Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

~Rebel~

Highsider wrote: »

They mentioned 18m on Setenta sports.

they probably flicked back through last years gossip, saw that number floating around and figured it was as good as any.

Obviously will be nothing like that. The price cant stay the same after he's been given permission to leave and another year has ticked away on his contract. Saying "you can leave for 18million, even though its the last year of your contract" is equivilent to saying "you cant leave"

Highsider

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

As much as I love seeing people tell a troll to go **** himself, I wouldn't be quite so confident. Something is defo happening in the background. I just hope that it doesn't work out and he stays.

Agreed. To lose Alonso will be a huge step backwards. Unthinkable TBH thats why i just can't see it happening. Besides all sides have said it's not an issue as he's going nowhere.

mike65

Gerrard press conference?

Highsider

mike65 wrote: »

Gerrard press conference?

Engerland?

mike65

He is quitting! :pac:

copacetic

i'd be delighted it barry went to city as alonso would be going nowhere then..

anplaya

Highsider wrote: »

Engerland?

ah yeah,thats probably it,forgot it was internationals this week.

Highsider

mike65 wrote: »

He is quitting! :pac:

Engerland. Oh please let this be true :pac:

jesus_thats_gre

Highsider wrote: »

Agreed. To lose Alonso will be a huge step backwards. Unthinkable TBH thats why i just can't see it happening. Besides all sides have said it's not an issue as he's going nowhere.

My immediate thoughts are that it would be a step backward but you just don't know until all signings are complete.

mike65

Not our concern but I thought I'd mention it anyway, Lucas Neill nearly our right back at one point has refused a new contract and it set to leave over a pay cut of 50% which is a lot but still around 30k a week. Its all money with him!

Karmafaerie

mike65 wrote: »

Not our concern but I thought I'd mention it anyway, Lucas Neill nearly our right back at one point has refused a new contract and it set to leave over a pay cut of 50% which is a lot but still around 30k a week. Its all money with him!

I've never been happier for a player to not sign.

anplaya

mike65 wrote: »

Not our concern but I thought I'd mention it anyway, Lucas Neill nearly our right back at one point has refused a new contract and it set to leave over a pay cut of 50% which is a lot but still around 30k a week. Its all money with him!

never rated him anyway,was surprised when liverpool were trying to sign him before,not good enough imo.hes a player for the lower teams,not a club like liverpool.

mike65

I just had a bad thought....(I'll let you fill in the rest!)

redzerdrog

mike65 wrote: »

I just had a bad thought....(I'll let you fill in the rest!)

not a chance benitez would try to sign him after the last time.

Ardent

redzerdrog wrote: »

not a chance benitez would try to sign him after the last time.

Is right.

Also, greed is apparently the man's only motivation.

Chucky the tree

Delgithed we didn't sign barry, I hope to god we keep Alonso now as I'd resigned myself to losing him for awhile now.

SlickRic

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Delgithed we didn't sign barry, I hope to god we keep Alonso now as I'd resigned myself to losing him for awhile now.

whatever about alonso, barry would've still been a great player to have in the squad.

but yes, hopefully this will help ease people's fears about Xabi.

5starpool

tbh, I don't think this has any bearing on the Alonso situation sadly. Barry would not have been an adequate replacement for Alonso if the worst happens, but we are hardly likely to get a better option for around the 11m mark if Barry goes to City and Alonso still leaves.

If Alonso leaves it will be because he requests it, not because he is pushed out.

Esse85

I expect Xabi to stay.

I also feel Barry would of been a good addition to the squad, especially at £11m

Get rid of Lucas

SlickRic

Esse85 wrote: »

Get rid of Lucas

you'll get very few better 3rd, maybe 4th choice midfielders (once we hopefully bring someone in).

he deserves at least another season to prove himself to the doubters.

whatawaster

Esse85 wrote: »

Get rid of Lucas

Yawn

Karmafaerie

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Delgithed we didn't sign barry, I hope to god we keep Alonso now as I'd resigned myself to losing him for awhile now.

Can I have next weekends lotto numbers please?

SlickRic

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Can I have next weekends lotto numbers please?

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5359919,00.html

Mr Alan

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Can I have next weekends lotto numbers please?

In fairness Karma, he is doing his medical with City as we speak.

I would have liked Barry myself personally, but the fact we didn't get him to me means we weren't in for him again. If he had a choice between Liverpool in the CL or Man City in midtable, i'd imagine we would have been the prefered option. Barrys camp said themselves recently that they hadn't heard from Liverpool in a good number of months.

