A thread about a man named Xabi

[Karl_b]

Agreed, he is also probably the fittest member of the squad.

 

Gay.

[crouchaholic]

Agreed, he has also probably the fittest member of the squad.

 

Dirk is the new Igor!

[Guest TK-421]

Agreed, he is also probably the fittest member of the squad.

 

Not only fitness but attitude and temperament too. When King Kenny teaches him more about technique we'll have one hell of a player.

[Red Nick]

its pretty clear we are skint

 

So how many of you would be really happy if Xabi stays and we dont get anyone brilliant for the wide areas, to my view where we lost the title last season?

[Red Phoenix]

its pretty clear we are skint

 

So how many of you would be really happy if Xabi stays and we dont get anyone brilliant for the wide areas, to my view where we lost the title last season?

 

I think we also lost the title because we didn't have good enough strikers when Stevie and Nando were out, so if we don't get wide players, Xabi stays and we get a good enough back up striker I'll not be too bothered personally. Riera can be enough if he's on form enough throughout the season as he can be brilliant when he's on his game.

 

And we have Johnson who'll be able to work on the other side bombing up the wing and also having a good eye for a pass, so things could be ok with just that extra firepower.

[NelCarra]

Without having to spiral through all this thread ive been on holiday for a week, whats the latest on him? Is he going? I think he will tbh

[Paco]

Without having to spiral through all this thread ive been on holiday for a week, whats the latest on him? Is he going? I think he will tbh

 

Rafa said "he's with us here in Thailand, he will enjoy the training the weather and the chicks with dicks if thats his thing"

 

The media took this to mean "Xabi is going to madrid to hook up with Guti"

[paisley1977]

I think we also lost the title because we didn't have good enough strikers when Stevie and Nando were out, so if we don't get wide players, Xabi stays and we get a good enough back up striker I'll not be too bothered personally. Riera can be enough if he's on form enough throughout the season as he can be brilliant when he's on his game.

 

And we have Johnson who'll be able to work on the other side bombing up the wing and also having a good eye for a pass, so things could be ok with just that extra firepower.

 

Skint means we won't even be getting this back up striker,Ched Evans has gone to Sheff Utd.

[NelCarra]

Rafa said "he's with us here in Thailand, he will enjoy the training the weather and the chicks with dicks if thats his thing"

 

The media took this to mean "Xabi is going to madrid to hook up with Guti"

 

Lmao cheers for that

[Paco]

Teamtalk:

 

Fernando Torres talked of winning the Premier League with Liverpool on Thursday, as countryman Xabi Alonso moved closer to an Anfield exit.

Liverpool have flown from Thailand to Singapore as they continued their Far East tour, amid speculation that Real Madrid had increased their bid for midfielder Alonso to £30million-plus.

Liverpool insist that no deal has been agreed, and boss Rafael Benitez maintained that the player - who was ruled out of Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Thailand with an ankle injury - is fit and available for the friendly with Singapore on Sunday.

But with Real stepping up their interest in Alonso - as well as full-back Alvaro Arbeloa - the summer long saga is coming to a conclusion.

Torres made his first appearance of pre-season for Liverpool as a late substitute in Bangkok, and insists that this could be the season that the title returns to Anfield.

He said at Thursday's media conference at the team hotel in Singapore: "Two years without a trophy is a long time for a club like Liverpool, but we believe we can do it this year.

"It won't be easy because there are big challenges ahead but we think we can win.

"Maybe this season will be more important because we have a fantastic squad and we can play better than last season.

"I came to Liverpool to win trophies. But I am sure that this time we can win the Premier League or the Champions League or a big trophy like that."

But Benitez's build-up to the new campaign is not being helped by the constant speculation over Alonso, as well as Javier Mascherano.

There have been further claims that Mascherano wants to move to Spain, but Benitez brushed that aside by saying: "Things get said over and over again on websites and newspapers, but this is not a new comment."

On Alonso, as in Bangkok, Benitez said: "Alonso is here and as I said before, he will enjoy the weather and the fans and the journalists. He is ready and he can play (on Sunday)."

Liverpool have not won any of their three pre-season games so far, but Benitez said: "For us this trip is a very good experience. It is a good opportunity for us to come out here to Singapore and Bangkok and to play in front of our fans.

"We try to approach it in positive way, train properly and make sure that everybody will be happy at the end of it."

But Benitez will not be happy to discover that Madrid have again been openly talking about his players, amid suggestions that Arbeloa - with one year left on his contract - could also be on his way to the Bernabeu.

Madrid's sport director Miguel Pardeza said on Thursday: "With Arbeloa there was an option which, at the moment, has come to nothing.

