Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

jesus_thats_gre

Portsmouth Chief Executive just confirmed on SSN that they received offers for Glen Johnson. He wouldn't state the value of the bids but the presenter suggested 15m plus and Storrie said that he wasn't too far off.

I would be happy if we signed Johnson. With the rumours this morning, I wonder whether than lead to Arbeloa going to Madrid. I assumed that our intentions were to keep both but I guess it depends on how much Madrid offer for Arbeloa.

mike65

Don't Pompey still owe LFC money for Crouchigoal? It would be nice if they (LFC) were happy to wipe off the outstanding amount plus cash.

joe123

whatawaster wrote: »

Peter Storrie, Pompey CEO was just on SSN saying a deal for Johnson is very close with a big 4 club. Said 15-18m being quoted in the press is not a million miles from the mark.

So is it us or Chelsea?

Could be United to be honest. They need one. Chelsea I cant see why because they have Bosingwa.

Would love to get Johnson but 15 million is alot for him. And loosing Arbeloa would be a shame although Glen Johnson > Alvaro Arbeloa.

jesus_thats_gre

joe123 wrote: »

Would Real actually want to sell Robben? Everytime I seen Real play last season he was one of their best players. Besides that though while effective hes injury prone and on top of that hes very dislikeable.

Rumours have been circulating for months that he is on his way out. I personally think that they would be stupid to sell him but they seem intent on doing a clear out, particularly the Dutch lads.

whatawaster

joe123 wrote: »

Could be United to be honest. They need one. Chelsea I cant see why because they have Bosingwa.

Would love to get Johnson but 15 million is alot for him. And loosing Arbeloa would be a shame although Glen Johnson > Alvaro Arbeloa.

United have Brown, O'Shea and Rafael. Oh, and Neville. I don't think they need Johnson, especially if they feel he might impede Rafael's progress.

Arsenal have Sagna

Chelsea have Bosingwa but have been heavily linked to him. They don't need him, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything

lint316

whatawaster wrote: »

Peter Storrie, Pompey CEO was just on SSN saying a deal for Johnson is very close with a big 4 club. Said 15-18m being quoted in the press is not a million miles from the mark.

So is it us or Chelsea?

If thats the price then it has to be chelsea. Thats too much for him. They must have big windows at Pompey to see them coming

Chardee MacDennis

bosingwa is gone if you are to believe the media..

IrishIrish

joe123 wrote: »

Could be United to be honest. They need one. Chelsea I cant see why because they have Bosingwa.

Would love to get Johnson but 15 million is alot for him. And loosing Arbeloa would be a shame although Glen Johnson > Alvaro Arbeloa.

Brown? Rafael? Neville? O'Shea? Hargreaves?

Good player though, so wouldn't mind if it was united.

MementoMori

lint316 wrote: »

lads just to go back to the aguero thing I certainly wouldn't write it off. athletico are a good honest clu that would cut a deal. They've shown interest in a few of our players like babel, benny and lucas, all of which I think would do quite well there. I read on a liverpool forum that liverpool already put a deal in place for him to sign but it wont be until the time is right for the player and the club. Obviously I dont know how much truth there is in this

I just can't see a situation where we would even remotely be able to afford him, even including a couple of players in the deal.

He cost Athletico €23m at the age of 17 in 2006 which before he scored 42 goals in 112 games for them.That's £19.6m at today's rate just to cover what he cost then. His value has obviously increased substanially since then.
There were stories that we were interested when he moved then but couldn't afford to match anything near what Athletico were willing to pay. I really cant see a situation where we would sign him now, if we couldnt afford him then.

From this article on who could replace Ronaldo at Utd yesterday on the BBC - they valued him at £45m. Even allowing for the fact that there is a Man Utd tax in operation the price would be massively outside our budget.

There also have a bit to suggest that his wage demands would be well tasty.

Also he is a central player as opposed to a wide player so who is going to replace in our current system - Torres or Gerrard?

It's a nice dream but there are just way way too many factors against it happening this summer.

Name: Sergio Aguero
Age: 21
Position: Forward
Potential cost: £45m
Club: Atletico Madrid

Another option if Ferguson is looking for a young, lethal forward, is Atletico Madrid's crown jewel Sergio Aguero.