Karmafaerie

I know but possible medicals don't mean it's on paper.
To be clear, I do think that he's going to Citeh, but it is jumping the gun a bit.

I dont think that Benitez was considering Barry too much this summer.
There's been no movement on him, and with Alonso coming into his own, Rafa I think, will have been looking into other areas, cause the £8,000,000 or so that wa suggested for Barry this summer hasn't materialised.
£12,000,000 is just too much.

eagle eye

He has joined Citeh now. Done deal, so who are you after now I wonder?

5starpool

Someone who wants to play for the club, and is not just after money as their main motivator, hopefully.

mike65

Nice little quote from Yossi

'The good thing is, I have been playing more, and I hope it continues that way. To be honest, it could be Real Madrid knocking on my door, and I would still rather stay at Liverpool four more years.'

PHB

Barry didn't go for 8 million. Hands up who's shocked?

~Rebel~

PHB wrote: »

Barry didn't go for 8 million. Hands up who's shocked?

always gonna be more when it was city though

Mr Alan

with City being involved, doesn't shock me at all.

i think people were operating under the assumption it was CL football he wanted, as he repeatadly stressed-not just a bumper pay packet. if it was CL football he was interested in it would have been between us & Arsenal & 8m would've been closer to the fee.

Chucky the tree

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Can I have next weekends lotto numbers please?

No, I plan on winning it myself.:rolleyes:

Chucky the tree

5starpool wrote: »

tbh, I don't think this has any bearing on the Alonso situation sadly. Barry would not have been an adequate replacement for Alonso if the worst happens, but we are hardly likely to get a better option for around the 11m mark if Barry goes to City and Alonso still leaves.

If Alonso leaves it will be because he requests it, not because he is pushed out.

Raf tried to push him out last season. I don't think we'd ever of signed barry with the intention of keeping Alonso. Where would he play? £11 plus £80-100k a week would of been to much for a squad player.

DeadSkin

Balague's 2 cents on Xabi

On Xabi Alonso


Following an article I published on the site yesterday, related to Florentino Perez` summer transfer plans at Real Madrid, I sense there are a few areas that may need clarifying when it comes to Xabi Alonso`s situation at Liverpool...

The future of Xabi Alonso is all over the back pages again today and this story seems to be changing by the day - it is no surprise: with the new president of Real Madrid aiming to get his summer spending spree underway as quickly as possible and with Xabi Alonso high on his list of priorities that the situation is so fluid.

I have been under the impression that, if a deal is struck, then things will move very quickly. After all, that would suit all parties concerned: Liverpool needs the money early to allow them to go on and sign other players; Xabi will be looking for a new challenge after 5 years at the club and will have his situation sorted early on in the summer; Real will get the midfielder they want and can move on to other targets. And now that it is out in the open that Gareth Barry is in talks with Manchester City, it made sense that Liverpool would want to know where they stand as quickly as possible to avoid missing out on someone who we know was a target.


However, the situation is becoming complicated – which is why I stressed yesterday that there is much work to be done and things will be resolved swiftly only if and when a deal is agreed.

Partly because of how unpopular the transfer would be in Liverpool, it is all getting very political. I suspect that before Liverpool will let Xabi go, the club wants him to come out and publicly express a desire to move.

You`ve all been emailing me telling me that you don`t want Xabi to leave and asking why would Rafa want to sell him – but it`s a very different story if Xabi says he wants to go isn`t it - and even the most ardent Liverpool fan might accept that, after 5 years excellent service to the club and life in England - Xabi could be tempted by an opportunity to return home and play for the biggest club in his native country. Xabi is certainly not being driven out of the club as some emails and on site comments seem to suggest.

There is a second condition for the transfer to take place. Real Madrid will have to place a huge €40 - €50 million offer on the table in a very high profile way: but that`s highly unlikely and we are far more likely to see a game of cat and mouse as Real Madrid try and negotiate the best possible deal for themselves; it has been reported that the Madrid offer could be a player plus cash deal; but no contact has taken place and Liverpool don`t want either of the players mentioned, Negredo or Heinze, at this stage.

So perhaps, if the parties involved had played this transfer in a different way, it may have taken place already. But now nobody can predict what might happen
I believe that if Xabi Alonso is sold it will be for cash: as Rafa Benitez will want as much money as possible to bolster his transfer kitty, enabling him to sign the players that he has identified as a priority – and not just those who are offered on a plate.

