Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

evil_seed

F365 wrote:

Spanish rag Sport reckons Liverpool have offered around £4million for wee Javier Saviola.

always wanted him at anfield

event

im really suprise liverpool havent moved (maybe they have!) for tuncay

i know he is a bit like yossi, but i think he's better. i genuinely think he's top class, can play either wing and up front. Works really hard, isnt a bad finisher.
i think he'd be a great addition to the squad.

i reckon he'd really excel with better players around him

Karmafaerie

HEAVYWEIGHT LUCAS READY FOR PL FIGHT
Jimmy Rice 12 June 2009

Lucas Leiva believes next season will be his best yet following a gruelling push to gain weight.


The Brazil international accepts he was too lightweight after making the move from Gremio two years ago.

He puts his improved form in the latter stages of last season down to piling on the pounds.

Lucas thinks he is now 100 per cent ready for the physical demands of the toughest league in the world.

"I have gained some weight this season and that has helped me be more prepared to play with the demands you face in England," he told LFC Magazine.

"I have gained four kilos since I arrived and that's a lot.

"In my first season, being very honest, I had a problem with physical games.

"Last season, with the extra weight, I felt I could challenge anyone physically and go from one box to the other like I did in Brazil.

"Maybe it has taken me 18 months to get my body physically into the shape that it needed to be in to play my best in England, but I feel that it is coming now for me and I am excited about my future prospects at Liverpool."

Another reason Lucas is confident of enjoying a superb 2009-10 is the fact he will partake in a full pre-season - something the Olympics denied him last term.

"I missed a lot of the pre-season last time with Liverpool because I was away at the Olympics with Brazil," he explained.

"That meant that I started the pre-season, then I went away, and when I came back to the club it was hard to catch up. I had missed a lot of the important work that the boys all did together.

"Next season I will be here for the whole of the pre-season programme and I believe that will help me play to the very best of my ability when we start again in August.

"I will enjoy a rest in the summer, but already I am looking at coming back and being a better player next season."

Lucas suffered mixed reviews from the press during his first 18 months in England, though never lost the support of his manager.

One of the turning points came when he received plaudits for a mature display in Liverpool's 4-1 win at Old Trafford.

The 22-year-old believes the ups and downs of his Anfield career have made him stronger mentally.

"As an individual player I feel that I have become a better player this season, definitely," he added.

"Everyone has bad days at the office when they feel that maybe they haven't played to 100 per cent of what they are capable of.

"I have had those days, too. Of course I have because we all have them.

"But through that I have made progress mentally and physically.

"I think this has been the season which has taught me the most about myself. I have had bad moments over the last year with the crowd.

"That has made it important for me to focus on my football and not be distracted by anything else going on around me.

"It was hard at times, but it will all be helpful for me in the long term.

"You get better through the hard times and not through the easy or good times. It gave me a challenge and I think I was able to rise to that.

"I knew I had the quality to be playing in this team, even through the difficult moments. I had the confidence of the manager and the players and even if some supporters were not sure I knew that others were behind me.

"Mentally I'm a better player. I've had the tough times and I've coped well with it and come through the other side.

"I wasn't worried about silencing people. In football you will always have your critics but you have to just keep going and hopefully when they see that you are playing well, trying hard and always doing your best, they will come onto your side.

"From my point of view, next season will be my best for Liverpool. I feel better physically and mentally at this moment than I have felt before at Liverpool."

.

slingerz

A Robben-esque player is what Liverpool need. And there is nothing better than the real deal.

whatawaster

Headshot wrote: »

I got a good one for ye

can be gotten on the cheap and plays good enough for international side and nearly forgot to mention he was right good against utd home and away

Jonas Gutierrez

Too average. He's not as good as Riera, Babel has way way more potential and Kuyt has far more goals in him. I'm not sure how he'd improve either our team or our squad in any way. Riera also put in good displays against United remember.

slingerz wrote: »

A Robben-esque player is what Liverpool need. And there is nothing better than the real deal.

He would be the perfect player for us. Can play on either wing too. If only he wasn't so unlikeable.

Karmafaerie

I think a Robben-esque player would cause as many problems as benifits, and Robben himself as a player would make me sick.

whatawaster

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I think a Robben-esque player would cause as many problems as benifits, and Robben himself as a player would make me sick.

