The Summer Transfer Thread

Kirby

cson wrote: »

You can't knock someone for having a different point of view to yours.

Well said. LuckyLoyd takes wayyy too much flak from other Liverpool supporters for his views. It seems that anybody who shows a bit of dissent in ANY of the superthreads gets the head bitten off them.

I don't agree with some of his opinions myself, particularly his thoughts on Dalglish and Rodgers.....but he talks a lot of sense in other areas. And at the end of the day, if we all agreed........it would be pretty boring.

mike65

Moneymaker wrote: »

It really does make one wonder where it all went wrong for Liverpool. That was a fantastic side with a really strong spine. Reina, Carragher, Mascherano, Alonso, Torres.

I remember they obliterated Newcastle 5-1 at SJP and thinking that was the best side i'd seen come to SJP in years.

I preferred the 6-0 last season!

Where it went wrong was Gillet and Hicks ownership, which hit its low with the club hours from bankruptcy 2010.

http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/blog/bankruptcy-woes-for-liverpool-football-club/

GTR63

LiamoSail wrote: »

Actually I disagree. Alonso signed for real at the end of a season in which Liverpool had just beaten real 5-0 on aggregate in the CL, and finished second in the league. That was probably the best Liverpool side in twenty years

Real signed Benzema, Kaka, Ozil, Khedira and Ronaldo that summer. They were a FAR bigger step than this Arsenal team.

Moneymaker

mike65 wrote: »

I preferred the 6-0 last season!

Where it went wrong was Gillet and Hicks ownership, which hit its low with the club hours from bankruptcy 2010.

http://www.totalbankruptcy.com/blog/bankruptcy-woes-for-liverpool-football-club/

In fairness any team would have bummed us that day, as Sunderland did the previous fixture.

That Liverpool side in 2008 was packed full of world class players.

Baldy Conscience

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

a lot of them do

At least we admit who we support eh buddy

brianregan09

Lads this isnt the liverpool thread

Moneymaker

brianregan09 wrote: »

Lads this isnt the liverpool thread

Nope it's about discussing transfers, of which of the chief stories involves a Liverpool player.

Thread has taken a pretty reasonable direction imo and one I am enjoying reading and discussing.

rob316

You call me delusional, I call you not supporting the club. This difference of opinion will go on and on. My problem is blindly ignoring the positives the club has going to enforce your agenda. The facts have been laid out to the naysayers time and time again but they refuse to ignore it.

Is the club where I want it to be? Hell no, we are LFC we should be challenging for titles, not be worrying about keeping our best players. Mismanaged is the word that best describes Liverpool for the last 5/6 years possibly longer and unfortunately its going to take a while for us to get back to where we want to be.

Hidalgo

mike65 wrote: »

You really should hand your LFC card in I think.

The obvious point I was making is that LFC are bigger than Arsenal as an entity, to quote from a guardian article



And this is the thing to remember. The only thing missing from the club is a foothold back in the CL - everything else flows from that.

Do you think Suarez gives a f*ck about which club is a bigger entity?? Playing in front of huge pre-season crowds is hardly as big as playing in the CL


Do you really see Liverpool getting that foothold in the CL anytime soon? Somehow I don't think Suarez does.

LiamoSail

GTR63 wrote: »

Real signed Benzema, Kaka, Ozil, Khedira and Ronaldo that summer. They were a FAR bigger step than this Arsenal team.

If it was that much of a step up, it would stand to reason that the real side of 09/10 would have achieved more then the Liverpool side of 08/09, but they didn't. Both came second in their respective leagues ( with points totals that would ordinarily have won the league) and reached similar stages of the CL

Under normal circumstances, I'd agree that a move from Liverpool to real is a huge step up, but as I said, that Liverpool side were that good (Masch, alonso, Gerrard, Torres), and substantially better then real the previous season (5-0 on aggregate), that I think the step up was marginal

cson

Kirby wrote: »

Well said. LuckyLoyd takes wayyy too much flak from other Liverpool supporters for his views. It seems that anybody who shows a bit of dissent in ANY of the superthreads gets the head bitten off them.