The Argentine earned a move, aged just 17, to Atletico on the back of 23 goals in 54 appearances for Independiente and has followed that up with 42 goals in 112 appearances in Spain.

Now a regular member of the Argentina national squad, Aguero has been cutting his teeth alongside the likes of Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano - and impressing all with his ability to create as well as score goals.

However, the darling of Madrid would not be cheap. Reports suggest it could take as much as £45m to lure him, while he will demand wages of over £11m a year BEFORE tax.

Too much to risk on a youngster still unproven in the Premier League, or a chance worth taking? Ferguson may feel he has safer bets in the pipeline...

Sign or swerve? SWERVE
Do you agree?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/8096778.stm

joe123

IrishIrish wrote: »

Brown? Rafael? Neville? O'Shea? Hargreaves?

Good player though, so wouldn't mind if it was united.

Glen Johnson is a better right back than any of those. Although with Rafael they have a potential quality player on their hands.

Anything over 15 million is crazy for him imo.

MementoMori

mike65 wrote: »

Don't Pompey still owe LFC money for Crouchigoal? It would be nice if they (LFC) were happy to wipe off the outstanding amount plus cash.

Rumour that there was £7m still owed on Crouch.

There was also talk that there was a clause in the contract Johnson signed in January that if Portsmouth were relegated then Johnson could move if for £8m.

Really don't think Johnson would be good value at the prices of £15m+ quoted and would be very very surprised if it was Liverpool bidding at those prices.

Just for reference our current RBs cost
Arbeloa £2.6m
Degen Free
Darby Youth

There have been rumours about Boswinga going to Bayern, so in that case could well see Chelsea paying £15m-£18m for Johnson

IrishIrish

joe123 wrote: »

Glen Johnson is a better right back than any of those. Although with Rafael they have a potential quality player on their hands.

Anything over 15 million is crazy for him imo.

I'd have brown first choice because he is more solid defensively and would probably be exposed with evra and johnson both pushing forward. Even if Johnson was a much better player than them all, its hardly a weak enough area that united need to be concerned with strengthening.

There are other areas of greater concern that need strenghtening, esepecially when you're talking close to £20m for a fullback.

PHB

Neville I can't see coming back. But I'd be shocked, shocked, if we moved for Johnson. O'Shea imo was as good as him last season. And we have Brown coming back who is better. And Rafael who could be way better. I'd be shocked. It must be Chelsea. I can't see why Liverpool would move for him with Arbeloa, and I can't see why you'd spend so much on a full back when other areas need strengthening much more.

IrishIrish

Not think Man City could be in for him? Would be a nice signing for them.

MementoMori

PHB wrote: »

Neville I can't see coming back. But I'd be shocked, shocked, if we moved for Johnson. O'Shea imo was as good as him last season. And we have Brown coming back who is better. And Rafael who could be way better. I'd be shocked. It must be Chelsea. I can't see why Liverpool would move for him with Arbeloa, and I can't see why you'd spend so much on a full back when other areas need strengthening much more.

RB is clearly an area where we were lacking in adequate cover last season.
We had Carra, Masch and Skrtel play there in patches, when Arbeloa was injured and adequate was about the best you could describe any of them.

whatawaster

RB and LW/RW are the two areas where we need quality i think.

whatawaster

Chelsea, City and Pool all bidding according to SSN. We have no chance

MementoMori

IrishIrish wrote: »

Not think Man City could be in for him? Would be a nice signing for them.

Could well be a possibility given they could easily afford the fee.
Much more likely than Utd or Arsenal imo.

jesus_thats_gre

whatawaster wrote: »

RB and LW/RW are the two areas where we need quality i think.

Agreed!

You only have to look at what we have available at LB to see where Rafa wants cover.

The fact that he is also rumoured to be going for an extra CB as cover to bring us up to 4 centre backs that are all capable of pushing for the first team.

Signing another right back was always going to happen in this window in my opinion.

~Rebel~

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Signing another right back was always going to happen in this window in my opinion.

this is true, though i really wouldn't imagine it would be one for 12ish million, closer to 4 or 5 seeing as its only backup thats really needed, someone like Beye is more what id have expected.

MementoMori

~Rebel~ wrote: »

this is true, though i really wouldn't imagine it would be one for 12ish million, closer to 4 or 5 seeing as its only backup thats really needed, someone like Beye is more what id have expected.

