No matter how highly rated a player is, whenever they make a move to another club, there’s always a chance they’re going to be a colossal embarrassment. There’s a plethora of examples on hand and nailing down the quintessential failure would be borderline impossible, but one thing’s for sure: no one wants to be the…
If you’re prone to believing everything the media tells you, you’ve been waiting outside Melwood with a “Welcome to LFC” sign for Portuguese defender Tiago Ilori for a little bit too long. Your family misses you buddy; it’s time to go home. As soon as you get the kettle on, you just know that Liverpool…
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Here is Andy, giddy Andy
Questions were always going to hang over the future of Carroll with Brendan Rodgers replacing Kenny Dalglish in the Anfield hot-seat. The arrival of the Ulsterman ushered in a new style of play and the former Newcastle man was quickly deemed surplus to requirements. In August, he was shipped off to London on a season long loan where he found the net 7 times in 24 appearances – 1 goal better than his entire haul in a Liverpool shirt. The Gateshead born striker scored just 6 goals in 44 league appearances for the Reds and profoundly failed to live up to his exorbitant £35mil price tag – though little blame can be laid at the feet of the striker.
With the shock departure of Fernando Torres leaving Liverpool reeling, the panic buy of Carroll as transfer deadline day closed off will prove to be a harsh lesson in the realities of the market for the still wet behind the ears Liverpool ownership. West Ham boss Sam Allardyce made no secret of his desire to capatalize on the Reds overzealous spending and sign the gigantic Geordie on a permanent basis for a cut-rate fee; the six year contract – with an option for a further two – that was announced today is exactly what he wanted to see. It’s believed that the fee recieved for Carroll will be made immediately available to fund further signings and although everyone here at Paisley Gates wishes Andy the best in the future, we’re all excited to see what Rodgers will be able to do with the money.
Everyday he’s hustlin’
There’s a plethora of examples on hand and nailing down the quintessential failure would be borderline impossible, but one thing’s for sure: no one wants to be the first name that everyone agrees on. If negotiations between Shakhtar Donetsk and Liverpool are as far along as we’re being led to believe, then Henrikh Mkhitaryan could be the next big gamble the Reds break the bank for. We’ve certainly had our fair share of would be messiahs; between El Hadji Diouf, Andy Carroll and Robbie Keane, we’ve spent £64mil on three players that fell woefully short of expectations.
With that in mind, it’s easy to be skeptical about any big money moves; still, something feels different about the 24 year old Mkhitaryan and Brendan Rodgers will be hoping his proposed £25mil transfer will pay out out in spades rather than being another Liverpool manager to crap out on a big money move.
Show some love
The News Desk has been working overtime since things are starting to click for Liverpool in the transfer market and there’s been some furious typing going on around here as every player we’re being linked to, we’re actually out there trying to sign.
We’ve seen some real movement on a few of the promising names linked with the Reds since the season ended and next up on Let’s Make a Deal is exciting Sevilla youngster Luis Alberto. Liverpool have stepped up their interest in the versatile striker after Barcelona B decided not to take up their first crack option on him and reports are coming in that an opening bid of £7mil – a decent price for a player just finding his feet — has been turned down by the Spanish club. Most cash grabs are thinly veiled, but Sevilla sporting director Ramon Verdejo has no interest in buttering this one up with any sort of niceties; they’re looking for a tidy online casino jackpot and not a handful of Las Vegas quarters. Verdejo confirmed that “interest from Liverpool is real but nothing is signed” and went on to tell the clubs television channel that “the first offer the club has is very good, but we are not satisfied yet”. There’s hardly any room left for interpretation in that one.
In 38 appearances for Barcelona B last season, the on-loan striker found the net a respectable 11 times and turned more than one head as interest began to swell around his future. With Liverpool’s move for Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas stalled at the finish line – but still expected to go through — and a potential big money move for attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar Donetsk in the pipeline, the addition of Alberto looks more like a glance to the future rather than an immediate addition to the first team. More on this in the coming days…
Ta-Ra Andy
It’s getting on in the day, but that doesn’t mean that things aren’t going down in the transfer market and the News Desk has proof of that with reports coming in that Andy Carroll is set to complete a medical that will see him finally complete his move to West Ham United.
The gigantic Geordie spent last season on loan at the London club after incoming Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers deemed him incompatible with the type of football the Ulsterman was looking to play. Hammers boss Sam Allardyce, on the other hand, saw Carroll as a perfect fit for his particular brand of kick-about and the former Newcastle man responded in kind by finding the net seven times for his home away from home. Allardyce pulled made no mystery of his desire to make the switch permanent and late last month the two sides agreed to a fee of £15mil to keep the 24 year old in London fulltime with the only holdup being Andy himself.
Rumors of £100,000 per week wage demands and other silliness have kept the strikers move on the sidelines and with the World Cup coming up next summer, it’s believed that Carroll was looking to fight for his place at a more “high profile club” to stay in England boss Roy Hodgson’s plans. Whether all that has been resolved yet we’re not quite sure, but with the Gateshead born striker sidelined with yet another injury – one that will keep him on the treatment table for the summer – the Hammers have turned the tables and are rumored to be preparing a “very serious” medical before any move can be ratified. The News Desk isn’t quite sure how they expect Andy to pass this “serious” medical while he’s already injured, but we’re keen to find out.
Henrikh finally realizes they weren’t on a break
Over the weekend, we got to hear about the pursuit of Sunderland ‘keeper Simon Mignolet as Brendan Rodgers goes in search of a replacement for the want-away Pepe Reina, but the news that the Merseyside club have reportedly submitted a bid large enough to trigger the £20mil release clause the Ukrainian club had built into Mkhitaryan’s contract is enough to give pause. Rodgers has indentified the 24-year old, who looks suspiciously like David Schwimmer, as his number one target this summer and with his haul of 25 league goals last year it’s readily apparent why.
Rodgers recently spoke of his desire to add an additional 20 goals to the Reds repertoire and the addition of Aspas and Mkhitaryan could be enough to offset – stats wise anyways – the departure of the increasingly agitating Luis Suarez. A lack of Champions League football is suspected to be one of the underlying root causes of the Uruguayan’s wandering eye and this could also prove to be a stumbling block in our attempts to tie down Mkhitaryan with Juventus and high-flying Borussia Dortmund also being linked with the Armenian goal-machine. Convincing a top player to join a club without any European football is hard enough, but doing it with Ian Ayre in charge of negotiations? This might be a bit harder than expected…
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