to Newcastle star James Milner, as Liverpool also close in on Gareth Barry.

Boss Benitez and Anfield chief executive Rick Parry have made contact with the Magpies to offer Jermaine Pennant in part-exchange for Milner.And the clubs are now haggling over how much cash Liverpool must also pay for £7million-rated Milner, who penned a new four-year contract last July.

Newcastle owner Mike Ashley wants to raise funds for new players and trim the the club's wage bill while ambitious Milner is keen for European football to boost his England ambitions.

The winger's likely move to Merseyside is another huge blow for Villa manager Martin O'Neill, who tried to sign Milner in August 2006 and wants him this summer.

O'Neill has already been fighting a losing and increasingly tense battle to keep Villa's inspirational captain Barry out of the Reds' clutches.

But Villa are resigned to the versatile 27-year-old midfielder quitting after he told O'Neill this month he wanted to move to Anfield.

Parry is putting the finishing touches to a third cash bid of £15m, with £3m in add-ons, for Barry which Liverpool hope will finally ensure they get permission to speak to the ace.

Villa are holding out for £20m but Barry, who has 20 England caps, is on standby to open talks with the Anfield giants after returning from holiday and a compromise is set to be thrashed out.

Liverpool are also hopeful of securing the arrival of Newcastle's 22-year-old former Leeds trainee Milner using fellow winger Pennant as bait.

Pennant, 25, is surplus to requirements after failing to make a sustained impact since a £6.7m move from Birmingham in July 2006 and was originally offered to Villa in the Reds' first £10m bid for Barry.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2008/06/12/liverpool-win-race-to-sign-james-milner-89520-20604040/

Milner - £7m = WTF Valuation
Barry - £20m = WTF Valuation

How fuggin much does being capped by England (even at U-21 level) add to a player's pricetag?

IrishMike

MementoMori wrote: »

I'm disappointed by these rumours too.

Regarding Barry I think the £18m figure is meant to be £15m plus £3m in add-ons. Even still this is a hell of a lot of money, especially given our needs elsewhere. Given we started with an opening bid valuation of £10m, with some part of the bid being surplus to requirement players as opposed to cash, and it looks like we're now making a £15m+£3m all cash bid, it just shows how poorly this has developed for us. Also if Juve don't buy Alonso, this could well mean there is no other funds available except for Milner type players :mad:

I think the disappoinment regarding £3m for JAR, was that initially it was £5m.
Also since then there have been rumours linking him to Newcastle, Villareal and even Celtic. It looked like we might actually come out ok of a transfer deal for a while there. £3m isnt a terrible price, it'd just that the extra £2m felt like a bit of a bonanza for a player who has been poor the last while and looks surplus to requirements.

The idea of Villa and Torres linking up for the Reds just seems like a very distant possibility.

Hate to say it but liverpool shouldnt be looking at Villa.
They need wingers, a goalie, 2nd striker who will be happy to rotate, fullbacks
and a CM.
If after all that is settle they still have an odd £30m lying around then sure
buy Villa, but that will not happen and we are not going to play 4-4-2
anytime soon so it doesnt make sense to push the boat out for Villa as
much as we all would love it.

Obviously except Mr Alan who would be madly jealous.

IrishMike

Pennant + cash for milner
What the **** is going on with the world.
Unless the cash is <100k then we are being robbed

Cyrus

lads, the fact is anytime ive seen milner he is an improvement on pennant, he is still only 22, strong as an ox, is proven at premiership level and always takes his man on, the one thing that really frustrated me about pennant

joe cole didnt fulfill his vast potential until he joined chelsea, dont forget milner made his epl debut at 16, the guy could be a top player with the right coaching and team mates, if we get a straight swop id take it

mike65

After 7 years I'd be happy with anything above 3, he only cost 4.

Mike.

gucci

The prospect of signing James Milner, a young Kevin Kilbane makes me feel like this


He is septic. End of story. He is not the sort of player we need. Big, strong and burly player who doesn't have the intelligence in my opinion to play the sort of game we need.
Yossi is better than this guy, even with his lack of physical power.

The G Child

The problem I have with Milner is not that he's a bad player, just that he's not a great winger. He's the type who always likes to cut inside. To me, he's more about shooting than he is crossing.

Cyrus wrote: »

lads, the fact is anytime ive seen milner he is an improvement on pennant, he is still only 22, strong as an ox, is proven at premiership level and always takes his man on, the one thing that really frustrated me about pennant

joe cole didnt fulfill his vast potential until he joined chelsea, dont forget milner made his epl debut at 16, the guy could be a top player with the right coaching and team mates, if we get a straight swop id take it

I find this comparrison interesting and never really thought of it before. Milner is obviously a good player, I just felt he was a "nothing" player, neither a winger or a striker. Maybe the move to the bigger stage could be good for both parties. Think I may be clutching at the straws of blind optimism, but it could be a decent signing.

Cyrus

He is septic. End of story. He is not the sort of player we need. Big, strong and burly player who doesn't have the intelligence in my opinion to play the sort of game we need.
Yossi is better than this guy, even with his lack of physical power.

i absolutely disagree, and i think, if we do sign milner, that a lot of people will be eating their words at the end of the season.

rafa is no fool.

zing

mike65 wrote: »

After 7 years I'd be happy with anything above 3, he only cost 4.

Mike.

plus he's only got a year left on his contract iirc. I agree - anything over 3m would be good.

gucci

Cyrus wrote: »

i absolutely disagree, and i think, if we do sign milner, that a lot of people will be eating their words at the end of the season.

rafa is no fool.

