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Spot on. I am delighted we got Suarez and Carroll but I won't be giving Comolli too much kudos for these deals as absolutely everybody recognised their obvious talent. I intend to judge his performance based on the number of unknown talents / rough diamonds that he brings to the club. In fairness to Damien he contributed to players like Bale, Modric, Berbatov & Taarabt joining Spurs and Toure, Clichy & Eboue joining Arsenal for a relative pittance. If we are going to make huge strides in a short space of time we need to be more successful with transfers in the £5-10m range. For example, what a difference a couple of players like Hernandez or Tiote would have made to our squad this season instead of Poulsen and Cole / Jovanovic? We currently have no natural Left Back worth a shirt so surely there must be numerous players around Europe that could improve us significantly in this department? The same applies to our left wing. Clearly Enrique, Clichy and Downing are not the only options out there so its up to Damien and Kenny to find the best available players within our budget. We don't necessarily need a cast of world beaters - solid additions in a number of key positions would vastly improve our squad. A few natural left footers would surely improve our balance and width. At least we are doing our business in private which gives us the best chance of avoiding a transfer auction for our targets. It is only a matter of time before we start signing players as Kenny will be desperate to improve us. The only question is how far they can take us? Sometimes you just need a little faith!

Wages are the burning issue for our club. Our wage bill was in the region of £120m last season – Spurs’ by comparison was approx. £70m. Without European football and / or a larger stadium we cannot sustain our wage bill and still compete for new players. Quite simply; we cannot buy all of the players we need to be competitive until we get our wage bill under control. The new “Financial Fair Play Rules” make this doubly important. Our current wage bill is in excess of 62% of turnover. The ‘maximum threshold’ is 70% and breaching that ceiling may lead to a difficulty securing a UEFA Licence (i.e. no Champions League and the goodies that come with it) in future. We will be doing very well to sustain our turnover next season due to the lack of European football. Thankfully John Henry (in spite of his perceived lack of football knowledge) has identified wages / lack of squad depth as the key issue to be addressed. Incredibly, Man City’s wage bill is currently 107% of turnover. If we get our house in order we can very quickly overtake Man City and Chelsea as they have been financially reckless despite their apparent wealth. I see a massive wage cull / fire sale on the horizon for both clubs. United (despite their debt), Arsenal and Spurs are much more prudently run in terms of wages / turnover and represent our main competition in the mid - long term. With regard to our immediate future, we cannot simply offer free transfers / financial inducements to all of the players that Kenny deems surplus to requirements as this would have a detrimental impact upon our Accounts and result in us breaching the Financial Fair Play rules. Each of our players is an “asset” on our balance sheet with a specific value which depreciates year on year. The implications of this are best explained by way of an example; Ryan Babel was purchased in 2007 for £11.5m on a 5 year contract. Over the course of his contract his “accounting value” depreciated by 20% every year and he would have had a “zero” value once his contract expired. We sold him to Hoffenheim in 2011 for £6m. On the face of it we made a loss but due to “amoritization” (spreading his value over the term of his contract) we actually booked a profit in our accounts. By 2011 his value on our books would had declined to £3,450,000 so a £6m sale represented an accounting ‘profit’. Similarly free transfers like Jovanovic, Maxi and Cole have a value despite the lack of acquisition cost and getting rid of them for nothing would negatively impact upon our accounts. We need to carefully manage any losses in order to comply with the rules. In terms of how this affects our transfer policy this Summer, I expect Kenny has been asked to identify the core of his squad for next season so that the club can make a concerted effort to dispose of anybody outside this group. Any offers approaching balance sheet value will likely be accepted. If no approaches are forthcoming the club will presumably move heaven and earth to try and secure loan moves. This could and should be supplemented by promising younger players being sent out on loan to gain experience. At least a £30m reduction in our wage bill could be achieved on this basis. Realistically we only need a reasonably small squad given our lack of European involvement. The “deadwood” can hopefully be kept on rolling loans until they are bought or their contracts expire. Henry and Werner have already confirmed that they will not engage in “deficit spending” (i.e. investing personal funds in order to secure players that the club cannot currently afford) and that they will not look at players “beyond a certain age”. Talk of Wright-Phillips, Bridge and the like is therefore wildly wide of the mark. It appears we will be looking for players in the 16-25 age range who have the potential to develop into top class performers. Encouragingly, we appear to have been genuinely interested in the likes of Phil Jones and Ashley Young which suggests we still have money to spend. There is not an awful lot we can do if they decide to join the Mancs on inflated wages. The fact that we didn’t make more of an effort for Wickham suggests we were not sufficiently interested to make that sort of financial commitment. The dropped interest in Doni (Roma Keeper) also shows that we will still look at older players but only if it makes financial sense. I can’t imagine we have a rigid transfer policy but more a set of guiding financial principles. I suspect this is the problem with Meireles; despite an impressive campaign the club is reluctant to offer the higher wage he was promised in view of his age. If we need funds I can see him being moved on and the funds being reinvested in a younger player. I suspect that the owners may be a little more relaxed with the purse strings this Summer in order to a) generate some goodwill and b) ensure Champions’ League qualification so I can definitely see us bringing in a LB, LW, CB and one other player this Summer once we see a few players heading out the door. I wouldn’t worry about newspaper speculation as the journalists are all completely in the dark. Really looking forward to seeing who we bring in.... Apologies for the ridiculous length of this post!!