You think having a world class winger would cause us problems?

I detest Robben, but suspect i'd get over it if he joined us and showed his true potential. I suspect many others, yourself included would get over it too and support him. For instance, i dislike Robben about 10% as much as i dislike Diouf. I still wanted him to score every week for us.

lint316

Robben??
He's a good player but he's a bad egg and a gob sh*ite. I actually think that lad LAvezzi would be a great signing for us. He's a winger/striker and I reckon he's a lot better than Silva. I dont know why but I reckon that Rafa has a few bob this summer. I'd say he has his Keane money and about 20 million he's usually given. So about 35 million.
What worries me is that he hasn't bought anyone yet

slingerz

whatawaster wrote: »

Too average. He's not as good as Riera, Babel has way way more potential and Kuyt has far more goals in him. I'm not sure how he'd improve either our team or our squad in any way. Riera also put in good displays against United remember.



He would be the perfect player for us. Can play on either wing too. If only he wasn't so unlikeable.

Being likeable is not something that wins games/championships.

I know which I'd prefer

gucci

lint316 wrote: »

Robben??
He's a good player but he's a bad egg and a gob sh*ite. I actually think that lad LAvezzi would be a great signing for us. He's a winger/striker and I reckon he's a lot better than Silva. I dont know why but I reckon that Rafa has a few bob this summer. I'd say he has his Keane money and about 20 million he's usually given. So about 35 million.
What worries me is that he hasn't bought anyone yet

Yeah especially as we missed out on Ronaldo and Kaka, there arent much players left!! relax, deep breaths, nothing to panic about yet.

Boggles

lint316 wrote: »

What worries me is that he hasn't bought anyone yet

I wouldn't let that worry you, transfer window doesn't open for another couple of weeks.

The only big signing has been by City and that was Barry for 12 million.

Madrid at the moment are like the big kid in the play ground, picking all the best players for the 5 a side, better to just let them get on with it.

Eire-Dearg

What worries me is that he hasn't bought anyone yet

It ususally gets busy around mid/late July.

HashSlinging

Cant understand why Duff hasnt been mentioned yet, he'd be fantastic for pool.. for a couple of seasons.

Eire-Dearg

HashSlinging wrote: »

Cant understand why Duff hasnt been mentioned yet, he'd be fantastic for pool.. for a couple of seasons.

Didn't he have his chance when he was at Blackburn.

I think he had a trial with us too, when he was younger.

HashSlinging

Prefer him to Arjen Robbem though! although robben is only 25?? damn Robben wins.

keane2097

HashSlinging wrote: »

Prefer him to Arjen Robbem though!

Are you serious?

lint316

nah Duff's past it. too injury prone too. Not top 4 material anymore

whatawaster

HashSlinging wrote: »

Cant understand why Duff hasnt been mentioned yet, he'd be fantastic for pool.. for a couple of seasons.

he's past it i'm afraid

Eire-Dearg

HashSlinging wrote: »

Prefer him to Arjen Robbem though!

I don't know. We could have Duff as cover for left back

I think Robben has plenty ability, but his attitude his poor. I wouldn't pair him with Reina though as he might touch his face again.

Karmafaerie

whatawaster wrote: »

You think having a world class winger would cause us problems?

I detest Robben, but suspect i'd get over it if he joined us and showed his true potential. I suspect many others, yourself included would get over it too and support him. For instance, i dislike Robben about 10% as much as i dislike Diouf. I still wanted him to score every week for us.

Liverpools strenght is our team.
We attack and defend as a team.
While a player like Robben will add a lot in attack, he will detract from our defence and organisation.

Also, players like robben tend to be tempermental, as in they need a run of
games to truely perform.

whatawaster

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

I don't know. We could have Duff as cover for left back

Why would we want cover for left back? We have Insua and Aurelio. Arbeloa can also play there.

Eire-Dearg

whatawaster wrote: »

Why would we want cover for left back? We have Insua and Aurelio. Arbeloa can also play there.

Missed my joke.

whatawaster

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

Missed my joke.

Sorry! i ignore smilies as a general rule.

