Liverpool FC Forum

[azriahmad]

It's OK, Rock, we all know that you are very passionate about Liverpool...

[A.B.]

Rafael Benitez will go back to his old club Valencia and sign experienced Argentine centre half Mauricio Pellegrino this week. 

Pellegrino is out of contract at Valencia and the player has publically admitted his admiration and desire to play for Benitez again at Liverpool.
 
The Liverpool manager wants experienced cover for Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher with Stephane Henchoz on his way out of the club


Rumours are rife in France that Liverpool are stepping up their interest in Manchester City striker Nicolas Anelka. 

The former Arsenal attacker has already had a spell at Anfield during a loan stint at the club and influential captain Steven Gerrard has intimated that he would love the 25-year-old to arrive on Merseyside. The Frenchman scored four goals in 20 games for The Reds.
 
Although Fernando Morientes remains a top target, the competition for the Real Madrid forward is more intense and, despite encouraging noises coming from the Spaniard's camp, Anelka could turn out to be the first January capture by Rafa Benitez.
 
According to L'Equipe, the City star has already been in Liverpool discussing a three-and-a-half year contract with Benitez's side.
 
Anelka's wage demands would appear unlikely to present a problem and, of course, he is eligible to play in the UEFA Champions League. The Reds face Bayer Leverkusen in the knockout stages of the competition.
 
A fee of around 12 million (£8.5 million) is being bandied about although City boss Kevin Keegan has made it clear he will not allow his scorer in the game against West Brom to leave on the cheap.
 
Several European clubs, including Barcelona and Monaco, were trailing the ex-Real Madrid hit-man but there are even claims that Liverpool could do a deal this Sunday after the Merseysiders have been in New Year's Day action against Chelsea.

[The_Rock]

The other transfer threads seem to be locked...anyway here is another conspiracy theory.   I personally want anelka over morientas....so lets see.


http://www.wldcup.com/news/2005Jan/20050107_28087_world_soccer.html

Anelka KO fuels transfer rumours
First Published: Jan 07, 2005

 
Manchester City's Nicolas Anelka ® clashes with Liverpool's Sami Hyypia. Anelka has been ruled out of City's FA Cup tie at Oldham, a development that will further fuel speculation that the French striker is set to be sold before the end of this month.
Nicolas Anelka has been ruled out of Manchester City's FA Cup tie at Oldham, a development that will further fuel speculation that the French striker is set to be sold before the end of this month.

Anelka also missed Tuesday's 1-1 Premiership draw at Arsenal with a back injury.

Although Kevin Keegan denied that Anelka had been left out because of the risk of an injury that could scupper a transfer deal, the City manager has confirmed that the club are likely to sell if they get the right offer.

Liverpool are reportedly ready to bid for the former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain striker if, as seems increasingly likely, their attempt to prise Fernando Morientes away from Real collapses.

Reds manager Rafael Benitez did nothing to discourage speculation about a move for Anelka when he described the Frenchman, who had a spell on loan at Liverpool in 2001/02 before joining City, as a "very good player."

Benitez indicated that the negotiations with Real over Morientes were floundering over the two club's valuation of the player.

"Real have talked about a certain amount of money, but we have our own clear idea of a price and will proceed on those lines," Benitez said.

"There are other options we are considering. The main one is in England because that kind of player knows what we are doing and how we want to play.

"All I can say about Nicolas Anelka is that he is a very good player."

Liverpool have been hit hard by injuries this season following the summer sale of Michael Owen to Real Madrid. Djibril Cisse is out until next season with a broken leg and Milan Baros has had repeated spells out with a string of injuries.

That has forced Benitez to depend on youngsters Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama Pongolle in recent weeks and the Spaniard is keen to strengthen his squad for the second half of the season.

Liverpool are currently in 5th place in the Premiership, six points behind Merseyside rivals Everton, who currently occupy the final qualifying spot for next season's Champions League.

The Reds also have a second round tie in this season's competition to look forward to with Germany's Bayer Leverkusen due at Anfield for the first leg on February 22.

Anelka would be able to play in that match but Morientes is ineligible as he has already featured in the competition for Real this season.

With Anelka ruled out of Saturday's FA Cup tie, City will continue with Robbie Fowler and Jon Macken in attack against local rivals Oldham, a club that suffered one of the sharpest declines of any in English football.

Just over a decade ago, when Joe Royle was their manager, the Latics were rubbing shoulders with City in the Premiership. But after being relegated from the top flight in 1994, they slipped another level three years later and currently languish in the bottom half of League One.

[A.B.]

We can throw out Aimar rumours out of the window, not going to happen

[Matt*Lfc]

I hate these 1 thread for all posts

Id rather come on the forum browse through the titles than have to remember what page I was on last time I visited
. Its ok for the people who live on this forum but not if you pop in now and then when you have time .

[Stan Laurel]

Aimar was playing today for Valencia and i can't see him to play for Liverpool.

[coolsobs]

i cant see aimar playing for liverpool as hes too expensive and if he wanted to leave loads of clubs with bigger budgets would also go after him

[Paul C]

We can't afford Aimar, simple as!

[aco67]

Another rumour from teamtalk.com

MERSEY DUO LEAD PENNANT CHASE
Liverpool and Everton are leading the chase to sign Jermaine Pennant from Arsenal.

