Benitez loses his patience as he tries to cash in on defiant Crouch

[G Richards]

You nearly mentioned Net Spend there!

 

:smile: When I was writing I was trying hard not to say 'net spend'.

[zico]

We need quality over quantity!!

 

Four players we're linked to for January, and for me, all of them have question marks over them.

 

If Rafa really does have £20M, he should not be spreading it around 4 'gambles'. We have long gone past the point where we need a bigger squad.

 

Send Crouch to Citeh and give them £15M on top for Richards (I'd like to give less cash, but that probably won't happen).

 

Then we have £5M.

 

Sell Momo and Riise to get the kitty back up to £20M, and bring in a top notch winger. Much as I don't want to get Rashid going on about the player, Quaresma looks the best bet to me. If Porto are still in the CL then we might have to bide our time.

 

 

If we do have 20 £ million, and that is a big if, combined with the sale of Crouch and Riise, which could probably add another 15-20 £ million, I think Rafa should go for 2 quality acquisitions one definitely being a left side winger.. Also we need a center half, a world class poacher and a "playmaker", out of which the center half is the most urgent...

 

My wishlist

 

Wingers - 1. Quaresma(Porto)

2. Dos Santos (Barcelona)

3. Malouda(Chelsea)

4. Mancini(Roma)

 

Center half - 1. Kompany(Hamburg)

2. Richards(City)

 

Playmaker - 1. Diego(Werder)

2. Nasri(Marseille)

 

Poacher - 1. Villa(Valencia)

2. Milito(Zaragoza)

3. Huntelaar/Alves(Ajax/Herenveen)

 

I would rather we break the bank getting some of these players, than adding further mediocracy to our large squad...

 

Quaresma and Kompany in January would do nicely, and if we add a little more cash(be it from the Americans or by selling a little more dead meat from our squad)and Diego might be ours as well....

 

Now that would have been Christmas, New Years and a happy fucking birthday all packed into one for me :thumbsup:

[hamstrung]

Nutter

[Thants]

[Paul]

 

Blocked. Could you post it please?

[thechap]

 

It kept pausing. Couldn't watch it.

[rebel23]

At a guess the players weren't available and rather than buy needlessly he was happy to take stock in the months leading up to the new window.

 

-----------------------------------------

 

If it's true that we still have 20 million or so to spend does it finally put to bed the nonsense about Hicks and Gillette?

 

Quick sum makes it upwards of 70 million was available in the summer and between, the Summer and January (assuming Crouch is sold) closer to 80 million.

 

That's not a bad little 'War Chest' (for want of a better word).

 

like Cameron maybe we should ask Where has all the money gone

 

the only decent attacking player he's signed is Torres and I seriously doubt you can get one in January either, it looks like another punt on a prolific scoring player in the dutch league who's been around a good while

[Thants]

It kept pausing. Couldn't watch it.

Its art. The phone is on the hook for my Saatchi call.

[Guest TK-421]

 

the only decent attacking player he's signed is Torres and I seriously doubt you can get one in January either, it looks like another punt on a prolific scoring player in the dutch league who's been around a good while

 

Voronin has started well, Yossi has played well in a few games and it's too early to judge Babel and Leto.

[rebel23]

Voronin has started well, Yossi has played well in a few games and it's too early to judge Babel and Leto.

 

can't argue with that but I think what most of us want to see is more players in the class of Torres on 6 year contracts, especially on the wings. it's incredibly frustrating especially after we've spent 10's of millions but there you go

 

said it before but I think we have been let down by scouts etc it is their job to find these players and they should be showing measurable results

[Owen]

Voronin has started well, Yossi has played well in a few games and it's too early to judge Babel and Leto.

 

Plus Dirk's ace.

[Guest TK-421]

can't argue with that but I think what most of us want to see is more players in the class of Torres on 6 year contracts, especially on the wings. it's incredibly frustrating especially after we've spent 10's of millions but there you go

 

said it before but I think we have been let down by scouts etc it is their job to find these players and they should be showing measurable results

 

I don't think it's as simple as going out and signing player X for £20m - £30m, players like Veron spring to mind.

 

I agree we could do with some quality on the left as Kewell can't be relied upon and Riise doesn't offer enough of an attacking threat apart from the odd blockbuster.

[RedinSweden]

can't argue with that but I think what most of us want to see is more players in the class of Torres on 6 year contracts, especially on the wings. it's incredibly frustrating especially after we've spent 10's of millions but there you go

 

said it before but I think we have been let down by scouts etc it is their job to find these players and they should be showing measurable results

 

calm down. the season has only just started.

[rebel23]

I don't think it's as simple as going out and signing player X for £20m - £30m, players like Veron spring to mind.

 

I agree we could do with some quality on the left as Kewell can't be relied upon and Riise doesn't offer enough of an attacking threat apart from the odd blockbuster.

 

yeah but even if we had a 'veron' it shouldn't really stop us, it never stopped the scum going out and spunking again. also they only lost 5m on Veron because of gullable chelsea

 

if you pay a big fee for a player and offer them a 5/6 year contract you have to be totally convinced of their ability to play at a high level and be here for years to come and be an important player for the first team, that is the procedure i would like us to follow for new signings

 

sure, we might get it wrong once or twice and the scouts should be held accountable as much as the manager but I think generally we'd get it right more often than not

[Guest TK-421]

if you pay a big fee for a player and offer them a 5/6 year contract you have to be totally convinced of their ability to play at a high level and be here for years to come and be an important player for the first team, that is the procedure i would like us to follow for new signings

 

So you're saying we should only pay a minimum amount of, say, £15m for any player we sign and should tie them down to six year contracts?

