£30million Summer Clearout

[Guest DIGGERS DRIBBLE]

The reports coming out of many papers today and even the Echo suggest that LFC are going to have a £30Million summer clearout here is the Echo article;

 

 

LIVERPOOL hope to off-load £30million worth of talent this summer whether they qualify for the Champions League or not.

 

The Anfield club are prepared to release at least seven first team players for either drastically reduced fees or free transfers in response to a second successive disappointing campaign.

 

Emile Heskey and El Hadji Diouf, (left), head the casualty list, while Liverpool will also listen to offers for Stephane Henchoz, Salif Diao, Djimi Traore, Markus Babbel and Gregory Vignal as they attempt to regroup and rebuild for next season.

 

Heskey, an £11m signing from Leicester in 2000, is attracting interest from several Premiership clubs including Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Blackburn and will be allowed to leave for £5m.

 

£10m flop Diouf is on Marseille's wanted list this summer, Henchoz - recalled for the Easter Monday defeat by Charlton - has been linked with Stuttgart, Traore with Bolton and £5m midfielder Diao with a return to France.

 

Defensive duo Babbel and Vignal are already out on loan at Blackburn and Espanyol respectively, and Liverpool will not block any of their departures if firm offers are received.

 

Anfield officials have already ear-marked £14m for the arrival of Djibril Cisse this summer and will have to pay around £5m to bring Auxerre team-mate Philippe Mexes to Merseyside. But that may not seal a deal for the French international after his agent insisted he would not join Liverpool if they fail to qualify for the Champions League.

 

Auxerre coach Guy Roux last week revealed Houllier was leading the race to sign the 22-year-old. But last night his agent Olivier Jouanneaux insisted: "Philippe will not join Liverpool if they do not qualify for the Champions League next year. It is a key motivation for him to play in the European Cup."

 

Juventus are one of several Italian clubs also interested in Mexes.

 

Jouanneaux added: "Auxerre have told us that they will sell Philippe in the summer, but they have as yet to fix a transfer fee.

 

"When we met on Friday, Roux did not mention Liverpool. But Roux would prefer Mexes to move to an English club, because Premiership teams do not have the financial problems of Italian sides. But above all what Roux wants to do is to create competition between clubs to increase the transfer fee."

 

If this is TRUE and it has to be for the good of LFC i hope this is just the start and the Manager is the first to go. Only managers who have won the title or CL deserve the right to rebuild a side because on the assumption of the above article Houllier and the board are basically admitting to themselves that the 5 year plan has failed. So it seems that the next logic decision is give Foolier more money to waste on his next 5 year plan to relegation!!!!!!

[Paul]

This is great news, if true, but it's at least a year (if not two) too late. The cackers in the squad were clear for all to see two summers ago when we signed the three jokes from the French league, but there was no clearout then. There's no mention of Vlad, Igor or Cheyrou on this list, none of whom are anything like Liverpool players.

 

This, along with the Bergues story, smacks of panic from GH as he attempts to appease the fans. If he'd been this decisive even at Christmas when the transfer window opened, it might have been regarded as a positive step. Now it just seems like too little, too late. Having said that, I won't lose any sleep over any of them going; although Steph and Markus will be fondly remembered as Liverpool greats.

[danhaddad]

Where is this £30 million figure coming from. We would struggle to recoup half of that if we tried to sell all those players - we will make a loss on each one and with the state of the transfer market at the moment, if we want to sell them it will have to be extremely cut-price.

 

The biggest financial postitive of the sales qwould probably the huge reduction in the wage bill, but we would no way be able to get 30 million for those players.

[catinhat]

Obviously I like the idea of a clear-out, but the £30m figure seems wildly optimistic:

£5m for Heskey (if we're very lucky - I imagine it would be £3-4m, especially since he only has a year left on contract). We might get £3-£4m for Diouf, and could probably get £3-4m for Henchoz. Babbel will go on a free, simply to get him off wage bill, and Traore, Diao and Vignal could raise about £5m in total. Hence even if we're being as optimistic as possible, I can't see us getting more than £18m for the players mentioned in the article.

[Mav]

They seem to be using purchase rather than sale price to calcualte the 30 mill

[Paul]

The Express have also suggested that Hamann, Smicer (both with only a year left on their contracts), Hyypia and Murphy might also be available. If there's any truth in this "GH to rebuild" story, I reckon everyone is available for sale bar Gerrard, Owen, Carragher, Baros, Kewell and Kirkland. That's the only way he'll get funds in for a rebuild. However, he's still going to need a massive cash injection from the board.

 

The Express also linked us with Michael Dawson at Forest. Does anyone know much about him? I know he's a centre half, but is he quick? If not, we shouldn't bother.

[Duncan Clench]

They seem to be using purchase rather than sale price to calcualte the 30 mill

 

That does seem to be the case. No way are the players mentioned worth 30 mill. It does only mention the so-called firt team players though (Diao being the anomily) so there could be more to come from the academy and the scraping of the barrel of the main squad.

 

The plus for us is that we're shouldn't miss that money too badly (we've got good fans that still turn up when we're playing like we are), and the transfer market (although not good if you're selling) is currently in a good place regarding aquisitions. Smith for £5 million? Bargain IMO. Signings need to be made before the Euro Champs though, otherwise the prices will go up and up and up....and I don't see it as being easy to offload some of these guys.

