Summer '09 Transfer Speculation Thread

[Barrington Womble]

Can't really disagree, maybe part of me is arguing against those who have dismissed him as being shit. I think he is a better player than Rierra but not by much, and agree that the money should be spent elsewhere. As Brownie has said he isn't first on the list, but this is a moo point since we are signing Silva.

 

 

the thing that bothers me is I feel our transfer policy seems to be endless lists of players and there is an absolute need to sign as many as we can and spend every penny abvailable. For best part of 10 years (with the exception of the summer of 2001 iirc) we've been bringing in 6-8 players a year to go right into the 1st team squad regardless of quality or our needs (remember the gerrard Houllier European Central Midfield Mountain?) - even a squad as big as 20-25 players, this to me seems an extrodinary amount. I would feel far more comfortable with us having list of players for the left wing that are either 1. far better than we have or 2. A good cheap prospect who would provide useful competition - if neither are available, let's settle with what we have as the Reira and Benayoun choice there doesn't seem too bad to me.

 

With the budget we have to work within, I don't see the gain of shipping players in and out when there is little or no improvement. I can see why we might need a list of players for right back - the player there is of a similar standard to Reira, so we should be looking to upgrade, but equally if he's out we have nothing to offer there, so I can see the point of signing a right back of a similar quality to the one we have if we can't upgrade. Downing for me just doesn't bring enough to suggest he'd add to our squad for what he's going to cost. What I'm trying to say is if I was in charge of the list, due to what we need and the budget we have to work within (I can't see it being much different to normal), then I can't see a point to Downing being under consideration - we should know about him, should reira want to ship out (or indeed we get a stupid offer from someone), but aside from that, I don't get why he's on our radar this summer.

 

having said all that, I don't know who we're planning to ship out and what we'll get in and should Pennant be off the wage bill and Babel leave for a decent-ish, well it may look a little different. Btw, I don't agree with you Boro will sell for £8m either, I think there would be enough interest from Spurs and possibly City to ensure we wouldn't get him on the cheap.

[ronnie_whelan]

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYm323_aFk&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDYm323_aFk&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

 

Sign him up Rafa, he's on yootoob.

[rebel23]

goal.com quoting the s*n. it must be true then.

 

I think any story that is quoting the s*n should just be ignored and deleted from this thread.

 

and the exclusive interview was in the NOTW. It does strike me a cynical PR exercise by his owner/agent to extract as much as possible out of them

[Whelan]

.

 

With the budget we have to work within, I don't see the gain of shipping players in and out when there is little or no improvement. I can see why we might need a list of players for right back - the player there is of a similar standard to Reira, so we should be looking to upgrade, but equally if he's out we have nothing to offer there, so I can see the point of signing a right back of a similar quality to the one we have if we can't upgrade. Downing for me just doesn't bring enough to suggest he'd add to our squad for what he's going to cost. What I'm trying to say is if I was in charge of the list, due to what we need and the budget we have to work within (I can't see it being much different to normal), then I can't see a point to Downing being under consideration - we should know about him, should reira want to ship out (or indeed we get a stupid offer from someone), but aside from that, I don't get why he's on our radar this summer.

 

having said all that, I don't know who we're planning to ship out and what we'll get in and should Pennant be off the wage bill and Babel leave for a decent-ish, well it may look a little different. Btw, I don't agree with you Boro will sell for £8m either, I think there would be enough interest from Spurs and possibly City to ensure we wouldn't get him on the cheap.

 

I don't dissagree with you.

The point about lists though, are that they can be read a number of ways, on the one hand some may see it as a list of transfer options others may see it as alternatives i.e. what if player a is not available and player b leaves maybe we could look at this player!

I think we only need three players to compete for the first team. Right back or Right mid first and then Barry (just heard rumour I ain't repeating, cos I don't really know how reliable it is), possibly cover up front.

Your point about Houllier is really good, in 2002 we offered 8 mill for Duff but refused to give them 13 which would have got him, but we bought Diao for 5, we already had Biscan and Hamman who could play defensive midfield, so we ended up buying cover that wasnt needed at the behest of a position which needed strenghthening, I think that would be a similar mistake if Downing was to come, I am in total agreement that we would be spending money on an area that doesn't need it, and unlike the addition of Silva, wouldnt improve us that much. I think a lot of the focus is on wide options because a. there isn't that many of them around and b. because there are no right wingers.

[RedinSweden]

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Sign him up Rafa, he's on yootoob.

 

Splendid. Loads of totally unnecessary stepovers, that twatty and pointless back leg kick thing, a roll and spin thing that concedes possession and a first goal that is a tap in.

 

I'm convinced.

[AmerScouse]

buying tevez to play on the left or right of an attacking 3 only makes sense if we improve the attacking options in the fullback position.

 

he's not a winger, he'll play like kuyt does which means aurelio and insua best be bombing forward to provide us width.

 

and tevez still doesn't address our 2nd most glaring weakness in attack which is a complete lack of pace other than torres.

[paddyberger15]

buying tevez to play on the left or right of an attacking 3 only makes sense if we improve the attacking options in the fullback position.

 

he's not a winger, he'll play like kuyt does which means aurelio and insua best be bombing forward to provide us width.

 

and tevez still doesn't address our 2nd most glaring weakness in attack which is a complete lack of pace other than torres.

 

I'm having all that.

