Liverpool Thread

[LeRouxIsPHat]

if we get €50 million it'll be a good bit if business. Moneyball at its finest.

People were saying the same when Liverpool sold Suarez and Spurs sold Bale. Rarely does it work out that way.

Selling one of your best players, someone you know can do it in this league, and replacing with expensive players with no premiership experience. Well look how well its worked for both Liverpool and Spurs in the past.

United did it with Ronaldo too. Now obviously it wasn't a strategy as such and we'd have held on to him if we could but we were never the same team again. I know we've won titles and got to a champions league final but none of the teams we've had since then have been anywhere near as good.

[Logorrhea]

Sterling can not be compared to Suarez at all, different class altogether

Agree, but my point was that selling your best players and replacing them with what is effectively unproven talent from abroad rarely works.

Having said that. Its not as if you really have a choice of keeping Sterling, and Firminho is young with buckets of potential. It looks to be as good a move as Liverpool can make to replace Sterling.

Will be interesting to see what other players they bring in.

[Avenger]

Agree, but my point was that selling your best players and replacing them with what is effectively unproven talent from abroad rarely works.

Having said that. Its not as if you really have a choice of keeping Sterling, and Firminho is young with buckets of potential. It looks to be as good a move as Liverpool can make to replace Sterling.

Will be interesting to see what other players they bring in.

Sterlings work rate is normally very good but his major weakness is his finishing/composure. He could turn out to be Ronaldo or he could be a complete bust. For £50 million I'd be expecting a footballer that is a lot closer to the finished product than Sterling currently is. Also it was fairly clear that his head had been turned before Christmas of last season and he pretty much gave up after that so for me his professionalism has to be questioned. At this money, its a no brainer decision IMO. As someone pointed out, if he wasn't English we'd be talking about a fee of approx. half the one LFC are going to get for him.

I don't know much about Firmino. But people who follow the Bundesliga only have good things to say about him and apparently his work rate is similar to Suarez.
This is an interesting read - http://www.theguardian.com/football/blo ... r-of-balls

From what I hear, Clyne is going to happen too so thats a definite upgrade in that position.
A good DM in is a must IMO as they are probably going to play with Phil and Firmino behind a striker - and with Herderson and Milner in the middle behind that... a really strong mobile DM is vital if thats going to work IMO.
And a striker to play instead of Mr. Glass would be nice too and not Benteke.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Would agree with that about Clyne and a defensive midfielder, get those sorted and you'd look a lot better. I could see that spreading throughout the team too, you might have someone like Lovren start to look a lot better. United are in a very similar boat actually, desperately need a right back and cover for Carrick. Both teams need another striker but are unlikely to take the plunge because of who is there already.

Agree about the prices as well. I think Sterling is a great talent and would expect him to get back to last season's levels in the right environment but the figures being quoted are quite ridiculous. It probably makes sense that there's an English premium but when you think that Ozil and Sanchez went for 42m and 35m respectively, it's a joke.

[Armchair]

Transfer speculation & Updates, Clyne looks like a done deal would love a top class striker & central defender time will tell I suppose
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ ... 39668.html

[Armchair]

New coaching appointments and an ex Irish International is one of them (Don't remember him)
http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ ... 39239.html

[offshorerules]

Story is that Benteke is a done deal.

[Lamb of BOD]

Story is that Benteke is a done deal.

Interesting. Certainly not a particularly sexy signing. Where did you hear this btw? The move has been mooted for quite a while, but the trailed seemed to have been cooling of late.

[offshorerules]

Story is that Benteke is a done deal.

Interesting. Certainly not a particularly sexy signing. Where did you hear this btw? The move has been mooted for quite a while, but the trailed seemed to have been cooling of late.

I think it was the Liverpool Echo. But I see today that personal terms have been agreed and all that's left is for Villa to agree the fee. That is rumoured to be about £30 million (release clause) so I'm not certain you could call him a bargain.

[Logorrhea]

Not a bargain but a player who can score goals in the premiership, he's still young, he'll be motivated by the move to Liverpool. Paying 5-7million over the odds is not a massive penalty to pay for a quality player.

I've been impressed with Liverpool's signings so far this year. Quite a few of them are proven premiership talent and will hit the ground running. The likes of Markovic will be better this year too.

[offshorerules]

Hope so.

[Lamb of BOD]

Schweinsteiger to Man Utd confirmed. I saw a transfer figure of 5.2 mill stg bandied about. If that figure is close to accurate, that;s an absolute steal. Which goes to show what little power the club holds when a player wants to leave. Which brings me on to this season's want-away; Raheem. There's a report that the club are willing to let him play out the rest of his contract in the reserves - and there's a part of me that would love to see this happen. The sooner Citeh stump up the cash for him to end this saga the better.

Liverpool are playing in UCD at 3pm on Sunday the 19th of July. Don't quote me, but I think tickets are a measly 15 euro

[Lamb of BOD]

Raheem Sterling: Man City & Liverpool agree £49m deal

Another one bites the dust. £49 mill. Seems like a decent price, especially given the circumstances. If he does well in Manchester, all his nonsense will soon be forgotten

[offshorerules]

Schweinsteiger to Man Utd confirmed. I saw a transfer figure of 5.2 mill stg bandied about. If that figure is close to accurate, that;s an absolute steal. Which goes to show what little power the club holds when a player wants to leave. Which brings me on to this season's want-away; Raheem. There's a report that the club are willing to let him play out the rest of his contract in the reserves - and there's a part of me that would love to see this happen. The sooner Citeh stump up the cash for him to end this saga the better.

