Liverpool Rumours in Transfers/Rumours/Team News from Football.co.uk

mrtz · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 9:42 pm

ah, yeah I'd think about 12-15 million is about right...

Thing about Xabi is I don't think it will hurt us to keep him or lose him. He's a good enough player to help us in games if we keep him, and if we let him go, we'd probably get someone great in return, as you've stated, hopefully someone like Abidal.

Back to Barry:

Patrick Berger wrote:

�If I was in Gareth�s position I would go there tomorrow. It is the opportunity of a lifetime and Liverpool certainly don�t come after you every year.

�He is the heart of our team at the moment and it would be a massive challenge for him. He would be in the Champions League and challenging to win trophies every year.�

Ben91 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 10:09 pm

To be honest i think if Alonso doesn't have an improved season next year, regardless of whether he's in Benitez's plans, we should get rid. He just ain't been up to the standard we need, not consistantly anyway.

I think he'll stay though, and Barry will be used to strengthen our squad and give us "options" - he can play as left-back, left-mid and centre-mid, so i think the versatility will appeal greatly to Rafa. Maybe then buying one more winger, so we have Babel, Benayoun and someone else as three proper wide players with Kuyt and Barry there to play the role if needed but cover other areas also. Barry would allow us to go to 4-4-2 much easier, operating on the left.

I just can't see Alonso leaving - it seems a mere media/fan manifestation to be honest. I don't mind what happens, but if he stays two things needs to happen: i) he needs to improve to the standard of past seasons, and ii) we need to buy a quality winger. It's no good us getting him to play partially on the wing and then spend �5-�8million on a so-so out-and-out winger to play their regularly. We need to have someone of a real quality that if possible can play comfortably on both the right and left, with an intelligent, footballing brain and an ability to finish. Getting the right player is crucial, else we could end up with another Babel... which, though will probably come good, isn't going to greatly help our immediate plans.

Some people are a bit worried by Rafa's "aspirations", from the Barry rumours, but i think the likes of Mascherano and Torres will show him the calibre of players we need. He knows. And he seems very relaxed and calm, confident about the summer and next season, so i'm optimistic about the players we'll bring in. And optimistic that we'll make them as soon as possible.

Ben91 · Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 10:44 pm

Quote:

BENITEZ: NEW SIGNINGS SOON AND POSITIVE TALKS WITH PARRY
With the end of the season nearing and speculation surrounding arrivals and departures in the playing staff, Rafa Benitez has hinted that new signings could arrive at Anfield very soon - this month in fact.
Benitez said �We aren�t working on signing new players in June or July - but to sign them in May if that is possible.�

He continued �We will not be waiting until August to sign players. I think we will do things well before. Perhaps you will see some evidence in a few weeks.�

�It will help me if the signings of new players are done early. It needs to be as soon as possible really, because then you know the situation and you can control the pre-season. Rick (Parry) knows the necessity of early deals. Our conservation the other day was very positive.

�We are trying to fix the targets and progress. He knows that we want to sign the players right now.�

This summer is expected to be another summer of change for Liverpool with plenty of arrivals and departures - having new players in early will help the process, especially with the European Championships in June.

Extremely positive sounds that are emitting from Rafa lately. We're moving very early this year and if we can sign certain players up in May, ideally those involved in Euro 2008, then it will be incredibly benefitial to our following season. If we end up racing in August, as happened with Kuyt, then the players take much longer to settle and our squad is also disrupted.

In that sense it's a relief we're not in the Champions League final - else we'd of probably been forced to wait 'till the Euro's had finished and hence prices could rocket and competition the same.

Another rumour concerning Abidal...

Quote:

BENITEZ PLANS �8M MOVE FOR BARCELONA�S FRANCE DEFENDER ABIDAL

Liverpool are lining up an �8million move for Barcelona defender Eric Abidal as manager Rafa Benitez plans a major shake-up in the wake of his side ending the season empty-handed.

And he has set his sights on France international left-back Abidal, 28, who has been a regular for Barca since his arrival from Lyon last summer. Liverpool hope to recoup some of the fee by selling John Arne Riise to Portsmouth.

This really would be a terrific signing and take us on so much. Other than the common vowel to introduce eithers name, there really is no comparison between Abidal and Aurelio.

My fear is that Barca may knock us back, or Abidal himself. Though he has spoken out indicating he could leave this summer, saying that "he will have to see what happens".

mrtz · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 1:27 am

Just in:

Quote:

Liverpool are winning the battle to sign Gareth Barry with the player himself having made the decision to sign for Rafael Benitez's club this summer rather than agree a new contract at Aston Villa. Benitez is also close to signing the Birmingham City goalkeeper Maik Taylor as a back-up to Jose Reina.

