Liverpool Rumours And General Discussion 2008/2009

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The Rooster wrote: »

1. We can't afford him, but Benitez is letting him know we want him in an effort to unsettle him and get him to try and force Valencia's hand a bit

Can't be this, there's no way Rafa would act in such a way.

IrishMike

+1
Well said Des Kelly!

Mr Alan

in fairness, i think if Rafa wanted to let him know he wanted him there'd be easier ways to do it, Reina being his best mate, and him just after spending the last month with Alonso,Arbeloa and Torres.

monkey9

Reading in another thread there about Barca not letting Ronaldinho go to the Olympics. It isn't in the official FIFA calendar so the over 23 players can be prevented by their clubs without repercussion.
So why is Rafa letting Mascherano go? I think he's one of the three overage players, isn't he? Or am i wrong?

DeadSkin

He is, but Mascherano wants to go.

Táck

didnt villa say he didnt want to move already?

the guardian.co.uk Monday June 16, 2008;

The Spanish striker has declared that "money means nothing" and snubbed a £20m move to Chelsea in favour of staying in Spain where the gormless pursuit of wealth is eschewed in favour of sleeping under trees all day, drinking sangria, eating tapas and pushing donkeys from the top of clock towers.

spockety

monkey9 wrote: »

Reading in another thread there about Barca not letting Ronaldinho go to the Olympics. It isn't in the official FIFA calendar so the over 23 players can be prevented by their clubs without repercussion.
So why is Rafa letting Mascherano go? I think he's one of the three overage players, isn't he? Or am i wrong?

Because unlike Ronaldinho, Masch has a good relationship with his club/manager and is not about to be shipped out anyway this summer.

He has expressed his views on the importance of the Olympics for him on at least one occasion, doubt if Rafa would want to stand in his way for no good reason.

MementoMori

From BBC Website

Portsmouth are expected to tie up the signing of Peter Crouch from Liverpool in the next two days after the Liverpool striker agreed personal terms with the club. (Press Association, 1025 BST)

Looks like this deal is inches from being done - clubs agree, medical passed, personal terms agreed. Happy days

Fratton Fred

MementoMori wrote: »

From BBC Website



Looks like this deal is inches from being done - clubs agree, medical passed, personal terms agreed. Happy days

your loss our gain methinks

Mr Alan

he'll do well at Portsmouth.

Dub13

I wish Crouch all the best.

mike65

So farewell then Peter Crouchy....oh I did that one already.

Was less than overwhelmed when he was signed but he quickly grew on me for his fortitude during his barren spell, some great goal esp the unexpected moments like the bicycle kicks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9asJrdXEews

Mike.

MementoMori

I would be surprised if Crouch didnt work out well for Portsmouth.

Fingers crossed he can score lots of goals against other non-Pool teams for Portsmouth.

Would like a couple against Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea please Pete.

DeadSkin

Fratton Fred wrote: »

your loss our gain methinks

He's definitely a gain for ye, but not a loss for us
He wanted to go for regular football so he's not a loss, he's not goin' to push Torres out of his place.
I'd have liked him to stay but good luck to him.

MementoMori

From BBC website

Liverpool are expected to complete the £3million signing of Palmeiras goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri after sources in Brazil confirmed the player completed his medical on Tuesday and a work permit has been acquired. (Press Association, 1121 BST)

Busy busy at the moment. - Might see him in action for some bit in the friendly against Tranmere on Sat

Do this deal and flog Carson and Itandje sharpish so we can add that money to our buying of attackers fund.

Maybe expect to hear some Carson plus cash rumours for Downing once this deal is done. Saw somewhere that Itandje is in Turkey talking to Galatasary about personal terms at the moment [can't recall source, but fingers crossed]

monkey9

Gutted to see Crouch leave. If it was a straight 4-4-2 system, then Crouchy would have played more games. Saw signs last season that they could link well, but once we changed formation to 4-2-3-1, he always gonna be the odd one out.
Great signing for Pompey! I hope and i'm sure he'll do the business there. All the best Crouchy!!

darkskol

Yeah so long robocrouch great signing for pompey

yom 1

monkey9 wrote: »

Great signing for Pompey! I hope and i'm sure he'll do the business there. All the best Crouchy!!

+1

Wish him the best of luck. I'd say Portsmouth could have a very potent strike force next season. Could very well make it onto my fantasy footie team now!:P

MementoMori

The Rooster wrote: »

2. Its just for the media and fans, Bentiez doesnt really want him (especially as it would blow his entire budget, and more) as he wouldnt fit into Rafa's preferred formation.