I don't agree with some of his opinions myself, particularly his thoughts on Dalglish and Rodgers.....but he talks a lot of sense in other areas. And at the end of the day, if we all agreed........it would be pretty boring.

This is it; LL has taken a position on what's happening at LFC and has explained it in depth. Because its not the status quo folks tend have a go and use the "would you not just support your club" schtick to beat him with. You can support your club and not agree with the direction their going. They aren't mutually exclusive.

jester77

There are not too many teams a step above Arsenal at the moment. Bayern, Barcelona, Real, Man Utd and Man City. And maybe Chelsea at a push.

No one out of those has shown any interest thus far. So as things stand, Arsenal is probably as good as the lad is going to get.

Moneymaker

jester77 wrote: »

There are not too many teams a step above Arsenal at the moment. Bayern, Barcelona, Real, Man Utd and Man City. And maybe Chelsea at a push.

No one out of those has shown any interest thus far. So as things stand, Arsenal is probably as good as the lad is going to get.

Juventus and Milan maybe but that's debatable.

Hidalgo

jester77 wrote: »

There are not too many teams a step above Arsenal at the moment. Bayern, Barcelona, Real, Man Utd and Man City. And maybe Chelsea at a push.

No one out of those has shown any interest thus far. So as things stand, Arsenal is probably as good as the lad is going to get.

Chelsea would be a level above Arsenal no question imo.
People are basing too much on Chelsea last year. New/old manager should make them a different proposition next season.
Dortmund are another that would be a level above Arsenal to add to the list you've given, but as you say, none of those have shown any interest as of yet

jester77

Moneymaker wrote: »

Juventus and Milan maybe but that's debatable.

I would have Arsenal at the same level as them, along with Chelsea and Dortmund. But as you say, that's debatable.

For Suarez, he's not going to do much better at the moment.

greendom

jester77 wrote: »

I would have Arsenal at the same level as them, along with Chelsea and Dortmund. But as you say, that's debatable.

For Suarez, he's not going to do much better at the moment.

According to Forbes Arsenal are the 4th wealthiest club in Europe. A long way short of Barca in 3rd but that gap will close when the new commercial deals kick in.

Corholio

Moneymaker wrote: »

Nope it's about discussing transfers, of which of the chief stories involves a Liverpool player.

Thread has taken a pretty reasonable direction imo and one I am enjoying reading and discussing.

The last 3 pages have been Liverpool fans arguing over whos the more real fans with Suarez thrown in sparingly. I'm pretty sure its not the thread for it.

Skylinehead

Moneymaker wrote: »

Juventus and Milan maybe but that's debatable.

Juve yes. Milan, definitely not, they're a mess at the moment.

Hidalgo

jester77 wrote: »

I would have Arsenal at the same level as them, along with Chelsea and Dortmund. But as you say, that's debatable.

For Suarez, he's not going to do much better at the moment.

Juve won Serie A last season at a canter and have added to the squad afaik.
Dortmund reached a CL final last season and have recently won back to back Bundeligas including one domestic double. Both are ahead of Arsenal.

cson

In terms of status I think we're probably bigger than BVB. Even with their recent success they're struggling to hold onto players. Signing Reus was one against the field though.

Moneymaker

Skylinehead wrote: »

Juve yes. Milan, definitely not, they're a mess at the moment.

Milan are in a far better position then they were a few years ago.

They've cleared out all the aging players, they have some of the best young talent Italy has to offer(Mario, El Shar, Cristante, Niang, Poli, De Scglio, Saponara) and financially they are in a reasonable position.

It's a work in progress but Milan's future looks quite bright imo if they can blood all the talent they have.

To say they're a mess is simply untrue.

Skylinehead

Moneymaker wrote: »

Milan are in a far better position then they were a few years ago.