The deal for the Aston Villa captain is set to prove the most complicated with the two clubs still at loggerheads over a fee, but Barry's wishes will, in all likelihood, force Villa into doing a deal eventually. The offer from Liverpool for Barry was valued at �10m although it was not an exclusively cash deal. In exchange for Barry, Liverpool were offering a choice of John Arne Riise, Jermaine Pennant or Scott Carson, who is currently on loan to Villa, plus an unspecified cash deal to make the value up to �10m.

Barry has two years left of his contract at Villa and would become the side's highest earner should he accept the deal on offer to him. However, he has decided after 11 years at Villa that a move to Anfield would be in his best interests even though he is likely to be asked by Benitez to fulfil a role on the left side of midfield and defence rather than in the centre � where he has established himself for England.

O'Neill dismissed the offer for Barry, which was faxed by Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry on Friday, as a "mish-mash of player exchanges concerning unnamed players". Unfortunately from Villa's perspective, the Liverpool player they would really like, Peter Crouch, who is out of contract next summer, was not among the players eventually offered to them in part-exchange.

Crouch's future is still uncertain after he was left out of the Liverpool squad to face Manchester City on Sunday even though the England striker was fit. It now appears that Crouch, Pennant, Riise � a target for Newcastle � and possibly Yossi Benayoun will all be allowed to leave in the summer. As well as signing the Borussia Dortmund full-back Philip Degen on a free transfer, Benitez will also move for Taylor.

Taylor, 36, is playing for a Birmingham team that is in the bottom three of the Premier League as they approach the last game of the season. He has been at Birmingham since 2003 where he originally went on loan from Fulham before signing. He lost his place in last season's team that came up from the Championship but won it back this season and has been a regular since.

Benitez only has the relatively untried Charles Itandje as a back-up for Reina. The signings of Barry and Taylor may not quicken the pulse of Liverpool fans but they demonstrate their manager's determination to do deals quickly and make major changes this summer.

Whether Benitez will be able to lay out on a player comparable to Fernando Torres will surely depend upon the ownership battle raging between George Gillett and Tom Hicks and Dubai International Capital who want to buy the Americans' shares. Nevertheless, with Crouch's future uncertain the Liverpool manager is facing the next season with a greater reliance on Torres than even this term.

torres99 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:07 am

there is so many people being linked with Liverpool i dont have a clue who were going to sign but judging we can recoup close to 25mil from selling players and the summer transfer budget my team would go something like this:

.........REINA........?

.......ARBELOA........ .......CARRAGHER........ ........AGGER......... .........EMANUELSON...

..........GERRARD....... .......MASCHERANO........ .....ALONSO?BARRY.......

........BABEL?QUARESMA ........SILVA? CAPEL........

TORRES

With emanuelson / quaresma / silva and a new backup striker thats over 60 million but i can always dream

fakeplastictrees · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:00 pm

I would guess that it's either Quaresma or Silva not both.

Sticky T · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:09 pm

The news regarding Abidal sounds very promising. We need a big name like him. Another world class addition to the team would be fantastic. Masch, Torres, and hopefully Abidal in a year would be fantastic. I'm not going to get too excited though, because it does seem a bit too good to be true.

As for Barry... I'm not liking the sound of that. If we sign him to play at left-midfield, i'll cry. I'd rather rotate him and Alonso in the middle. Alonso might pull his finger out then as well. I don't know what it is with him. For Real Sociedad and Liverpool in his first 2 seasons, he was stunning. Where's it all gone wrong?! Has injury ruined him for good?

I don't think so. I'm sure he can get it back, and i'd happily give him another season. Not so long ago he was the envy of every team in the league.

torres99 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 6:24 pm

fakeplastictrees wrote:

I would guess that it's either Quaresma or Silva not both.

one can dream

Ben91 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:19 pm

Sticky T wrote:

The news regarding Abidal sounds very promising. We need a big name like him. Another world class addition to the team would be fantastic. Masch, Torres, and hopefully Abidal in a year would be fantastic. I'm not going to get too excited though, because it does seem a bit too good to be true.

As for Barry... I'm not liking the sound of that. If we sign him to play at left-midfield, i'll cry. I'd rather rotate him and Alonso in the middle. Alonso might pull his finger out then as well. I don't know what it is with him. For Real Sociedad and Liverpool in his first 2 seasons, he was stunning. Where's it all gone wrong?! Has injury ruined him for good?

I don't think so. I'm sure he can get it back, and i'd happily give him another season. Not so long ago he was the envy of every team in the league.

