Liverpool FC Forum

[account deleted by request]

Houllier brought in two outstanding players Hamann and Hyppia
Benitez has brought in 2 outstanding players Alonso and Reina

(I have ignored free transfers and loans) Fowler, Litmanen, Anelka, Mascherano etc.

Wenger brought in Anelka , Henry, Vierra, Fabrigas, Toure, Overmars, but over a much longer time frame.

I would say that while Rafa has bought good players who have held their value he has bought few that are top quality. Money obviously plays a part but so does making the right choices at the right time. Could we have bought better, with hindsight yes. I said prior to last season that I was unsure of Rafa's ability in the transfer market, I am still unsure as to his ability. For me his buys last season were neither hits nor misses, so I await with anticipation in what I see again as being Rafa's judgement season. Get it right and we will close the gap, get it wrong and we are back among the also rans.

[flamingpoe]

to wenger, i thought we should be concerned with liverpool!!?! :P, i think that rafa has made quite a few good buys, lets face it kewells not the worst of the century, this new leiva kid looks absolutely amazing, still hes too young!, alonso has almost doubled in value since we bought him, sissoko is quite a good player also.

going a bit off the subject now, this guy is on the free transfer list, lets see if rafa has a bright idea and buys him!!!

http://video.google.com/videopl....index=0

theyre dubbing him the iranian maradona AND HES FREE

[JC_81]

Speaking of flops - Sylvain Wiltord.

In for £13m, out for a big fat f*cking ZERO.

Or Robert Pires? How much did that Frog magician make on his transfer? MINUS £6m.

But still - he's BRILLIANT in the transfer market, don'tcha know?

I think Wenger's better than average in the transfer market Lando, he's unearthed more gems than most.  Petit, Vieira, Henry, Anelka, Fabregas and Toure all have Wenger to thank for the carreers they've had so far.  He can spot a player. 

That said, I have to agree with you that he's not the magician people make out.  You've mentioned Wiltord and Pires.  Add to that Jeffers, bought for 10, flopped, sold for bugger all.  Reyes - what was he? well over 10 million anyway.  He'll go for 5 or 6 million tops this summer.

I also think Wenger is really bad at letting players go at the wrong time.  Vieira could have gone for 25 million to Madrid the season before he let him go to Juve for 15 million.  Henry could have gone last summer for 30 million instead of 16 million today.  Ljungberg could have got 15 million a few seasons back, instead of playing bit part due to injury for a couple of years and going on a Bosman (which is what he's about to do).

My point is Wenger's good at spotting talent in general but not particularly smart in the transfer market all round.

[europian-kings]

to wenger, i thought we should be concerned with liverpool!!?! :P, i think that rafa has made quite a few good buys, lets face it kewells not the worst of the century, this new leiva kid looks absolutely amazing, still hes too young!, alonso has almost doubled in value since we bought him, sissoko is quite a good player also.

going a bit off the subject now, this guy is on the free transfer list, lets see if rafa has a bright idea and buys him!!!

http://video.google.com/videopl....index=0

theyre dubbing him the iranian maradona AND HES FREE

he looks prety decent i have to say lol.
doubt rafa will find him though sadly.

i like players like that though, a little bit of skill and bags of pace, aswell as an eye for goal 

[bogman_dan]

think rafa is leaving it too late so wa the f~~k is going on??

[tubby]

Did you even read his comments yesterday? FFS

[kunilson]

interesting read.

Rafa has an eye for the defensive talents...because that is obviously his strong point, and hasn't done so well with the attacking players...maybe a change or two behind the scenes to help him out in this department wouldn't be a bad idea?

But i dont think he has done that bad at all, ive been impressed with how much money he has saved when things go wrong. This summer the spotlight will definately be on him with the £££'s floating around (apparently) so we shall see...

[Stu.Murph]

Benitez hasn't come close to Houllier yet in terms of good transfers.

You're laughing at the signings of Babbel, Litmanen, McAllister, Hamann, Hyypia, Riise, Finnan, Henchoz, Baros, and Anelka?

[LFC2007]

Benitez hasn't come close to Houllier yet in terms of good transfers.

You're laughing at the signings of Babbel, Litmanen, McAllister, Hamann, Hyypia, Riise, Finnan, Henchoz, Baros, and Anelka?

Did I say that?, I find it funny how rafa somehow hasn't "come close" to the signings made by Houllier, that is what I find hilariously funny.

We didn't sign Anelka anyway, he was turned down!

[ivor_the_injun]

interesting read.

Rafa has an eye for the defensive talents...because that is obviously his strong point, and hasn't done so well with the attacking players...maybe a change or two behind the scenes to help him out in this department wouldn't be a bad idea?

But i dont think he has done that bad at all, ive been impressed with how much money he has saved when things go wrong. This summer the spotlight will definately be on him with the £££'s floating around (apparently) so we shall see...

But if Gonzalez had lived up to the hype, Pennant had begun the season how he ended it, and Kuyt had translated his goalscoring record from the Dutch league to the Prem, that wouldn't be an issue.

With a winger flying on the left (possibly Kewell) like Pennant has been at times on the right, we'll pose far more of an attacking threat even if we don't sign another striker. If we sign at least one striker, we'll score sackloads.

[tubby]

Alonso, Sissoko and Mascherano?

[LFC2007]

Alonso, Sissoko and Mascherano?

Come on Bavlondon, Biscan was miles better than Sissoko

[Stu.Murph]

Speaking of flops - Sylvain Wiltord.

In for £13m, out for a big fat f*cking ZERO.

Or Robert Pires? How much did that Frog magician make on his transfer? MINUS £6m.

But still - he's BRILLIANT in the transfer market, don'tcha know?

Yeah Pires left for nothing mate, after giving the best years of his career to the club and ripping premiership defences up for years. Great sigings. As was Henry, as was Vieira.

Wenger signed Henry and Vieira for £14,500,000 I personally think he let both players go on the cheap as both are world class players and have been amoungst the best the country has seen. He also brought in Pires, Anelka, Petit, Campbell, Overmars who were all undoubtedly top class, aswell Lljungberg who scored goals for fun.

Wengers made his mistakes, but he's made world class signings aswell. And I mean world class, not, decent. To sign a player as good and influencial as Vieira for £3,500,000 deserves the utmost respect aswell as Anelka for 500k.

The problem is, Rafa's not anything like that.

[LFC2007]

The problem is, Rafa's not anything like that.

We'll see won't we.

[ivor_the_injun]

Unless people are suggesting we should bring Houllier in to replace Rafa, I really don't see the relevance of their respective transfer records.

They both had successes, and they both had failures. Can't we just leave it at that?