Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Boggles

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Except in very serious cases, the "my wif doesn't like it" excuse is used way too often.
I don't believe half of them.

When it's a ase of family troubles, fair enough, that's more than understandable.
But players forcing transfers because his girlfriend doesn't like the weather, is all that's wrong with modern football.


PS: Obviously not saying that's the case with Masch, just in general.

"The Wife isn't settled" meaning She has plundered everyone of the local shops and fell out with the other Wags and it's time to move on.

WFT is a 24 year old footballer doing married anyways, and even if they are married, how long has it been 6 months?

slingerz

Any idea on actual transfers into Liverpool? I see Robben was linked today. He is the type of player we do need but I dont know if he would fit into the squad really. Any chance of Snejder being left go from Madrid after the arrival of Kaka? Goran Pandev is also a transfer target allegedly.

All in all if Alonso and Mascherano left then Liverpool would be in big trouble. Cant see either of them going to be honest but the speculation about them doesnt make for the best reading.

Brando_ie

Xabi ruled out of Madrid move??

LINK

Perez targets Ronaldo swoop
But Real president rules out Alonso bid


Florentino Perez has claimed he will do "everything possible" to lure Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid, but has ruled out a move for Xabi Alonso.

Returning president Perez has already made one stunning signing with the £59million capture of Brazil international Kaka from AC Milan.

And the Santiago Bernabeu supremo is keen to revive his 'galacticos' transfer policy from his previous stint, which saw the likes of Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham brought in.

World Player of the Year Ronaldo has been a long-term target for the Spanish giants, although Manchester United have always vigorously resisted any advances.
The best

But Perez does not appear deterred and he told Onda Cero and Radio Marca: "I will do everything possible to get Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

"Kaka is (just) the first signing.

"The only thing I have done is ensure we follow the path Santiago Bernabeu marked out for us; (signing) the best players in the world (Alfredo Di Stefano), the best in Spain (Amancio) and, with them, the best from the youth set-up (Raul)."

Perez appeared to pour cold water on reports Liverpool's Spain midfielder Alonso could be heading to the Bernabeu.

"He is a great player but he also plays in a big team and I haven't heard any news that they plan to sell him," said the Madrid president.

"It's obvious (Liverpool manager Rafa) Benitez is counting on keeping him. That's normal, he's a good player and it wouldn't be easy to replace him."

Nevertheless, it is expected to be a summer of change at Madrid with nine players seemingly on their way out of the club.

"(The squad) has 28 players. We can bring in six new and only register 25," he said.

slingerz

Just where does Perez get the money for this?

CorkMan

David Villa with 28 in 33 games this season and Torres with 14 in 24, great players.

Who do ye think is the best of the two?

CorkMan

slingerz wrote: »

Just where does Perez get the money for this?

He owns Spains biggest construction company, but cos of the recession that is almost to the floor.

Years ago Real Madrid sold their training ground to the city council of Madrid for hundreds of millions (much more than it's actual value), then the council rented it back for bar nothing. More shenanigans?

lint316

CorkMan wrote: »

David Villa with 28 in 33 games this season and Torres with 14 in 24, great players.

Who do ye think is the best of the two?

Torres

anplaya

CorkMan wrote: »

David Villa with 28 in 33 games this season and Torres with 14 in 24, great players.

Who do ye think is the best of the two?

hard to say,both play in different leagues.until villa plays in england,for me ,id say torres.

mike65

slingerz, Real Madrid are free of historic debt thanks to the training ground sale in 2001 (the city bought it for 290 million sterling) The club nows seem to work on a crazy system based on image rights/sponsership deals etc that effectivly pays for the outlay over a number of years (plus the sell-on income of course), its like plate spinning on a grand scale.

edit according to Bloomberg they have a huge debt of 563 million euro but they also say the training ground was sold for 500 million euro which isn't true.

slingerz

Any hope of a billionaire buying Liverpool building an 75,000 seater stadium as well as bringing in the quality players we want. Like why would the arabs want to own Man City?!

Hephaestus

Perez on Xabi Alonso

He is a great player but he also plays in a big team and I haven't heard any news that they plan to sell him," said the Madrid president.

"It's obvious (Liverpool manager Rafa) Benitez is counting on keeping him. That's normal, he's a good player and it wouldn't be easy to replace him"

Link


Edit: Already posted

missingtime

Boggles wrote: »

WFT is a 24 year old footballer doing married anyways,

Exactly!!

