Liverpool FC Forum

[JC_81]

This is the question Rafa Benitez is going to have to come up with the answers for and I'm not sure I'd like to be in such a position to be honest!

Here's the situation.  Most of the fans are crying out for an attacking midfielder and/or a striker to either back-up or support the main man Torres.  But you also have to plug the gap left by last season's best midfielder going to Madrid and in the back of your mind concerns are growing about the centre of the defence, with Hyypia gone and both Agger and Skrtel on the treatment table.  The 4th choice centre back San Jose did little against Espanyol to suggest he's ready for Premiership action.

After the Johnson signing the books were probably balanced in terms of wages and transfer incomings/outgoings (I'm guessing, but judging by the complete lack of transfer activity since that signing it probably is the case).  Since then we've got 3.5 mil for Arbeloa, say 27.5 mil for Alonso (assuming it goes through) and between them probably freed up about 5-6 million a year in wages - say 40k a week Arbeloa and 60-80k a week Alonso).  We should roughly have about 36-37 million to juggle with to pay transfer fees AND wages for new signings.

What would you do/ who would you sign?

I'd go for:

Distin - previously I've said they're asking too much at 4 mil, but given our injuries at CB and the state of San Jose the other night, I'd pay it.

-Say 4 million fee and 40k/wk (2 mil a year wages)

Sneijder - can slot in for Alonso although a completely different player.  What you lose in range of passing you gain in goal threat.

-Say 18 million fee and 60-80k/wk (3-4 mil a year wages)

Andy Johnson - completely controversial and straight out of left field this one, but it's one I've thought about before.  Good solo forward who ploughs the channels all day, can take a chance if it comes his way and wins a lot of free kicks and pens.  At 28 he's a realistic option for backup to Torres with PL experience and who'll be happy to sit on the bench I reckon

-Say 8 million fee and 40k/wk (2 mil a year wages)

Total 37 million.


By the way I think the only one of those three who has any chance of ending up here next season is Distin.

[crazyhorse]

Put it all on a horse!!!!!

[JC_81]

Put it all on a horse!!!!!

Fu.ck off you

[crazyhorse]

Ha Ha!!!

To answer the question...

Viera - fee 5 million, 80K P/W

Villa - 25 - 30 million, 120k P/W

Seriously... Is Andy Johnson really only 28 ? that lad has had a hard life!!

[Reg]

I would have blown it on Tevez.  End of problem.

[aCe']

Aquilani -15mill
Mexes - 12mill
Pavlyuchenko - 8mill

so around 35mill and we'd have a much better squad/starting 11 than we did last season... Mexes and Aquilani would go straight into the starting 11 and Pavlyuchenko would make brilliant cover for Torres and could come in when we choose to go with 2 upfront..

Other option would be bringing in Silva for 25-30mill... that however would restirict our spending in other areas and i feel having backup for Torres and our CBs is an absolute must.. so if funds are as tight as you predict they are (which i dont think is the case because Rafa clearly stated after Johnson was signed that we still have funds to buy atleast 1 more player if needed), then we should make sure we use the money in hand wisely...

[bigmick]

Well if we "only" have 30 million in total, and Alonso is gone it will be difficult. We probably need more money than that, as we definately IMHo need a central midfielder (obviously), a centre half and a centre forward. All of that is assuming that one of the kids isn't about to suddenly burst onto the scene and uproot trees, so IMHO it's a fairly safe assumption.

If that is the case, then you could argue that we probably shouldn't have signed Johnson. Not because he's not a good player or a good signing (because I firmly believe he is), but because he's blown a huge portion of our transfer budget, and we could have got ourselves a much cheaper right back.

Anyway we have signed him, so my answer to the 30 million quid connundrum would have been to sign Gareth Barry, Silvin Distin and Tuncay. Given the way things are as of now, I'd sign Silvin Distin, Tuncay and Joe Cole. I'd tell Joe Cole I want him to play in central midfield, infront of Masherano and dovetailing with Gerrard (he was a central midfielder until Mourinho 'converted" him.

