Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread 2013/2014

cson

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

That said, his defenders often claimed that the lack of competition was a factor in his deterioation. And maybe they are correct? In my world £110k would be money well spent if it lit a competitive fire under both our goalkeepers and allowed them to really push each other to excel for us on the pitch.

Caught between a rock and a hard place though; you can't justify spending £9m or so on a keeper only for him to sit on the bench.

PRAF

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Sample size and sample strength dude.

IIRC we're talking about at least 13 games over the last year and a half and these included games against Everton, City, Utd, and Newcastle. It's not a massive sample size but it isn't exactly insignificant either.

My gut feel is that I'd rather keep Suarez (so long as he would be happy to stay - unlikely it seems). But I refuse to accept that its a disaster if he goes. It would only become a disaster if we don't replace him well

Francie Barrett

Not sure if this has been posted, but Ryan Babel (he's playing for Kasimpasa now, who!?) filled Christian Eriksen in on life at Liverpool.

4 the LFC fans who have questions about Eriksen, i’ve gave him enough information about the club during past season.. so he understands LFC

In my opinion its LFC who have to make the real effort to get him, then i’m confident for a good ending. #LFC

It sounds like Eriksen would join us, but we haven't made him an offer.

Shankly Gates

citytillidie

If your man does go to Arsenal there will be no coming back for a send off like when he left Ajax for Liverpool.

klose

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

That said, his defenders often claimed that the lack of competition was a factor in his deterioation. And maybe they are correct? In my world £110k would be money well spent if it lit a competitive fire under both our goalkeepers and allowed them to really push each other to excel for us on the pitch.

I agree with you there however with it being a world cup year i dont think reina fancied playing a bit part, de gea will push one of valdes or reina out of the w.c squad next summer imo, if reina is playing a bit part itll likely be him, hes obviously guaranteed game time at napoli so that suits him and evidently us.

PRAF

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

Agree with you here. Reina on top form was a joy to watch. Sadly, it didn't happen all that often in the last two years. Best of luck to him in Naples and beyond

skywalker

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

That said, his defenders often claimed that the lack of competition was a factor in his deterioation. And maybe they are correct? In my world £110k would be money well spent if it lit a competitive fire under both our goalkeepers and allowed them to really push each other to excel for us on the pitch.

If we were back in the CL the season after next & hes come back from his loan move there woud be worse ways of spending money alright

If it were to happen like that then another way of looking at it would be Mignolets wages were the cost of competition, rather than Pepes, given Pepes wages were the baseline to begin with. You'd really have to have more than the standard league/cup games to justify it though.

LiamoSail

klose wrote: »

I agree with you there however with it being a world cup year i dont think reina fancied playing a bit part, de gea will push one of valdes or reina out of the w.c squad next summer imo, if reina is playing a bit part itll likely be him, hes obviously guaranteed game time at napoli so that suits him and evidently us.

I can't think of a better way for him to prepare for the World Cup then by sitting on the bench for a season :pac:

As an aside, its admirable the loyalty both Reina and valdes have shown to the Spanish national side by continuing to make themselves available despite the limited opportunities. It's something you certainly wouldn't see with Irish or English internationals playing at the highest level

Grayditch

LiamoSail wrote: »

As an aside, its admirable the loyalty both Reina and valdes have shown to the Spanish national side by continuing to make themselves available despite the limited opportunities. It's something you certainly wouldn't see with Irish or English internationals playing at the highest level

All the medals, though.

whatawaster

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

That said, his defenders often claimed that the lack of competition was a factor in his deterioation. And maybe they are correct? In my world £110k would be money well spent if it lit a competitive fire under both our goalkeepers and allowed them to really push each other to excel for us on the pitch.

You've repeatedly said that Reina is on a terminal decline and is no longer good enough to be starting for Liverpool.

Yet you'd be ok with paying him 5.5 million to sit on his arse for a year?

We need quality backup, but imo it should be an experienced keeper who will be on modest wages, will happily sit on the bench for a year but who we can rely on if called upon. Better than Jones, less expensive than Reina.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

Suarez seemed to 'assume' Madrid were interested in him. Now hes moving to London to get away from the English media

I aske this on the previous thraead, but never got an answer: has Suarez even hinted he wants to go to arsenal?