"Liverpool haven't had much intention of letting him go, even though he has one year left on his contract, and we are still in this situation.

"There is more than a month of the transfer market left and this could change. I'm not going to deny that we'd like to have Arbeloa."

On Alonso's future, Pardeza said: "From day one, Liverpool have asked for more than Madrid are ready to pay and it's very difficult to understand. But I've not lost hope that things can be resolved."

And there could also be movement on Andrea Dossena's possible departure soon, with the full-back believed to want to return to Italy, where Napoli are interested.

The club president Aurelio De Laurentiis said: We are talking to Liverpool about Dossena."

Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and midfielder Nabil El Zhar, who picked up hamstring and knee injuries against Thailand, are returning to England for scans and further assessment.

[Paco]

Lmao cheers for that

 

I don't speak spanish but i think this says that Jamie Carragher will kill Xabi Alonso if he goes to madrid

 

Carragher quiere a Xabi Alonso en el Liverpool - MARCA.com

 

 

And this says that negredo will be sacrificed to the God's of football if they can sign Xabi

 

Marca.com

 

and finally it's difficult to grow a beard the same colour as your hair in Liverpool. I need to go to madrid to cure this.

 

LIGA BBVA | REAL MADRID : Xabi, a los fans del Liverpool: "Es difícil garantizar que siga" - AS.com

[Xherdan]

Gay.

 

 

 

I would.

[diego]

The interview Benitez gave the day after the Bascombe story broke made it clear it was true.

 

 

 

Aahhh, now I understand your enthusiasm. It's all Xabi's fault. Look I don't care whose fault it is (it's no-ones IMO), but the fact of the matter is that if Xabi was not for sale certain things would have happened and they haven't.

 

The Xabi shit could go away as quickly as the Torres shit did. It hasn't.

 

 

You seem to want to make the argument that however much Rafa says he is not for sale, he must be for sale because Real Madrid keep trying. That's what RM wants you to think.

 

Your error is in thinking that all the media noise created by Real Madrid and the agent is the same as Real Madrid making an offer or negotiating an offer with LFC. As I have said the only party to whom Real Madrid have spoken is Alonso's agent. Alonso and his agent have agreed terms with Real Madrid on the condition that Real Madrid will have to pay no more than 20 million pounds. Alonso and Real Madrid miscalculated - badly. Now they are toing and froing with each other about the merits of offering a higher price.

 

Meanwhile Rafa and LFC stand by their original position. He is not for sale. There is nothing to discuss.

 

As in the case of every player at every club - if the player puts in a transfer request the club will have to respond to say yes, no or maybe. At that stage fees, timing and other conditions can be discussed.

 

But Rafa does not want Alonso to go (nor, incidentally, do I). Not because he is the best midfield player FC has ever had - he clearly is not - but because he is an important cog in a functioning team and there is no clear replacement at short notice. It would be risky to let him go.

 

However if Real Madrid were to offer silly money and if Rafa felt that that money would allow him to compensate for the loss of Alonso and improve the team then that could be discussed.

 

Real Madrid have made no offer at all. Alonso has not put in a transfer request. Ergo there is nothing to discuss.

[SpeedyG]

You seem to want to make the argument that however much Rafa says he is not for sale, he must be for sale because Real Madrid keep trying. That's what RM wants you to think.

 

Your error is in thinking that all the media noise created by Real Madrid and the agent is the same as Real Madrid making an offer or negotiating an offer with LFC. As I have said the only party to whom Real Madrid have spoken is Alonso's agent. Alonso and his agent have agreed terms with Real Madrid on the condition that Real Madrid will have to pay no more than 20 million pounds. Alonso and Real Madrid miscalculated - badly. Now they are toing and froing with each other about the merits of offering a higher price.

 

Meanwhile Rafa and LFC stand by their original position. He is not for sale. There is nothing to discuss.

 

As in the case of every player at every club - if the player puts in a transfer request the club will have to respond to say yes, no or maybe. At that stage fees, timing and other conditions can be discussed.

 

But Rafa does not want Alonso to go (nor, incidentally, do I). Not because he is the best midfield player FC has ever had - he clearly is not - but because he is an important cog in a functioning team and there is no clear replacement at short notice. It would be risky to let him go.

 

However if Real Madrid were to offer silly money and if Rafa felt that that money would allow him to compensate for the loss of Alonso and improve the team then that could be discussed.

 

Real Madrid have made no offer at all. Alonso has not put in a transfer request. Ergo there is nothing to discuss.