While Tevez is like a Bull as far as strength and ability to shield the ball is concerned, he isn't blessed with outstanding pace and he is an inside forward.

[discuit]

Cracking Beard.

[Maldini]

Well, he hasn't shown it at Utd.

 

He has nearly as many goals and assists as him this season despite never being a regular and he got more goals than him last year.

 

tevez better than rooney? yikes...

 

See the quote below

 

Jughead is the most overrated player in the history of the world, ever.

[Josef Svejk]

Splendid. Loads of totally unnecessary stepovers, that twatty and pointless back leg kick thing, a roll and spin thing that concedes possession and a first goal that is a tap in.

 

I'm convinced.

 

Rashtastic stuff in that clip.

 

Still, a good player...

[RedinSweden]

Rashtastic stuff in that clip.

 

Still, a good player...

 

That clip just scared me. His flicks and tricks seemed to lead to nothing. A few of the lads i used to play football with were like that. Riera can do enough of those things for me. What is his position?

[RedinSweden]

He's my summer favourite. I can't wait to hear how commentators pronounce his name.

[Josef Svejk]

Attacking midfielder, can play centrally, left, or right. Benayoun type, I suppose.

 

We just don't need him.

[Major Tom]

He has nearly as many goals and assists as him this season despite never being a regular and he got more goals than him last year.

 

Not in the league he hasn't. Or the matches that matter.

 

Anyway, stats aside, merely from watching them that Rooney brings a hell of a lot more to the table than Tevez including end product and creativity. In my view.

[RedinSweden]

Attacking midfielder, can play centrally, left, or right. Benayoun type, I suppose.

 

We just don't need him.

 

No, we need Yassine Chikhaoui. That is the only player we ever need.

[Lefti]

For the type of money Boro are talking for Downing, it is too much of a risk imo. Plus i'd rather have Yossi, Albert and The Doss for LW than spend £12-£15 million on a distinctively average player.

[Josef Svejk]

No, we need Yassine Chikhaoui. That is the only player we ever need.

 

With career stats like the following (from Wikipedia), it's hard to argue:

 

2004–2007 Etoile du Sahel Appearances ? Goals (?)

[RedinSweden]

With career stats like the following (from Wikipedia), it's hard to argue:

 

2004–2007 Etoile du Sahel Appearances ? Goals (?)

 

Those stats don't lie. Yassine Chikhaoui is the future of everything.

[Strontium]

Chikhaoui is only just back playing football after a year out with a knee injury, so he fits the profile of most of our recent signings in being an injury crock too.

 

We already signed Degen... will the Swiss private healthcare industry be able to take this second blow?

[RedinSweden]

Chikhaoui is only just back playing football after a year out with a knee injury, so he fits the profile of most of our recent signings in being an injury crock too.

 

We already signed Degen... will the Swiss private healthcare industry be able to take this second blow?

 

I don't care. he is a must sign as far as I'm concerned. If we haven't signed him by Tuesday i want Rafa out.

 

Edit: ooooooooh my post count is a palindrome. i hadn't noticed i had gone to 25k either. Arsebiscuits.

[dirty_sanchez]

Especially chin barnets.

[Kevin D]

So there is a list...

 

Seriously, signing Amdy Faye would be taking the piss.

[PaulMcC]

I don't think Downing would be an improvement on Riera so i don't want him.

[Barrington Womble]

I don't dissagree with you.

The point about lists though, are that they can be read a number of ways, on the one hand some may see it as a list of transfer options others may see it as alternatives i.e. what if player a is not available and player b leaves maybe we could look at this player!

I think we only need three players to compete for the first team. Right back or Right mid first and then Barry (just heard rumour I ain't repeating, cos I don't really know how reliable it is), possibly cover up front.

Your point about Houllier is really good, in 2002 we offered 8 mill for Duff but refused to give them 13 which would have got him, but we bought Diao for 5, we already had Biscan and Hamman who could play defensive midfield, so we ended up buying cover that wasnt needed at the behest of a position which needed strenghthening, I think that would be a similar mistake if Downing was to come, I am in total agreement that we would be spending money on an area that doesn't need it, and unlike the addition of Silva, wouldnt improve us that much. I think a lot of the focus is on wide options because a. there isn't that many of them around and b. because there are no right wingers.

 

in the summer of 2003 (I think it was 2003 anyway, it was after we had diao), we also made a bid for Essien. I was in the "corportate" section on the last game of the season, we played city (with anelka and fowler) and lost 2-1. The section I was sat in also includes the players who aren't fit, the wives, guests of the club etc. I was sat 2 seats away from Michael Essien that day (he had been to Liverworld believe it or not and had a bag with shite in and was sporting an LFC baseball cap) and the talk around the players lounge later on was a deal had been done for him. A couple of weeks after, I heard the board vetoed the deal because they felt we had too many central midfielders and Houllier had just wanted to loan Essien back to a french club (as he'd intended with Salif 12 months before) for a year before bringing him in. Now in that situation we ended up missing out on a quality player because we didn't just sit and wait - instead we felt we had to buy everyone who we thought was alright and their club would sell - we got Diao and if we'd waited 12 months it could have been Essien. To me it's a foolish way of doing business but one I feel we've persued since Evans left.

[SpeedyG]

Not in the league he hasn't. Or the matches that matter.

 

Anyway, stats aside, merely from watching them that Rooney brings a hell of a lot more to the table than Tevez including end product and creativity. In my view.

 

Have to agree.