They've bid, been rejected and been laughed at. Suarez said nothing. It's been 2 or 3 days now since he had the right to speak to them, but neither he nor his agent have (so far as we know). So Suarez wanting to go to London is a bit asusmptive in my book.

Leiva

Suarez will not be going to Arsenal.

he is history as far as LFC is concerned but no way is he going to Arsenal.

LuckyLloyd

whatawaster wrote: »

You've repeatedly said that Reina is on a terminal decline and is no longer good enough to be starting for Liverpool.

Yet you'd be ok with paying him 5.5 million to sit on his arse for a year?

We need quality backup, but imo it should be an experienced keeper who will be on modest wages, will happily sit on the bench for a year but who we can rely on if called upon. Better than Jones, less expensive than Reina.

He might not be? It might focus him (particularly with a WC on the horizon) and Mignolet might end up sitting for long stretches.

Fizman

Even if he did go to Arsenal......imagine how many times Wenger would have to say "I didn't see the incident".

whatawaster

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

He might not be? It might focus him (particularly with a WC on the horizon) and Mignolet might end up sitting for long stretches.

But if you don't think he's good enough, why want to keep him at all?

LuckyLloyd

whatawaster wrote: »

But if you don't think he's good enough, why want to keep him at all?

I was happy to sell him! But loaning him seems silly to me. Having a keeper of his stature there could only force the best out of Mignolet and vice versa. If noone was willing to buy Reina this summer, then it seemed like we might back into the best goalkeeping situation we've had in years.

Kirby

Fizman wrote: »

Even if he did go to Arsenal......imagine how many times Wenger would have to say "I didn't see the incident".

He's stopped saying his favourite line these days though. Now, if there is a big controversy, he just doesn't do the post match interview.

Hidalgo

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Reina loved the club and he was really wonderful during his first four years playing for us. The latter half of his Liverpool career became progressively worse however and despite a slight renaissance at the tail end of last season I won't lament his departure.

I'd love it if he rejuvenated his form in Naples.

That said, his defenders often claimed that the lack of competition was a factor in his deterioation. And maybe they are correct? In my world £110k would be money well spent if it lit a competitive fire under both our goalkeepers and allowed them to really push each other to excel for us on the pitch.

That would be a great luxury, but tbh I'd prefer if the £110k a week that would go to Reina on the bench was spent on a starting player. If the club were to buy an AM that would be a nice chunk to persuade him to sign.

billymitchell

Has Real Madrid ever said they are interested in Suarez?

Blatter

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I was happy to sell him! But loaning him seems silly to me. Having a keeper of his stature there could only force the best out of Mignolet and vice versa. If noone was willing to buy Reina this summer, then it seemed like we might back into the best goalkeeping situation we've had in years.

If the argument is to keep him as competition, then why does it matter whether we sell or loan? He's either with us or he's not...

Blatter

billymitchell wrote: »

Has Real Madrid ever said they are interested in Suarez?

I get the impression that the Suarez to Madrid links are more of a product of Suarez's comments a few weeks ago (about how it would be a dream to play for them etc.) rather than genuine Madrid interest.

Hidalgo

Blatter wrote: »

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

Maybe they're trying to call Arsenal out, name a very high price and Arsenal have 2 choices,
1 meet it
2 forget about it.

The risk from a Liverpool pov is that Arsenal meet it.
Who's bluffing who??

mike65

Blatter wrote: »

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

Do you reckon they'll cough up 50 million ish?

Fizman

I know I said I'd stay away from this thread.......but I'm weak!:o

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I was happy to sell him! But loaning him seems silly to me. Having a keeper of his stature there could only force the best out of Mignolet and vice versa. If noone was willing to buy Reina this summer, then it seemed like we might back into the best goalkeeping situation we've had in years.

In my opinion, having two keepers of their stature at the club makes absolutely NO sense to me whatsoever. They are both 'starting PL' keepers for want of a better phrase. With this, comes 'starting keeper' salaries.

We need wages to be spent on positions where we are far far weaker. We are badly in need of another top drawer CB, amongst at least 2-3 other positions.

Regarding the GK position, we are only in a position of having one top keeper and one adequate replacement (I'd rather someone better than Jones but right now he may have to do).

djPSB

Blatter wrote: »

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

Seems the problem is that he wants to join Arsenal.