If Mascherano does go I will lose a lot of respect for him. It has an air of cheating about it.

slingerz

slingerz wrote: »

Just where does Perez get the money for this?

Bank loans from local banks,he is very wealthy himself and given the stature of the club he has no problems getting it.Apperantly its a 300m euro loan :eek:

monkey9

Are Madrid funded at all by the Royal family in Spain????

Nope but they do get favours done for them.Like last time Perez was in he sold the training ground to the council who rented it back to them for nothing.Im sure its dodgy but this time around he has nothing to sell so its all bank loans.

joe123

monkey9 wrote: »

Are Madrid funded at all by the Royal family in Spain????

Yeah I thought that myself...

Boggles

Simply answer is no one has a clue why they are so wealthy, or why they don't fall over riddled with debt.

A handy good few million a year come from a 100,000 fans religiously paying €149 annually for membership, ovbiously thats only a drop of what they spend, they are pretty good at making money.

mike65

Shirts sales etc are massive apparently, esp in Asia.

joe123

joe123 wrote: »

Yeah I thought that myself...

They get around 160m a year through their tv deal alone and they sell the most merchandise in the world.
They are also owned by the fans,this means any money made is put back into the club like Barcelona.

Even if they spend 300m on players they will be able to repay the loan on merchandise alone,this is what happened last time Perez was in charge.You could question the success they actually achieved but they made money.

daithijjj

Real madrid are seen by the spanish government/hierarchy as a tourist attraction for the whole of spain and worldwide vistors due to their history, much like a buckingham palace or an eiffel tower so to speak. Theirin, they get massive favours in terms of funding (going into debt) as they generate income not only for themselves but the spanish capital itself. They were 3 or 4 hundred mil in debt when they bought zidane for example.

Fromvert

Did the government wipe their dept at one time?

daithijjj

I wouldnt know that tbh, i read all the stuff surrounding their sale of the training facilities a few years back, you could have trained an army on it.

MementoMori

Torres and Riera scored one each in Spain's 6-0 friendly win over Azerbijan.
Villa got a hat-trick and Guiza got the other one. Arbeloa got an assist for one of Villa's goals. Torres, Riera, Alonso and Arbeloa all played the full game and Pepe came on in the 49th minute. No word of injuries apart from Fabregas who picked up a masty head wound.

Goals

Torres
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20090609/torres-lleva-premio-0-6/522605.shtml

Riera
http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/20090609/riera-hace-cuarto-espana/522655.shtml?s1=deportes&s2=&s3=

Other goals can be found at the link as well

Also the Guardian reporting that the loan will be extended. Given that they are mentioning details such as the interest rate, I'm assuming this might be genuine.

Not sure if this is good or bad news.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett set to refinance Liverpool loan
• £350m loan to be refinanced after 24 July deadline
• Hicks reported to be 'very relaxed' and 'confident'
Elena Moya and Andy Hunter
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 9 June 2009 20.39 BST

Liverpool's beleaguered co-owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, look set to *refinance their £350m loan with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia from next month's deadline, the *Guardian has learned. The extension could cost up to £3.5m for the arrangement fee, with *interest payments – approximately 4% above the banking rate – similar to the terms on their current facility.

It was announced last week that Hicks' and Gillett's parent company, Kop *Football (Holdings) Limited, suffered a £42.6m loss for the year ending July 2008 despite a record turnover of £164.2m. A Liverpool supporters group, Spirit of Shankly, has launched a protest campaign to dissuade RBS from extending the loan beyond the 24 July deadline.

However, the two banks are willing to extend their loan, given rising income at a club who finished second in the Premier League last season, qualifying for the lucrative Champions League for a *seventh season in a row. "Banks won't want to jeopardise growth through *taking control," a source close to the situation said.

Facing multi-billion pound losses, banks are pushing unprofitable companies into insolvency or demanding *control through a debt-for-equity swap. In Spain the local savings bank Bancaja has *practically taken control of Valencia, who have about £500m of debt. However, the source added: "It doesn't make sense to take control of a business that's performing well; this approach could be applicable to Liverpool."

The refinancing deal will buy Hicks and Gillett time as they attempt to avoid having to sell Liverpool, although their prospects of borrowing a further £400m to build a new stadium on Stanley Park have receded. Last week's accounts included a warning from the accountants, KPMG, that there would be "significant doubt on the group's and parent company's ability to continue as a going concern" without an extension to the £350m loan. A source close to Hicks responded that the Texan was "very relaxed" and "confident".