They've cleared out all the aging players, they have some of the best young talent Italy has to offer(Mario, El Shar, Cristante, Niang, Poli, De Scglio, Saponara) and financially they are in a reasonable position.

It's a work in progress but Milan's future looks quite bright imo if they can blood all the talent they have.

To say they're a mess is simply untrue.

True, they're getting better from last season. Long way to go yet, I still think they're miles behind Juventus. And even Napoli, especially after the business they're doing this summer.

Seaneh

Moneymaker wrote: »

Milan are in a far better position then they were a few years ago.

They've cleared out all the aging players, they have some of the best young talent Italy has to offer(Mario, El Shar, Cristante, Niang, Poli, De Scglio, Saponara) and financially they are in a reasonable position.

It's a work in progress but Milan's future looks quite bright imo if they can blood all the talent they have.

To say they're a mess is simply untrue.

If anything, Milan are in a healthier state now than they have been since 2007 both on the field and financially. And are still one of the biggest clubs in the world. And their squad is every but as good, if bot better, than Arsenal.

Moneymaker

Skylinehead wrote: »

True, they're getting better from last season. Long way to go yet, I still think they're miles behind Juventus. And even Napoli, especially after the business they're doing this summer.

Yeah it's pretty clear Juventus are in the best position in Italy right now and probably will be for the foreseeable future. Having the only club-owned stadium is huge.

A lot of things will need to click into place for Milan to be a major force again but they're not too far off. Fiorentina will be the team to watch next season imo, they've probably been one of the most shrewdly run clubs regarding transfers in all of football for the last 2-3 years and have a very impressive looking side, even with the loss of Jovetic.

cson

Only saw 120mins of football from him (Inter & 1st half of Torino) but Adem Ljajic looks like a player. He's the guy United had signed with Tosic iirc.

LuckyLloyd

Milan are to be commended for pulling off a massive, massive clearing out of their squad and retaining CL involvement. They also showed ambition in keeping that group together for as long as they did - it was their best short term chance of winning a CL at that time. And when they decided to call time on the era, they dropped the hammer ruthlessly.

I think they're the opposite of a mess!!

GTR63

cson wrote: »

Only saw 120mins of football from him (Inter & 1st half of Torino) but Adem Ljajic looks like a player. He's the guy United had signed with Tosic iirc.

He was that guy. They did give Inter an awful beating last year at home. Think he is & should signing a new contract with them.

astonaidan

I love a good Liverpool/Arsenal bitch fest as much as the next, any chance a Everton fan wants to start a Villa/Everton debate?? Like I know Everton finished above us but how much European Cups have ye won :pac:

jive

Beefy78 wrote: »

I don't agree at all. Higuain is a quality footballer who has been massively under-utilised the last couple of years since his bad back injury. I hadn't seen his goal stats and to me they don't really matter - the team is built around Ronaldo and anyone else is just picking up scraps.

As a fan of English football I'm very disappointed that he hasn't ended up at Arsenal or Chelsea.

Napoli have done well and I think Jackson Martinez will be a decent piece of business for them as well.

I agree that he is quality but he's not £31m quality, at least not yet. I can see it being a poor bit of business for Napoli but we'll have to just agree to disagree. I don't think Martinez will end up going anywhere, I read the other day that he wanted to stay at Porto unless this has changed!

cson wrote: »

Higuain is class. The only reason you'd have to diss him is if you're an Arsenal fan feeling bitter. A "we didn't want you anyway" type of thing.

I wanted him.

Nah I'm neutral, I wanted to see him go to Arsenal too so I could watch him more regularly. Arsenal were supposed to get him for ~£22m I think, which would have been a fair price. £32m or w/e it is is just too much for him IMO.

Marty McFly

Are Liverpool really a bigger entity than Arsenal though?Not really not anymore Arsenal have been drawing huge crowds in Asia, are the 4th richest club in the world and that will continue to increase that with new commercial deals coming into play there aim is to have revenues of 300 million like Bayern and there getting closer and closer to that, plus with the bigger stadium they draw in much bigger matchday revenues.