5starpool

Blatter wrote: »

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

I'm pretty disappointed by that myself I have to say. A week or so ago when this first surfaced I thought it was a hilarious rumour. I'm not particularly finding it funny now I have to say.

klose

Suarez will either end up redfaced at melwood on september 2nd and everyone there gets on with it or in madrid for 40 or so million. He wont be going to arsenal. The club wants north of 50 million for him, arsenal wont pay that.

LuckyLloyd

Dickerty wrote: »

If the argument is to keep him as competition, then why does it matter whether we sell or loan? He's either with us or he's not...

Because all we get from loaning him is saved wages. And those wages might be worth their weight in gold if having both of them around pushed one of them to the best season of their career. That's a few points gained right there.

LuckyLloyd

Blatter wrote: »

Surprised the club basically said he can go to Arsenal as long as the valuation is met, and publicly.

Would have thought the club would be doing everything to avoid him going there. That's not a good start.

I don't think the club particularly cares where he goes so long as a huge chunk of change is received in return. If the club was really trying to compete for fouth it would think differently of course.

qvsr46ofgc792k

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

I was happy to sell him! But loaning him seems silly to me. Having a keeper of his stature there could only force the best out of Mignolet and vice versa. If noone was willing to buy Reina this summer, then it seemed like we might back into the best goalkeeping situation we've had in years.

It's a little more complicated than that. Reina wants to go to Barcelona and basically there's a "gentleman's agreement" between the clubs that he will move after the end of the season when Valdes moves on.

It is risky, however Liverpool have the safety option of a recall if injuries or if Mignolet doesn't perform well, so I think it's worth the risk.

Kirby

klose wrote: »

Suarez will either end up redfaced at melwood on september 2nd and everyone there gets on with it or in madrid for 40 or so million. He wont be going to arsenal. The club wants north of 50 million for him, arsenal wont pay that.

They may not have to. Something tells me that this may end up in court. I know that's a pretty strong statement but if Suarez and his people interpret his contract one way and Liverpool another......It could end up there.

Liverpool might just end up selling him to Arsenal for a face saving "undisclosed fee" which basically means 40 million to avoid the legal headache. That contract clause sounds ridiculous. I've never heard of a "minimum inform player of bid" clause. Somebody is telling lies here and its either the club or Suarez' agent. Either is possible.

whatawaster

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Because all we get from loaning him is saved wages. And those wages might be worth their weight in gold if having both of them around pushed one of them to the best season of their career. That's a few points gained right there.

In all probability we will get a loan fee, wages saved and then a transfer fee next summer.

I actually think as well that having Reina around will leave Mignolet one mistake away from having fans crying out for Pepe again. We don't need that, we need to stick with him even if he makes a mistake or two in my opinion.

Turtyturd

Just tell Arsenal we want 40million and 2 pounds...then when they agree raise it by a pound. As seen by the Higuain scenario they will walk away, putting an end to their posturing.

ush

billymitchell wrote: »

Has Real Madrid ever said they are interested in Suarez?

No. But they'll be in for him. They're happy to have Arsenal make fools of themselves bidding extra shillings and pence.

5live

djPSB wrote: »

Seems the problem is that he wants to join Arsenal.

And he can join them IF they are willing to pay the fee we decide he is worth and IF he submits a transfer request.

I would not be happy if he gets a loyalty bonus, it would just be a sick joke.

LuckyLloyd

Kirby wrote: »

They may not have to. Something tells me that this may end up in court. I know that's a pretty strong statement but if Suarez and his people interpret his contract one way and Liverpool another......It could end up there.

Liverpool might just end up selling him to Arsenal for a face saving "undisclosed fee" which basically means 40 million to avoid the legal headache. That contract clause sounds ridiculous. I've never heard of a "minimum inform player of bid" clause. Somebody is telling lies here and its either the club or Suarez' agent. Either is possible.

I really, really hope it's Suarez. I wouldn't put it past Suarez for a second too.

That said, I wouldn't put it past Ayre and the boys to make a mistake drafting the contracts.

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Because all we get from loaning him is saved wages. And those wages might be worth their weight in gold if having both of them around pushed one of them to the best season of their career. That's a few points gained right there.

Lots of if there! 5M worth of if?

Mignolet joining a club of ourstature should be reason enough for him to perform at his highest level. Worrying that a single mistake may see him replaced is not necessarily good for a new keeper.