I think the signings would cost:

Distin: 3.5 million.

Cole: 14.5 million.

Tuncy: 8.5 million.

We should then sell N'Gog to somebody for a couple of mill and Dossena to somebody for the same, which will pay all the wages and leave enough change for a fish supper.

With those players in the squad, I think we'd win the league.

[kopite_1232002]

i was gonna start a topic on this b4..


Was thinking today in work, what money does rafa have.


say he sold keane for 12 million im sure it was a little bit more theres

+12

Then there is arby gone 3 million

+15 million

Dossena gonna go theres another 4 million

Thats +19 million

Xabi is off say we get 28 million at a min

thats 47 million


We bought glen johnson but most of that money in that deal was money owed to us from peter leaving.

And we have given new contracts to some players...


How much does he have left and that is before we jump into the normal 20 million we have each summer to add to the squad

[dawson99]

Viera is going apparently for 750k!!!

if i had 30 million?

I dunno lol. Shneider would be a good buy, and Negredo... spend the rest on some young english lad

[crazyhorse]

Interesting Mick, I had never thought of Joe Cole..
Would Chelsea sell him? If so I do agree that he would be a good player for us, and would go as far as to say he is tailor made for us.

[crazyhorse]

Viera is going apparently for 750k!!!

if i had 30 million?

I dunno lol. Shneider would be a good buy, and Negredo... spend the rest on some young english lad

If Patrick Viera is going for that fee, he is going to be a bargain for someone. Why not us?

Natural Leader
Strong
Passes and Tackles well
Perfect cover for Masch
Proven in EPL
Not Injury Prone

[aCe']

as for the wages thing.. we sold/released Pennant, Keane(12-15mill), Hyypia, Arbeloa(3.5mill), Alonso (?), Leto(3.5mill), Hobbs(?), Anderson(?)... since then the only players to come in have been Johnson (reportedly 8mill put cancelled debt) and a couple of youngsters who i suppose were signed for peanuts and are thus paid in peanuts... Dossena seems to be on his way out too so i wouldnt really be all that worried about small details...

[kopite_1232002]

Interesting Mick, I had never thought of Joe Cole..
Would Chelsea sell him? If so I do agree that he would be a good player for us, and would go as far as to say he is tailor made for us.

Joe Cole is a quality player.. i hate playing against him. he always use to pop up and put one in

Spurs are looking at him apparently

Id snap him up tomorrow

[bigmick]

Interesting Mick, I had never thought of Joe Cole..
Would Chelsea sell him? If so I do agree that he would be a good player for us, and would go as far as to say he is tailor made for us.

He's not originally my pick mate, I think it was nanny who said him last week for wide man cover. I'd forget he existed to be honest.

Since then though Spurs have started sniffing around him, and it turns out he only has a year left on his deal. Also, Ancellotti apparently is favouring a diamond formation and Cole doesn't fit into it by all accounts. He's a bit of anb England aspirationalist, so in the year before the World Cup he needs to play. I think ahead of Mash and interchanging with Gerrard, he'd provide a lot of cutting edge and quality.

[aCe']

i was gonna start a topic on this b4..


Was thinking today in work, what money does rafa have.


say he sold keane for 12 million im sure it was a little bit more theres

+12

Then there is arby gone 3 million

+15 million

Dossena gonna go theres another 4 million

Thats +19 million

Xabi is off say we get 28 million at a min

thats 47 million


We bought glen johnson but most of that money in that deal was money owed to us from peter leaving.

And we have given new contracts to some players...


How much does he have left and that is before we jump into the normal 20 million we have each summer to add to the squad

Thats a good point.. we always seem to get around 25mill in transfer fees and everything we generate is added to that...
Cant see that changing this time around tbh and i expect that Rafa knows he still has a fair amount of money to spend or else he wouldnt have paid 18mill for Johnson knowing we needed cover for other positions...

My guess is that we'd have around 45mill to spend if we sell Alonso for 25-30mill...  15mill for Aquilani and 25-30 for Silva...