Liverpool's manager, Rafael Benítez, meanwhile, has *confirmed that he has funds to enhance his squad this summer. "I won't talk about any figures and I can't say how much we have," he said. "Clearly we don't have too much to spend but I think we have enough money to add the one or two players that we need."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/09/liverpool-tom-hicks-george-gillett

5starpool

How the hell do those clowns ever hope to make a profit (all they were in it for obviously) if they keep refinancing and building up the debts?

Karmafaerie

5starpool wrote: »

How the hell do those clowns ever hope to make a profit (all they were in it for obviously) if they keep refinancing and building up the debts?

I don't agree.
one thing all this shows is that they weren't in this for a profit.
If they were, they had numerous chances to sell up for at least £50,000,000 profit each.
Hicks especially seems to be bullish and wants to succeed with Liverpool.
He seems like the kinda guy who would love nothing more than to "prove himself" to all the Liverpool fans who're so against him.
Everytime he makes a mistake, and does something that causes backlash, he doesn't do it again.

He's supported Rafa publically, and unreservedly, since the Klinsman afair.
He's been careful with his appearance since mug-gate.

While Gilette would be happy to get a nice profit, and move on, I think that Hicks will fight tooth and nail to stay, and that profit isn't guiding him.





Not saying this is a good thing, and most certainly not supporting him, but just saying it's not about profit with him.

Karmafaerie

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I don't agree.
one thing all this shows is that they weren't in this for a profit.
If they were, they had numerous chances to sell up for at least £50,000,000 profit each.
Hicks especially seems to be bullish and wants to succeed with Liverpool.
He seems like the kinda guy who would love nothing more than to "prove himself" to all the Liverpool fans who're so against him.
Everytime he makes a mistake, and does something that causes backlash, he doesn't do it again.

He's supported Rafa publically, and unreservedly, since the Klinsman afair.
He's been careful with his appearance since mug-gate.

While Gilette would be happy to get a nice profit, and move on, I think that Hicks will fight tooth and nail to stay, and that profit isn't guiding him.





Not saying this is a good thing, and most certainly not supporting him, but just saying it's not about profit with him.

I agree.
I think originally they wanted to flip Liverpool i.e sell for a profit because thats what they do.
They were going to build a massive stadium buy loads of quality players and get us number 1 in England and then sell for a profit,the stadium adds a ridiculous amount of value.

The English media have taken excption to them and I reckon Gillette wants out but I think Hicks wants to build the new stadium and actually achieve something,a 2 finger salute to the media.

Dub13

5starpool wrote: »

How the hell do those clowns ever hope to make a profit (all they were in it for obviously) if they keep refinancing and building up the debts?

I think one of the things they were hoping for is these to be able to sell there own TV rights like in Spain,I cant see this happening as it will only benefit the big 4.If it did happen it would bring in crazy amounts of cash for the big 4.How much would you lot pay for a LFC TV season ticket..?

Mitch Connor

Dub13 wrote: »

I think one of the things they were hoping for is these to be able to sell there own TV rights like in Spain,I cant see this happening as it will only benefit the big 4.If it did happen it would bring in crazy amounts of cash for the big 4.How much would you lot pay for a LFC TV season ticket..?

I can't see the domestic deal ever being broken up, but i can see the potential for clubs to be allowed to negotiate their own foreign rights - which could see the likes of United and Liverpool negotiate massive deals in Asia for example.

spockety

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I can't see the domestic deal ever being broken up, but i can see the potential for clubs to be allowed to negotiate their own foreign rights - which could see the likes of United and Liverpool negotiate massive deals in Asia for example.

Would a decision like that not require a majority vote of Premier League members?

Can't imagine them all going for it.

Boggles

Mitch Connor wrote: »

which could see the likes of United and Liverpool negotiate massive deals in Asia for example.

The Premier League are actually seriously considering making the matches free to air in China, to stimulate more interest.

Dub13

spockety wrote: »

Would a decision like that not require a majority vote of Premier League members?

Can't imagine them all going for it.

Thats my understanding anyway.

therecklessone

spockety wrote: »

Would a decision like that not require a majority vote of Premier League members?

Can't imagine them all going for it.

Correct.

Dub13

I think they tired to do individual deals in Italy and have reversed the deal back to collective bargaining after a year or two.

Hephaestus

Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitri Torbinskiy is being tipped for a move to - Liverpool by Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Pavlyuchenko was asked for his tip to improve the Anfield squad.
"(Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Dmitri) Torbinskiy," he said. "But in reality, no player in our (Russia) team would be lost in England. Let them go, and the more the better. After the European Championship, the Russians are generating great interest."