The highly-rated 22-year-old winger is out of contract at Highbury in the summer, and the Mersey giants are rumoured are to be heading the queue for his signature.

Dutch side Ajax and two more Premiership clubs - Manchester City and Southampton - are also monitoring developments.

Pennant joined Arsenal for £1.5million from Notts County in 1999 and spent last season on loan at Leeds United.

But fierce competition for places at Highbury means he hasn't been able to hold down a regular first-team berth with the Gunners.

Player Profile

Birth date: January 15 1983
Birth place: Nottingham
Birth Nation: England
Height: 173cm
Weight: 64Kg
Nationality: British
Position: Midfielder

[The_Rock]

Another one....... SWP is my 1st choice, but if we can get pennant, i will be happy too. He was great in the leeds team last season.....

http://www.koptalk.org/forums....1

Reds linked with Arsenal winger


Liverpool and Everton are said to be interesting in signing Arsenal winger Jermaine Pennant in the summer.

Big things were expected of Pennant when he left Notts County and joined Arsenal in 1999 but he failed to make a serious impact and was eventually loaned out to Leeds United of all clubs.

Gerard Houllier was an admirer of the player and had allegedly made some discreet contact with him via a couple of players and the feedback was positive. That information is likely to have been passed on to Rafa when he took over in the summer.

The reports today are not new. This speculation cropped up about a fortnight ago but to be honest it was so weak that we opted to leave it out to see if it gained ground, which it has but from dubious soruces.

Rafa is said to be an admirer of the player if you believe today's reports. While he may have a passing interest, we don't believe he actually knows that much about him. That doesn't mean that we're not interest, we're just playing down the claims that Rafa is some kind of massive fan.

Pennant would be available on a free in the summer so our interest shouldn't be dismissed.

[The_Rock]

Prefer pennant only as andy johnson might be a 1 season wonder..... but here' the rumour.

http://www.talklfc.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=6905

Double British swoop for Reds?

Liverpool are this morning linked with shock moves for Crystal Palace forward Andy Johnson and Arsenal midfielder Jermaine Pennant. It has been well documented that Rafael Benitez is an admirer of both players but with three new players already likely to arrive in January, it will come as a surprise if Benitez can pull of more coups.

Johnson joined Palace from Birmingham as a £750,000 makeweight in Clinton Morrion's £4.25m move to St Andrews. Since then he won promotion with the Londoners and has made a big impact during his first season in the Premiership. Proving himself to be a clinical finisher and a nuisance to Premiership defenders.

It is claimed that Rafael Benitez has already offered out-of-favour defender Stephane Henchoz and midfielder Salif Diao plus cash in a bid to strike a deal.

Liverpool face competition from Everton for the signature of Pennant however. The youngster has failed to claim a regular starting place in the Arsenal midfield with Arsene Wenger preferring more established players like Robert Pires and Freddie Ljungberg ahead of the England U-21 international.

Pennant joined Arsenal for £1.5million from Notts County in 1999 and spent last season on loan at Leeds United. After that, clubs lined up to sign him when Leeds dropped into the Championship but Pennant decided he would take one last shot at establishing himself at Arsenal. Now that seems to have failed he seems ready for a move.

Along with Liverpool and Everton, Manchester City, Southampton and Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam are also interested on signing the player who will be out of contract this summer.

Player profiles

Name: Jermaine Pennant

Club: Arsenal (Eng)

Shirt Number: 21

Personal

Position: RW

Nationality: England

Date of Birth: 16/01/1983

Place of Birth: Nottingham, England

Height: 167 cm

Weight: 63 kg

International honours: U21 international caps

Name: Andrew Johnson (Andy Johnson)

Club: Crystal Palace (Eng)

Personal

Position: ST

Nationality: England

Date of Birth: 10/02/1981

Place of Birth: Bedford, England

Height: 168 cm

Weight: 64 kg

International honours: Youth & U20 international caps

Contract

Date Signed: 30/07/2002

Contract Expiry: 06/2010

Speculated wage: £16,000 per week

source: footballtransfers.info

[The Canadian Red Army]

for 2 million, a good cheap pickup to solve one of our problems

[A.B.]

SWP is my 1st choice,

*smacks head off keyboard* When Man City played us, Riise totaly shut out SWP, he scores the odd goal from about 30 yards every now and then but since there is no real class players in Man City [excluding Fowler,Anelka] he stands out.

SWP shouldn't be worth 25 million pounds, that's just too much. I fear that he's price will go up everytime he plays for England. If SWP is worth 25 million than Stevie G is worth 50.

[Stan Laurel]

SWP shouldn't be worth 25 million pounds, that's just too much. I fear that he's price will go up everytime he plays for England. If SWP is worth 25 million than Stevie G is worth 50.

Well said, AB.

Pennant is a good player and it is shame he didn't get any good chances from Arsenal much this season. He played well for Leeds last season. I wouldn't mind to have him BUT to be fair with you all, I would rather sign Pennant than Shaun Wright-Phillips because there is no way that I would pay crazy £25 millions for SWP.

£2m is a bloody bargain for Pennant, remember he is only young lad and plenty of time for him.

[Tobin*LFC*]

benitez has also said to b interested in real madrids 2nd choice keeper cesar..