I agree with you to a point but it is definitely more difficult to find foreign youngsters that can immediately come in and make an impact in the Premier League due to factors like work permits, pace of game, physicality, language / culture barriers etc. We have had plenty of Dioufs, Letos, Gonzalez and Pachecos in our time. While there is obviously a premium attached to young English players there is also less chance of them running off to Spain as soon as they can (Anelka) or failing to settle (Reyes). I will measure Comolli's performance based on the lesser known talents that he manages to unearth for us. I don't think it takes exceptional expertise to identify players like Suarez / Carroll but I will give him plenty of kudos if he can find us a Bale, Modric or Lennon for a rock bottom price. That is what the Mancs have managed to do with the Da Silva twins and Hernandez and all credit to their scouts for that. We need to do likewise and supplement that with homegrown players like Kelly, Wisdom, Sterling, Suso etc. who all look like they can become valued squad members. Happily, it looks like we may be moving in the right direction.

I agree that Ngoo, Morgan and the like look at least 1-2 years away from being ready to consistently challenge for a place in the match day squad. I would be delighted if we brought in a very promising young striker but I don't want us to overpay for Wickham. I would love us to make a cheeky bid for Daniel Sturridge if Chelsea bring Falcao from Porto. He ticks a lot of boxes - pacey, skillful, young, English, an eye for goal and experience of the Premier League. We could do a lot worse and he probably wouldn't cost much more than Wickham. He seems ambitious so he is unlikely to want to hang around at Chelsea if he is never going to get a chance. I wouldn't like us to get too hung up on any one player as there are always other options out there.

It is incredible to think that Newcastle have committed to paying Monsieur Marveaux somewhere in the region of £18,200,000 over the term of his contract. This is a guy who has averaged less than 30 games a season over the last 5 years. Irrespective of whether or not he failed a medical, there is no way we should be taking that sort of financial gamble on a player with Sylvain's injury history. Maybe he will turn out to be a world beater but from our perspective the risk is just far too great. Best of luck to him all the same.

That is exactly how I am looking at it. If we can get Aquilani and Ngog off the wage bill and bring in Henderson - a player more likely to play and contribute - without any real outlay surely that improves the squad. The same goes for the rest of the "deadwood". It is not entirely unrealistic to expect that we could end up with:- Aquilani - Henderson Poulsen - Adam Konchesky - Enrique Jovanovic - Mata / Downing Cole - N'zogbia Ngog - Wickham Jones - Doni The above signings alone would make us significantly stronger and would probably be enough to get us back into the Champions League. That is leaving aside the question of what would happen if the likes of Agger, Krygiakos, Maxi and Meireles are moved on. Our squad could potentially be completely revamped for relatively little outlay. Interesting times ahead....

An agreement to sell / buy a player can be reached at any point but transfer of the player's registration can only be effected during Transfer Windows. Clubs actively pursue transfer targets throughout the year and frequently reach agreements in principle. In order for the transfer to go ahead certain preconditions (agreeing terms, medical etc.) must be met. Once everything has been agreed between the clubs and the player the change of registration can be processed during the Window. Clubs are free to announce deals at any time subject to any confidentiality clauses in the Transfer Agreement. The Transfer Window in England runs from Midnight on the last day of the season to 31 August (or the next working day if this falls on a weekend). In France, Spain, Germany and Italy it runs from 1 July - 31 August. It is up to each individual association to prescribe its own dates provided they do not break the 12 week maximum ceiling set by FIFA. Hope that helps....

Typical, we wouldn't pay the bit extra to get Snoogy Doogy...

