Liverpool FC Forum

by **NANNY RED** » Thu May 08, 2008 11:11 pm

Bargain buys hard to find at Liverpool
Oliver Kay
Rafael Benítez remains in the dark about how much money Liverpool will have to spend this summer because of the lingering uncertainty over the club's ownership, but he hopes to generate more than £25million with an end-of-season clear-out. He is also prepared to listen to offers for Xabi Alonso to raise a further £16million to make up any shortfall in his spending plans.

Benítez made clear yesterday that Peter Crouch is available for transfer for £15million and that John Arne Riise would also be allowed to leave Anfield for the right price, with both players having a little more than a year remaining on their contracts.

Scott Carson, who is on loan to Aston Villa, will also be sold - with Benítez eager to use him as a makeweight in a deal to sign Gareth Barry from the Midlands club - while Harry Kewell will be released when his contract expires on June 30, but there will be consternation among many Liverpool supporters at the idea of selling Alonso, particularly if such a deal is forced because of a lack of funding owing to the continuing tension between Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club's American owners.

Liverpool spent heavily on new players last summer, notably on Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel, and, having since signed Martin Skrtel and completed the permanent acquisition of Javier Mascherano in an £18million deal, Benítez has been given only vague indications of the funds that will be made available to him this summer.

Hicks under pressure to show his money
Crouch is ready to fly from Anfield
Hicks has promised that he will support the pursuit of Barry and has approved the signing of Philip Degen, the Switzerland full back, on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund, but it has emerged that Barry may be the only “headline” signing of the summer, unless Benítez is prepared to raise additional funds .

One player who seems certain to be on his way out of Anfield is Crouch, the England forward, even though Benítez informed clubs such as Villa and Portsmouth yesterday that the asking price would be £15million for a player who has started only nine Premier League matches this season and will be available on a free transfer when his contract expires in June 2009.

“Peter wants to play every week and if we receive a very good offer - and by that I mean £15million - we will consider it,” the Liverpool manager said. “I'm reading about £8million, but if we only receive that I would rather keep the player. He is a good player, so it's not a problem me [to keep him for the final year of his contract]. He is also an English player, which is important when you think about the market.”

Riise is also available, having lost his place at left back, with Benítez likely to take another look at Emiliano Insua, the young Argentinian, away to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday. “He has one year left on his contract and we know there are some clubs interested in him. We will wait until the end of the season and try to do the best for him and the best for us,” Benítez said.

Benítez is confident of signing Barry and was dismissive yesterday of criticism from Martin O'Neill, the Villa manager. O'Neill called Liverpool's initial £10million bid “disrespectful” and “very disruptive”, but Benítez revealed that he has had a dialogue with O'Neill for almost three weeks.

Sammy Lee, the former Liverpool player and coach, could be in line to return to Anfield after his brief spell in charge of Bolton Wanderers. The 49-year-old is in regular contact with Benítez and is considered a prime candidate for a senior role on the coaching staff next season after Alex Miller, the first-team coach, announced that he was leaving Anfield with immediate effect to take over as coach of JEF United Cheba, the Japanese club.

Anfield shop window

Gone

Harry Kewell Contract expires on June 30. Will not be renewed
Anthony Le Tallec One-time wonder boy whose departure will barely be noticed after years on loan to middling French clubs

Going

Scott Carson Potential makeweight in bid to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, where the goalkeeper is on loan
John Arne Riise Available for £7million. Newcastle United potentially interested
Peter Crouch Aston Villa and Portsmouth interested, but unlikely to meet £15million asking price

Vulnerable

Xabi Alonso Could be sold to leading Spanish club for £16million
Jermaine Pennant Will be surplus to requirements if top-class right winger can be found
Steve Finnan Long-term future not secure
Andriy Voronin Useful squad player, but hardly a fixture

by **Trewyn** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:40 am

RUSHIE#9 wrote:I don't normally read stories where the facts are so blatantly wrong within the first paragraph, but considering how many times in the past couple of years we've been linked with this guy what would everyones take be on this one coming off?

Liverpool to hijack Toffees La Liga swoop
06:36 May, 8, 2008
Rafael Benitez is hoping to pull the plug on Everton Football Club’s planned La Liga swoop.