Liverpool are playing in UCD at 3pm on Sunday the 19th of July. Don't quote me, but I think tickets are a measly 15 euro

All the first team are out in the Far East though on a tour atm so you are going to be seeing a Liverpool XI, unless you're familiar with the reserves and the young lads there won't be many famous players on show.

[Logorrhea]

Another one bites the dust. £49 mill. Seems like a decent price, especially given the circumstances.

Depends really. If he continues to play as he has done over the last two years (not so much last year) then its a bargain for City and a huge loss for Liverpool. If he ends up being another Shaun Wright Philips, then its brilliant money for Liverpool. We wont know for another 2 years or so.

[Avenger]

Another one bites the dust. £49 mill. Seems like a decent price, especially given the circumstances.

Depends really. If he continues to play as he has done over the last two years (not so much last year) then its a bargain for City and a huge loss for Liverpool. If he ends up being another Shaun Wright Philips, then its brilliant money for Liverpool. We wont know for another 2 years or so.

Ah come on. It's fantastic money for a player who still has a lot of development to do and wanted to leave and didn't care how he forced his way out.
Liverpool handled the situation well and got what they wanted for him.
I think he'll be an excellent player (despite his terrible finishing) but the bones of £50 million for what he is now could not be turned down.

[offshorerules]

Also there's an element of not wanting a player that wants out. But overall it's a good bit of business from purely a financial perspective.

[Logorrhea]

First of all Liverpool didn't get what they wanted. They wanted Sterling to sign a new contract and stay with the club for another 5+ years. Adding to tat they only accepted the price because they knew he wanted to go and was forcing his way out. If Sterling was on a 6 year contract and wanted to stay I don't believe you guys would have sold him for that price.

Having said that they had to sell, Sterling made sure of that, however you'll only know if the price is a good price in a year or two. It all depends on how Sterling develops and how Liverpool spend the money.

First of all if Sterling continues to improve his value will rise, look at Everton when they sold Rooney. They were sure they got a great price for him then. But look at what they lost and look at what United got. You cant replace certain players. The question is whether Sterling is one of those players. I'm not sure he is, but we don't know yet. If he is though, 50 million will be a steal. Secondly, the good bit of business only applies if the 50million is only a good business if its spent well and the gap that Sterlings loss leaves is appropriately filled. £50 million for Torres when you got Suarez to replace him was fantastic business. £50 for Torres if you only bought Carroll was not. Again we wont know for a few years.

I'm not getting at Liverpool here. Spurs do the same shite all the time. 80 million for Bale was great business in the headlines and on the balance sheet but in the grand scheme of things we were robbed. We lost a player we cant replace and received no real benefit from the sale on the pitch. How could that be considered good business to a fan? Liverpool experienced the same last year. Selling Suarez and buying in a collection of mediocrity. We have to make the best of it I spose, but its sh!t to be losing quality players for what is a mickey mouse sum of money to clubs like City and Chelsea.

[Avenger]

Billionaire owners like at Chelsea and City have changed football. There is no getting away from that. Arsenal who are an incredibly well run club have not won the league since Abramovich came on the scene - I think his first season was their last win but Chelsea were never going to win it on first try as billionaires.

City are giving Sterling £200k a week. Liverpool will not and cannot sanction that sort of wages for a player like Sterling who has in actual fact achieved nothing in the game. Suarez was only put on that sort of money after 3 exceptional seasons.

Liverpool have only been in the Champions League once in the last 6 seasons. Players are not going to stay at LFC unless that changes. Sterling is jumping the gun a little early IMO but I can't complain that he wants to go - how's he's gone about it, yes - but not that he wants to go to a bigger club.
And with respect, Spurs are in the same position.

Everton are a number of notches below that. They could have held on to Rooney a year or two longer (he was 18 when he left) but he was never going to stay there long term. Even with Rooney at the peak of his powers, Everton were never going to win anything of note (domestic cups are not anything of note since the champions league came in to existence).

You are absolutely right that there is a massive onus on LFC to spend the money wisely. They went for a young with potential (mostly) with the Suarez money and they struggled last season but who's to say that in 2 or 3 years that some of the young players they brought in last summer won't be a massive success.

£50 million is a massive amount of money. Zidane was sold from Juventus to Madrid when he was the best player in the world for less than that! Given his £200k per week wages, City are investing £100 million in to Sterlings first contract. That is huge numbers and only the likes of City, Chelsea and Man Utd can do that. Sanchez who was a star and last summers world cup went to Arsenal from Barcelona - after a season where he got more than 25 goals (Sterling scored 7 last season) - for less than £40 million and is on a reported £130k a week (ish). This is why I am saying that the money involved for a 20 year old who has a lot of potential - but also a long way to go to achieve that potential - is a massive risk. He may be the next Ronaldo. He could just as easily be the next Shaun Wright-Philips.
For £100 million, I'd expect the finished article if I was a City fan. They are certainly not getting that!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Apart from Sterling being a complete arse, the one thing I'd say is that Liverpool letting him go sets a bad precedent.

Maybe Sterling and his agent made it impossible from the very start but I think clubs should try and copy the Ronaldo/Suarez model whereby they agree to let them go the following summer after one more season wherever possible.

The way things panned out its a good deal and they had to take it, but I wonder if the club and Sterling could have come to an agreement 6 months ago. It's the same with Douglas and Leinster now.