Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

elshambo

Karmafaerie wrote: »

£18.5 mill including add ons.
They owe us £7 mill for Crouchie.

So that could be nothing upfront (writting off that £7 mill), £7.5 mill over 3 years, £2 mill for winning the league and £2 mill for winning the CL.


When you think of it that way, it's a good bit of business, provided we get £5-6 mill for Dos, and £7-8 for Al, and can get Richards for the £5 mill stated.

It's a lot of if's but who knows.

Bitto the old maths lads

Writing off the 7 million is STILL PAYING 7 million

So its not as i seem to be reading in a few places
18.5-7(cause they owe us 7)
its STILL 18.5 million:eek::rolleyes:

I like the lad but 18.5?

OOh and all this in Rafa we trust how dare u question rafa muck is not being a fan btw
Its being a fanboy:o:eek: (not aimed at you karma )

Too stave off the attacks and vitriol:rolleyes:
I like the Rafa lad too, just dont mind people asking questions
and 18.5 for a lad who's positioning defensively is a bit er um off
is......

BTW i wouldnt mind his failure at chelski as he was a kid, they bought him before he was ready as a statement more than anything and then he never got a chance to settle
Doomed to fail from the start, as most people with a bit of nouse said when they bought him

MementoMori

First reaction is fupping hell £18.5m :eek::eek:

Second reaction is - where the hell did the money come from?

Also the fact that Portsmouth owe us £7m for Crouch is only relevant in terms of cash-flow, which is an entirely different thing from what he actually cost/ is worth.

I think this means Arbeloa is off to Madrid most likely for around the £8m mark. Might not seem like much but he only has a year left on his contract.

If this does happen, then we are kinda back to square one in terms of cover for RB in the squad with Johnson first choice, and then Degen/Darby as 2nd/3rd choice.

Also I don't think that Johnson has ever played CB so we're still light in terms of 4th choice CB in the squad.

I'm ambivalent.

livinginkorea

I am hoping for the lowest amount!

http://www.lfconline.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=450535

Liverpool have made a bid for Glen Johnson.

The Reds have made a bid between £15m and £18m for Portsmouth right-back Glen Johnson. Chelsea have also made a bid while Man City are monitoring the situation.

Portsmouth will be hoping a bidding war between the three clubs will raise Johnson's price to at least £20m, a record for a right-back.

Liverpool may not be able to match the other two in terms of finance but are owed money by Portsmouth for Peter Crouch and can offset that against any deal for Johnson.

---

If a bidding war starts then we should look for another target. At already 18.5 million I think it's overpriced.

SWAR

WOW, Johnson for £18.5 million...very overpriced but so are a lot of young english players and he certainly fits that bill. Don't get me wrong I do like Arbeloa but I think he will be a big improvement going forward and will fit in very well (if we get him) down that right hand side with Kuyt.

It certainly is a lot of money but if the deal can be structured accordingly, well then it might work very well. If Pompey owe us £7 million ish over c. 2 years...well in terms of real money it is not really £7 million as you must essentially discount this figure in order to take into consideration the timeframe with which we will receive it.

If we get a combination of £15 million for Arbeloa and Dosenna, I would be more than happy and would surely allow us add a further quality player to the squad. I can't help feeling that Arbeloa and Dosenna are the only two that will be sold...I still feel if someone makes an offer for Babel, Rafa will let him go; however the problem will be trying to recoup close to what we paid for him.

As regards Richards for £5 million...definately worth a punt at that price IMO, but can't see City letting him go for that price...not sure how many years he has left on his contract but I suspect more than 2.

~Rebel~

For me this deal totally depends on how much of the 18mill is in add ons.

If its something like 10 - 12 normal with the rest built up with serious achievement awards (a mill per champs league or premiership or something) then it would be a decent enough deal, though i'd still prefer richards at 5 to play backup to arbeloa and shooting our load on a wingforward instead.

All depends on how much money is available i guess, if for some magical reason we're flush with cash then why not..

yom 1

Johnson for 18.5m is just stupid and no amount of "but they owe us 7m" makes it any better as its still 18.5m. He is nothing more than a decent player. For 18.5m to be spent on a right back he would want to be an exceptional one and imo he is no better than Arbeloa.

zing

17m according to Prentice in the Echo and I'd be inclined to believe that that's the most accurate figure.

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2009/06/16/liverpool-fc-17million-glen-johnson-offer-accepted-by-portsmouth-100252-23887154/

mayordenis

17/18 million is definately over the odds, but he would be a complete success at the club.