I agree I think we are more likely to see someone from much further down the pecking order/cost scale if someone comes in at RB.

This is of course assuming Arbeloa stays.

~Rebel~

MementoMori wrote: »

I agree I think we are more likely to see someone from much further down the pecking order/cost scale if someone comes in at RB.

This is of course assuming Arbeloa stays.

thats the key for me too. If Arbeloa goes to Madrid, then obviously the position shoots up to our top requirement and someone top notch would be needed. Until then though, i dont see massive bids for Johnson as realistic or viable.

Headshot

whatawaster wrote: »

Chelsea, City and Pool all bidding according to SSN. We have no chance

for who ?

Eire-Dearg

Glen Johnson

Johnson is a quality RB. Arbeloa was found wanting in a few games last season and imo is'nt good enough to warrant a starting place every week.

Headshot

Eire-Dearg wrote: »

Glen Johnson

no chance utd are going for him

Portsmouth executive chairman Peter Storrie has told Sky Sports News that the club have received a bid for Glen Johnson and that a deal could be concluded imminently.

The England international has enjoyed the best season of his career to date in starring for Portsmouth and in the process has established himself as Fabio Capello's first choice at right-back.

Former club Chelsea, who Johnson left to join Portsmouth, have been credited with making a bid, as have Manchester City and Liverpool, who in some reports are thought to be the front-runners for his signature.

Storrie admits he will not block the player from joining a club that will enable him to play in the UEFA Champions League next season.

He told Sky Sports News: "Glen has had a fantastic season for us and I think he is the best right-back in the country at the moment.

"I've know Glen a long while, from my West Ham days. When I re-signed him (at Portsmouth) we talked things over.
Massive deal

"He said, 'If one of the big four come in with Champions League football, would you stand in my way?'

"I told him I couldn't do that. Providing the deal is right for Portsmouth and Glen then we will look to try and do something in the right way.

"It is very hard to try and hold people back when they have a chance to play in the Champions League. I accept that."

When asked if an offer of between £15million and £18million had been tabled, Storrie replied: "You may not be a million miles away from the mark."

Storrie went on to concede that a deal could be struck imminently, adding: "I wouldn't think it would be too long."

id put money on liverpool

joe123

If johnson is a player where all he cares about is money then hel go to Chelsea/Man City.

However and this is important he has the world cup in his mind and he wants to get that right back spot. If he is competing with Bosingwa then his chances are going to be a lot harder with Liverpool he is a better right back than arbeloa and he can also play right wing aswell.

But with talk of Bosingwa leaving my bets are going on his return to Chelsea.But if we do sign Johnson then I reckon Arbeloa is on his way to madrid.

Saying all this though Portsmouth still have to accept any offers and we just wont be able to compete with Chelsea or City so im going to be shocked if we pull this off.

MementoMori

Just thinking - given our inital bid for Silva was supposed to £15m, what is the likelihood of bidding a similar amount for RB?

If we did buy Johnson and did sell Arbeloa, we'd still be in a situation of not having adequate cover should anything happen to our first choice RB.
Second choice RB would be with Degen/Darby or using Carra/Skrtel/Masch

whatawaster

another important point to consider. We'll need 8 association trained players for CL squad next season, i think 4 of which have to be club trained.

At the moment

Club Trained:
Gerrard
Carragher
Insua (i think he's been here 2 years now)
Spearing
Darby
San Jose (not sure on this one)/Kelly

Association trained:
Nobody


So unless we want our squad filled with kids who we can't yet trust in big CL games we need to sign one or two English trained players. Johnson is an obvious one for me.

whatawaster

MementoMori wrote: »

Just thinking - given our inital bid for Silva was supposed to £15m, what is the likelihood of bidding a similar amount for RB?

If we did buy Johnson and did sell Arbeloa, we'd still be in a situation of not having adequate cover should anything happen to our first choice RB.
Second choice RB would be with Degen/Darby or using Carra/Skrtel/Masch

i think we need to buy Johnson and keep Arbeloa.
Johnson would be great in support of Kuyt. For all his qualities down the right, hugging the touchline/beating his full-back aren't one of them.
I think they'd compliment each other beautifully. Kuyt wouls help Johnson with the defensive side and vice-versa

jesus_thats_gre

joe123 wrote: »

If johnson is a player where all he cares about is money then hel go to Chelsea/Man City.

