Summer Transfer Thread 2012

[Major Tom]

Liverpool have emerged as favourites to sign the Manchester City winger Adam Johnson before the transfer window closes at the end of this month.

 

 

Johnson is keen to leave the Etihad Stadium this summer in order to further his England credentials. He missed out on the final squad for the European Championship and feels this was down to his lack of regular first-team action during City's Premier League title-winning season.

 

Sunderland, Spurs and Everton have all shown a serious interest and are ready to match City's £10m asking price, which would give them a £2m profit on the 25-year-old signed from Middlesbrough in 2010.

 

Back then Sunderland were also in the running for the North-east winger, but lost out to the spending power and the possibility of winning things at the Etihad. The Wearsiders have the funds in place once again to sign Johnson, with Martin O'Neill eager to add the winger to his squad in this transfer window.

 

Spurs and Everton remain keen on Johnson, who has been capped 12 times for England, but last night Liverpool became front-runners for his signature when their manager, Brendan Rodgers, was told he has the funds to offer Manchester City.

 

Daniel Agger, however, is at this point not included in the prospective deal. The City manager, Roberto Mancini, remains a fan of the 27-year-old Liverpool defender, who would cost in the region of £22m if he were to leave Anfield before the end of August, but the deal for Johnson would be a purely financial one.

 

In an attempt to strengthen his squad Rodgers has also tracked the Barcelona winger Tello, who played in Sunday's 5-1 La Liga win over Real Sociedad.

 

Johnson, however, is the first choice as Rodgers looks to implement a more fluid style at Liverpool. Moreover it is a move that would appeal to the player, who has been champing at the bit while not becoming the regular starter he wanted to be at Manchester City.

 

"I'm the kind of player that needs to be playing regularly," he said. "Any player does, really, no matter what age they are. I need to play week-in week-out. You can't just go into one game after not having played for five, and be expected to perform.

 

"It would be nice to get a run of games with England but I'm not sure if I'll get that chance at City."

 

Mancini has admitted he does not want to lose Johnson, but cannot offer the guarantees the forward wants. "Adam can have a future here but you should also understand when you are 23 or 24 years old, you want to play," said Mancini.

 

"If you are at a top team, you can't always do that, so I agree, if he wants to, he has to leave – but if that happens I will be so sorry because Adam is a good guy. He is a different player to the other strikers and wingers, and maybe he could be important for us."

 

City meanwhile, expect to learn the full extent of Sergio Aguero's injury at the end of the week. The Argentine striker was carried off inside the first 10 minutes of Sunday's opening game against Southampton after damaging his right knee. He later said there was no significant damage but Manchester City's medical staff are still assessing the injury.

 

Liverpool lead Johnson race after Rodgers given financial backing - Transfers - Football - The Independent

[ngogswilly]

I get nervous thinking about Johnson and us splashing 10 odd million on him.

 

I reckon when hes on form hes twice the player Downing is and much more of a threat going forward.

 

But the problem is going to be keeping him on form. For 10 million maybe its worth the gamble, but we wouldn't want to be going much higher.

[J-V]

If it means Downing no longer plays then it's £10million well spent.

[JermainePennant]

Not signing Johnson when we are crying out for a winger and he is availible for 10m would be criminal,get it done asap before we get fucked by another club again.

[Nightcat]

Good point Kosma, what happened to Marco Bueno?

 

from wiki (I know...):

After Bueno's participation in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Liverpool Football Club took him on a 10-day trial.[1] He had a successful trial but could not be signed as he was under the age of 18. Having turned 18, Bueno was expected to sign for Liverpool during the 2012 summer transfer window, having reached a pre-contract agreement with Liverpool at the end of his trial period in 2011. However, the transfer is no longer definite due to a change in management at Liverpool since Bueno's trial period.

Marco Bueno - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Vivaldo]

I know he's a cunt but what about adebayor? I or a cheeky loan punt on Dzeko?

[Evil_Ways]

They clearly wont let Dzeko go on loan. Adebayor would be good up until X-mas. He's good for half a season then it seems he looses interest

[Redder Lurtz]

We shuld run like a well (baby) oiled machine with Johnson & Johnson in the squad.

[dickie mint]

Not signing Johnson when we are crying out for a winger and he is availible for 10m would be criminal,get it done asap before we get fucked by another club again.

 

 

 

unless he's on loan mate thats all we offer nowadays.

[cmuller]

I know he's a cunt but what about adebayor? I or a cheeky loan punt on Dzeko?

 

Adebayor would be a very good signing. I know his wage demands will be a bit testing but Spurs were going to get him for £5m weren't they?

 

Much rather him than Johnson.

[smilezzz]

Adebayor would be a very good signing. I know his wage demands will be a bit testing but Spurs were going to get him for £5m weren't they?

 

Much rather him than Johnson.

 

I'd have both, its exactly what we need, a pacey winger thats not afraid of his own shadow, and a very good finisher.