MementoMori

On the Robben thing I can understand why people don't like him:p

He is quite clearly a quality player on the pitch - in 145 games for Chelsea and Real he scored 32 goals, which works out at around one goal every 4.5 games which is a pretty impressive ratio for a wide player. He's proven in the Premiership and clearly there would be very little doubt about his ability to perform under pressure at a big club. In a footballing sense I think it's hard to argue that he wouldn't improve the team.

Real paid €36.55m two years ago, which means if they sold him for this today that would cost around £31.2m.
Given he is only 25, I really can't see Real wanting to take that much of a loss on him. There's also the fact that any time there has been mention of players leaving Real this summer, he doesn't seem to be mentioned, even though he is Dutch. There's also the likelihood that the wages he would be looking for a move would be a lot more than we could afford. I just think he might be too expensive for us even if Real were willing to sell him at a fair big of a loss.

On Guitterez I think he is a decent player but I just don't think he's what we need. From what I've seen he has an impressive workrate in the middle of the pitch but fails to impress significantly in the final third. The fact that he didn't score in 30 games for Newcastle (even though they were a poor team)
would give me cause for concern. He only scored 5 goals in 96 games with Mallorca over 3 seasons, so I can't see that changing significantly. In some ways he reminds me of Insua a fair bit when Insua has played in midfield, and if he was bought I don't see what he would add ahead of Insua being played in midfield.

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I think a Robben-esque player would cause as many problems as benifits, and Robben himself as a player would make me sick.

I think a Robben-esque player is exactly what we need - a quality wide player who is a consistent goal threat????

Good to see Lucas's comments especially about the bulking up.

Also in the where are they now file, Titi Camara was named manager of Guinea a couple of days ago. Good luck Titi

Karmafaerie

MementoMori wrote: »

I think a Robben-esque player is exactly what we need - a quality wide player who is a consistent goal threat????

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Liverpools strenght is our team.
We attack and defend as a team.
While a player like Robben will add a lot in attack, he will detract from our defence and organisation.

Also, players like robben tend to be tempermental, as in they need a run of
games to truely perform.

I'm not saying he wouldn't add going forward.
I'm saying that while he would help us going forward, the fact that he doesn't track back, or hold position, would hurt us too.
We are the most organised team in England.
This is our main strength.
Robben would cause us to loose a lot of that organisation.
Our most flair player Riera, is twice the defencive player that Robben is.

It's like when Rafa wanted to buy Queresma.
He told him he would have to adapt his game to play for Liverpool.
It would be the same with Robben, but as with Queresma, I can't see Robben doing it.

lint316

If Lucas is to become this great player. Maybe he should send him out on loan?

DeadSkin

MementoMori wrote: »

Also in the where are they now file, Titi Camara was named manager of Guinea a couple of days ago. Good luck Titi

Sweet Jebus, there's a name I haven't heard in years.
Saw him score for Liverpool in Belfast, in a pre-season game against Feyenoord[I think] years and years ago.

Highsider

Karmafaerie wrote: »

.

Fantastic prospect is Lucas. Here's hoping he can make the step up and make his displays in the latter half of last season a regular gig.

MementoMori

Karmafaerie wrote: »

I'm not saying he wouldn't add going forward.
I'm saying that while he would help us going forward, the fact that he doesn't track back, or hold position, would hurt us too.
We are the most organised team in England.
This is our main strength.
Robben would cause us to loose a lot of that organisation.
Our most flair player Riera, is twice the defencive player that Robben is.

It's like when Rafa wanted to buy Queresma.
He told him he would have to adapt his game to play for Liverpool.
It would be the same with Robben, but as with Queresma, I can't see Robben doing it.

Fair enough I can see where you are coming from.
While I don't think he would ever be defensive forward of the year, if he ever did arrive at Anfield, I think there would be a chance of improving him. However his attitude is part of the reason why I don't think there is much of a chance of him agreeing a move to Anfield, even ignoring all the other factors.

On the Quaresma front, I don't know if people heard, but his move to Genoa broke down. From the comments the Genoa chairman made it sounded like his attitude was the major stumbling block. Really looks like we dodged a bullet there.

Headshot

Ezequiel Lavezzi's agent insists Serie A club Napoli have received an offer from Liverpool for the Argentina striker.