 

So after all that telling me how I'm thinking (which clearly doesn't jive with how I'm thinking because I explained how I'm thinking) and how I'm wrong you're telling me that we are prepared to sell. Which is all I've ever said. :whoops:

[diego]

So after all that telling me how I'm thinking (which clearly doesn't jive with how I'm thinking because I explained how I'm thinking) and how I'm wrong you're telling me that we are prepared to sell. Which is all I've ever said. :whoops:

 

No I'm not, and no I didnt.

[Guest Ulysses Everett McGill]

So after all that telling me how I'm thinking (which clearly doesn't jive with how I'm thinking because I explained how I'm thinking) and how I'm wrong you're telling me that we are prepared to sell. Which is all I've ever said. :whoops:

 

 

World of difference between wanting to or being prepared to sell a player and trying to get the best possible resolution for your club in regards to a player who has no intention of kicking another ball for his current employer.

[SpeedyG]

No I'm not, and no I didnt.

 

However if Real Madrid were to offer silly money and if Rafa felt that that money would allow him to compensate for the loss of Alonso and improve the team then that could be discussed.

 

So are you saying we would enter into discussions with Madrid for the purposes of discussing not selling him?

[Red Phoenix]

Skint means we won't even be getting this back up striker,Ched Evans has gone to Sheff Utd.

 

Pacheco it is then. Anyway, that post was based on Xabi staying, and I don't really think he's staying now.

[Lupin]

So are you saying we would enter into discussions with Madrid for the purposes of discussing not selling him?

 

No, he is clearly saying that we don't want to sell and at the price Madrid say they are willing to pay (they have not made an official offer as yet) there is nothing to discuss. However, if Madrid were eventually to make an official offer higher than Rafa realistically rates the player - i.e., compensation and beyond - then he may decide to re-examine the 'possibilities'. The rest is hyper-bollocks.

 

Put it this way, the press have had him moving toward that exit so long and so often he could have circumnavigated the globe several times by now. He will join Madrid on his return from holiday - he didn't. He will fly to Madrid to discuss terms and not join LFC in Switzerland - he didn't and he did. he will stay behind and have a medical in Madrid rather than joining his colleagues in Austria - ditto. He will fly to Madrid rather than join his colleagues in Thailand - and again... He didn't play in Thaland as Liverpool have agreed a fee with Real - he had an ankle knock and trained the next day, and we didn't and haven't. he won't be joining the team in Singapore as...blah blah..and there he is, in Singapore.

 

Meanwhile, Madrid say they are unwilling to pay the 'unreasonable' (you have to laugh) fee Liverpool value him at, but they hope we may become 'reasonable' (still laughing) and they haven't lost hope - meanwhile, they can't get Arbeloa off us either.

 

Rafa will win this one - whichever way he decides by the end of the window.

Edited July 24, 2009 by Lupin

[Paul]

its pretty clear we are skint

 

So how many of you would be really happy if Xabi stays and we dont get anyone brilliant for the wide areas, to my view where we lost the title last season?

 

I'd be absolutely delighted if our squad stayed as it is now for the coming season. In fact if it did, I'd see us as favourites for the title as we'd have easily the strongest first team and arguably the strongest squad. Clearly there would still be issues such as the need for a 4th choice centre half, the reliance on only two match winners and the absence of a genuine plan B. What team doesn't have deficiencies, though?

[Albertini]

Latest from Madrid in the Mirror:

 

httphttp://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/07/23/xabi-alonso-not-going-to-real-madrid-on-anywhere-else-insist-liverpool-115875-21542121/

 

Madrid sporting director Miguel Pardeza still holds out hope they can persuade Liverpool to part with Spain duo Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.

 

With regards Alonso, Pardeza said: "It's at a standstill. From day one, Liverpool have asked for more than Madrid are ready to pay and it's very difficult to understand. But I've not lost hope that things can be resolved."

 

Pardeza, who confirmed Madrid have been looking for an alternative to Alonso but with little success, also admitted a lack of progress in their chase of defender Arbeloa.

 

"With Arbeloa there was an option which, at the moment, has come to nothing. Liverpool haven't had much intention of letting him go, even though he has one year left on his contract, and we are still in this situation," Pardeza told Spanish newspaper Publico.

 

"There is more than a month of the transfer market left and this could change. I'm not going to deny that we'd like to have Arbeloa."

 

Now these whoppers are just unreal and seriously starting to piss me off.

 

Why is it difficult to understand that we want the current market place for one of our best players, you dick?

 

The reason the market price is higher is because you fucked up the market by paying daft money for players.

 

If Benzema is £35 million then so is Xabi.

 

And this is the most blatant tapping up of two of our players and should be reported, nowt will get done but this is more blatant than anything we did with Ziege for which we got fined.

