Summer 2011

[WhiskeyJar]

Downing won't commit to Villa - Liverpool FC

 

Aston Villa star Stewart Downing has confirmed that he will not be committing to a new contract 'at the moment.

 

The England winger enjoyed an excellent campaign for Villa, winning their Player of the Year award.

 

His form has seen him recalled to the national team set-up, whilst his appearances have caught the eye of a number of clubs.

 

Skysports.com revealed earlier this month that Villa want to make him the highest paid player at the club, but Liverpool and Arsenal are both understood to be keen.

 

"I am 26 and at a major crossroads in my career so I won't be committing to a new deal at the moment."

 

Downing has now confirmed talks have taken place but he is not about to sign a new deal, with two years still remaining on his current contract.

 

"I know the club are keen for me to extend my contract as I only have two years left on my deal and that my agent had a recent meeting with our chief executive (Paul Faulkner)," Downing confirmed.

 

"However, I am 26 and at a major crossroads in my career so I won't be committing to a new deal at the moment."

 

Downing joined Villa in 2009, but he was still recovering from a broken foot so this season has been his first full campaign for the club.

 

Villa now look to have a fight to hold on to Downing, which will be a huge blow, especially with Ashley Young edging towards the exit door at Villa Park.

 

Downing further underlined that he could be looking elsewhere when he revealed that he is yearning to play in the Champions League.

 

"I want to keep playing and enjoying my football," Downing told the Northern Echo.

 

"When I was injured that made me realise what it can be like to be out for such a long time. It hurt. The most important thing is to play football, but I do want to play in the Champions League at some point.

 

"The most important thing for me, though, is to stay fit and then the rewards will come with that, hopefully. I have got back into the England squad, I have to make sure I stay there.

 

"It was horrible to miss the World Cup last year, but I was not the only one. Looking back it was probably because I was injured for much of that season that I never made it."

[silverlining]

Dann, Adam, Downing.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm x 1 million

[zigackly]

None of those players are bad signings per se unless they are the only ones we sign. We do need a stronger squad as well as improving the first team. Two of those players would definitely improve the first team in my opinion though. Dann for Skrtel, and Downing for Maxi or whoever else we are playing on the left.

 

I don't fancy Adam, and Downing would be my second choice from Villa, let alone other teams, but he would improve us.

[gingerhulk]

Scott Dann, 10million?? Fuck off! Wouldn't spend more than 6million on him.

[Major Tom]

Dann, Adam, Downing.

 

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm x 1 million

 

...is the correct response.

 

Barely an improvement on what we already have.

[MLB]

Some people will be crying themselves to sleep if we don't sign someone like Hazard or Mata, I'm convinced of it. The reality is that both of those players will be very hard to sign. It's not impossible, but I'm thinking some should possibly lower their sights a little to avoid disappointment.

[JohnnyH]

I don't want Adam at all. I'd take Downing, but would much rather a number of thers. Dann seems good though. Certainly I'd rather him over Cahill.

[Major Tom]

Some people will be crying themselves to sleep if we don't sign someone like Hazard or Mata, I'm convinced of it. The reality is that both of those players will be very hard to sign. It's not impossible, but I'm thinking some should possibly lower their sights a little to avoid disappointment.

 

Fuck that. I'm hoping for the best, not a bunch of players which will do little but consolidate 5th or 6th place.

 

And, so I will be pretty bloody disappointed if we don't sign someone of the ilk of Mata/Hazard.

[MLB]

Fuck that. I'm hoping for the best, not a bunch of players which will do little but consolidate 5th or 6th place.

 

And, so I will be pretty bloody disappointed if we don't sign someone of the ilk of Mata/Hazard.

 

 

Get real. You don't think Kenny and Comolli want to sign those players as well? We are competing against clubs who have Champion's League football to offer and shitloads of cash to throw at them. I'm sure we will sign the best players that we can, so if we can't get the likes of Hazard and Mata then it won't be for want of trying. And we will still need to sign players in order to strengthen, so I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm going to trust Kenny and Comolli to bring in the right people. I'm not one of these people who spends hours playing football manager, watches a few foreign games and then decides that he is a better judge of a player than someone who has managed (and in varying degrees built) two title winning sides.

[silverlining]

Downing is exactly the kind of player we have an over-abundance of.

