Liverpool FC Forum

by **ivor_the_injun** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:48 pm

It's a two-fold problem - in this case Neill has put money first, but I bet his agent won't have helped matters.

What the game needs is more players that play for personal pride. If Neill had come to us on a 3 year deal for £30k a week, he'd be 30 around the time when his contract would be being renegotiated. If he'd played himself into a guaranteed starting spot and made the fans love him, he'd have every right to ask that the club pay him handsomely for the duration of his next contract.

I'm sorry, but players that aren't particularly special, having a track record based around a club like Blackburn, have absolutely no right to hold clubs to ransom. People knock Bellamy off the pitch, but he came to Liverpool first and foremost because they're a club he admired, and he wanted to do well for is.

Too many players look at the wage first and then ask which club the offer's come from. I look forward to Neill's career sinking at West Ham. A terrible decision by a, frankly, ordinary player.

by **Leonmc0708** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 4:50 pm

azriahmad wrote:I already admire him for his successes but I'd admire him more if he can do a Wenger - find players cheap at a young age and groom him to be a world beater. Wenger had done this too many times to be said as a fluke - Anelka, bought for 500,000 sold for 22 million, Vieira bought for 4.5 million at 20 years old, nurtured him into a world class player and got the best of him but still managed to sell him just past his prime 9 years on for 13.5 million, Henry bought for 10 million, converted him into a very unorthodox yet effective striker from being a pacy winger and could have sold him for 30 million 2 years ago and now Fabregas, bought for a platry 2 million, still only 19 and already set to eclipse cultured players like Xavi of Barcelona and even our own Alonso in the Spanish national team midfield in a few years, if he does not get a serious injury.

Where are the World beaters ?

I will give you Toure (who you didnt get), and Anelka (although its a bit different as he was well known as a decent prospect and only went for so much as it was Real Madrid, but he has not set teh World alight) but no one else has been selected as a no one by Arsene and then turned out to be world beating.

He gets some decent kids to a decent level, but people over do it a bit with the level that they get to.

Henry was £10million, so hardly a small investment, especially in 97/98. Viera was undoubtedly special, however its not rocket science to pick a kid out of the AC Milan reserves and spend £5m on him.

Fabregas also, it was no secret he was a good player, but Arsenal got him in the wake of the relaxation of the laws governing the transfer of youngsters and academy protege's, and Barcelona took them to court to try and keep the lad.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:20 pm

I'm with Leon. If Wenger was spending £100k on kids from leagues in the middle of nowhere, and nurtured their careers through until they're world-beaters, that'd be one thing.

In the main, what he's done in the past is spent not insignificant amounts on younger players from clubs who have already done most of the scouting for him.

Toure and Anelka are obvious exceptions, but that's just two players that you can genuinely point to among dozens that he's signed.

It's not like we haven't done similar over the years, albeit on a less high profile level - Rob Jones (£300k) and Danny Murphy (£2m) from Crewe, Jamie Redknapp (£350k) from Bournemouth, even Milan Baros - £3.5m paid, but sold on for a healthy profit.

As for those brought up through the ranks, how much would we have got for Fowler in his heyday? How much would Real have needed to pay for McManaman if he hadn't sat out his contract? Ditto Owen? And how much would it take to prise Gerrard from us now? Or Carragher?

Wenger has a good young side, no arguments there, but if you added the cost of assembling it, I'm sure they'd be up there with the most expensive in the Prem. I'd be far more impressed if he'd done it for peanuts, and it baffles me when the media present it as if that's exactly what he did.

by **tubby** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:21 pm

Sabre wrote:
how do we convince a player like Ronaldo (example) to join our club

Jokes aside, when I remember cases like Victor, Alves, or recently Neill I must say that's understandable to have doubts about if we're managing well this issues.

But then I'm reluctant to give a strong opinion without knowing all the facts, for instance what Neill says is not enough, as his opinion is biased obviously.

ANyway it's interesting to know your thoughts. In Spain things work differently, the coach is just a coach and it's the club who manages that. In the case of Liverpool I'm not so sure who's the real culprit so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Nice one.

by **stmichael** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:27 pm

ivor_the_injun wrote:Wenger has a good young side, no arguments there, but if you added the cost of assembling it, I'm sure they'd be up there with the most expensive in the Prem. I'd be far more impressed if he'd done it for peanuts, and it baffles me when the media present it as if that's exactly what he did.

exactly.

this whole notion of wenger not spending big is a myth. he brought reyes for £18m who was a flop. he pais £13m for wiltord who didn't really do it. hell he even paid a combined £12m for francis jeffers and richard wright.

and what about walcott £12m, denilson £4m, song £4m. these are hardly first team regulars are they? infact they only ever get a look in in the carling cup.

by **ivor_the_injun** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:05 pm

As far as I'm concerned, Rafa's spending has been almost spot on. No extraordinary transfer fees involved, and minimal harm when it hasn't panned out.

Any arguments with the value for money we got in exchange for paying out £10.7m on Alonso? How about £6m for Reina? How good does £5.8m look for Agger right now? Anyone left out there quibbling with £7m for Crouch? Not forgetting absolutely no fee whatsoever for Aurelio and to bring Fowler back.