As for it being a sideways step come on have a think to yourself, us as Arsenal fans know it hurts to see your best players leave but think about it rationally.

He will be moving to a club were he will get CL football which is huge Liverpool right now are no where near that level, Arsenal have been tight the last few years due to debts but if he does move it's a real signal of intent we finished the season well last year as new players settled in. If we show ambition and do sign Suarez along with one or two other quality signing there is nothing to say we could not be title challengers IF we sign Suarez and one or two others that is.

People write off Arsenal and Wenger way to quick remember this is the manager who created the invincibles when he had money to compete people have a very short memory in football, and I for one think after keeping us competitive for years under financial scrutiny I would love to see him spend money and see what he can do.

Beefy78

jive wrote: »

I agree that he is quality but he's not £31m quality, at least not yet. I can see it being a poor bit of business for Napoli but we'll have to just agree to disagree. I don't think Martinez will end up going anywhere, I read the other day that he wanted to stay at Porto unless this has changed!



Nah I'm neutral, I wanted to see him go to Arsenal too so I could watch him more regularly. Arsenal were supposed to get him for ~£22m I think, which would have been a fair price. £32m or w/e it is is just too much for him IMO.

But what can they do with that other €10m? It's not like saying that one car is overpriced compared to another one as the market for proven international goalscorers is such a small one.

Higuain is a proven performer who has scored a lot of goals for arguably the biggest Club side in the World and one of the top nations in the World. He's also very young and therefore should have his peak years to come and will likely have substantial re-sale value.

I thought £23m was undervalued and that €37m is possibly on the large side but they sold at that price and therefore surely the pricetag was accurate?

The transfer market is pure madness but compared to some of the fees going around I think Napoli have done alright.

GTR63

Marty McFly wrote: »

Are Liverpool really a bigger entity than Arsenal though?Not really not anymore Arsenal have been drawing huge crowds in Asia, are the 4th richest club in the world and that will continue to increase that with new commercial deals coming into play there aim is to have revenues of 300 million like Bayern and there getting closer and closer to that, plus with the bigger stadium they draw in much bigger matchday revenues.

As for it being a sideways step come on have a think to yourself, us as Arsenal fans know it hurts to see your best players leave but think about it rationally.

He will be moving to a club were he will get CL football which is huge Liverpool right now are no where near that level, Arsenal have been tight the last few years due to debts but if he does move it's a real signal of intent we finished the season well last year as new players settled in. If we show ambition and do sign Suarez along with one or two other quality signing there is nothing to say we could not be title challengers IF we sign Suarez and one or two others that is.

People write off Arsenal and Wenger way to quick remember this is the manager who created the invincibles when he had money to compete people have a very short memory in football, and I for one think after keeping us competitive for years under financial scrutiny I would love to see him spend money and see what he can do.

Suarez chat has been separated to avoid derailing the thread
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057000293&page=3


Napoli have put in a bid for Verratti according to his agent
http://www.football-italia.net/36783/napoli-made-mega-verratti-bid-%E2%80%93-agent

barone

to go back to what i said, moving from liverpool to arsenal right now is not a huge step up, a huge step up would be michu to arsenal, him moving would be a step up currently yes.. a huge one? not by a long shot.

MagicIRL

Has Hooper singed for Norwich yet?

jive

Beefy78 wrote: »

But what can they do with that other €10m? It's not like saying that one car is overpriced compared to another one as the market for proven international goalscorers is such a small one.

Higuain is a proven performer who has scored a lot of goals for arguably the biggest Club side in the World and one of the top nations in the World. He's also very young and therefore should have his peak years to come and will likely have substantial re-sale value.

I thought £23m was undervalued and that €37m is possibly on the large side but they sold at that price and therefore surely the pricetag was accurate?

The transfer market is pure madness but compared to some of the fees going around I think Napoli have done alright.