Which bring us onto another topic that we have been getting lots if emails about: criticisms of Rafa`s potential targets should Alonso be sold. I will say this – have faith in the manager and trust his judgment. Remember the criticism when Liverpool signed the unknown Skrtel? And how many people complained that Benitez didn`t need Agger because he already had Hyppia…

I think we just need to look at Rafa`s reaction to questions about Xabi`s future to know that, if Real Madrid want to sign Alonso, it is going to take an awful lot of money and a great deal of persuasion – and a plea from the player as well. Madrid will be working hard from now on to try and get things moving quickly – which may still happen – but we may find that no agreement is reached: in which case, Xabi stays. And if he does, well look at what happened with Gerrard a couple of years ago: it looked as if he might be going…and look at him now…

Unearthly

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Can I have next weekends lotto numbers please?

Predicting the lotto is the same probability as predicting a player who is having a medical at a different club not signing for you......

copacetic

SSN reporting real have a deal on the table with milan, £56million for kaka, and milan president saying they prob won't be able to keep him. Spanish radio reporting the deal is done.

mayordenis

copacetic wrote: »

SSN reporting real have a deal on the table with milan, £56million for kaka, and milan president saying they prob won't be able to keep him. Spanish radio reporting the deal is done.

I was about to act the dickhead and point out this has nothing to do with liverpool, but I suppose if they throw 65million at kaka it might dent there Xabi war chest.

copacetic

mayordenis wrote: »

I was about to act the dickhead and point out this has nothing to do with liverpool, but I suppose if they throw 65million at kaka it might dent there Xabi war chest.

sorry, I did mean to stick a comment at the end.

I meant it more to show that Perez is serious and it could turn Xabis head if they are really going to build a team like he has been speaking of. Kaka seems like someone who could work well with Xabi?

mayordenis

copacetic wrote: »

sorry, I did mean to stick a comment at the end.

I meant it more to show that Perez is serious and it could turn Xabis head if they are really going to build a team like he has been speaking of. Kaka seems like someone who could work well with Xabi?

yea I reckon both Kaka and Xabi are the kind of players who would fit in anywhere really.

PHB

Well a possible Madrid system would be like

---

Kaka

---

---

Xabi

---

Gago/Diarra

---

They could easily adopt the fairly successful 4-2-3-1 with two deep lying central midfielders, one a quarterback style one a DM, three roaming attacking midfielders with some defensive duties and then a front man. Its how you work those sort of creative passers into a team without sacrificing defence [not that Real would care ]

Highsider

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

My immediate thoughts are that it would be a step backward but you just don't know until all signings are complete.

That's the only thing is'nt it. I think Rafa will know that if he sells Alosno he is going to have to bring in one or two very big name players to replace him and just as important to keep the fans onside.

Highsider

Esse85 wrote: »

I expect Xabi to stay.

I also feel Barry would of been a good addition to the squad, especially at £11m

Get rid of Lucas

Why get rid of Lucas? He has improved his all round game this season and imo will prove a great signing long term. Remember he only cost us 6 million and has had to deal with a lot of the idiot boo boys at Anfield twice last season. He deserves time and i for one hope he gets it.

mada999

would not like Xabi to go to be honest....we need to keep our best players and bolster our squad to hopefully try and challenge for the league next season.

Thanx 4 The Fish

Really do not see Alonso going , would take something spectacular for me to see him leave and the fans be happy. Maybe David Villa

Fromvert

Barry would have been a very good squad player for us but obviously Rafa didn't have him in his plans. I really hope we keep Xabi would love to see him sign a new deal whether it be an extension or a new 4 year deal, just to send a message and end the speculation.

If he does come out and says he wants to go there is nothing the club or Rafa can do about it. But we will have to try and get the best deal possible from Real either all cash or a player plus cash deal with the player being either Robben or Sneijder (sp?). They are the only two Real players I would want and could see improving our first 11.

mike65

No earthly point in signing Villa he won't fit unless its 4-4-2.

Thanx 4 The Fish

The formation could change if the personnell does.

bUILDERtHEbOB

mike65 wrote: »

No earthly point in signing Villa he won't fit unless its 4-4-2.

He plays up front on his own for Valencia though.

mike65

He does, so drop Torres then?

Thanx 4 The Fish but no thanks! I love 4-2-3-1 it works a treat, I'd sooner spend money on flying full backs/wingers, anyway Villa seems to be a home boy.

rossie1977

Fromvert wrote: »

Barry would have been a very good squad player for us but obviously Rafa didn't have him in his plans.

its gone past the point where liverpool should be buying squad players, the players arriving at liverpool from this point on should be players that are for the first team and better than the current players in that position