You could be right and I am not having a go at you but can we give this crap a break. Just because we don't have money, we can't bad mouth every player who choses another club over us because they offer him 2 or 3 times what we are offering.

The whole Barry affair and people making snide remarks about he let himself and Villa fans down by going to City really pissed me off. City have serious ambitions, along with the cash to back it up, to become one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yes, they aren't in the CL next season but they will qualify for it within the next 2 or 3 seasons.

Making a double your money move to Chelsea or City sort of makes sense.

Karmafaerie

"Not a million miles away" from £15,000,000 could easily be £12-13,000,000.
Add to that the fact that Portsmouth owe us £7,000,000 for Crouch, and that means the cash outlay could be £5-6,000,000.
If Al is going back to Madrid, which I would be sad to see, but not overly surprised as he was linked with a move to Spain for family reasons last summer, we would get around £7-8,000,000 for him according to reports.

That basically means that Rafa could be able to swap Arbeloa, for Johnson, with no effect on his transfer budget this year.
Leaving him the rest to buy a winger and support striker.

It's the kind of deal Rafa would love if you think about it.




Or....

Liverpool bid for Real Madrid striker Alvaro NegredoBy John Cross 13/06/2009

Rafa Benitez has made a £6million offer for Real Madrid’s Alvaro Negredo – but faces competition from Valencia.

Cash-strapped Valencia want Negredo, 23, to be part of any deal for striker David Villa, who is a £35m target for Real.

Madrid sold hitman Negredo to Almeira in 2007 but exercised a £4m option to re-buy him – even though he is likely to be sold this summer.

Arbeloa could be "swapped" for Negredo.
Meaning that we'd have upgraded the right-back, and brought in a support striker, for around £6-8,000,000 from our summer budget.
If the budget is £20,000,000 as most reports suggest, then it would leave £12-14,000,000 plus some of the money retrieved from selling Doss and Voronin for a winger.



My head hurts!:(

jesus_thats_gre

Negredo is gone to Valencia as part of the Villa/Abiol deal apparently.

joe123

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

You could be right and I am not having a go at you but can we give this crap a break. Just because we don't have money, we can't bad mouth every player who choses another club over us because they offer him 2 or 3 times what we are offering.

The whole Barry affair and people making snide remarks about he let himself and Villa fans down by going to City really pissed me off. City have serious ambitions, along with the cash to back it up, to become one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yes, they aren't in the CL next season but they will qualify for it within the next 2 or 3 seasons.

Making a double your money move to Chelsea or City sort of makes sense.

I know what your saying but regards Barry I dont care what people say he chose the money over his supposed dream to play in the champions league.

jesus_thats_gre

joe123 wrote: »

I know what your saying but regards Barry I dont care what people say he chose the money over his supposed dream to play in the champions league.

I can see why you are saying that but I don't think that it is the case. Barry with very likely play CL football for City.

Karmafaerie

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Negredo is gone to Valencia as part of the Villa/Abiol deal apparently.

I know, but we all know how quickly things change this time of year.

~Rebel~

its worth remembering for barry that it doesnt seem like we were actually in for him.

Boggles

joe123 wrote: »

I know what your saying but regards Barry I dont care what people say he chose the money over his supposed dream to play in the champions league.

The only club that were in for him who have CL football next season is Liverpool, after the antics of last year including the Keane situation, he probably looked at it and went no thanks.

Boggles

Boggles wrote: »

The only club that were in for him who have CL football next season is Liverpool, after the antics of last year including the Keane situation, he probably looked at it and went no thanks.

Were Liverpool in for him this summer?

Boggles

rarnes1 wrote: »

Were Liverpool in for him this summer?

Liverpool and Spurs if you believe the reports.

jesus_thats_gre

Boggles wrote: »

The only club that were in for him who have CL football next season is Liverpool, after the antics of last year including the Keane situation, he probably looked at it and went no thanks.

rarnes1 wrote: »

Were Liverpool in for him this summer?

According to Boggles we were but we seemingly weren't...

Karmafaerie

Liverpool made no approach for Barry.