Solid, reliable, completely ordinary and incapable of truly taking the team to the next level.

 

Alright pace, alright passing, decent crossing, fairly hard worker, takes on a fullback once in a blue moon. Jack of all trades, master of fuck all would be a compliment for him.

 

But that's not even the point (which seems to completely fly past some folk on RAWK), you could say he's a world class player for all i care, does he bring what we need? Does he bollocks.

What we lack most in forward positions, especially out wide is pace and creativity, Downing offers little of either, and he'd be damn expensive.

 

 

Young has been rumoured to favour United for ages. He's certainly a very good player, and I agree that his pace would be very useful for us, but if he favours the Scum, what can we do?

 

As for Downing, I agree that he does feel a little underwhelming, and your description of his is sort of fair, although I think you are underselling his effectiveness, he scored a fair few goals last season.

[The Woolster]

Well, it's very difficult to predict how we're going to line up next season if we buy a new left winger (or two) and a new central midfielder. We already have about five central midfielders, so something's got to give. Say we buy Mata and Adam, for example. How do we then line up? If it's effectively a 4-4-2 then that only leaves room for Gerrard and one more in the centre. If it's a kind of 4-3-3 then a left winger isn't really what we need as Suarez would have to play that role, with maybe Adam, Lucas and Gerrard in the centre. Or do we drop Dirk and play Suarez on the right side and someone like Mata on the left? That looks the strongest option on paper to me, but the point is that it's all speculation, and the people shouting for us to sign all these players don't seem to be taking into account how the fuck we're going to fit them all into the team.

 

 

Its called having options isn't it?

 

I think our preferred option next season will be 4-3-3, with a new marquee signing who can play either in a 3 or as a winger (Mata, Hazard, Sanchez, AN Other). As back up for the players in this formation we have Kuyt, Maxi, and perhaps another new signing who is more of a winger but could also play in this formation (Downing, N'Zogbia, Jarvis, AN Other).

 

In the midfield 3 we will have Lucas (or a new signing) holding and Gerrard (with Spearing backing up Lucas), and then one of Meireles or new signing (Adam, McCarthy, AN Other) playing alongside them, and backing up you have Maxi and Shelvey if he is not on loan. You've got to remember that Gerrard's fitness record isn't great, so often it could be 2 those.

 

However, perhaps depending on the oppo, or if we are chasing a game, we may want to go 4-4-2 using Carroll's aerial presence, as it would be mad not to take advantage of it in certain situations. Then the marquee signing moves out wide, the 2nd new attacking signing (the winger already mentioned) plays on the other side, and then Lucas and Gerrard, or Gerrard and one of Meireles or new midifled signing, with Gerrard the holding player in the middle.

 

With a bit of rotation and undoubted injuries that will be picked up along the way, everyone should get a good amount of game time.

[silverlining]

Some people will be crying themselves to sleep if we don't sign someone like Hazard or Mata, I'm convinced of it. The reality is that both of those players will be very hard to sign. It's not impossible, but I'm thinking some should possibly lower their sights a little to avoid disappointment.

 

It would be nice to sign at least one "fantasy" player with a foreign name that we can all get really excited by.

 

And we managed to sign Suarez, who fits that type of signing.

[Major Tom]

Get real. You don't think Kenny and Comolli want to sign those players as well? We are competing against clubs who have Champion's League football to offer and shitloads of cash to throw at them. I'm sure we will sign the best players that we can, so if we can't get the likes of Hazard and Mata then it won't be for want of trying. And we will still need to sign players in order to strengthen, so I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm going to trust Kenny and Comolli to bring in the right people. I'm not one of these people who spends hours playing football manager, watches a few foreign games and then decides that he is a better judge of a player than someone who has managed (and in varying degrees built) two title winning sides.

 

Get real? I'll manage my own expectation, thanks all the same, MLB.

 

I also hate the "Kenny is a better judge" type crap. Of course he is and of course I trust his judgemment over my own, but it won't stop me speculating, discussing and opining on who I want to play for Liverpool and how, based on what I have seen of them.

 

If you don't like that sort of discussion, speculation and opinion on football and football players, I would suggest a football forum is not the place for you.

 

meh

[WhiskeyJar]

On a side note:

 

Rodolfo Borrell and Mike Marsh handed new roles at Liverpool FC Academy

 

 

LIVERPOOL have finalised changes to their Academy set-up which they hope will improve the flow of players into the first team squad.