PiE

yom 1 wrote: »

Johnson for 18.5m is just stupid and no amount of "but they owe us 7m" makes it any better as its still 18.5m.

I agree 18m+ is a lot of money but I wouldn't dismiss the £7m discount so lightly. If we get the full £7m back over 2 years, it's just gonna be pissed away on expenses by the club. Ignoring the particulars of this deal, I'd much rather we took the discount on a player, than left the payments ticking over.

slingerz

If Liverpool bring in Johnson and Micah Richards to replace the departing Sami Hyypia, Andrea Dossena and Alvaro Arbeloa then it will have been a good bit of business on their part.

Richards would provide right back and centre half cover with johnson the specialist right back. I'm not sure what Richards is like as an attacking right back but he certainly has all the capabilites of being a very good player who could only learn from Benitez and Carragher

NukaCola

yom 1 wrote: »

Johnson for 18.5m is just stupid and no amount of "but they owe us 7m" makes it any better as its still 18.5m. He is nothing more than a decent player. For 18.5m to be spent on a right back he would want to be an exceptional one and imo he is no better than Arbeloa.

IMO he is a very decent, hes better than Arbeloa both attacking AND defending as well as being faster and stronger with the ball. If we do get him he will shine at liverpool, he is a great signing......but it is steep enough to pay. Good news though, definatly an area needing improvement.

joe123

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5383018,00.html

Great minds think alike! :P

Boggles

joe123 wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5383018,00.html

Great minds think alike! :P

Oh Dear, I hope Steven doesn't read that, Ouch. :pac:

~Rebel~

PiE wrote: »

I agree 18m+ is a lot of money but I wouldn't dismiss the £7m discount so lightly. If we get the full £7m back over 2 years, it's just gonna be pissed away on expenses by the club. Ignoring the particulars of this deal, I'd much rather we took the discount on a player, than left the payments ticking over.

i dunno if its that simple. If our budget was X million, and the expected income of 7mill over the next 2 years were allocated to admin costs, then most likely if that 7mill gets used now, whatever our budget is will simply drop by 7million and become X-7.

PiE

Sounds more like he's big'upping his national team than seriously asking for Villa to be signed.

event

jesus christ, £18million for glen johnson is madness

the chap is good but not that good.
he'd be the second dearest defender in england after Rio, wouldnt he?

regardless of how its structured, £18million is a lot of money and would be better spend elsewhere IMO

Hephaestus

joe123 wrote: »

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5383018,00.html

Great minds think alike! :P

Real deal for Villa on the rocks apparently.

He'll still be out of our price range though unfortunately

Karmafaerie

It never fails to amaze me.

Last year we get Degen as a right back, as a cheap option, and Rafa gets slated for not spending on an area that needs improving.

This year he does try and spend big, and he gets slated for spending money there, when there are other areas that need improving.

Hephaestus

event wrote: »

jesus christ, £18million for glen johnson is madness

he'd be the second dearest defender in england after Rio, wouldnt he?

Carvalho springs to mind as being more expensive

mike65

You CANNOT satisfy a Liverpool fan. Facht!

Hephaestus

mike65 wrote: »

You CANNOT satisfy a Liverpool fan. Facht!

I'm sure Emma Rigby would satisfy me

PiE

~Rebel~ wrote: »

i dunno if its that simple. If our budget was X million, and the expected income of 7mill over the next 2 years were allocated to admin costs, then most likely if that 7mill gets used now, whatever our budget is will simply drop by 7million and become X-7.

Yea no doubt it'd have to be made up from somewhere else - but I'd rather our budget dropped by (a relatively paltry) £3.5m for 2 years (is it even over 2 years? I'm just repeating what I've read on here) and we signed a player capable of improving our first XI now (not saying Johnson would, I haven't seen enough of him to say).

Doing the math - £7m/2 years is almost 300k a month. Decent figure, would probably cover our wage bill for 1 week each month so on that side of things, I can see why the finance men would prefer to keep it ticking over.

Mr Alan

its a lot of money alright, young-gifted & English though, so gotta be expected.

we were so close to Utd this year that any improvement to our team/squad is a good thing, Johnson most certainly makes us stronger.

all good.

Hephaestus

Real Madrid director-general Jorge Valdano admits any bid for Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso is likely to be doomed to failure

Link

Good stuff.

I'd be gutted to see him go.

Hopefully this will be the end of all this exit talk!

tok9

jesus 18.5 million is a lot... thats what we payed for keane... a striker!