To the tune of "In My Life" by The Beatles There are players I remember, Some are gone and some remain, One's forever getting better, Lucas Leiva is his name. All these players had their moments, With trophies and games, I still can recall, One's a red and a Brazilian, In my life I've loved them all. Then if necessary.... But of all these defensive covers, There is no one compares with you, And these memories lose their meaning, When I think of the club and what we'll do. Though I know I never lose affection, For Xabi and Didi who went before, I know I'll often stop and think about them, In my life, I love you more.

2010/11 Statistics TEAM Competition Start Sub Goals Assists Stade Rennes 9 1 1 2 2009/10 Statistics TEAM Competition S SB G A Stade Rennes 33 2 10 5 2008/09 Statistics TEAM Competition S SB G A Stade Rennes 3 2 0 2 2007/08 Statistics TEAM Competition S SB G A Stade Rennes 11 13 0 1 2006/07 Statistics TEAM Competition S SB G A Stade Rennes 8 20 5 2 Not the greatest track record for fitness or assists based on his Ligue 1 stats....

Looks a decent player and very much in the Agger mould; left foot, hammer shot and composed on the ball. I wouldn't say he has the same range of passing as Agger but is more aggressive and possibly offers more of a goal threat from set pieces. He would be a very good signing but I doubt Ajax would be keen to let another of their best players join us so soon after Suarez - unless we are going to pay top dollar.

The last aerially-dominant centre back we bought from an unfashionable Dutch club didn't turn out too bad.... For those unfamiliar with Douglas, he is a 6' 4", 23 year old Brazilian who is a central figure in a Twente side that is currently top of the Erdevisie with a pretty mean defence. Here is a clip of him playing against Inter in the Champions League and he clearly isn't one for hoofing:- [YOUTUBE]msN8Tx5bJEM[/YOUTUBE] He was suspended by the Dutch FA for 6 games at the end of February for punching an opposition player and then pushing the ref. Twente also suspended and fined him so he possibly isn't all that happy with life in Holland even though he is currently applying for Dutch citizenship (which would get us around the work permit issue). Baines, Sakho/Douglas, Adam, Dzsudzsak (almost 1 goal every 2 games for the past few seasons is piss taking for a winger even in Holland) Honda and M'villa coming in would almost certainly see us back challenging for the title. I really hope we clear out enough of the passengers in the squad to make this happen. We will also have the likes of Kelly, Shelvey, Spearing, Ayala and Pachecho adding a bit of youthful enthusiasm to the squad. I know I'd much rather that than Poulsen or Jovanovic...

I echo everything you have said in terms of potential player departures. Too many of our players' performances do not justify their exhorbitant wages i.e. Cole, Maxi, Jovanovic, Poulsen, Aquilani. Others, such as Agger and Aurelio, simply cannot be relied upon due to their injury records and we will never be able to achieve the consistency required to challenge at the very highest level while we are dependant upon injury prone players. Personally I would not be too upset if the likes of Spearing and N'gog stuck around to bulk out the squad as they could probably fulfil a similar role as Gibson and Macheda / Owen for the Mancs. In:- Massive summer for the club and Comolli in particular. In fairness to Damien I think he did a reasonable job of identifying promising young attacking talent at Spurs with Lennon, Bale, Taarabt and Modric for example. I don't think it takes a particular genius to go out and buy Sanchez, Ashley Young or Luis Suarez as everybody knows about them. I really hope we pull a Hyppia, Arbeloa or Chicarito out of the bag. I would be happy with a few of the following:- CB Douglas (Twente), Sakho (PSG), Hummels / Subotic (Dortmund), Albiol LB Baines, Taiwo, Coentrao, David Santon MF Adam, M'villa, Tiote, Sissoko, Mavuba Wings Dszudszak, Downing, Johnson, N'zogbia, Young, Marin Heres hoping....

He is to football what Charlie Sheen is to acting. I look forward to Ireland coming out with a quote like "I'm tired of pretending I'm not a total bitchin' rock star from Mars" after he scores against City or Villa. The tasteless, cue-ball headed, granny serial killer is at least entertaining...

"Don't let the injury get you down ... I got us two tickets to Phil Collins to cheer you up!" - Kenny

What about the following quote on a banner for Luis and Carroll:- "They were part of my dream, of course - but then I was part of their dream, too." It is a (very slightly tweaked) passage from "Through the Looking Glass".