Napoli general director Pierpaolo Marino said on Thursday his club had not received any bids for Lavezzi while Reds boss Rafael Benitez has also denied any interest in the South American star.

However, Lavezzi's agent Alejandro Mazzoni said: "Pierpaolo Marino continues to lie.

"I reiterate that a FIFA agent presented Napoli with an offer from Liverpool for Lavezzi.

"This was a formal procedure as the player cannot be contacted directly (by the interested club) because he is under contract with Napoli."

Lavezzi has been linked with a move away from Napoli this month following a dispute with his club over a contract extension.

The 24-year-old, who joined the Naples-based outfit in the summer of 2007, scored seven league goals this season.

Lavezzi is under contract with Napoli until June 2012.

...

MementoMori

lint316 wrote: »

If Lucas is to become this great player. Maybe he should send him out on loan?

No way no how - Sending him out on loan given the current state of the squad unless we got at least one CM in and possibly two, would be utter folly imo.

Wot I said on Wednesday

Really do think that we need some cover for CM in the squad because otherwise there's the possibilty of having to play Gerrard there, which is clearly a very bad thing and weakens the team. As it stands in the squad if we don't want to play Gerrard in CM the options are Masch and Alonso with Lucas as third choice followed by Spearing/Plessis/Aurelio (maybe?), which is not a good enough situation when you're looking at a season of probably minimum 50 games and possibly nudging up towards 60 if things go well, especially given Masch is captain of Argentina.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=60635015&postcount=18809

Karmafaerie

I think Lavezzi's agent needs to sit down.




Couldn't agree with you more about Queresma MM.
Every interview I've ever read with the guy has turned me off him.

zing

So both clubs have denied an offer for Lavezzi but the agent still reckons a formal offer has been made ? Hmmmm

MementoMori

Headshot wrote: »

...

Rafa came out and said we had no interest and there had been no contact whatsoever.

Given Lavezzi is supposedly on around €20k p.w. it really sounds like a perfect example of agent links player to Liverpool in order to bump up wages.

Karmafaerie

Then again, this could all be smokescreens.

Rafa likes to keep things secret, so maybe the "interest" in Lavezzi/Saviola/Tuncay/Silva is to hide the true target.

spockety

As I pointed out when Liverpool put the story up on liverpoolfc.tv, Rafa said nothing about no contact being made at all. He said that no contact had been made with Lavezzi, the player himself, because obviously Liverpool are not allowed to contact him unless the club give permission. I read the Liverpoolfc.tv story as an official nod to Napoli to make sure they understood we had not been talking to the player behind their backs.

"We never contacted Lavezzi and we have no intention of doing so," he said. "We want to put a stop to these rumours."

whatawaster

spockety wrote: »

As I pointed out when Liverpool put the story up on liverpoolfc.tv, Rafa said nothing about no contact being made at all. He said that no contact had been made with Lavezzi, the player himself, because obviously Liverpool are not allowed to contact him unless the club give permission. I read the Liverpoolfc.tv story as an official nod to Napoli to make sure they understood we had not been talking to the player behind their backs.

"We never contacted Lavezzi and we have no intention of doing so," he said. "We want to put a stop to these rumours."

i think you're reading too much into his words

MementoMori

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Then again, this could all be smokescreens.

Rafa likes to keep things secret, so maybe the "interest" in Lavezzi/Saviola/Tuncay/Silva is to hide the true target.

I think Silva is a genuine serious target close to the top of Rafa's list, given he has apparently already made a serious offer early in the window and reportedly even met him last week in Spain. The initial reports seemed to suggest it was us, Juventus, Real and Barcelona who were interested. I don't know if Juventus would still be interested after the signing of Diego. I really don't think Madrid are interested, especially now after the signing of Ronaldo as he is not at Galactico level. I think Barcelona might still be interested if they were. Chances are Utd and Chelsea might well be interested as well.
It seems a fair few on here don't rate him but I would be delighted if we signed him.

I think Rafa will have considered Tuncay is a possibility in terms of a cheaper option lower down in terms of his priority list in case other targets aren't signed/cash isn't available.

I would be extremely surprised if Lavezzi was a serious possibility.

