by Owzat » Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:21 am
Who to sell? Well I think we might have to accept that money is tight and the best way forward may well be to sell "superstars" who are getting on a bit or serve only one function that can be replaced, and use that money to fund a squad. Who says we have to pay £20m any time we want a quality player?!!? Rafa did it with Torres and seemed to think from there on that the only way to get quality was to pay £17.5m+ for players and that didn't work out great did it? Anyway I'd go with :
Gerrard £30m+ - IF he wants to go, IF we can get a package worth £30m+ including part-exchanges that include worthwhile players. He had a poor season last season, maybe the club needs to move away from the Liverpool = Gerrard + Torres mentality. There have always been plenty of players out there haven't cost £20m+ that could do a job as good, nearly as good, or the same but slightly different in execution. He isn't getting any younger, he needs to decide if he wants to finish his career at Anfield or help the club and move elsewhere to try and win a league title
Mascherano £25m+ - down in price simply because I'm not sure we'd get takers if we keep it at £30m, maybe negotiate £20m+ with a better than decent full-back or winger coming this way, a youngster or good player surplus to requirements.
Riera £5m+ - not wanted, was never that consistent or equipped with a good end product so for me we just sell. If Jovanovic does come then he can play on the left flank, I think we can do much better than Riera
Cavalieri £2m+ - hasn't done much right, hasn't done much wrong, but hasn't been that great in goal and to me was a waste of £3m when we could have promoted a reserve keeper or got someone on a free.
Johnson £12m+ - free up more funds to the overall kitty and get someone who can defend, although I doubt many will offer more than the £10m he was ever worth at very best, which was never. Converting a full-back to a winger simply because he can't defend is daft to me, like it was with Riise. He, like Riise, is neither one thing nor the other. Can defend, but not enough to be a full-back, can contribute to the attack, but not enough to be a winger. His attacking isn't that good, I know some love to slate Kuyt and suck Johnson's johnson, but if we can do better than Kuyt on the right with his goals and assists, I'm damned sure we can do better than Johnson. Bad purchase, wrong player and wrong price.
Skrtel £4m+ - too thuggish for my liking, not defensively solid enough despite becoming a cult hero almost immediately on his arrival. Keep the greek for a bit longer, look at an inexpensive young CB to compete with the greek, Agger and Carra for CB places and move on. Skrtel was becoming 3rd/4th choice, we might be able to get some decent cash for him from some club or other.
Degen £2m+ - sell or use him, he didn't play in the Premiership in 08/09 and just seven times in 09/10 (WLLDWLW, WDL for those three games he started)
There are of course some other players not worth pricing up as you never know what you'll get for them - Plessis, Itandje, El Zhar and maybe reduce the overall squad size including reserves and youth team players to managable proportions.
As for Babel, I'd keep him for now, see what offers come in and who is outgoing. He can play striker, he's never been given much of a chance there. And he is versatile so keep options open
I doubt you'd see that whole list get sold, but that would still leave a decent base on which to build
GK Reina
RB Darby - need new RB
LB Insua - need new LB
CB Carragher/Kyrgiakos
CB Agger
RM Kuyt
LM Jovanovic
CM Aquilani
CM Lucas - need new DM/CM
CF Torres
CF Babel/Nemeth - need new CF
Subs
Gulacsi/Martin
Carragher/Kyrgiakos
Kelly
Pacheco
Rodriguez
Nemeth/Babel
N'Gog
That is based on selling all the names I've listed, not the worst starting point with even just £50m+ or 60m+ to spend. It's not a bad defence, decent midfield and not that bad up front. Those in the team above would be moved down to the bench with new arrivals, I think too many think "if one or more of Mascherano, Gerrard, Torres and Reina leave then we'll be relegated", but we always get transition. Owen left in 04/05, one of our best players at the time. It happens, we move on. Took us a few seasons before Owen was adequately replaced, but now most despise Owen and Torres is the new king and most's favourite.
I wouldn't sell Torres unless someone started offering silly money, especially now Villa is no longer 'available'.
Last edited by
Owzat on Sat Jul 03, 2010 9:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
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