With Barry i don't think we'll sign him primarily to play on the left, but will exploit his versatility on left-mid/left-back to give us more options. He'll surely be mainly a centre-midfielder... Rafa's done some things in his time here but i doubt he would move a holding midfielder into what is essentially a left-wing/left-sided-striker position. We know he has a love affair with central midfielders and playing 3 of them in the newly adopted system will mean we have only one player to cover, and he being a 21-year-old. The fact that Lucas isn't the most inspiring in the defensive role plus the fact that Alonso himself hasn't been overly inspiring in the past couple of seasons is enough to convince me that Barry is being bought for the position that he has made his reputation in.

As the summer is beginning to unfold, my early thinking is that our squad will look something like this come August/September:

Goalkeeper
- Reina
- Itandje (/Possible replacement if viable; Harper, Taylor?)
- Martin

Right-Back
- Arbeloa
- New Signing (Degen?)

Centre-Back
- Carragher
- Agger
- Skrtel
- Hyypia

Left-Back
- New Signing (Bridge, Abidal?)
- Aurelio

Defensive-Mid
- Mascherano
- Plessis

Centre-Mid
- Alonso
- New Signing (Barry?)

Right-Wing
- Babel
- Kuyt

Attacking-Mid
- Gerrard
- Lucas

Left-Wing
- New Signing (I won't tempt fate with speculating)
- Benayoun

Attack
- Torres
- New Signing (No idea)
- Voronin (Possible replacement)

The winger signed would depend on which side Benitez intends Babel to play on i would expect. If we can make a real top quality signing for the wing i'll be extremely happy, as it's where we're so poor and resultantly struggle against the better sides with better defences.

I'd expect 5 signings to come in, replacing Finnan, Riise, Pennant/Kewell, Crouch whilst adding depth in Barry. Other areas like Itandje will be done if we can bring someone in very cheaply, and obviously if a suitable move is possible, whilst i think Voronin will leave if he wants to. Rafa may keep him just to add a little cover to attack, rather than needing to bring someone else in - Babel and Kuyt would assumedly be above him, after Torres and Crouch's replacement too, so he shouldn't feature much at all you'd hope. I'd prefer we sold him, brough Mancini in for �4m and moved Kuyt to attack but i'm not sure Benitez will have it high on his priority list at all.

Anyway, that's just my thinking right now.

Ant · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:28 pm

Don't you want Schweinsteiger for your left wing?
I'd pay the flight ticket.

Ben91 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 9:46 pm

You totally talked me out of it in the other thread.

Ant · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:31 pm

Well don't get me wrong. He's without a doubt a very talented player, he just doesn't show it anymore.
He has/had a great shooting technique (http://youtube.com/watch?v=uxoIP-FnndU), his dribbling was great, also he used to play some great passes.
He reminds me of Santa Cruz, he really needs a change. Maybe Klinsmann will do him good, maybe he'll even leave after this season.
If you can get him at a low price, you might just take the risk.

mrtz · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:37 pm

Schweinsteiger has been linked with Villa. Although I'd have him at Liverpool if he's as good as he showed in the World Cup... I'm guessing now he's had a dip in form.

Ben91 · Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:58 pm

Quote:

Liverpool BID �3M FOR CARDIFF CITY�S AARON RAMSEY

Liverpool have made a �3m bid for Cardiff City�s teenage sensation Aaron Ramsey, Wales on Sunday can reveal.

Rafa Benitez�s Anfield giants are the first Premier League club to test the Bluebirds resolve with a hard offer, after Ramsey�s continuing emergence at senior level with the Bluebirds.

However, the Ninian Park club have rejected the bid, telling the Reds they will have to stump up more cash to stand any chance of luring Ramsey.

It�s understood City chiefs will not even discuss any potential transfer unless �5m at the very least is put on the table for their brightest young jewel.

Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle United have all expressed an interest in the 17-year-old, and a host of scouts have trailed him for months.

But Liverpool, who face another trophyless season after going out to Chelsea in the semi-final of the Champions League last Wednesday, are the only ones as yet to put their money on the table.

Not only that, but the contract they are ready to offer Ramsey is believed to contain a clause guaranteeing him 10 first team appearances in his first season with them.

There will be no shortage of fixtures to blend Ramsey in at Anfield with the Reds doing battle on four fronts in the Premier League, Europe as well as both domestic cup competitions.

And the willingness to make such an offer is evidence that Liverpool are fully aware of the fears someone like Ramsey would have about going stagnant in their reserves.

The youngster has been told by Wales manager John Toshack that he should bide his time before moving to the highest level.

The Wales manager believes Ramsey would benefit from another year at Championship level with his hometown club.