Did signing Dudek and Kirkland at the same time push either onto great things?

ush

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Because all we get from loaning him is saved wages. And those wages might be worth their weight in gold if having both of them around pushed one of them to the best season of their career. That's a few points gained right there.

Money can be used better elsewhere. Its a luxury we can't afford.

whatawaster

Kirby wrote: »

They may not have to. Something tells me that this may end up in court. I know that's a pretty strong statement but if Suarez and his people interpret his contract one way and Liverpool another......It could end up there.

Liverpool might just end up selling him to Arsenal for a face saving "undisclosed fee" which basically means 40 million to avoid the legal headache. That contract clause sounds ridiculous. I've never heard of a "minimum inform player of bid" clause. Somebody is telling lies here and its either the club or Suarez' agent. Either is possible.

You'd have to imagine that Liverpool and their lawyers would have a better grasp of English contract law than Suarez and Guardiola.

You'd hope so anyway.

Kirby

5live wrote: »

I would not be happy if he gets a loyalty bonus, it would just be a sick joke.

"Loyalty Bonus" is just a fancier way of saying signing on fee. It's basically the same thing. I wouldn't get too worked up over it. It's just a name.

Selling to Arsenal for £50m would be a serious mistake.

It would ultimately cost Rodgers his job imo because top 4 won't be happening.

LuckyLloyd

Dickerty wrote: »

Lots of if there! 5M worth of if?

Mignolet joining a club of ourstature should be reason enough for him to perform at his highest level. Worrying that a single mistake may see him replaced is not necessarily good for a new keeper.

Did signing Dudek and Kirkland at the same time push either onto great things?

Dudek was pretty good for us, and goalkeeping wasn't a huge issue during that period. It was certainly more of a strength for us then than it has been the past three years.

Blatter

mike65 wrote: »

Do you reckon they'll cough up 50 million ish?

I think if they're prepared to offer 40m, it's not much of a stretch to think they'll offer a few million more. With Higuain gone to Napoli, it does look like it's Suarez or bust for Wenger, so his hand might be forced. They also haven't indicated through the press that they're not willing to up the offer.

I could see some sort of an agreement like 45m + add ons happening.

witnessrenegade

Id say once the team land back in Liverpool their should be a push with players coming in, as well the future of Suarez being sorted, really can't see him playing for Arsenal, but if they offer 55 million id take it, although I would much rather see him leave the PL if he were to leave

Apart from that Rodgers has been saying he hopes to get 2/3 players into the club, im guessing Cissokho is one of them, who else do we think would be the extra player? Luis Muriel? Kévin Gameiro?

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

That said, I wouldn't put it past Ayre and the boys to make a mistake drafting the contracts.

Based on what?

You really think our lawyers, or FSG's team, wouldn't have taken every care??

qvsr46ofgc792k

Kirby wrote: »

They may not have to. Something tells me that this may end up in court. I know that's a pretty strong statement but if Suarez and his people interpret his contract one way and Liverpool another......It could end up there.

Liverpool might just end up selling him to Arsenal for a face saving "undisclosed fee" which basically means 40 million to avoid the legal headache. That contract clause sounds ridiculous. I've never heard of a "minimum inform player of bid" clause. Somebody is telling lies here and its either the club or Suarez' agent. Either is possible.

In Spain, minimum release fee's are common place and this is how Suarez's agent is used to conducting business. In England this is not popular at all and LFC would not entertain this clause. Rightly so. So there was an agreement that if a club offered £40m+ that suarez would be able to talk directly to them. This way he gets to see the deal on offer from the potential club and so on. Remember that a player can not usually talk to a club until a fee has been agreed.

KingJamsie

Dickerty wrote: »

Based on what?

You really think our lawyers, or FSG's team, wouldn't have taken every care??

Well I believe the delay with Aspas was because we were negotiating with the wrong agent...:rolleyes:

Dickerty

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Dudek was pretty good for us, and goalkeeping wasn't a huge issue during that period. It was certainly more of a strength for us then than it has been the past three years.

I disagree. Dudek never pushed on to any high level, was never one of the top 3/4 keepers in the PL. Reina may have been on the wain, but that is compared to his first 3/4 seasons. We knew what he was capable of. We had lower standards of Dudek, having followed James and Westerveld...