Actually let me put this into perspective, this is what we paid for masch!! One of the best if not the best defensive midfielders in the world...

We really should be spending no more than 12 million on him... i'm sure rafa knows whats he doing but i just hope if this deal goes through that he has a bit more on the side for villa:D

mike65

There is a 50% premium on English players and thats just something that has to be lived with I'm afraid.

PHB

Aside from his price [which to be honest, considering that he's English and its what Liverpool needs], I just can't see why he'd identify RB as the area to improve. At least though, he's going after top name big signings rather than ten small ones.

Does anyone think that this move is related to the Crouch deal in that he's buying from clubs that owe them money?

PHB

Liverpool could do worse than take a chance on Robben getting fit.

Boggles

PHB wrote: »

Liverpool could do worse than take a chance on Robben getting fit.

He would cost 30 million and 100 grand a week.

Thats a huge game of chance.

~Rebel~

tok9 wrote: »

jesus 18.5 million is a lot... thats what we payed for keane... a striker!

Actually let me put this into perspective, this is what we paid for masch!! One of the best if not the best defensive midfielders in the world...

We really should be spending no more than 12 million on him... i'm sure rafa knows whats he doing but i just hope if this deal goes through that he has a bit more on the side for villa:D

To be fair that was a price agreed when Masch's career was at its lowest, not getting his game for West Ham, his value would be double that now.

Boggles wrote: »

He would cost 30 million and 100 grand a week.

Thats a huge game of chance.

And he's just sooo hateable!

dardoz

Torres wrote:

"Rafa Benitez makes the signings and I'm sure those who come will improve us," Torres said in the Daily Star.

"If it was me I would bring David Villa. But that may not be possible."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5383018,00.html

zing

PHB wrote: »

Does anyone think that this move is related to the Crouch deal in that he's buying from clubs that owe them money?

Yes - iirc he's done this before too (can't remember which players off hand though). Basically he seems to be trying to make whatever money is directly available to him go that bit farther by using money which wouldn't otherwise be available to him now.

missingtime

Happy with the purchase, good buy.

One more first team player and a bench player and we should be sorted

missingtime

Mass exodus at Real Madrid. Would any of these guys come in handy?

Real Madrid have contacted a host of Premier League clubs with a list of nine players they are willing to sell in a bid to recoup some of the £150m they will lay out on Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Arjen Robben, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Royston Drenthe, Javier Saviola, Gabriel Heinze and Mahamadou Diarra are the players available.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/16/real-madrid-player-clearout

yom 1

Karmafaerie wrote: »

It never fails to amaze me.

Last year we get Degen as a right back, as a cheap option, and Rafa gets slated for not spending on an area that needs improving.

This year he does try and spend big, and he gets slated for spending money there, when there are other areas that need improving.

I'm a massive fan of Rafa's, not in the same league as you or Mr Alan but I'd still consider myself a massive fan. Just because myself or others have said 18.5m is an awful lot for Johnson doesn't mean we are slating him. I was quite happy last year to take Degen on a free as it meant a squad player for nothing when other areas needed seeing to. Noone could have known that he'd be injured for the entire season.

This year we've been told several times that the purse strings are very tight. We pushed Utd very hard last season and still came up a little short which the majority reckon is on the squad side of things and maybe one more world class attacker. So Liverpool need to strenghten the squad as follows

RB - Decent squad player to challenge Arbeloa, if Arbeloa leaves a first 11 player is required
CB - One more decent squad player as cover
LB - If Dossena leaves then a squad player is needed to cover for Aurelio and Insua
CM/DM - If any of Alonso, Masch or Lucas leave then a first 11 player is required. If they dont leave, then if possible, a cheap squad player or let Spearing get his run next year
RW/LW/in the hole - A first 11 player is required to give us that little bit more in attack. Ideally we'd like a world class player in each of these positions but since we dont have the funds a player capable of playing across this area of the pitch would really strenghten our attack and would leave us with Gerrard, Kuyt, Benayoun, Babel, Reira and ????? which I'd be happy with
ST - someone capable of filling in for Torres when absent(hopefully only 1/2 games next year)

That's an awful lot of players required out of a budget of 20m plus sales. This imo, leaves people fully entitled to question whether spending 18.5m on a right back is acceptable. If Arbeloa is leaving then as I said we'll need to get a first 11 RB aswell as a squad player in this position. If Rafa reckons Johnson is the player to fill the void then so be it, but its about 6m too much to pay for him and we are well within reason to question that.