Toshack has seen too many of his Welsh stars warming benches at a variety of Premier League destinations and does not want to see another gem go the same way.

But ultimately it will be out of the national boss�s control.

Ramsey made his debut in the FA Cup third round victory against Chasetown last January, scoring City�s second goal, and hasn�t really looked back since.

He has gone on to show at first team level real class, a fearless approach and also versatility, having played in five different positions for the Bluebirds.

A significant number of City fans, not to mention pundits, are calling for him to start in the FA Cup final against Portsmouth on May 17.

But it is looking ever more likely that the big showdown could be his last in a Bluebirds shirt.

City chairman Peter Ridsdale has put out the message that the club will do business on Ramsey � if the price is right.

Ridsdale said: �Every player is up for sale, the only thing that has changed from the FA Cup run is the fact that we dictate the price of the sale and that this club is in a stronger position now.�

The Liverpool bid is the strongest indication yet that the Premier League is serious about the talents of Ramsey.

The youngster has been talked about as being potentially the best Welsh talent to emerge since Ryan Giggs.

With the next Vieira in Sissoko, the next Messi in Bruno, the Argentine-Maradona in Baros and the next Zidane in Cheyrou, along with the next Giggs, we could've had a mighty side!

If Benitez is prepared to pay �3million for a 17-year-old then he must be very, very good - and playing 16 times for Cardiff at his young age would suggest he's a real prospect.

United are rumoured to be bidding �10m though... we couldn't compete with that. On the other hand he is said to be a Liverpool fan. But then so was Walcott wasn't he?...

ImmortaL · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:21 pm

Liverpool: Crouch wants Reds talks...

Quote:

Peter Crouch wants showdown talks with Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez over his Anfield future.

The England striker, whose contract expires next summer, has started just nine Barclays Premier League games since the July arrival of Fernando Torres and has been linked with a move away from the club.

The 27-year-old, who cost the Reds �7million from Southampton almost three years ago, told the Daily Mirror: "When all is said and done, I don't think I can have another season like this year where I've started nine Premier League games. Out of a 38-game league season, nine games is not the amount you want to be playing."

He continued: "I'll have to speak to the manager and see what his plans are. I need to see him and sort things out. I have to find out what he wants from me next season and whether or not I can continue with that. In some ways, I want to feel wanted.

"I'd like to speak to the manager and the club before I commit to anything and know whether or not I'll be here next year."

Benitez claims Crouch was offered a new deal midway through this season but the player insisted contract talks amounted to an informal "five-minute chat".

Crouch said he would love to commit his future to Liverpool, but not at the expense of his England career.

He denied having any contact with Portsmouth over a return to the club where he spent just under a season until March 2003.

But he is flattered at all the attention from rival clubs, adding: "It's always nice to know that if things did go completely wrong for me at Liverpool, I'd have options to go somewhere else and it's not the end of the world if things don't work out for me there."

Sticky T · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 3:41 pm

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.

-Dave- · Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 11:43 pm

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 Confused

mrtz · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 1:47 am

-Dave- wrote:

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 Confused

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

ImmortaL · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:19 am

Aston Villa: Barry set for further talks

Quote:

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill will hold further talks with Liverpool target Gareth Barry after Sunday's final Premier League clash of the season with West Ham.

O'Neill has held an initial discussion with the Villa skipper who has been the subject of a player-plus-cash offer from the Reds.

But the two sides have agreed to put further dialogue aside as Villa attempt to secure a UEFA Cup spot with victory over Hammers and hope Everton slip up against Newcastle.

"I've spoken to Gareth and we will have further discussions when the season is over," O'Neill said.

"He felt himself that he had been affected by the speculation. He felt it had affected his own game a little bit.

"He wouldn't want that to happen again with such an important game coming up on Sunday so we will speak again next week."

Villa owner Randy Lerner has reiterated to O'Neill his desire to keep Barry who has two years left of his current contract.

O'Neill added: "Randy has exactly the same opinion about Gareth as myself. I spoke to him the other day and he wants to make all attempts to keep Gareth at the club.

"He wants to try and improve the team rather than dismantle it. I don't think he is surprised that big teams are after the best players.

"But his view is he wants Villa to become a big team. That is why he took the club over in the first place, to help restore the club to where it was.

"Losing Gareth Barry is not really part of the plan and Randy really wants to keep him.

"There is no surprise in clubs being interested - but us wanting to do business is a different issue."

Barry has made it clear that he wants assurances from O'Neill about whether Villa can be capable of challenging the top four and he is keen to experience Champion's League football.

But reports suggest the 27-year-old is edging nearer to the Villa Park exit door.

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...

Sticky T · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 11:05 am

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

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