Boggles

Boggles wrote: »

Liverpool and Spurs if you believe the reports.

or read the sun

Boggles

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Liverpool made no approach for Barry.

You don't know that for sure do you?

It was reported Rafa tried at he last minute but was blown out of it by citys offer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2009/06/almaty_gareth_barry_had_plenty.html

Boggles

rarnes1 wrote: »

or read the sun

MementoMori

whatawaster wrote: »

another important point to consider. We'll need 8 association trained players for CL squad next season, i think 4 of which have to be club trained.

At the moment

Club Trained:
Gerrard
Carragher
Insua (i think he's been here 2 years now)
Spearing
Darby
San Jose (not sure on this one)/Kelly

Association trained:
Nobody


So unless we want our squad filled with kids who we can't yet trust in big CL games we need to sign one or two English trained players. Johnson is an obvious one for me.

This set me thinking, so I checked the UEFA site

Basically the rules are a quad of 25

4 have to be club trained
4 have to be association trained

Definitions
A club-trained player is defined as a player who has been registered for a minimum of three seasons with the club between the age of 15 and 21, whereas an association-trained player is one who has been registered for at least three seasons by the club or by other clubs affiliated to the same association between the age of 15 and 21. The proposals do not involve players' nationalities.

Insua arrived in January 2007 so I presume that he was only registered then.
I don’t think he would qualify as club trained for the group stages, maybe for the knock-out stages.

Also San Jose arrived summer 2007 so he doesn't qualify this year.

2 certs would be Gerrard and Carra obv
Kelly, Darby and Spearing are all definite club trained - {Spearing been at the club from 8} There are a couple more further down the pecking order who we could use to fill in the last few spots. Obviously all club-trained players are association-trained players as well

It doesn't look the best but we would still have 17 spots for non club-trained non association-trained players so I wouldn't be massively concerned.

Also looking to the future in a year's time - Insua plus all of the following youth prospects would be qualifying as club-trained players Nemeth, Pacheco, San Jose, Bouzanis plus a raft of others down the pecking order.

Basically I don't think that it should be a massive consideration in terms of who we buy. It's more something to keep in mind but I wouldn't be ranking it that massively when it comes to making a decision.

Boggles

Boggles wrote: »

Did'nt think you would stoop to the "facepalm" level Boggles !

whatawaster

MementoMori wrote: »

This set me thinking, so I checked the UEFA site

Basically the rules are a quad of 25

4 have to be club trained
4 have to be association trained



Insua arrived in January 2007 so I presume that he was only registered then.
I don’t think he would qualify as club trained for the group stages, maybe for the knock-out stages.

Also San Jose was arrived summer 2007 so he doesn't qualify this year.

2 certs would be Gerrard and Carra
Kelly, Darby and Spearing are all definite club trained - {Spearing been at the club from 8} There are a couple more further down the pecking order who we could use to fill in the last few spots. Obviously all club-trained players are association-trained players as well

It doesn't look the best but we would still have 17 spots for non club-trained non association-trained players so I wouldn't be massively concerned.

Also looking to the future in a year's time all of the following youth prospects would be qualifying as club-trained players Nemeth, Pacheco, San Jose, Bouzanis plus a raft of others down the pecking order.

Basically I don't think that it should be a massive consideration in terms of who we buy. It's more something to keep in mind but I wouldn't be ranking it that massively when it comes to making a decision.

i got mixed up. for some reason i thought 36 months was 2 years. I'm going to lie down

Karmafaerie

Boggles wrote: »

You don't know that for sure do you?

It was reported Rafa tried at he last minute but was blown out of it by citys offer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/2009/06/almaty_gareth_barry_had_plenty.html

Liverpool made no approach to Barry, as they were never given permission to by Villa.

Liverpool would have had to make an official transfer request, and then be granted permission to speak to Barry by Aston Villa, before they could contact the player.

Unless you're suggesting that Liverpool tried to illegaly "tap" Barry up.

Boggles

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Liverpool made no approach to Barry, as they were never given permission to by Villa.

Liverpool would have had to make an official transfer request, and then be granted permission to speak to Barry by Aston Villa, before they could contact the player.

Unless you're suggesting that Liverpool tried to illegaly "tap" Barry up.

Again how do you know?