Totally agree - might also be a way of letting the fans know who he would be going after if he had a proper budget. I'd imagine Rafa's must be frustrated with the whole lack of cash thing. Little shot accross the bows of the Yanks as well

kida

MementoMori wrote: »

From BBC website



Busy busy at the moment. - Might see him in action for some bit in the friendly against Tranmere on Sat

Do this deal and flog Carson and Itandje sharpish so we can add that money to our buying of attackers fund.

Maybe expect to hear some Carson plus cash rumours for Downing once this deal is done. Saw somewhere that Itandje is in Turkey talking to Galatasary about personal terms at the moment [can't recall source, but fingers crossed]

Strange to buy a 2nd choice keeper that needs a work permit. AFAIK you need to be a regular to renew.

MementoMori

I was concerned about the initial work permit thing for Cavalieri as well but he seemed to have got the initial one straight away. Don't know if you have to be a regular to renew though - pretty sure you can argue each case case-by-case i.e. on it's individual merits.

All we'd have to do is point at Reina and say well he kept 60+ clean sheets for us in the 08/09 season winning us all competions,so we couldnt really displace him.

On a related note I'd love to know what the deal with Leto and his work permit issues is. I know he was poor in that CL game he played but so was everyone iirc. Just seems odd to have a potential first-teamer only allowed to play with the reserves. Could be a player to benefit from the seven subs thing as some stage. He be 22 at the end of August and we signed him for £1.85m apparently. If there is no hope of him playing for us anytime soon might as well sell him on.

rosboy

Rafa Benitez rage over Ryan Babel Olympics call

Jul 9 2008 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo

RAFA BENITEZ today bemoaned the likely loss of Ryan Babel for the start of the new season - even though the winger has now recovered from an ankle injury picked up on international duty.

Babel was due to return to training at Melwood today having missed Euro 2008 through a ligament tear suffered during the build up to the tournament.
But having carefully managed his recuperation and got him back to fitness ahead of schedule, Liverpool face the prospect of losing Babel for the opening games of the new season as Holland intend to pick the 21-year-old for their Olympic Games squad.

If selected, Babel will join team mates Lucas, Javier Mascherano and possibly Emiliano Insua at the Games in Beijing.

Though delighted to have Babel back in action ahead of schedule, the Reds boss is angry that Holland are set to deprive him of the ex-Ajax man’s services when he feels he would be better served playing for Liverpool.

Benitez said: “Obviously, we are really pleased that Ryan is coming back to training because he is an important player for us and he has worked hard to recover from the injury he suffered with Holland.

“But we are really worried because after getting him fit again it is likely that we could lose him again if he is selected for the Olympics. This is a big problem – we prepare him and then he goes away with the national team.

“This season is very important for him. In his first season he was settling in but this time he has more experience and we are looking for him to give something from the beginning so it is really important for him to start working with his team.”

Should Babel go to Beijing he will miss Liverpool’s opening league games away at Sunderland and at home to Middlesbrough, as well as the third round qualification tie for the Champions League.

Benitez admitted: “This is a strange pre-season because we have to wait for players to return from the Euros at the start and then at the end we are going to lose players to the Olympics.”

Meanwhile, Peter Crouch is set to complete his £11m move to Portsmouth.

Once that move goes through Benitez will step up his attempts to bring in reinforcements with a resolution to the Gareth Barry saga topping his agenda. Diego Cavalieri has undergone a medical and should complete his £3m move to Anfield within days.

Benitez admitted he would have liked to have been able to keep Crouch but knows he cannot hinder the striker’s ambition to play regular first team football, particularly with Pompey having made such a lucrative offer.

He said: “We know we will miss him but you can't stop a player who wants to play every week. He understands that with Torres here and Gerrard as a second striker, like he was at the end of last season, it will be difficult for him.

“Everything is friendly. I've talked to him and the agents. If he can agree with Portsmouth it will be perfect for everyone.

“We have supported Peter from the day he signed and we offered him a new contract. But I can understand that he wants to play every week, wants to start every game.

“Also, a few people in the press were talking about £7million – so I talked about £15million to protect the club. But now it's just the player talking to Portsmouth and finding a solution.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2008/07/09/rafa-benitez-rage-over-ryan-babel-olympics-call-100252-21310095/

Interesting comment in bold at the end of the article.

MementoMori

Ah FFS

Rage Blackout ahoy :eek::eek::eek::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Seriously tell the Dutch to feck off. Say somethint like "lads what happened last time Babel went off with you lot. Injured, that's right. Not even in a match but in your poxy training. Sorry but we have a PL to win and a CL to qualify for and we were kinda counting on Babel playing in some of those games since we do actually pay this wages as well as having paid a transfer fee for him. We've just about got him back to full fitness now after the last time we released him to you Dutchies. Can you please give us one reason why we should let Ryan feck off to China for this poxy made-up sham of a tournament. No - didnt think so. Have a nice smoke and goodbye."