It could possibly be:- ---------------------Pepe---------------------- Kelly-------Soto-----------Skrtel----------Agger Johnson------Lucas---------Raul---------Aurelio ----------Gerrard-----------------Kuyt---------

Whilst it has been an exceptionally traumatic transfer window due to Torres’ despicable behaviour, it was also an intriguing test of FSG’s mettle. The general feeling appears to be that the new owners reacted well in trying circumstances and it is encouraging that they were prepared to back Kenny (notwithstanding his “caretaker” status) with significant transfer funds rather than hoarding it until the summer. We succeeded in bringing in two of the most promising young strikers in Europe and, despite some legitimate reservations about the transfer fees, it will be very interesting to see what sort of impact Carroll and Suarez will make now that they have moved up a level. If it is true that our transfer targets were Suarez (24), Carroll (22), Adam (25) Young (25) and Richards (22) it looks like FSG are proceeding with their stated aim of investing in youth. I think the idea is to build up the squad over the next 2 – 3 years with a view to regaining a Champions’ League place. In order to achieve this goal we will need to dispose of the likes of Jovanovic, Poulsen, Kuyt, Krygiakos, Maxi, Cole and Aurelio in order to lower the wage bill and free up first team opportunities for players with a younger age profile. We already have the likes of Gulacsi, Kelly, Wilson, Ayala, Shelvey, Spearing, Pacheco, and Ngog pushing for squad places with more quality homegrown players to follow. It was disappointing that we did not manage to address the other glaring shortcomings in our team – the general lack of pace, natural left footers, midfield steel and aerial ability / pace at the back. If we are going to progress Comolli is going to have to earn his corn and unearth some quality players at reasonable prices. It doesn’t take a particularly keen eye to spot Suarez and Carroll’s potential and we can’t afford to pay those kinds of prices for the rest of the players we need. The owners have opted to splash out large amounts of cash up front to ingratiate themselves with our fans but I am not convinced that this trend will necessarily continue. We could do with finding a Vermaelen or a Vidic too. I suspect that we will pick up Sylvian Marveaux on a Bosman to provide a pacy, left footed option on the wing. I hope that we will then look at players like Mamadou Sakho (PSG), Douglas (FC Twente), Blaise Matuidi (St. Etienne), Yann M’Vila (Rennes), Balazs Dzsudzsak (PSV), Marko Marin (Weder Bremen) or Neymar (Santos) – the young players showing signs of being the superstars of the future. That being said, the best signings we could make in the immediate future are Kenny Dalglish and Steve Clarke on long term contracts as soon as possible. Then I would believe our future is really bright.

Thanks for that. Will be very interesting to see how Poulsen gets on tonight and I genuinely hope he does well. Obviously he has made a less than stellar start to his Liverpool career but maybe he just needs a bit of time to adjust. There have been signs of improvement in his last two appearances so hopefully he will show more of the pedigree that gained him moves to Schalke, Sevilla and Juventus in the past. With only a few days left in the transfer window it is unlikely that we are going to sign another defensive midfielder so it would be great if he could step up to the plate for the rest of the season. I have seen him move the ball around well for other teams in the past and it seems that Kenny sees something in him so perhaps we should allow him some time to find his feet in a new league. I guarantee he will be sent off tonight after saying all that...

Am I right in thinking Lucas injured his foot in the first half against Wolves and stayed out at half time to make sure he was fit enough to start the second half? It seems this injury may have worsened and it effectively became a choice between Poulsen, Spearing and Shelvey for the "midfield anchor" role. Poulsen plays like he has an anchor attached so maybe that tipped the balance?!

I checked and unfortunatley Drogba has already secured the "P1SSH34D" personalised plate....

He must have mixed it up with the silver Aston Martin DB9 (sporting a P3NN4NT personalised number plate) that he also owns. I suggest that Mr. Pennant should consider a "P3N1S" or "P1SSH34D" number plate for his next expensive car...

Harry "The Transfer Wizard" Redknapp - "Now you see the agents fees; now you don't!!" Nobody can make transfer funds disappear like Harry ... just ask HM Revenue!!

An "on form" Torres would never have missed Poulsen's head from there...

Just a quick point about N'zogbia - he qualifies as "homegrown" so would actually boost our quota of Association Trained Players. He has also reportedly reached a gentleman's agreement with Wigan that he can leave if a 'big club' comes in for him and both ourselves and Marseilles were rumoured to be interested. Birmingham agreed a £9m deal with Wigan in the Summer but the deal seemingly collapsed when the player rejected the move. I think he is the player Comolli was referring to last week when he said Roy had rejected one of the shortlisted "targets" on account of his attitude. Personally I think he would be an excellent signing in a position in which we are weak. He is quick, skillful, creative, can play on both wings and fill in at full back in an emergency. Furthermore, he is used to the league and has a good injury record - we could do a lot worse...