 

Academy director Frank McParland has become director of academy and player development, with additional responsibility for overseeing all reserve team matters.

 

“It’s part of the club ethos to actively develop the people we already have in place and I’m delighted we have been able to promote so many different individuals from within the academy,” he said.

 

“We’ve looked at the best way of integrating these different functions within the club as part of our overall vision on how we should operate and also how we identify the right type of players to bring through to the first team.”

 

Technical director Pep Segura has signed a new contract, with an extension of his duties to include technical development of the reserves.

 

 

 

 

The vacancy left by departure of John McMahon as reserve team manager in March has been filled by under-18s coach Rodolfo Borrell, with his position taken by under-16s coach Mike Marsh and Steve Cooper promoted to academy manager and under-16 coach.

 

Stuart Webber, previously senior national scout, has been promoted to director of recruitment.

 

“Real progress has been made this season and this has been reflected in the recognition given to our young academy players - both at senior level within the club and also on the international football stage,” said director of football Damien Comolli.

 

“But we have put a considerable amount of time and effort into thinking about what we need going forward and these changes reflect our desire to constantly improve the way we work.

 

“Stability is a key part of this process and the quality of the people already working at the academy has been reflected in the number of internal promotions we have made.”

 

“We’ve considered both the technical development of the boys at Kirkby and the way our scouting of youngsters in the first place fits into the club’s overall recruitment policy.”

 

Rodolfo Borrell and Mike Marsh handed new roles at Liverpool FC Academy - Liverpool FC News - Liverpool FC - Liverpool Daily Post

[Xherdan]

This time of year brings me so much joy. For instance, everyone seems to become experts on player valuations. Nah, Dann is not worth £10m, but I would pay £6m. What makes gingerhulk an expert in player valuations? Is he Code72's apprentice?

[MLB]

Its called having options isn't it?

 

I think our preferred option next season will be 4-3-3, with a new marquee signing who can play either in a 3 or as a winger (Mata, Hazard, Sanchez, AN Other). As back up for the players in this formation we have Kuyt, Maxi, and perhaps another new signing who is more of a winger but could also play in this formation (Downing, N'Zogbia, Jarvis, AN Other).

 

In the midfield 3 we will have Lucas (or a new signing) holding and Gerrard (with Spearing backing up Lucas), and then one of Meireles or new signing (Adam, McCarthy, AN Other) playing alongside them, and backing up you have Maxi and Shelvey if he is not on loan. You've got to remember that Gerrard's fitness record isn't great, so often it could be 2 those.

 

However, perhaps depending on the oppo, or if we are chasing a game, we may want to go 4-4-2 using Carroll's aerial presence, as it would be mad not to take advantage of it in certain situations. Then the marquee signing moves out wide, the 2nd new attacking signing (the winger already mentioned) plays on the other side, and then Lucas and Gerrard, or Gerrard and one of Meireles or new midifled signing, with Gerrard the holding player in the middle.

 

With a bit of rotation and undoubted injuries that will be picked up along the way, everyone should get a good amount of game time.

 

 

Fair enough, I probably shouldn't let it bother me. If people want to get their hopes up about us signing players that about 15 other top clubs are in for then it's not really my business. I just don't want to have to read the shit-storm of negativity on here when they go elsewhere. I'll be as happy as anyone if we sign someone like Mata, but I think the more likely scenario is that we'll get Downing and Marveaux. I'm okay with that personally because I believe that they will strengthen us, and I believe that it would be very difficult for us to get better players under the circumstances. Some people definitely won't be though, and I can just hear the moaning coming from miles off as their unrealistic expectations are dashed.

[Mark M]

Downing is exactly the kind of player we have an over-abundance of.

Solid, reliable, completely ordinary and incapable of truly taking the team to the next level.

 

Alright pace, alright passing, decent crossing, fairly hard worker, takes on a fullback once in a blue moon. Jack of all trades, master of fuck all would be a compliment for him.

 

But that's not even the point (which seems to completely fly past some folk on RAWK), you could say he's a world class player for all i care, does he bring what we need? Does he bollocks.

What we lack most in forward positions, especially out wide is pace and creativity, Downing offers little of either, and he'd be damn expensive.

 

I'm not going to pretend I know all that much about the current flavour of the month foreign wingers, but surely there's a better option out there.