I thought that it had been agreed after the injury prior to the Euros he wasnt going to the Olympics

A mockery of a sham of a sham of a mockery :mad::mad::mad::mad:

IrishMike

Just goes to show you that most of the transfer figures talked about are smoke and mirrors.
Best of luck to Crouch though, excellent player for Liverpool and a model pro.
Would also give my left arm for an hour with his missus but thats for another thread

PiE

I'm sure Rafa would "extend" the recovery time of Babel's injury if Babel was willing to go along with it. Maybe he really wants to go to the Olympics?

~Rebel~

MementoMori wrote: »

On a related note I'd love to know what the deal with Leto and his work permit issues is. I know he was poor in that CL game he played but so was everyone iirc. Just seems odd to have a potential first-teamer only allowed to play with the reserves. Could be a player to benefit from the seven subs thing as some stage. He be 22 at the end of August and we signed him for £1.85m apparently. If there is no hope of him playing for us anytime soon might as well sell him on.

As far as im aware Leto just got unlucky. His passport was caught up in some scandal of wrongly issued passports. He's probably ok, can stay in the country and everything, but if its found that theres a problem, any games he plays in will be void, so to be on the safe side he cant play untill its all sorted. Lookin for a link now..

<edit> link found

LETO PASSPORT FARCE

LIVERPOOL'S Sebastian Leto may see his Kop career cut short by a passport fiasco.

Leto, 21, has not played for the club since December as Italian cops are probing the validity of thousands of citizenship decisions.

The Argentinian, who has an Italian grandparent, has been caught up in the mess and Liverpool are not prepared to risk playing him until the probe is concluded.

Boss Rafa Benitez favours sending the winger on loan to Spain but may have to sell.

http://blogs.notw.co.uk/sport/2008/05/leto-passport-f.html

Karmafaerie

Peter Crouch.
What can I say.

Thanks for the memories man, and best of luck.

YNWA.

IrishMike

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Peter Crouch.
What can I say.

Thanks for the memories man, and best of luck.

YNWA.

7 feet and 3 inches of bicycle kick.
Magic!

leninbenjamin

IrishMike wrote: »

7 feet and 3 inches of bicycle kick.
Magic!

fail.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srYYiAVlxCQ

IrishMike

Thanking you squire.
Stupid youtube giving me trouble

flanzer

IrishMike wrote: »

7 feet and 3 inches of bicycle kick.
Magic!

That's another reason why Finnan should stay! One of the best crossers in the league... super backup at right-back.. Though he may not track back as good as Arbeloa, his crossing is better. Wonder can Degan do both?

IrishMike

flanzer wrote: »

That's another reason why Finnan should stay! One of the best crossers in the league... super backup at right-back.. Though he may not track back as good as Arbeloa, his crossing is better. Wonder can Degan do both?

After reading reports about him ill be happy if he can do either

gixerfixer

Best of luck crouchie.No doubt a talent that portsmouth will take full advantage of.

rosboy

Looks like Hammill won't be breaking into the first squad this year. Looks like Rafa thinks he needs a little more experience before consideration for first team football.........or he want to drum up a little interest by putting him in the shop window!

Hammill ready for new loan

Reds youngster keen to build up first-team experience

Liverpool winger Adam Hammill is set for another loan move away from Anfield next season after holding talks with Rafa Benitez.
Hammill, who has returned to Anfield after a season-long loan spell at Southampton, is highly regarded by Benitez and the Liverpool coaching team.
Benitez has reassured Hammill that he figures in his long-term plans at Liverpool, but believes he would be best served by going out on loan again to gain some more first-team experience before making the step up to the Reds side.
A number of clubs north and south of the border have been alerted to the availability of Hammill with Championship newcomers Swansea exploring the option of a deal after missing out on his Liverpool team-mate Paul Anderson.
Plymouth, Sheffield United, Blackpool and Burnley are also ready to offer Hammill the chance to move to the Championship.
SPL side Aberdeen are hoping to lure Hammill to Scotland after he impressed during a loan spell at Dunfermline in 2007.
Hammill accepts that it will be best for him to go out on loan before establishing himself at Liverpool and the skilful midfielder is aware of interest from a number of clubs.
Big year

"It has been great to be back at Melwood and train with the squad," Hammill told skysports.com.
"I've sat down with the management and have been assured that whilst my future is at Liverpool, it's going to be in everyone's best interests for me continue getting regular first-team football.
"I've heard a number of clubs have made enquiries so it's just a matter of evaluating them and taking it from there.
"I have taken a lot from my previous Dunfermline and Southampton loans and now feel ready to really make an impact this season.
"It's a big year for me and I'm looking forward to it."
Benitez is thought to be considering the clubs interested in Hammill before deciding where would be best for the youngster to continue his development.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_3797771,00.html

mike65

Boggled I am, Babel should have been kept in recovery until the plane left the tarmac.