[Vivaldo]

Adebayor would be a very good signing. I know his wage demands will be a bit testing but Spurs were going to get him for £5m weren't they?

 

Much rather him than Johnson.

 

Spurs have this reported salary cap don't they? 70k or something, but we should be able to do this.

[Lee909]

TONY BARRETT

 

At lunchtime on Saturday, April 3, 2010, Joe Cole scored a famous backheel at Old Trafford that helped Chelsea towards their last Premier League title and earned him a place in the folklore of the club.

 

Even when the ball was making its way into Edwin van der Saar’s goal through the legs of Patrice Evra, though, it had already become clear that Cole’s future lay away from Stamford Bridge regardless of any heroics against Manchester United.

 

Contract talks had long since become protracted with Chelsea no longer convinced of his worth to the club following a serious knee injury and, according to reports at the time, the club baulked at Cole’s demand for a pay increase that would have taken his weekly wage from £80,000 to £100,000. However, there was someone in football who was willing to offer the England international that kind of deal though and in the minutes that followed Cole’s famous backheel he sent text messages boasting of how he was going to make Cole a Liverpool player.

 

That man was Christian Purslow, Liverpool’s then chief executive, who accompanied the messages he sent with a request for the information to go no further or else the deal would be jeopardised. So clandestine was Operation Joe Cole that even Rafael Benitez, the then Liverpool manager, was not aware of it.

 

Benitez had already made his feelings clear on Cole, in public as well. Prior to Liverpool’s defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates on February 10, 2010, the Spaniard had held talks with Purslow at London’s Melia White House Hotel with the pair discussing potential transfer targets for the following summer.

Having sold Robbie Keane the previous winter and being left with only the increasingly injury-prone Fernando Torres and the unproven David Ngog as frontline attackers, Benitez made it plain that his priority when the transfer window opened was to sign a forward. Purslow told Benitez that he had a better idea – Cole was likely to become available in the summer and better still he would be on a free transfer.

 

Benitez’s angry reaction was such that Purslow was left in no uncertain terms that his manager would not even consider the proposed move. So volcanic was it that guests staying at the luxury hotel were left stunned by the exchange that took place in a reception area that was also open to the public.

 

As far as Benitez was concerned, if a free transfer was the best that Liverpool – then struggling under the weight of the debts piled onto the club by Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr – could do then the only position he wanted filling was in attack. His suggestion was to move for Marouane Chamakh who was himself set to become available on a free transfer four months later.

 

Purslow disagreed with his manager, and with the assessment of the likes of Jose Mourinho, Fabio Capello and Carlo Ancelotti, who all doubted Cole's ongoing ability to cut it at a big club, and continued to pursue the former West Ham United player. Chamakh, meanwhile, joined Arsenal where he remains despite a less than productive spell that seems destined to come to an end as soon as Arsene Wenger can find a new home for the Moroccan.

 

A similar situation is unfolding at Anfield where Brendan Rodgers has inherited a player who has been taken off injured in the two competitive matches in which he has featured in for his new manager. Rodgers would like to offload Cole but the problem is there isn’t much of a market for a player who has shown precious little to justify Liverpool’s decision to sign him and who, a moderately successful season on loan at Lille notwithstanding, has thus far failed to disprove the opinion of the Chelsea hierarchy that he was past his best.

 

Even those negatives, though, could probably be overcome if he was not earning astronomical wages and herein lies the problem. Depending on who you listen to, Cole is being paid anything between £90,000-£110,000 by Liverpool every single week. Over the course of the four-year contract he signed when joining the club in July 2010, that equates to a minimum of £18,720,000. In return, Cole has started just nine league games and scored only two goals.

 

It is madhouse economics and during a period when Liverpool, who recently paid off Alberto Aquilani just to get the Italian (a £17 million fee followed by weekly wages of £80,000) off their books, are striving desperately to get their finances in order, Cole’s nine-minute cameo at West Bromwich Albion at the weekend could not have been more badly timed.

 

If the sight of Cole clutching his hamstring shortly after coming off the bench was telling, then even more so was the reaction of his manager when the 30-year-old indicated that he was unsure whether or not he could continue. Unlike Cole, Rodgers had no doubts and replaced him immediately with the out-of-favour Andy Carroll.

 

The injury means Cole could now be out for the next four weeks, a layoff that would mean the midfield player will only be fit for action once the transfer window has closed. In the meantime, Rodgers is likely to be imploring his physiotherapy team to work some magic, more out of a desire to stand at least an outside chance of moving Cole and his wages on than out of a belief that he can become the first Liverpool manager to extract value for money from him on the pitch.

 

None of this is the fault of Cole. He merely did what any professional would do when offered such a lucrative contract after realising that his future lay elsewhere. He arrived at Liverpool with the best of intentions and his professionalism and value as a team-mate has never been in question even though his worth to the team and value for money quite clearly are.