Arsenal midfielder Andrey Arshavin has urged Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez to take a close look at Russia teammate Aleksandr Anyukov.
Arshavin nominated the Zenit St Petersburg fullback as a player Liverpool should consider signing in an interview last week

Link

Anybody know who these interviews were with?

Trying to fig out why Russian Prem Lge players would be discussing LFC transfers!

mike65

I have an image of Arshavin on the blower, hand on forehead "Rafa you must sign Aleksandr Anyukov, don't let him slip by. Your teams future depends on it!"

Handsome Bob

What do you all think of Rafa's supposed fining of Mascherano? A few of the rags have reported on it this morning.

joe123

LZ5by5 wrote: »

What do you all think of Rafa's supposed fining of Mascherano? A few of the rags have reported on it this morning.

Fined over what?

mike65

Its about his agent touting for those wondering. Quite right, Masch should tell him to shut it.

Its fun to see how the press report these things,

"Javier Mascherano would be very interested in joining Barcelona according to his agent "

"agent to be fined after he suggested Masch was "desperate" to join Barca" etc.

Handsome Bob

joe123 wrote: »

Fined over what?

mike65 wrote: »

Its about his agent touting for those wondering. Quite right, Masch should tell him to shut it.

Quite right. It angered me reading the comments from his agent yesterday. Where is Mascherano's loyalty to Rafa? The man who saved him from his nightmare at West Ham and the man who stuck by him when he was being criticised for a dip in form this season.

Spud83

Surely Rafa can't fine Masch for something his agent said? Never heard of that happening before.

Boggles

Fined for having a loud mouth agent? The wage bill of the league would certainly drop.

mike65

There a basic contradition for Masch or his agent. How can he have a "reunion with Tevez" if he is at Barca?

whatawaster

Go Rafa.

Interesting though that he's never said the same about Alonso - that he has no price.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/06/10/liverpool-fc-boss-rafa-benitez-warns-barcelona-50m-would-not-buy-javier-mascherano-100252-23834865/

RAFAEL BENITEZ today warned Barcelona to drop their interest in Javier Mascherano because “even "£50m would not be enough to sign him.”

Warning bells rang at Anfield today when the Argentine international's agent appeared to be paving the way for a bid from Barca.

Walter Tamer, Mascherano's representative, said: “It is an honour for Javier that a club like Barca pay such close attention to him.

“He would have a very easy job there.

"Sometimes we talk and joke that the only thing he has to do is run, rob the ball and pass it on to all the superstars in front of him.”

Benitez was so concerned by the reports that he cut short a family holiday today to issue a clear hands-off warning to the Catalan club.

“Mascherano has no price,” he declared.

“Barcelona could not afford to match his value to Liverpool Football Club.

“We do no want to sell and Javier is very happy here.

Spud83

Rafa might be willing to turn down 30/40/50 million whatever but would the owners?

Although I don't think the owners have ever sold anyone with Rafas say.

Dub13

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Although I don't think the owners have ever sold anyone with Rafas say.

No they have not,and if they did Rafa would be out the door just after the player and rightly so IMO.

zing

whatawaster - just read this on the echo site also and the first thing I though of appears to be the same as you - that he's not taken a similar stance in relation to Xabi

Spud83

Dub13 wrote: »

No they have not,and if they did Rafa would be out the door just after the player and rightly so IMO.

Agreed. Rafa may be willing to put up with not having much funds (wait and see how much he has this summer), but I could never see him putting up with not having control over who leaves.

Though its not that big a step, the owners seemed to put there own valuation on Barry last year, maybe they would put their own valuation on Masch, Alonso etc.

I don't think they would risk Rafa walking out though.

spockety

alanmurphy83 wrote: »

Rafa might be willing to turn down 30/40/50 million whatever but would the owners?

Although I don't think the owners have ever sold anyone with Rafas say.

*sigh*

If Rafa says he's not for sale, and the owners sell him for 30/40/50 million it will be done knowing that they definitely lose Rafa in the process. He will walk.

spockety

zing wrote: »

whatawaster - just read this on the echo site also and the first thing I though of appears to be the same as you - that he's not taken a similar stance in relation to Xabi

I heard him do a radio interview, I think it was actually linked off this thread, where he categorically states that he does not want to sell Xabi Alonso.

lint316

Perez said he wont be making an offer for Xabi because he knows Rafa doesn't want to sell him