*Cough, cough* Shevchenko *Cough, cough*
*Cough, cough* Veron *Cough, cough*

by **destro** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:49 pm

I would also back the way Rafa spends what money he has. Neil is a w.anker simple as, he put money before ambition and anything he says otherwise is b.*ll*c*ks

My only worry is that we may still continue to miss out on players like we have in the past.

Its gong to be hard to find decent enough players who actually want to play for us for the right reasons and not how much we will pay them

The (hopefully) new transfer budget Rafa will be given after the takeover is complete could also work against us with clubs putting the price up for any player we enquire about.

Its going to take some shrewd Rafa dealing to get us the players we need without altering the way he does things.

Good luck :bowdown

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:52 pm

Young completes £9.65m Villa move

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Watford forward Ashley Young for an initial fee of £8m.
The 21-year-old has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Villa Park, with clauses meaning his price tag could end up reaching £9.65m.

"He has got enormous potential and I think he will fulfil that," said Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill.

"Ashley is a really talented player. I have seen a lot of him and I am going to back my judgement."

If they are paying this sort of money now, it may be better to wait till the summer. He's a decent young player but bloody hell £9million!!

by **metalhead** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:54 pm

s@int wrote:Young completes £9.65m Villa move

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Watford forward Ashley Young for an initial fee of £8m.
The 21-year-old has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Villa Park, with clauses meaning his price tag could end up reaching £9.65m.

"He has got enormous potential and I think he will fulfil that," said Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill.

"Ashley is a really talented player. I have seen a lot of him and I am going to back my judgement."

If they are paying this sort of money now, it may be better to wait till the summer. He's a decent young player but bloody hell £9million!!

I agree with you s@int! buying players these days! inflation sucks

by **A.B.** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:09 pm

s@int wrote:Young completes £9.65m Villa move

Aston Villa have completed the signing of Watford forward Ashley Young for an initial fee of £8m.
The 21-year-old has signed a four-and-a-half-year deal at Villa Park, with clauses meaning his price tag could end up reaching £9.65m.

"He has got enormous potential and I think he will fulfil that," said Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill.

"Ashley is a really talented player. I have seen a lot of him and I am going to back my judgement."

If they are paying this sort of money now, it may be better to wait till the summer. He's a decent young player but bloody hell £9million!!

Makes Pennant's signing look like a bargain!

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 7:39 pm

Liverpool boss “very impressed” with McCarthy

January 23, 2007

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez was blown away by the talent shown by Republic of Ireland youth international Jamie McCarthy during his recent trial at Melwood, according to the 16-year-old’s agent.

Glasgow-born McCarthy will make his Ireland debut in Tuesday evening’s under-17 friendly against Italy at Whitehall.

The Hamilton Academical starlet has already been the subject of offers from Reading, Celtic and Liverpool – and the Reds’ Spanish manager was most impressed.

McCarthy’s advisor George Gray told the Irish Independent: ”Rafa Benitez was very impressed by him. He told me that he regarded James’ technique as better than Steven Gerrard’s was at the same age.

“He made a major impression in a training game by unleashing a 25-yard rocket that flew past Jerzy Dudek. Wherever he goes, I can see James playing first team football very quickly.”

I think its time this lad was signed up, its taking too long and other teams will come in if we hesitate.

by **davo_LFC** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:48 pm

its not difficult to put a 25 yarder past jerzy though is it

No seriously though he should be snapped up as soon as possible if hes got the ability. Sounds like a good prospect and lets hope we can beat the competition, i fancy our chances against the likes of reading and celtic like unless hes a celtic fan and even if he is it should be a no brainer to who he chooses, the 5 times european champs and best club in the world!!!

by **account deleted by request** » Tue Jan 23, 2007 11:15 pm

davo_LFC wrote:its not difficult to put a 25 yarder past jerzy though is it

No seriously though he should be snapped up as soon as possible if hes got the ability. Sounds like a good prospect and lets hope we can beat the competition, i fancy our chances against the likes of reading and celtic like unless hes a celtic fan and even if he is it should be a no brainer to who he chooses, the 5 times european champs and best club in the world!!!

Hopefully it didn't go through Dudek's legs

by **Pedro Maradona** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:11 am

Elchris wrote:
Effes wrote:The wage (50K a week) didn't befit the quality of the signing.

He was bought to be a squad player really, we couldn't give him 50K a week as it would have bumped everyone
elses wages.

We don't want to end up like another Leeds - granted, this signing wouldn't have done that, but we
dont wanna go down that road.

We should have got Lauren.

Lauren would have been a decent addition.....but rafa said he had other player in mind if neill din work out i wonder whooooo

why Lauren?

hes as bad as neil, 30 years old and hasnt played for arsenal all season...do you think wenger would let him go if he was any good?

by **Leonmc0708** » Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:55 am

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N154793070124-1047.htm

Another for the Rafa production line.

Liverpool have confirmed the signing of Dutch youngster Jordy Brouwer from Ajax.
The 18 year old striker is the latest of Rafael Benitez's youth recruits as the manager continues his policy of planning for the club's future.

Daniele Padelli and Emiliano Insua have already signed for the Reds during this month's transfer window and now Brouwer - who plays for the Dutch under-19 side - has swapped Ajax for Anfield.

"We have made a good signing for the future in Jordy," said chief executive Rick Parry.

"He has had a youth contract at Ajax, but has opted to build his career at Liverpool.

"We have been monitoring his progress and look forward to developing his potential at Anfield."

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