[Duncan Clench]

Just out of interest, who do you guys think is actually worth keeping? Stevie aside obviously.

[Vivaldo]

I think we should keep the following,

 

Baros,

Pongelle,

Carragher,

Kewell,

Tony Le T,

Kirkland,

Finnan,

And maybe Riise,

[Vivaldo]

But if we do get a 20 Mill bid for Mr Owen and say 15-20 Mill for some of the other dross then it will need to be carefully considered? But no bid for Owen then that is also fine by me he should stay BUT under the guidance of a new manager

[fivetimes]

FINNAN?!?!?

 

KEEP FINNAN?!?!?!?

 

oh good god why?!

 

ok it is only his first season and all that shite, but he just does not look good enought by a long way.

[Paul]

As above, Gerrard, Owen, Carragher, Kewell, Baros and Kirkland. There's others I'd like to see stay and push their way into a rebuilt team/squad, like ALT, FSP, Murphy, Welsh and Otsemebor. However, I wouldn't be that arsed if they went.

[Vivaldo]

I think he has done quite well, ok has made a couple mistakes this season but who hasn't?

[catinhat]

Really shows the state of our team - and the mental state of fans - that it's easier to list the few players we want to stay rather than the many we want rid of. I would add Hyypia to the list of players to stay though. Hyypia together with a fast centre back would still be a good partnership.

 

If we get rid of Riise, we might as well get rid of all of our young players, because this assumes we can't get an improvment out of any of them. All you have to do is look at all the young players we've bought and how many of them have improved - think of the likes of...er...um...hmmmm.

 

The fact that we don't seem able to improve young players and get the most out of them is yet another indication of the training / tactical / football philosophy failure at the club. Baros is the only player I can think of who looks better now than when he arrived.

[Paul]

I'd pair a fast new centre back with Carra. I think it was Evans' last season when he had a long run in that position and I thought he was class surrounded by shite. He's more mobile than Hyypia and is the best defender at the club, in my opinion. He also leads the back four better than anyone else and it would give the team an entirely homegrown spine. We could then have specialist full backs istead of make shift ones. It's easy to forget, but none of Carra, Babbel or Riise were full backs before we played them there.

[fivetimes]

babbel was right back for bayern for most of his career wasnt he?!?!

[Paul]

Centre-back or one of back three, I thought. Could obviously be wrong.

[MLB]

Keep:

 

Kirkland

Dudek

Otsemobor

Carra

Riise

Hyypia

Medjani

Gerrard

Kewell

Le Tallec

Welsh

Owen

Baros

Pongolle

 

Borderline: (any 3 of these should probably go)

 

Finnan

Henchoz

Hamann

Diouf

Smicer

 

Definitely Out:

 

Biscan

Traore

Diao

Murphy

Cheyrou

Heskey

[Stu Monty]

I'd go along with that assessment apart from:

 

Finnan in the keep section, he will improve and is two footed and attacking (which will be great....when he improves ;)

Dudek and Murphy both in the borderline section.

Houllier in the Defenitely out section with Babbel and Vignal

[MLB]

Yeah, I figure Babbel and Vignal are gone already. I can't see them coming back anytime soon - same goes for Diarra.

 

Can't see the point of selling Dudek though. He's a good keeper, committed (he says he'll stay even if he isn't first choice), and let's face it, we wouldn't get that much for him anyway.

 

I agree that Finnan probably deserves a bit more of a chance to prove himself, though.

[The Party Boy]

I'd sling out every french man and anyone who speaks French, wankers the lot of em.

[DT]

I have this image of a new manager lining up the whole squad and backroom staff and then asking them individually 'Parlez vous francais?'

 

Every 'Mais oui' would then be followed by a kick in the nads and the player would be followed by security to the gates of Melwood. Heskey would be thrown out as well, obviously. That goes without saying, although I did say it.

[Agent Smith]

First teamers

 

Kirkland

Carra

Finnan - Willing to give him another season.

Henchoz*

Hyypia*

Gerrard

Kewell

Owen

Baros

 

Youngsters for the squad

 

Welsh

Pongolle

Le Tallec

 

Other youngsters that we have to decide to keep or move on.

 

Otsemobor

Partridge

Vignal

Luzi

Diarra

Mellor

Warnock

Foley Sheridan

 

 

The following players can all go at the right price as long as there is suitable cover for their position. They should not be automatic first choice.

 

Dudek - would prefer Jones back and/or a good youngster fighting for the backup position.

Hamann - too defensive and slow in an attacking team.

Diouf - not shown enough for a regular slot. How long will it take?

Murphy - cover only.

Riise - not shown enough for a long while.

Biscan - would have preferred to see him in his "best position" but the team has moved on.

Traore - cover only.

Smicer - cover only. Le tallec can take his spot.

Cheyrou - Not long left to show what he can do. Le tallec can take his spot.

Diao - same as above. Welsh can take his spot.

Heskey - please leave.

 

* The H+H partnership is past its best but either could play well alongside a CB with pace.

[Barrington Womble]

Centre-back or one of back three, I thought. Could obviously be wrong.

 

i thought he played wing back and centre back as part of a 3.

[Masch-D]

.....