The Toffees are hoping to land Spanish international winger Joaquin from Valencia, who are experiencing financial difficulty and could be prepared to let him leave for as little as £15million.

However, Benitez has been made aware of the situation regarding his former club, and he hopes he can nip in and prise the ex-Real Madrid star away from the direction of Goodison Park and towards Anfield.

The Reds manager will no doubt point towards a Spanish contingent of Jose Reina, Xabi Alonso and, of course, Fernando Torres as reason why Joaquin should pick the UEFA Champions League side.

Liverpool fans, how excited would you be if you could add Joaquin to your side as main provider to Torres? And what about you Everton supporters – would the thought of losing the winger to Anfield sicken you?

Story Link

It's from a less than reliable source I know but considering we are screaming out for a right winger this would be an interesting one.

P.S. The linking of Joaquin to Everscum has been reported elsewhere and is not just bullshite, however their dreams of landing him are!

Yes definetely. Joaquin qualifies as a decently exciting transfer prospect :buttrock

by **cpc4eva** » Fri May 09, 2008 9:13 am

http://squarefootball.typepad.co.uk/squarefootball/2008/05/transfer-specul.html

Friday, 09 May 2008
Transfer Speculation: Lukasz Kominiak to Liverpool
by Paul Grech

Polish central-defender Lukasz Kominiak has been spending the past few days training with Liverpool in view ofa permanent deal to Anfield from Wisla Krakow. The 18 year-old is yet to make his debut for the senior team but is highly rated and was included in the senior squad – the youngest player to be included - that went to Turkey last January to prepare for the second part of the Polish season. An international player for the Polish youth teams, he has apparently impressed the Liverpool scouts for his physical presence.

Yet there will have to be more about him to get a contract given the talent that there already is within the Liverpool reserve team. Ronald Huth has enjoyed an excellent season for the reserves whilst both Daniel Ayala and Martin Kelly impressed when given an opportunity.

Then there’s Mikel San Jose who was in the first team squad for the league trip to Chelsea and who excelled in last Wednesday’s 3-0 over Aston Villa’s reserves that saw Liverpool claim the national reserves championship. And that’s forgetting the likes of Jack Hobbs who made his league debut earlier this season before spending the closing months of the campaign at Scunthorpe on loan.

What isn’t surprising is the fact that Liverpool are looking for talent in Eastern Europe. Kristian Nemeth, brought from Hungary last summer, has been one of the star players of the reserves side and should be included in the first team squad for next season.

Posted by Paul Grech at 08:47 AM in Liverpool | Permalink

by **Kash_Mountain** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:14 am

Had put this oringinally in the wrong thread, anyway.....

Some of my mates have said that Rafa maybe in the hunt for Klass Huntelaar. Is this true / anybody else heard this?

by **stmichael** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:13 am

apparently inter made a bid of over 30 million for gerrard. we turned it down flat obviously.

by **mistyred** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:13 am

I would absolutely love Joaquin at this club he is fantasic and just needs a new lease of life.

by **metalhead** » Fri May 09, 2008 12:08 pm

stmichael wrote:apparently inter made a bid of over 30 million for gerrard. we turned it down flat obviously.

its on goal.com

inter offered 25m quid and we rejected it

by **RUSHIE#9** » Fri May 09, 2008 1:42 pm

metalhead wrote:
stmichael wrote:apparently inter made a bid of over 30 million for gerrard. we turned it down flat obviously.

its on goal.com

inter offered 25m quid and we rejected it

Sounded just like typical mind games trying to unsettle us before the Champions league tie with them. No prizes for guessing who supposedly came up with such a SPECIAL plan!!

W@nker!!

by **Toffeehater** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:46 pm

metalhead wrote:
Toffeehater wrote:
Number 9 wrote:http://www.bebo.com/Profile.jsp?MemberId=457163945

Aaron Ramsey has a bebo page!! ^^^^^

hahaha, anyone read the comments on there?

he even posted his msn

cheeky bloke

, when he joins us or if he does , he'd defo be used to remove the bebo account either that or the account would be inactive

by **Toffeehater** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:49 pm

Ramos is a fantastic defender and the bluesh!te have no chance of joaquin .