 

I think that is too restrictive and would prevent us from bringing in good players on free transfers like Gary Mac.

[Harry Squatter]

I reckon we buy Zenden for 10M

[Owen]

yeah but even if we had a 'veron' it shouldn't really stop us, it never stopped the scum going out and spunking again. also they only lost 5m on Veron because of gullable chelsea

 

if you pay a big fee for a player and offer them a 5/6 year contract you have to be totally convinced of their ability to play at a high level and be here for years to come and be an important player for the first team, that is the procedure i would like us to follow for new signings

 

sure, we might get it wrong once or twice and the scouts should be held accountable as much as the manager but I think generally we'd get it right more often than not

 

You're a right proper mentalist, you.

[rebel23]

So you're saying we should only pay a minimum amount of, say, £15m for any player we sign and should tie them down to six year contracts?

 

I think that is too restrictive and would prevent us from bringing in good players on free transfers like Gary Mac.

 

I am not against free transfers or persuing youth players, those are usually totally different circumstances.

 

what im saying is that I would like our attacking-player transfer policy to be more first team orientated, I want Benitez to only spend money on the attacking players he thinks would be important to the first team for years to come (like Torres)

 

the day we spend 15m+ on a winger and give him a 6 year contract might be the day we sort the problem as it shows that the manager and the club have faith in the player we're bringing in and it suggests that he will be an important player for the first team

 

or we could just continue bringing in 5m-8m players, hardly playing them or shipping them out next window (or in a few years) and maintaining a high player turnover that doesn't really get us far

[zigackly]

I'm really pleased to se that we're moving back into the transfer market in January with some real intent. However, what I would like to know is why we didn't do more business in the summer.

 

Quite. It was mentioned at the time ...

[Rashid]

I don't see the problem with what rebel23 is saying. For years people were arguing that we needed players like Torres but the usual knobs were saying how he is overrated, he isn't a "Rafa type player" - yes I am looking at you Dave Usher and Red Nick - and that he would simply cost too much. Well after spending £32M on Kuyt, Morientes, Voronin, Fowler, Bellamy, Crouch he finally got Torres and guess what? That is the first time we have got real quality in and no matter how much anyone gives us we would never sell the lad.

 

The same goes for areas on the wings and in attacking midfield, Rafa has spent loads on journeymen and others who are good but not quite good enough and only after he finally gets in real quality and pays the money (money he would normall spend on 2 or 3 average players) that we will say fucking hell what a player. I doubt the likes of Quaresma and Mancini would be getting sarcastic jeers on here if they played for us cos most of you would be creaming yourselves.

 

I appreciate it's not possible to keep buying players on big money transfers and that we need good solid pros and youngsters to make up the squad but haven't we done enough of that for the past 4 years? We have enough squad players to challenge for all 4 divisions!!

[7dalglish]

I reckon we buy Zenden for 10M

 

on a 6 year contract

[7dalglish]

I don't see the problem with what rebel23 is saying. For years people were arguing that we needed players like Torres but the usual knobs were saying how he is overrated, he isn't a "Rafa type player" - yes I am looking at you Dave Usher and Red Nick - and that he would simply cost too much. Well after spending £32M on Kuyt, Morientes, Voronin, Fowler, Bellamy, Crouch he finally got Torres and guess what? That is the first time we have got real quality in and no matter how much anyone gives us we would never sell the lad.

 

The same goes for areas on the wings and in attacking midfield, Rafa has spent loads on journeymen and others who are good but not quite good enough and only after he finally gets in real quality and pays the money (money he would normall spend on 2 or 3 average players) that we will say fucking hell what a player. I doubt the likes of Quaresma and Mancini would be getting sarcastic jeers on here if they played for us cos most of you would be creaming yourselves.

 

I appreciate it's not possible to keep buying players on big money transfers and that we need good solid pros and youngsters to make up the squad but haven't we done enough of that for the past 4 years? We have enough squad players to challenge for all 4 divisions!!

 

Rashid, in fairness we are only now getting to the point where the squad is good enough to splash out on one great player instead of three squad players.

[Rashid]

Pathetic replies focussing on silly little comments someone may have made - how poor.

[Harry Squatter]

on a 6 year contract

 

That will give him plenty of time to learn how to get past people and cross a ball.

[Rashid]

Rashid, in fairness we are only now getting to the point where the squad is good enough to splash out on one great player instead of three squad players.

 

I totally disagree there mate.

 

When Rafa first came to Liverpool he had Owen, Pongolle, Cisse and Baros up front. OK Owen fucked off and Rafa couldn't do anything about it... but in this lots place Rafa bought Morientes, Crouch, Kuyt, Voronin, Fowler, Bellamy etc... I am in no doubt the the guys bought in are no better than the ones he sold, and if they are then it's not by much. His buys in attack have been poor or average barring Torres whom he actually spent money on to a huge applause.

 

Now if he had kept the attack as much as he could together, and added a £35M fund to buying strikers like Villa (who we were quoted £12M for) and or Torres I reckon we would be even better than we are now.. imagine an attack like Torres and Villa with Cisse and Baros on the bench? Or bought elswhere but actually bought two quality strikers without the 5 or 6 average one he bought?

 

Cisse is another bone of contention, he can play wide, he can support the attack and he scored a fair few from the wing, with a little persistence he could have been made into a good player plus he loves Liverpool what was the point in selling him for £7M and replacing him with Kuyt for £10M? I don't see a huge gulf in quality at all.