I see him playing on the left but tucking inside with Bale bombing past him, much like when we played Davids, or Tainio, and in some ways Steed on the left.

Modrics best position is in behind the strikers as a attacking mid imo, but we might as well base him on the left and give him free licence to roam inside and get Bale playing past him on the outside.

Don't you think he'll play more like Fabregas at Arsenal?

I thought he'd be in the middle, and you'd bring in a top class winger. Do you think you will bring in a top class winger, or another top class player? It could help keep Berbatov.

There will be more very good signings in midfield, i can tell you that for sure.

A winger is a definite possibility knowing the football Ramos like to play.

Any ideas who that winger might be?

If you signed Vicente, Navas, Amelia and Mensah, do you think Berbatov would stay?

No no idea, think we got a good group of people making the decisions now tho as the Modric signing indicates so ill leave it to them.

If Berbs wants to leave i dont think signings will help, he'll be gone.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Either way, i think the future looks bright for Tottenham.

Enough of this now, this is a Liverpool thread.

Do you think we will actually sign anyone like Silva though? I'm a bit worried about the summer 'cause time after time we keep failing to bring a top class winger in, after missing out on the likes of Ronaldo, Simao, Alves etc. I hope we make it our priority and bring someone high profile in else we're really gonna struggle to make the next step up.

I kinda fear the money spent on Mascherano around February will dent Rafa's potential spending. Although surely Hicks will be desperate to win the fans over; the best possible way being to bring in quality players. He wants to be the hero and get on side so i wouldn't be shocked if he did find enough money from somewhere (loans).

And as i said before, d'you reckon Barry could work at left-back?

And are you sure Rodriguez is available on a free? I've not seen anyone mention it, with most reporters suggesting we're going to bid £18million for him!

Quietly - perhaps conceitedly - relieved. I couldn't see him being any great improvement on Arbeloa from what i've heard (admittedly not the best way of judging a player!).

The impression i got from Rafa was that the guy would be from an English-speaking country, Trinidad & Tobago, Australia, Scotland etc. rather than some foreigner whose studided the language.

Aussie_football_fan posted a list of all the bosmons in a thread. You'd have to ask him where he found it, but i assumed it was correct, and Maxi Rodriguez was on there. There were many good players on there.

I agree with what you said about Masch, signing him could well dent our spending in the summer. I do still think we can bring in some top class players though, and i don't think Silva is out of the question. We're as appealing as anyone. Probably more appealing to him, because of the manager and the other Spanish players. We signed Torres who was a bigger name than Silva, so i don't see any reason why we can't sign him. And i'm sure Rafa will tell him he could be one of the final pieces in the puzzle and the man to solve the left midfield problem for us to compete for the league.

Got it form ThisIsAnfield forums and he claims to have nicked it from elsewhere too. Sure a quick google search would bring up the list.

Ohhh mercy. If we signed him... IF WE SIGNED HIM... I think i might just wet myself with excitement. I wouldn't get your hopes up, knowing how rumours circulate - well, do, that's what the transfer windows about, but prepare to have them crushed.

Apparently Balague told SSN we were going in for Torres before we had been linked with him, and that's exactly what happened. We all know he's a close friend of Benitez; whether the interview actually happened is another thing though.

We already know Benitez has told Hicks of his targets and been given the all clear (apparently), so he may hopefully start acting as quickly as possible. Ideally before the Euro's!

lol i take it your a silva fan i have seen him play quite a bit and he looks a good player but is he as good as every one makes out.....

I remember watching him the last World Cup or was it the last Euro. Either way it was with Switzerland and he seemed very good with the ball at his feet. He seemed to like to dribble quite a bit.

Oh wow, i'm excited!

This is great news, i'd love to sign him; LOVE IT!

The down side is Benitez cooling his interest in Bentley, who i'd also love to sign, but hey, Silva is probably the best left footed winger available on the market right now.

I doubt we'll have enough to go for two wingers in the excess of £10m, so it could be a choice between someone like Silva or Bentley. Not much of a contest in my opinion.

Well then i want Silva, and a striker/winger who can cover both positions, and has the quality to provide the cutting edge up front in Torres' absence (when he returns from international duty with a gammy leg, or whatever it'll be next time). Farfan or Arshavin would be ideal.

We need better cover for Torres as well as adding more quality to the wings - either of those two would tick both boxes.

We could play like this:

.......................TORRES

SILVA.............GERRARD.............FARFAN

..........ALONSO...........MASCHERANO



or



....................TORRES..............FARFAN

SILVA........MASCHERANO.......GERRARD........BABEL





And if Torres gets injured:


.....................CROUCH..........FARFAN

SILVA........MASCHERANO.......GERRARD........BABEL



Or Babel could switch positions with Farfan if you prefer.

I did think a player who could play on the wing and cover in attack would be very useful - but then i thought, isn't that what we have in Babel?

I ain't sure how much Farfan would cost but i think, should we sign someone in the £15m+ bracket like Silva, we will get someone quite cheap to cover the outgoings of Pennant and Kewell. More in the Pennant or Benayoun range.

I couldn't see us buying anyone to replace Babel in the first team anyway.

I don't look at it as replacing Babel. Rafa likes to rotate, and Babel makes a much greater impact as a sub. They could rotate in midfield, or one could play on the wing, while the other accompanies Torres up front.

When we play 4-4-2, one of the two will go on the wing, the other up front.

When we play 4-2-3-1, they will rotate for a place on the wing.


Or we could scrap that idea and get Maxi Rodriguez on a free.


But i still think we need another striker - someone capable of leading the frontline adequately in Torres' absence. Someone with cutting edge, someone devastating.

Huntelaar or Aguero maybe.


But then that means bringing in Maxi Rodriguez AND a top class striker. If we sign Farfan, it would be like killing two birds with one stone. He could solve both problems, but, there's still be plenty of room in the team for Babel to feature heavily.

A big issue is that Rafa doesn't like wingers because they are lazy and don't work hard enough for the team, he seems to much prefer wingers who are attacking midfielders/strikers he can play out wide but who aren't wingers in the way that Robben is a winger. I think he sees the wide positions as a position for workhorse industrious types who are more team players than for flair players.

Buy: Barry, Bentley, Villa and Lahm.

Sell: Carson, Riise, Kewll, Kuyt.

There may be something to that, but i don't think it's totally true. Pennant is a winger, as are Simao and Mancini, with Alves capable (each three we've had offers rejected for in the past couple of seasons). He has gone after proper wingers but he's struggled with teams asking too much of us financially. When he uses the likes of Kuyt there, or Cisse, he's sort of making do with what he has as much as anything.

How much would Farfan cost though? That's what i'm thinking about... can't see us going for two wingers if they're both quite pricey.