Mike.

Tusky

These line ups get me excited

---

Reina

Arbeloa--Carra--Skrtel--Dossena

Babel---Masch---Gerrard---Barry

---

Villa--Torres

---

Reina

Arbeloa--Carra--Sktel--Dossena

---

Masch--Barry

--Gerrard----Villa

---

Babel

---

Torres

Kuyt
Benayoun
Voronin
Pennant
Lucas
Agger
Hyypia
Degen
Aurelio

rosboy

Tusky wrote: »

---

Reina

Arbeloa--Carra--Sktel--Dossena

---

Masch--Barry

--Gerrard----Villa

---

Babel

---

Torres

I like this one too, but with the Gerrard/Villa/Babel line being a fluid one where none of them are stuck to a position. Anyone of them can drift wide or cut inside and the others move to accomodate. Imagine trying to mark that formation, and then having Torres as well!!!!

Not sure how well that would work, but hey, we haven't got Villa in our team so its only a dream anyways!

Cyrus

only one thing wrong there lads

dan agger has to start

MementoMori

Saw a rumour about a possible swap deal involving Carson and/or Pennant for Downing.

Can see a certain sense in it given Boro's apparent utter lack of a keeper and the fact that Gary O'Neil (had to look it up:o ) was first choice for Boro on the right of midfield last year with the impressive stat of 26 games and no goals.

Could Pennant could do a better job for them pinging balls into the box for them?

May be the case that we would have to throw in £2m to get the deal done but might be worth it. Possibly might leave us a little light in options/cover on the right with Kuyt/Benayoun/Gerrard[in emergencies] but if we managed to sign Keane wouldnt be so bad, would it?

Mr Alan

i would swap pennant-carson for downing in a heartbeat.

and throw a couple mill in if it made the difference.

actually think Downing could do really for us.

read a stat here when he was discussed a while ago basically saying that he was involved in roughly a third of all middlesboroughs goals last campaign, incl scoring around 9 himself.....which is similar stats to gerrard last campaign.....throw him in a team with Babel,Gerrard,Barry;),torres,kuyt and see wat he can do

~Rebel~

pennant is probably better then o neil alright, but not by much. O neil was excellent for pompy, rafa was after him but was discouraged by price.

ShoulderChip

Is he going to have to change his name to David RobbieFowlerhouse?

Chardee MacDennis

Mr Alan wrote: »

i would swap pennant-carson for downing in a heartbeat.

and throw a couple mill in if it made the difference.

actually think Downing could do really for us.

read a stat here when he was discussed a while ago basically saying that he was involved in roughly a third of all middlesboroughs goals last campaign, incl scoring around 9 himself.....which is similar stats to gerrard last campaign.....throw him in a team with Babel,Gerrard,Barry;),torres,kuyt and see wat he can do

BastardPrince wrote: »

Cappello was asked who out of the england squad had impressed him the most and he said downing.

remember he was at boro who only scored more than two goals in a game once this season, they scored 43 goals overall and Downing got 9 goals and 5 assists in the league. that means he was involved in 33% of all their goals. Stevie G was involved in 22/67 nearly the exact same ratio of our goals.

i think downing has the potential to make a step up when surround by better players much more than milner and bentley anyway.

i would take downing in a heartbeat...

Thanx 4 The Fish

But he would be far more expensive than a player from the continent who would be just as good. Downing is a decent player, decent players look good at a smaller club, decent players seem mediocre at a big club.

Mr Alan

players from the continent who cost as much and just as good? about 12m? any names to throw out there?

DeadSkin

Thanx 4 The Fish wrote: »

Downing is a decent player, decent players look good at a smaller club, decent players seem mediocre at a big club.

He still scored 9 goals in all 38 league games last season, playing against the same opponents Liverpool did[including one at Anfield].
I think it's an excellent return for a left sided player. I'm not sure on his assissts[sp?].
I think he could do a job for Liverpool.

Dont be at yourself

I wouldn't be against Downing either, especially if it was a straight swap for Pennant and Carson. Those two are deadwood in the squad at the moment, where as Downing will give us options in a number of positions.

This Olympics thing is really grating.