I'm really worried that we are still being linked to quantity type players and quality , we need 3 or 4 more quality players to take the pressure of stevie , carra , masch and torres

by **Toffeehater** » Fri May 09, 2008 5:50 pm

If stevie does leave and if he ever does it would be for another english team then again i don't see stevie playing for any other team other then LFC.

by **cpc4eva** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:20 pm

JoeTerp wrote:I think you can add Anthony Le Tallac to the outs list

http://sport.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2008/05/09/Prem-Ligue-1-Le-Tallec-on-future/

Anthony Le Tallec is hopeful Liverpool will allow him to move permanently to Le Mans.

The 23-year-old is fed up with being loaned by The Reds in every season since 2005 and he is confident The Premier League outfit will sell him, as only one year is remaining on his contract.

The striker has scored five goals in Ligue 1 this season and he is optimistic over his chances of staying at MUC 72 next year.

Le Tallec does not regret his experience at Anfield, as it permitted him to get to train with world class players and to win a major title.

“One year is remaining on my contract and I hope that this time they are going to liberate me,” he said.

“They only wanted loan deals in the last few years because they thought I was a player for the future for the club.

“Now they are obliged to let me go. I am reaching the end.

“We are currently negotiating with Le Mans.

“I think it will be done in a few weeks.

“I do not regret anything at all. I won the Champions League with them, they are one of the best clubs in the world and it permitted me to be in contact with players such as Gerrard and Owen.

“If I had to do it again, I would sign again.”

by **NANNY RED** » Fri May 09, 2008 10:37 pm

Right this is just a rumour but i heard last weekend that Aguerra who plays for Athletico Madrid would consider playing in the prem and likes the way Liverpool play.

His future father in law is Maradona who is good mates with Macherano who has been singing the praises of Liverpool to him. Just what i heard like.

by **Sabre** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:04 pm

Aguero would be a great but very expensive signing. Remember that there was turmoil in Atletico when Torres was sold, they wouldn't fancy another big sell, Atletico are not small selling team minded. Plus, they'll probably play the Champions League next season and they'll want to keep their key players. That operation would be ridiculously expensive.

It would be more possible if you put Alonso into the equation because Atletico definitely wanted him for a long time ago, from the times in which Rafa still was in Spain.

I doubt though Alonso will find Atletico a good target club. Some years ago in a UEFA game against Atletico a RS fan was killed by a nazi atletico fan, so in Alonso's province, Atletico is a bit of a damned cub -- even if one killer doesn't represent a whole crowd.

Alonso would know that he'd upset many friends and family, Liverpool fans need not to be told about what justice means when fellow fans die in unfair situations. And I think that's an emotional yet strong reason not to go there for him.

Alonso instead can find much more desireable going to Barcelona, or even Real Madrid, rather than Atletico.

Valencia are out of Europe next season, and I'd target for Silva no matter the costs. Come on Rafa! plunder!

by **NANNY RED** » Fri May 09, 2008 11:07 pm

Sabre wrote:Aguero would be a great but very expensive signing. Remember that there was turmoil in Atletico when Torres was sold, they wouldn't fancy another big sell, Atletico are not small selling team minded. Plus, they'll probably play the Champions League next season and they'll want to keep their key players. That operation would be ridiculously expensive.

It would be more possible if you put Alonso into the equation because Atletico definitely wanted him for a long time ago, from the times in which Rafa still was in Spain.

I doubt though Alonso will find Atletico a good target club. Some years ago in a UEFA game against Atletico a RS fan was killed by a nazi atletico fan, so in Alonso's province, Atletico is a bit of a damned cub -- even if one killer doesn't represent a whole crowd.

Alonso would know that he'd upset many friends and family, Liverpool fans need not to be told about what justice means when fellow fans die in unfair situations. And I think that's an emotional yet strong reason not to go there for him.

Alonso instead can find much more desireable going to Barcelona, or even Real Madrid, rather than Atletico.

Valencia are out of Europe next season, and I'd target for Silva no matter the costs. Come on Rafa! plunder!

Sabs Real are sniffing at Silva

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