He's only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for him. The vast majority of clubs with that kind of money were not willing to pay that kind of money for him, I doubt Napoli was his first choice destination. I'm just saying he was overpriced, I'm not talking Andy Carroll overpriced but I think they've paid about £10m more than they should have to get him. He's not wanted at Madrid and it's not like Madrid are that business savvy when it comes to transfer dealings, it's a bit of a circus there. They could have bought another quality player for £10m or they could have saved £10m, they didn't have to spend it. Napoli are relatively wealthy though, particularly after the Cavani transfer but they were wealthy even before that, so I guess they don't care. Alternatively they could have gone for suarez for an extra £10m, would he have went? I doubt it, but why not; he's much better than Higuain.

Paco Rodriguez

Agree on Fiorentina being the one to watch. I think getting Illicic is one of the best signings of the year.

Moneymaker

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Agree on Fiorentina being the one to watch. I think getting Illicic is one of the best signings of the year.

Yup, very good player. Not far off Pastore's level when he was there and he went for close to 40m.

Pizarro should be singing a new deal for them too which is a big deal, excellent player.

Smithwicks Man

Paco Rodriguez wrote: »

Agree on Fiorentina being the one to watch. I think getting Illicic is one of the best signings of the year.

Giuseppe Rossi is fit again after a bad injury and he was top class when he was on form.

Napoli are doing some great business

They've already brought in Callejon, Mertens, Albiol, Rafael and Higuain (as good as)

Now they're after Jackson Martinez and Marco Verratti.

Some squad they are putting together.

Moneymaker

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Giuseppe Rossi is fit again after a bad injury and he was top class when he was on form.

Napoli are doing some great business

They've already brought in Callejon, Mertens, Albiol, Rafael and Higuain (as good as)

Now they're after Jackson Martinez and Marco Verratti.

Some squad they are putting together.

Do you think we'll see Italian clubs become competitive in the CL again?

Juve look good for the long run, Milan's endless conveyer belt of young talent, Fiorentina and Napoli buying well, it looks good imo. Hell even the likes of Lazio have improved.

PSG would be mental to see Veratti, good chance he becomes one of the midfielders in Europe in the next 2-3 years.

Nuri Sahin

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Giuseppe Rossi is fit again after a bad injury and he was top class when he was on form.

Napoli are doing some great business

They've already brought in Callejon, Mertens, Albiol, Rafael and Higuain (as good as)

Now they're after Jackson Martinez and Marco Verratti.

Some squad they are putting together.

Albiol is average at best and spending €12M on him is crazy and I'm quite 50/50 in regards to Callejon, but I agree with the rest.

Smithwicks Man

Moneymaker wrote: »

Do you think we'll see Italian clubs become competitive in the CL again?

Juve look good for the long run, Milan's endless conveyer belt of young talent, Fiorentina and Napoli buying well, it looks good imo. Hell even the likes of Lazio have improved.

PSG would be mental to see Veratti, good chance he becomes one of the midfielders in Europe in the next 2-3 years.

Definitely. No team will want to go up against Juventus, Milan or Napoli in the CL this season and Milan actually look to be the weakest out of the three which is saying a lot about how strong the other two are.

Fiorentina will be a force to be reckoned with as well and Roma have strengthened well too. Then you have Lazio and Inter in competition as well and Udinese sniffing about there as usual.

The only thing that will stop them being a force in Europe is the lack of interest the Italian teams have in the Europa League. It's seen to be a mickey mouse competition for so many and they often rest their better players for the weekend league match instead of going all out to win.

This in turn has a detrimental effect on Italy's coefficient and will make it very hard to get 4 CL places back, as well as keeping what they have.

The CL clubs can compete with the big boys. The next 3 can most certainly compete in the EL, whether they actively choose to or not is another thing.

Smithwicks Man

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

Albiol is average at best and spending €12M on him is crazy and I'm quite 50/50 in regards to Callejon, but I agree with the rest.

Can't disagree with that. Would have liked to see them bring in a very good CB but available ones are hard to come by these days.