I think Saviola is a case of a journalist looking at the Real squad and picking out a player who looks a cert to leave, combining it with belief that Liverpool are strapped for cash along with the fact that we have been linked with in a couple of previous transfer windows. Personally I would doubt it's a serious runner.

All just my own opinion on where we are.

kida

This weeks dealings in the transfer market is probaly not good news for pool. Every decent players price has risen by a few million. Real, Chelsea, City and now Utd have a lot of cash to splash.

~Rebel~

kida wrote: »

This weeks dealings in the transfer market is probaly not good news for pool. Every decent players price has risen by a few million. Real, Chelsea, City and now Utd have a lot of cash to splash.

doesn't change much imo, only matters if we're competing for the same players, and all those teams would have been able to offer more money then pool anyway regardless of this weeks events.

Karmafaerie

kida wrote: »

This weeks dealings in the transfer market is probaly not good news for pool. Every decent players price has risen by a few million. Real, Chelsea, City and now Utd have a lot of cash to splash.

But Utd did just loose "the best player in the world".;)

lint316

spockety wrote: »

As I pointed out when Liverpool put the story up on liverpoolfc.tv, Rafa said nothing about no contact being made at all. He said that no contact had been made with Lavezzi, the player himself, because obviously Liverpool are not allowed to contact him unless the club give permission. I read the Liverpoolfc.tv story as an official nod to Napoli to make sure they understood we had not been talking to the player behind their backs.

"We never contacted Lavezzi and we have no intention of doing so," he said. "We want to put a stop to these rumours."

I found it very strange that it was on the web site in the first place. Thats twice now since Rafa deined interest in Lavezzi that his agent has said this. Obviously he's up to something by going to the media about it

raven136

I think the cheaper striker option will be the kid at Madrid,Negredo.They were willing to use him in a deal to sign Xabi and he looks a good prospect.

whatawaster

raven136 wrote: »

I think the cheaper striker option will be the kid at Madrid,Negredo.They were willing to use him in a deal to sign Xabi and he looks a good prospect.

I think he's going to Valencia as part of the Villa deal

Highsider

kida wrote: »

This weeks dealings in the transfer market is probaly not good news for pool. Every decent players price has risen by a few million. Real, Chelsea, City and now Utd have a lot of cash to splash.

Yeah because our biggest rivals losing their best player is alway's a bad thing :rolleyes:

kida

Highsider wrote: »

Yeah because our biggest rivals losing their best player is alway's a bad thing :rolleyes:

the prices of players you could buy have now gone up :rolleyes:

Karmafaerie

kida wrote: »

the prices of players you could buy have now gone up :rolleyes:

As have the prices of players that Utd can buy to replace Ronaldo.

And the players that Chelsea/Arsenal can buy.

It's not a case of the price of players that Liverpool want going up, and players everyone else want staying the same.

If we have £20,000,000 and Chelsea had £40,000,000, nothing's changed.

Utd have money to spend, but there's no way that all £80,000,000 will go to the transfer budget, as there's no way whoever they bring in will sell as much merchandise as Ronnie.
Utd have to account for that.

Edit: And don't forget Utd are either loosing Tevez, or spending £25,000,000 on him.

So lets say Utd give Fergie £60,000,000 of the £80,000,000 to spend.
Tevez or a replacement will be £20,000,000 - £25,000,000.
That leaves £40,000,000 for a replacement for Ronaldo.
That would be around what they'd pay for Ribery.

That would leave UTD with a team of pretty much the same strength as this season.

So any transfer budget they have (I'd guess at about £20,000,000) would be what Utd have to improve their squad.

Which is the same (reportedly) as what we have.

The difference being is that our squad would have remained stable, where as our biggest rivals would have lost a major part of theirs.

slingerz

Lavezzi at the 12m quoted would be a good deal for Liverpool

_blank_

slingerz wrote: »

Lavezzi at the 12m quoted would be a good deal for Liverpool

A bloody great deal you mean.

joe123

slingerz wrote: »

Lavezzi at the 12m quoted would be a good deal for Liverpool

The figure I heard mentioned was between 20-22 million.

Its hard to tell just how much Liverpool have to spend though. Theres talk Silva is still Benitez' top target but weve also been linked then with Lavezzi,Saviola and Tuncay.