[Mick R]

No, he is clearly saying that we don't want to sell and at the price Madrid say they are willing to pay (they have not made an official offer as yet) there is nothing to discuss. However, if Madrid were eventually to make an official offer higher than Rafa realistically rates the player - i.e., compensation and beyond - then he may decide to re-examine the 'possibilities'. The rest is hyper-bollocks.

 

Put it this way, the press have had him moving toward that exit so long and so often he could have circumnavigated the globe several times by now. He will join Madrid on his return from holiday - he didn't. He will fly to Madrid to discuss terms and not join LFC in Switzerland - he didn't and he did. he will stay behind and have a medical in Madrid rather than joining his colleagues in Austria - ditto. He will fly to Madrid rather than join his colleagues in Thailand - and again... He didn't play in Thaland as Liverpool have agreed a fee with Real - he had an ankle knock and trained the next day, and we didn't and haven't. he won't be joining the team in Singapore as...blah blah..and there he is, in Singapore.

 

Meanwhile, Madrid say they are unwilling to pay the 'unreasonable' (you have to laugh) fee Liverpool value him at, but they hope we may become 'reasonable' (still laughing) and they haven't lost hope - meanwhile, they can't get Arbeloa off us either.

 

Rafa will win this one - whichever way he decides by the end of the window.

 

I like that post. I'm going to rep you.

[RedinSweden]

Latest from Madrid in the Mirror:

 

httphttp://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/07/23/xabi-alonso-not-going-to-real-madrid-on-anywhere-else-insist-liverpool-115875-21542121/

 

 

 

Now these whoppers are just unreal and seriously starting to piss me off.

 

Why is it difficult to understand that we want the current market place for one of our best players, you dick?

 

The reason the market price is higher is because you fucked up the market by paying daft money for players.

 

If Benzema is £35 million then so is Xabi.

 

And this is the most blatant tapping up of two of our players and should be reported, nowt will get done but this is more blatant than anything we did with Ziege for which we got fined.

 

"From day one, Liverpool have asked for more than Madrid are ready to pay and it's very difficult to understand."

 

Fucking hell, they really take the fucking biscuit. So, they decide the price, and can't understand that a club disagrees with them. Bunch of fucking cunts.

[Mick R]

Latest from Madrid in the Mirror:

 

httphttp://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/2009/07/23/xabi-alonso-not-going-to-real-madrid-on-anywhere-else-insist-liverpool-115875-21542121/

 

 

 

Now these whoppers are just unreal and seriously starting to piss me off.

 

Why is it difficult to understand that we want the current market place for one of our best players, you dick?

 

The reason the market price is higher is because you fucked up the market by paying daft money for players.

 

If Benzema is £35 million then so is Xabi.

 

And this is the most blatant tapping up of two of our players and should be reported, nowt will get done but this is more blatant than anything we did with Ziege for which we got fined.

 

Madrid's arrogance is staggering and it makes Manchester United look like petulant 5-yr olds by comparison. What an utterly hateful club they really are. Whether Alonso goes or not (and I've got to the point (like many others, I suspect) where I don't care whether he stays or goes now), I agree with Lupin - I think Rafa will win this one. The longer it goes on, the more I can see him getting what he believes is the best outcome.

 

The only problem I can see with the dragging on is that it leaves less time for replacements/the money to be spent. But if Rafa has planned well, perhaps things are in place should Alonso eventually be sold.

[JohnnyH]

Madrid sporting director Miguel Pardeza still holds out hope they can persuade Liverpool to part with Spain duo Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa.

 

With regards Alonso, Pardeza said: "It's at a standstill. From day one, Liverpool have asked for more than Madrid are ready to pay and it's very difficult to understand. But I've not lost hope that things can be resolved."

 

Pardeza, who confirmed Madrid have been looking for an alternative to Alonso but with little success, also admitted a lack of progress in their chase of defender Arbeloa.

 

"With Arbeloa there was an option which, at the moment, has come to nothing. Liverpool haven't had much intention of letting him go, even though he has one year left on his contract, and we are still in this situation," Pardeza told Spanish newspaper Publico.

 

"There is more than a month of the transfer market left and this could change. I'm not going to deny that we'd like to have Arbeloa."[/quoteIT]

 

That is un-fucking-believable. That is a staggering level of arrogance that I’ve not seen from any other club. Even the Mancs.

 

Right now I still really like Xabi and really want him to stay, but if he leaves to join that shower of utter utter cunts then I will find it very hard not to wish a shite remaining career on him. I hope he can live with his decision when he is dealing with that awful shower of pricks with a fan base who will ignore him for their “superstars” of Ronaldo and Kaka. I’d have a lot more respect if he didn’t sign for them now and ended up at Milan, or someone else.

 

I really hope there is a Gerrard level about-turn coming up.