I've heard good things about Mertens but have watched almost nothing of him so can't make a fair judgement. Rafael was held in extremely high regard in Brazil and could turn out to be a great.

Can't fault their ambition and willingness to get the deals done!

niallo27

Marty McFly wrote: »

Are Liverpool really a bigger entity than Arsenal though?Not really not anymore Arsenal have been drawing huge crowds in Asia, are the 4th richest club in the world and that will continue to increase that with new commercial deals coming into play there aim is to have revenues of 300 million like Bayern and there getting closer and closer to that, plus with the bigger stadium they draw in much bigger matchday revenues.

As for it being a sideways step come on have a think to yourself, us as Arsenal fans know it hurts to see your best players leave but think about it rationally.

He will be moving to a club were he will get CL football which is huge Liverpool right now are no where near that level, Arsenal have been tight the last few years due to debts but if he does move it's a real signal of intent we finished the season well last year as new players settled in. If we show ambition and do sign Suarez along with one or two other quality signing there is nothing to say we could not be title challengers IF we sign Suarez and one or two others that is.

People write off Arsenal and Wenger way to quick remember this is the manager who created the invincibles when he had money to compete people have a very short memory in football, and I for one think after keeping us competitive for years under financial scrutiny I would love to see him spend money and see what he can do.

Yes

cson

niallo27 wrote: »

Yes

I like the detail you went into there. Really hard to argue with that sort of well thought out and reasoned post.

opr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3ukQ4e_SY

Opr

Nuri Sahin

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Can't disagree with that. Would have liked to see them bring in a very good CB but available ones are hard to come by these days.

I've heard good things about Mertens but have watched almost nothing of him so can't make a fair judgement. Rafael was held in extremely high regard in Brazil and could turn out to be a great.

Can't fault their ambition and willingness to get the deals done!

I've watched Mertens for PSV and Belgium a couple dozen or so times over the past few years. He is someone I've wanted Liverpool to sign for the last two/three years, my number one target in fact. Would have loved Dortmund to sign him too this summer once the tratior left. A level below Hazard talent ceiling wise to compare him to another Belgian, sure. But the guy is a just so consistent in every area of the game for a player who can play either wing or behind the striker. Far more often than not pop up with a goal or an assist, especially with now with Higuain and quite possibly Martinez leading the line plus the other talented players there.. it's something else.

In short the €10M Napoli paid and paid for a player entering with his ability entering his peak years is a snip, certainly one of the signings of the summer for me anyway.

Israeli Superiority

opr wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D3ukQ4e_SY

Opr

That should go here.

Moneymaker

Nuri Sahin wrote: »

I've watched Mertens for PSV and Belgium a couple dozen or so times over the past few years. He is someone I've wanted Liverpool to sign for the last two/three years, my number one target in fact. Would have loved Dortmund to sign him too this summer once the tratior left. A level below Hazard talent ceiling wise to compare him to another Belgian, sure. But the guy is a just so consistent in every area of the game for a player who can play either wing or behind the striker. Far more often than not pop up with a goal or an assist, especially with now with Higuain and quite possibly Martinez leading the line plus the other talented players there.. it's something else.

In short the €10M Napoli paid and paid for a player entering with his ability entering his peak years is a snip, certainly one of the signings of the summer for me anyway.

Cheers for that, I was wondering about it myself but my knowledge was limited to 'Ah he's young and Belgian so he's probably decent'.

Smithwicks Man

I'll second that cheers.

If they do succeed in signing Verratti, they'll have a very formidable team

Verratti and Inler in midfield with Hamsik just ahead of them supporting a front three of Mertens, Higuain and Callejon is a very good, well baalnced attacking 6.

And then there's the likes of Maggio and Zuniga on the flanks as well as Insigne available for rotation.

I don't exactly our chances at the San Paolo this season and I'd say many feel the same.

Their achilles heel remains at CB, I don't think Jackson Martinez is a necessary purchase either but he'd definitely not hinder things!

LuckyLloyd

They will also have adjustment issues. Lots of new starters, new coach with new tactics.