I can't see Crouch staying. Shame.

As for Sweinsteiger, i'd love to take him off your hands. He is a superb footballer, and will find his form again.

Has there been any recent speculation about Rafinha? i know he was linked with Liverpool a few months back, but i haven't heard anything since

Hasn't he recently signed a contract extension? Maybe that's why..

Aston Villa: Barry set for further talks


So it seems like Getting Barry is not going to that easy with Villa wanting to hold on to him as much as possible. But IMO Liverpool will finally get him but its not going to be easy...

Well if Barry wants CL football, he won't be staying at Villa. Villa will never break into the top 4.

That I agree with.

Let's hope this doesn't turn into another Heinze saga...

Aston Villa: Barry undervalued, says O'Neill



I now think its going to be a bit complicated for Barry's move the Anfield...

Benitez: Crouch will cost £15million



So where is Crouch going to??? Do you guys know any clubs other than Portsmouth linked with him and will they pay the Money that Benitez wants???

Can't see anyone actually paying that. Probably just propganda to raise the price of him to say £10m

I think Rafa would accept 8 million maybe a bit less for him. Hes only saying high so he can get as much as he can for Crouch.

That he is. Although he probably feels £15m is fair after the likes of Bent, but with his contract down to its final year he'll know if he gets half of two-thirds of that then we're getting a very good deal and should take it.

It's a shame Sven's leaving Man City as that could have prompted him to move to Manchester, hence a bigger fee would've probably been involved. Portsmouth aren't exactly the big-spenders of some of the teams around them. There's always Newcastle mind.

£8m-£10m is a good deal for us. But yes Benitez will want as much as is possible. He won't refuse to sell this summer else Crouch would depart next year on a free, which would be a further financial disaster at the club.

In other news, Benitez has confirmed that Harry Kewell will leave at the end of the season. Apparently we tried to do a deal wherein he would have to settle for lower wages... obviously Kewell, fearful of whether he could survive on what could be half the income, was forced to decline.

Can't say i'm not glad! Although he is when fit an excellent player, and showed it on a fair few occassions where he managed to stumble onto the pitch (normally Champions League finals...), but simply was a disaster when it came to avoiding injury as we all know. There's no place for that at Liverpool to be honest - i know it ain't his fault but it's just a huge disadvantage having someone like that.

Hopefully we can replace him with someone able to stay fit, or - better still - replace Kewell and Pennant with one really top class winger.

That was almost a year ago though, it runs until 2011, but contracts can always be bought out....

Some intersting stories there Ben, especially about Joaquin and Aguero. Joaquin would be a much more realistic target the Aguero though, we've already taken Atletico's star player once, i doubt they'd let us do it again.

Yeh the Aguero one was more someone just clutching at straws i think, clinging onto the fact he mentioned Liverpool. Perhaps in the future if he were to come to England it could be on, but there's no chance of him moving this summer i don't think.

Joaquin is more realistic as you say. If we were going to spend £15m on a winger though i'd prefer it to be David Silva... if we're to spend quite a lot on a player then i always prefer them to be young, like Masche and Torres were.

I'd be happy with any quality winger added to the squad though. We need to make that happen in the summer.


On another note, the "he's not English but speaks good English" Bosman signing - Maik Taylor? He's Northern Irish, so fits the bill, and we've been linked with him to replace Itandje. Seems appropriate. Would be good too, 'cause i'm not sure an out-field player on a free is wise after Voronin (i know there are exceptions, like Flamini, but most aren't inspiring).

I have no objection to signing outfield players on a free. Chelsea's most inspirational player of late was signed on a free - Michael Ballack.

As for Joaquin, obviously he would be a good signing, he would improve our wing massively, but i would prefer Silva. Imagine if we signed both! It would be like the Spanish armada in attack, with Torres, Silva and Joaquin.

I doubt Crouch will stick around at Liverpool...I personally think Benetiz has made a big mistake on keeping him on the bench for the majority of the season...

As for Schweinsteiger, we talking about my dreams coming true...he's a fantastic player and I'd love to see him at Liverpool with the #7.

Oh, and mildly encouraging team news:



AGGER HAS RETURNED TO TRAINING!