 

In some ways, albeit not in a financial sense, Cole is a victim in all this. His career is stagnating to an alarming extent, so much so that his name is not even mentioned in dispatches when England squads are mentioned. He moved to the wrong club at the wrong time and now appears trapped there by a contract that makes potential buyers run a mile. For someone who has always lived for football and for the joy of playing the game that is a tragedy, even if it is an extortionately well remunerated one.

 

Somehow, Cole and Liverpool need to be put out of their mutual misery. The past two years have shown that they are not good for one another and Rodgers is now the third Liverpool manager, following on from Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish, who is struggling to find a use for him.

 

Should Rodgers manage to add to his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of this month then it is almost inconceivable that he will be keen for Cole to remain but for a parting of the ways to occur one of two things must happen. Either Cole must accept that his Liverpool career is over and look for a new club in the knowledge that wherever he goes he will have to accept a significant pay cut, or else Liverpool will have to come up with a pay off to help ease him through the Shankly Gates.

 

Whatever happens, that backheel at Old Trafford must be starting to feel like it happened in another lifetime for Joe Cole.

[Lario]

We shuld run like a well (baby) oiled machine with Johnson & Johnson in the squad.

 

Certainly sounds like a no more tears formula.

[Redder Lurtz]

Certainly sounds like a no more tears formula.

 

And we should be blessed with the kind of (b)Listerine pace we've been crying out for.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Cole isn't worth an article written about him, his career is over he should retire. These fucking free transfers are a nightmare.

[WhiskeyJar]

 

Whatever happens, that backheel at Old Trafford must be starting to feel like it happened in another lifetime for Joe Cole.

 

Indeed, a life time ago:

 

[YOUTUBE]Ipm5-5F6FUI[/YOUTUBE]

[RazorBack]

Adam Johnson and Adebayor? I'd take them on loan to buy deals in a heartbeat. But if it's permanent I wouldn't buy Adam for anything over 8M that City paid for him. Adebayor is a cunt, but he scores goals. Adam Johnson should join us back in 2009 or when it was Rafa interested in him?

[Ranxerox]

there is no way FSG will pay Adebayor's wages and no way City will subsidize them for us.

[Redder Lurtz]

Cole isn't worth an article written about him, his career is over he should retire. These fucking free transfers are a nightmare.

 

How many times over do you reckon Cole is a millionaire? The article refers to the contract not being his fault and it isn't but he's worth multiple millions and millions of pounds, probably knows he's never likely to contribute anything significant to the team and should retire. He's quite comfortable adding to his multi millions by leeching off our club every week though, all the time knowing what a burden to he is on the club's finances and the effect it's having on improving the team. I really fucking resent that. Yet another millionaire footballer leeching off the club and the fans. Sickening. And yes I appreciate he's well within his contract but for fuck sake, don't these millionaires have a conscience?

[Razoray]

According to Spanish source Soy Madrista Liverpool have moved ahead of Man United in the chase to sign Real Madrid midfielder Kaka. The source claims that the Bernabeu side are ready to sell the Brazilian outright and not, as has been reported, willing to allow the 30 year old to leave on a loan deal.

Such a move to Anfield would be something of a surprise given that the Merseyside club do not have Champions League football to offer the former World Player of the Year though he would perhaps have a better chance of securing regular first team football at Liverpool than at Old Trafford.

Nonetheless a move to join Liverpool, on loan or temporarily, would seem hugely unlikely though there is of course the link between Jose Mourinho and Brendan Rodgers, who worked together at Stamford Bridge when the Real Madrid manager was at the helm and the Northern Irishman was in charge of the reserves.

 

Kaka first saw his first team chances at the Bernabeu compromised following a knee operation that saw him out of action for eight months. The arrival of Mesut Ozil led to the former AC Milan man becoming something of a bit part player and if Real Madrid’s chase for Luka Modric proves successful then the Brazilian international’s chances of regular first team football would be further restricted.

Rodgers has brought in three summer signings this far; Fabio Borini, Joe Allen and Moroccan winger Oussama Assaidi, but clearly a successful move to sign Kaka would prove to be one of the most high profile captures Liverpool have pulled off in recent years.

 

Source: Caughtoffside so probably crap.

[Jairzinho]

Soy source?

 

Really?

[Lee909]

Balague(sp) said the links to us and the mancs were based on nothing this morning

[xerxes]

I appreciate he's well within his contract but for fuck sake, don't these millionaires have a conscience?

No- everyone wants their contracts honoured, it's a job.

[Redder Lurtz]

 

Source: Caughtoffside so probably crap.

 

I would very much like to see what percentage of that bullshit website's stories ever come to fruition. I'd say around 10% at most. And the BBC use them as a source. Kind of sums up how poor even supposedly decent journalism has got in football.

 

No- everyone wants their contracts honoured, it's a job.

 

A job is providing a service in exchange for money. Is it still a job when you're not providing anything but still take £6 million pounds a year from your employer. And a man of Cole's massive wealth can well do without a job. If he had a conscience he'd quit and let the club buy someone who can actually offer something with the savings we'd make by not having to shell out £100k for his worthless arse every week.