Kingdom

missingtime wrote: »

Mass exodus at Real Madrid. Would any of these guys come in handy?

Real Madrid have contacted a host of Premier League clubs with a list of nine players they are willing to sell in a bid to recoup some of the £150m they will lay out on Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo. Arjen Robben, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Klass-Jan Huntelaar, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Royston Drenthe, Javier Saviola, Gabriel Heinze and Mahamadou Diarra are the players available.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/16/real-madrid-player-clearout

I'd have a bit of Sneijder, VDV or Huntelaar, while Saviola would be grand cheap backup.
Also if they're touting players then would the selling price be cheaper?We have options, no?

mike65

Just to repeat it Real Madrid director-general Jorge Valdano has admitted defeat in the Spanish giants' pursuit of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso. So lets not talk of this again (please! )

yom 1

mike65 wrote: »

Just to repeat it Real Madrid director-general Jorge Valdano has admitted defeat in the Spanish giants' pursuit of Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso. So lets not talk of this again (please! )

all together now

CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES come on........:P

PiE

Liverpool poised to sign Johnson
Liverpool look to have won the race to sign England defender Glen Johnson after agreeing a fee in the region of £17m with Portsmouth.

Reds' boss Rafael Benitez is confident he has beaten off interest from Chelsea in the 24-year-old and expects to make him his first summer signing.

Manchester City had also registered an interest in Johnson, but it is believed Anfield is his preferred destination.

Benitez is now likely to sell Andrea Dossena to help fund the deal.

Johnson, who joined Portsmouth from Chelsea in a £4m deal two years ago, emerged as Benitez's prime target after having an outstanding season at Fratton Park last season.

Benitez is working within financial restrictions in the transfer market this summer, but it is understood Liverpool are still owed money from the deal that took Peter Crouch to Portsmouth last summer.

Spanish defender Alvaro Arbeloa could also be sacrificed to raise cash towards the Johnson deal, with Real Madrid being linked with an £8m move.

He has cemented a place as England's first-choice right-back under coach Fabio Capello and played in the two recent World Cup qualifying victories against Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Johnson signed a new four-year deal at Portsmouth in January, but club officials accepted they could not stand in his way if he was offered the opportunity to move a club playing in the Champions League.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/8102625.stm

Looking more and more likely...

slingerz

If Arbeloa goes as being touted for £8m then deals for Glen Johnson and Micah Richards would be shrewd business by Benitez. Richards would get sufficent game time covering between CB and RB and Johnson would be the specialist RB. TBH if Dossena left I dont think he'd need too much replacing as Insua and Aurelio are already in the LB spots.

In midfield, should Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas all remain then it would be sufficent to have Spearing or Plessis in reserve there. If we were flushed with cash I think Mikael Arteta would be a great addition.

With Gerrard, Benyaoun, Kuyt, Riera, El Zhar and Babel in the attacking third this is where Liverpool need to strenghten the most. Lavezzi was rumoured for £12m on Sky Sports last week and that would be a good price for him. Things seem to have gone quiet on that front just now though. David Silva is another often mentioned with Liverpool but Valencia's desire to create a bidding war may squeeze Liverpool out of the running. Pacheo may be the next youth player to move into cameo appearances in the first team and perhaps Kritizen Nemeth can finally make the breakthrough

An alternative to Torres is required but someone who is adaptable enough to lead the line ala Torres or fall into the 4-2-3-1 formation alongside Gerrard/Torres. N'Gog is sufficent backup to whoever would come in

mike65

Well the beeb almost never publish a transfer story unless they have a genuine source, prolly true.

Talk of N'Gog spending a season on loan at Sunderland, I mean Ipswich Town ...

NabyLadistheman

Great deal. Johnston will add alot - especially at Anfield. Teams sitting behind the ball and all that jazz


£17 million ain't the worst either. £7 mill for Crouch and the remaining 10 mill can be filled by the sale of Dossena. That means the outlay for Johnston will be 4 million max & that doesn't even count add-on's etc. as part of the 17mill

Now onwards to our next recruit

Karmafaerie

yom 1 wrote: »

I'm a massive fan of Rafa's, not in the same league as you or Mr Alan but I'd still consider myself a massive fan. Just because myself or others have said 18.5m is an awful lot for Johnson doesn't mean we are slating him. I was quite happy last year to take Degen on a free as it meant a squad player for nothing when other areas needed seeing to. Noone could have known that he'd be injured for the entire season.