We're losing Macherano, Lucas, Babel, Leto and possibly Insua. Meanwhile, the likes of Madrid and Barca are telling the national squads to do one, and have said they wont release many of their players, even though the Spanish season doesn't start until after the Premiership! And with Real Madrid keeping Heinze, it makes it more likely that Insua will be called up...

Macherano and Babel will be significant losses for us. We'll essentially be playing with a skeleton midfield for the first four games of our season.

MementoMori

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

This Olympics thing is really grating.

We're losing Macherano, Lucas, Babel, Leto and possibly Insua. Meanwhile, the likes of Madrid and Barca are telling the national squads to do one, and have said they wont release many of their players, even though the Spanish season doesn't start until after the Premiership! And with Real Madrid keeping Heinze, it makes it more likely that Insua will be called up...

Macherano and Babel will be significant losses for us. We'll essentially be playing with a skeleton midfield for the first four games of our season.

Seeing as the Dutchies havent named their squad yet I've my fingers crossed that they will do the decent thing and not name Babel in the squad. I think Rafa bringing it up in that recent interview was a shot accross the Dutch's bows in a sense.

Also I don't think Leto is going. There is no mention of him in the offical 18 on the Olympics website and there was no mention of him being a back up in the reports I saw a la Insua. This is such a sham of a tournament it could end up happening I suppose:mad:

I think Babel would be a bigger loss in terms of available cover as opposed to Lucas & Mascherano - pretty confident we will have Gerrard, Plessis, Guthrie, Benayoun and one of either Barry/Alonso for two CM spot - maybe even Skrtl/Cara if things are desperate.

With Babel our replacement options are lesser at the moment - Benayoun/Leto (if he can actually play for us)/ maybe Barry (but I think he's better in the CM but might have to do a job for us.)

If anyone picks up a long-term injury, I'll be raging.:mad::mad::mad::mad:

If it does end up that Babel,Leto, Mascherano, Lucas and Insua end up going I know I'll be cheering on Brazil/Argentina/Holland's opponents so they get knocked out quickly.

MementoMori

£20m transfer kitty to end up with Keane, Crespo, Downing, Barry, Dossena, Degen, Cavalieri

Crouch 11m
Alonso 16m
Riise 4m
Le Tallec 1m
Finnan 1.5m
Itandje 2m
Carson 4m
Pennant 4m
Total Sales : 43.5m

Degen 0m
Dossena 6.8m
Cavalieri 3m
Barry 16.5m
Crespo 0m
Keane 25.2m
Downing 12m

Total Purchases 62.3m

Transfer Kitty Needed 20m

I think it's pretty plausible.

We might also get Downing for less than 12m if we manage to move Carson and Pennant on to them. Surely a case where they end up with Carson and Penannt (two first teamers) plus less than 4m in cash would appeal to them? If they get shirty and say Downing for them is worth just as much as Barry to Villa, we can say out valuation for Carson is £10m, Pennant is £5m and we'll throw in £3m in cash to take the deal up to £18m

Also the £25.2m for Keane is basically a plug figure to make the transfer kitty come to an even £20m. I think we could well get him for less depending on how things play out with Spurs strikeforce this summer. Been very quiet on the Berbatov thing and the Bent thing seems to have cooled. My opinion is the previous bid of Crouch plus £5m, which was turned down, was basically seen as a £14m in Spurs eyes. Might be time to make a £18m bid and see what their response is.

People are probably going to say for £25m we should bid for Villa but I think from everything I'v read he just isnt interested in a move out of Spain. Also I think I can see Keane fitting in better than Villa from the get go. I just think it would also take more cash (north of £30m) to pry him away from Valencia.

Dont be at yourself

Internet reports reckon Juve have got cold feet on the Alonso deal. This could have wide reprecussions.

Rafa has previously said that Alonso and Barry can play together, and one transfer is not conditional on the other. However, I'm sure a lot of Liverpool fans would be unhappy for Rafa to spend 18 million pounds on Barry if Alonso was still in the squad.

It also leaves Barry and Aston Villa in a quandry, should we choose not to buy. By all accounts, Barry is a professional and maintains a good relationship with the Aston Villa squad, but how is his relationship with O'Neill? There was some pretty harsh criticism from both sides, and it could make things awkward if they're both still there next season.

Villa have also apparently agreed terms on a transfer for Sidwell - this is presumably dependent on Barry being sold though.

Guillem Ballague also reckons that Rafa name-dropping Villa was simply a smokescreen to distract attention from Keano. I'm not sure what to make of this. Every other player we're linked with is labelled a "smokescreen", it's getting quite tiresome!

Ah... the summer transfer merry-go-round. Don't you love it?