I dont thin Rafa is a fool, but he bought Pennant, and he is no great player either, Milner would be worse imo.
I would rather see him sign someone else than this lead to a me eating my words situation.

Cyrus

If the videos below were of some spanish lad from betis or zaragoza that we had never heard of, we'd be all very excited

IrishMike

gucci wrote: »

I dont thin Rafa is a fool, but he bought Pennant, and he is no great player either, Milner would be worse imo.
I would rather see him sign someone else than this lead to a me eating my words situation.

Let him sign Silva then i would eat my words.
Milner is hardly a player that will change out PL fortunes even the most
optimistic supporter would have to conceed that.
If he isnt they why buy him? Pennant is not a bad player, Milner is at the
same level. No upside to buying him except maybe his age.

gixerfixer

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_3680370,00.html

It's looking fairly certain that Villa will be on the move this summer, and it looks like they're trying to drum up a bidding war. I don't think we could compete with Barca or Madrid financially.

We cant compete with spurs financially never mind barca or Madrid

MementoMori

Re the goalie - rumour on RAWK that we bid £2m for Quim as a backup keeper. { Would be worth it for the chants/headline/quips alone}

Also that Itanfde it off to Fulham.

Would def like to see this done and dusted asap, as I don't want Charlie as number two next season. Anytime he was on the bench it made me nervous for Pepe. However there is the possibility that we might still own Carson next season. He might not like it and I'd prefer to sell him and use the funds to strengthen other areas, but I would have no qualms with him on the bench as number 2.

Regarding 4-4-2 versus 4-5-1; I think the best policy is to get the best players and then fit your system to surround this. Yes 4-5-1 worked a charm this season but it's not like we're going to play it forever. Already been a lot of talk that with Barry we were going to play 4-3-3. I think that formation is something a lot of people get hung up on, but a lot of the time it depends on the game and the opponents. Does it make any sense to play the same formation against teams like Hull/Stoke as your going to play against Man U/Arse/Chelsea? Nope.

The reason I think Villa would be a good signing is that I can imagine him linking up well with Nando, Babel, Gerarrd, Barry. However the problem is other big teams are interested in him apparently.

Chelsea - Does Scolari rate him is the big question? Rumours are that Scolari's been given a £100m budget. Also if Drogba leaves (as seem likely) they'll definately need a striker. Might well get rid of Anelka too; Sheva aint getting no younger. No matter what I can see Chelsea being interested, unless for some reason Scolari doesn't rate him highly enough.

Man Utd - Can't seem them splashing cash on a forward unless Ronaldo goes to Real. If he does then say they get £60m for him. Think you'd have to put them on the interested list then, as they'd have cash and need a replacement. Persoanlly think Benzema might be a slightly higher priority? Dunno though. Would dread a situation where they sign both.

Real Madrid - If they don't sign Ronaldo, then can see them being interested, especially if he continues to perform at the Euros. Can't imagine finance being an issue - If they could raise £60m for Ronaldo surely they could raise £30m for Villa.

Best case scenario for Pool to get Villa is for Ronaldo to stay at OT, Villa to play well at the Euros, but no more hat-tricks => Torres to get the Golden Boot, and Real not be really interested in him

Arsenal - Apparently Wenger has cash to spend and a willingness to spend it. Villa has already said he likes their style of play. If Adebayor goes to Italy, I can see them being very interested; otherwise I think Arsene might not want to get into a bidding war. Best case for LFC - Ade stays at the Emirates

Barca - If as likely E'to moves on(as seems pretty likely) as well as Ronaldinho moving, I can definately see them being interested, as well as having the cash.

Could also see a suprise contender maybe Man City, Bayern, maybe someone from Italy being interested.

The starting point quoted is a minimum of £17m which was before the Euros started. Tbh can't see Valencia getting anywhere under £25m for him, more likely £30m.

A lot could depend on one single transfer - If Ronaldo moves to Real, then you'd have a situation with Man Utd having £60mish but needing a striker. That could be the first domino that sets off the merry-go-round.

gixerfixer

Cyrus wrote: »

i absolutely disagree, and i think, if we do sign milner, that a lot of people will be eating their words at the end of the season.

rafa is no fool.

Your right.Rafa is no fool.He is just skint and thats why Milner is being considered.If anyone thinks Rafa would be going for a player like milner if he had proper transfer funds then they need a reality check.Unfortunatly we are taking steps backwards with players like Barry and milner coming into the squad.Can anyone with hand on heart say that Barry is better than alonso? Or even milner is much better than pennent.Doubt it:(

The G Child

gucci wrote: »

I dont thin Rafa is a fool, but he bought Pennant, and he is no great player either, Milner would be worse imo.
I would rather see him sign someone else than this lead to a me eating my words situation.

In fairness to Pennant, he had come off the back of a good season (all be it with a relegated side) and had a high number of assists. We were crying out for a winger and in my opinion Pennant was a good option. He has a dodgy past but since he was with us he has behaved himself. At times he has played well for us but maybe he is a Newcastle/Everton/Villa type player.

The thing that worried me about Milner was that when I seen it first it was a £10m cash deal. Couldn't believe that. A straight swap for Pennant is not too bad.

Mr Alan

I really think if we sign Milner he could prove a lot of people wrong. I think he is very good with the potential to become excellent.

Granted in a perfect world we'd sign a world-class-now winger, but we dont have the money.