This year we've been told several times that the purse strings are very tight. We pushed Utd very hard last season and still came up a little short which the majority reckon is on the squad side of things and maybe one more world class attacker. So Liverpool need to strenghten the squad as follows

RB - Decent squad player to challenge Arbeloa, if Arbeloa leaves a first 11 player is required
CB - One more decent squad player as cover
LB - If Dossena leaves then a squad player is needed to cover for Aurelio and Insua
CM/DM - If any of Alonso, Masch or Lucas leave then a first 11 player is required. If they dont leave, then if possible, a cheap squad player or let Spearing get his run next year
RW/LW/in the hole - A first 11 player is required to give us that little bit more in attack. Ideally we'd like a world class player in each of these positions but since we dont have the funds a player capable of playing across this area of the pitch would really strenghten our attack and would leave us with Gerrard, Kuyt, Benayoun, Babel, Reira and ????? which I'd be happy with
ST - someone capable of filling in for Torres when absent(hopefully only 1/2 games next year)

That's an awful lot of players required out of a budget of 20m plus sales. This imo, leaves people fully entitled to question whether spending 18.5m on a right back is acceptable. If Arbeloa is leaving then as I said we'll need to get a first 11 RB aswell as a squad player in this position. If Rafa reckons Johnson is the player to fill the void then so be it, but its about 6m too much to pay for him and we are well within reason to question that.

Yom, I've no problem with anyone questioning a signing.
It's those coming out and saying offhand that this is ridiculous and that it makes them question Rafa himself.

Anyone who blindly supports or denounces anything needs to take a step back IMO.


As for the money, we haven't been told constantly that we have no money.
Some papers came out and said it, but they were tabloids talking out of their collective ar$es.

All Liverpool insiders said that Rafa had at least £20,000,000.
H&G said that Rafa would have money.
Rafa said that while not rich, he had money.

It was only the usual rags saying we were broke.

While we do need to strengten in certain areas, and if £18,500,000 was been spent out of £20,000,000 it would seem ridiculous.

It has been pointed out however that from the way things are being reported, it's quite possible that we will be signing Johnson and Richards, while loosing Arbeloa and Dossena, for a total of £2-3,000,000 off of our seasons budget.

If that's the case, that's an amazing turn around, and leaves plenty of money for furthur strenghtening.

joe123

mike65 wrote: »

Well the beeb almost never publish a transfer story unless they have a genuine source, prolly true.

They are like the opposite of goal.com. Im happy we have signed one of the best right backs in England and hes going to work brilliant with Kuyt I think.

I honestly dont think we would of seen a transfer such as this if Parry was still running things especially competing against Chelsea and City.:pac:

Next up David Villa and Im happy

SlickRic

MementoMori wrote: »

Also I don't think that Johnson has ever played CB so we're still light in terms of 4th choice CB in the squad.

i'm 99% sure he has played there, so he would add extra cover.

again, if this isn't our entire budget being spent, which i don't believe it is, then it's clever business.

yom 1

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Yom, I've no problem with anyone questioning a signing.
It's those coming out and saying offhand that this is ridiculous and that it makes them question Rafa himself.

Fair enough I took you up wrong:o

Anyone who blindly supports or denounces anything needs to take a step back IMO.

Couldn't agree more!!

All Liverpool insiders said that Rafa had at least £20,000,000.
H&G said that Rafa would have money.
Rafa said that while not rich, he had money.

Based on this we can only assume its 20m plus sales and hope there is something in reserve

It has been pointed out however that from the way things are being reported, it's quite possible that we will be signing Johnson and Richards, while loosing Arbeloa and Dossena, for a total of £2-3,000,000 off of our seasons budget.If that's the case, that's an amazing turn around, and leaves plenty of money for furthur strenghtening.

Its only being reported as such by the same crowds that you denounced earlier regarding the money situation. It seems as if the Johnson deal is going through and on it's own its just too pricey imo. Even if we get Richards for 5m, the Johnson deal is still overpriced. They are 2 completely different transfers.

Hephaestus

I'm happy to go on record & say that I think signing GJ is an awful piece of business if he signs for the crazy fig being mentioned.

If he was any nationality other than English he'd be valued @ €8-10m.

I hope I'm wrong but I fear I wont be!

Good signing if it's true.

A good left back now please Rafa.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus wrote: »

I'm happy to go on record

Good for you ! Down with that off the record sh1te ! :pac:

rossie1977

has the world gone insane, £80m for (half my goals come from free kicks and penos) ronaldo and £18m for (that goatsman made me look like an idiot last week) glen johnson, wow, just wow