We should be all over Young like a cheap suit but it seems Ferguson is eager to get his greasy hands on Young who in turn seems eager to keep the bench warm for a certain sicknote from Chester, so we need to move on to someone else.

 

well said, agree with all that, i think because he's "english" and has a left foot he gets a lot more credit than he deserves.

[aRdja]

This time of year brings me so much joy. For instance, everyone seems to become experts on player valuations. Nah, Dann is not worth £10m, but I would pay £6m. What makes gingerhulk an expert in player valuations? Is he Code72's apprentice?

It's not rocket science mate.

 

You can only compare said player to another player in the same position recently sold.. For example, United bought De Gea for 17 million pounds. Reina I reckon is a better GK, thus he should be worth more than 17 million pounds.

[BenR_]

I won't argue with the suggestion that Downing is a good player... but is he a "squad player"?

You're looking at, the very least, £17m or so for him. Probably closer to 20.

 

He's worth half that at best, but that's around what he's worth for Villa at the moment, many people seem to think we can get him for £9-10m, I don't think you realize Villa paid more than that to Boro for him so stands to reason they'd want to make a significant profit on him as he has some 2-3 years to run down on his contract.

I mean, look at how they milked City for Milner!

 

He's not coming as the lesser of two wingers, if he comes he'll be our biggest signing out wide, his price tag dictates that.

I'd much prefer paying half that for N'Zogbia who is a better player and younger to boot.

You can probably get both Elia & N'Zogbia for Downing's price, and both have pace and can take on a man and deliver a decent ball into the box.

 

One thing's for sure, it's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions this summer. One moment we're linked with some exciting names, the next it seems we'll piss £35m on the wall buying Adam, Downing and Enrique and building the most expensive mid table side in Europe.

[Xherdan]

It's not rocket science mate.

 

You can only compare said player to another player in the same position recently sold.. For example, United bought De Gea for 17 million pounds. Reina I reckon is a better GK, thus he should be worth more than 17 million pounds.

 

 

Enlighten me then. Where does the £6m valuation from Dann come from? What players has he been compared to to arrive at this valuation? Does this new comparison method make the supply and demand principle irrelevant?

[WhiskeyJar]

I agree, we need creativity and flair in our wingers and foward attacking positions. I would love to see:

 

Mata

Marin

Aguero

 

I would be happy with those but alas i think we can sign 2 out of the three.

[The Woolster]

Fair enough, I probably shouldn't let it bother me. If people want to get their hopes up about us signing players that about 15 other top clubs are in for then it's not really my business. I just don't want to have to read the shit-storm of negativity on here when they go elsewhere. I'll be as happy as anyone if we sign someone like Mata, but I think the more likely scenario is that we'll get Downing and Marveaux. I'm okay with that personally because I believe that they will strengthen us, and I believe that it would be very difficult for us to get better players under the circumstances. Some people definitely won't be though, and I can just hear the moaning coming from miles off as their unrealistic expectations are dashed.

 

Also fair enough. The marquee signing I mention could well be Downing if we don't get one of the 'bigger' names, and he may not be as exciting, but he would definately improve us. My preference would be for Adam Johnson or N'Zogbia if we can't get a star name, but either way, if we buy 2 wingers/wide forwards, as well as a CM, we will have enough room for them all in the squad, which was my point in response to your post I quoted.

[Unrighteous]

Dann, Downing, McCarthy, and MATA would be a stellar summer. Let's be honest.

 

I think Dann is ace, and he's a Red.

[Major Tom]

It's not rocket science mate.

 

You can only compare said player to another player in the same position recently sold.. For example, United bought De Gea for 17 million pounds. Reina I reckon is a better GK, thus he should be worth more than 17 million pounds.

 

No, it's probably not rocket science but it's a little more complicated than what you are making out.

 

Among other things, age, length of contract, buyer's need to buy, seller's need to sell, form, injury history, all play a part in making up a fee..

 

Everyone knows Utd need a 'keeper. Logically, they should be held to a king's ransom to get one.

[Major Tom]

Dann, Downing, McCarthy, and MATA would be a stellar summer. Let's be honest.

 

I think Dann is ace, and he's a Red.

 

I'd be happy with that summer.

 

Dann's stock has risen though. How good actually is he? I have seen little of him.