Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:20 am

Well we've been shown the two contrasts of how to handle transfer situations. On the one hand you have Crouch, who is allowed to run his contract down to the stage where he has one year left. While he's running down his contract, we make it absolutely obvious to everyone (including Crouch himself) that he doesn't figure in our plans. Then we p!ss him off further by slapping a huge fee on his head and run the risk of him sticking around and leaving for feck all.

On the other hand you have Barry. In direct contrast, he has plenty of time left on his contract. We put in a by current standards derisory bid and then p!ss off the club by hook or by crook. The result is that we will end up having to pay at least a couple of million more than the low teens which he is probably worth, if indeed we get him at all.

While we're at it, I'm starting to think we'd better watch ourselves with the Alonso situation as well. Although Xabi is a great pro, we are running the risk of making it obvious we don't want him, then pricing him out of a move and getting him back disgruntled but still on the payroll as well. When you don't quite have the m oney of the big debt and gangster backed clubs, you have to box with a bit more cunning than we are showing at the moment.

One last point. Those who said and are saying that O' Neill is an idiot are completely misreading the situation I think. He is far from being a fool, and he'll know that Barry will probably leave. He's simply ensuring that if he does, he gets top dollar for him. There is also the consolation prize that if he doesn't, he keeps his best player and barry has been left in doubt whatsoever about how much the manager rates him. One or two of us think that although he has many qualities, Rafa sometimes misses a trick in the man-management stakes. This whole episode unfortunately maybe a prime example.

by **NANNY RED** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 10:32 am

s@int wrote:I think its time to call the whole deal off and concentrate on signing someone who could actually make a BIG difference to our season, Villa , Silva, Aguero etc etc.

Enough said

Mind you ive just read the other bit about Alonso you better find a big cover :laugh:

Id take Xabi any day of the week over Barry
Form is temporary, Class is permenant.

by **RUSHIE#9** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:33 am

bigmick wrote:Well we've been shown the two contrasts of how to handle transfer situations. On the one hand you have Crouch, who is allowed to run his contract down to the stage where he has one year left. While he's running down his contract, we make it absolutely obvious to everyone (including Crouch himself) that he doesn't figure in our plans. Then we p!ss him off further by slapping a huge fee on his head and run the risk of him sticking around and leaving for feck all.

On the other hand you have Barry. In direct contrast, he has plenty of time left on his contract. We put in a by current standards derisory bid and then p!ss off the club by hook or by crook. The result is that we will end up having to pay at least a couple of million more than the low teens which he is probably worth, if indeed we get him at all.

While we're at it, I'm starting to think we'd better watch ourselves with the Alonso situation as well. Although Xabi is a great pro, we are running the risk of making it obvious we don't want him, then pricing him out of a move and getting him back disgruntled but still on the payroll as well. When you don't quite have the m oney of the big debt and gangster backed clubs, you have to box with a bit more cunning than we are showing at the moment.

One last point. Those who said and are saying that O' Neill is an idiot are completely misreading the situation I think. He is far from being a fool, and he'll know that Barry will probably leave. He's simply ensuring that if he does, he gets top dollar for him. There is also the consolation prize that if he doesn't, he keeps his best player and barry has been left in doubt whatsoever about how much the manager rates him. One or two of us think that although he has many qualities, Rafa sometimes misses a trick in the man-management stakes. This whole episode unfortunately maybe a prime example.

I think you're spot on there Mick. O'Neill is just looking out for his own best interests at the end of the day.
M'ON and Villa want top dollar for their top playersand they're prepared to stick to their guns. Us on the other hand tend to just bend over and let teams take our better players on the cheap. It all boils down to a poor transfer policy and bad administration within the club IMO. We* (*Coco) too easily allow players to run their contracts down instead of cashing in on them when we can or securing them on new contracts.

by **Leonmc0708** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:59 am

s@int wrote:I think its time to call the whole deal off and concentrate on signing someone who could actually make a BIG difference to our season, Villa , Silva, Aguero etc etc.

Dont take this the wrong way mate, but how do you know they will make any difference ?

by **Rafa D** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:05 pm

Rafa should play hardball. Gareth can buy out his contract as he only has 2 years left. Even if he is on £50,000 a week thats £5,200,000 to buy himself out. I doubt Barry will want to do this to the club and I heard most top clubs have agreed not to do this to each other BUT...

If O'neil insists to play silly games, Barry should at least threaten to do this. It's his chance to join a club that competes for trophies season in , season out. He has been a great servant for Villa and £10m is plenty.

by **Reg** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:09 pm

Call it off and lets go buy a good attacker to support Torres.

He's worth 12 maybe and every penny after that is because he's english.

by **Owzat** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:10 pm

If we're considering paying £15m for a decent but nothing special midfielder on the basis he's now played a few times for England then we might as well not bother signing any players and write off the title now. We can populate the midfield with Kuyt, Mascherano, Gerrard and Babel and spend the £15m+ on a striker like, if not, Villa.

We're looking to villa for players, we should be looking at VILLA instead. Shop at Harrods not stroll in Rafa, show some class. If stroll in asked £20 for a decent bog roll you wouldn't seriously buy it

by **bigmick** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:11 pm

Leonmc0708 wrote:
s@int wrote:I think its time to call the whole deal off and concentrate on signing someone who could actually make a BIG difference to our season, Villa , Silva, Aguero etc etc.

Dont take this the wrong way mate, but how do you know they will make any difference ?

It's a fair question I think, and perhaps Barry might be a victim of his lack of glamour amongst some fans. I'm not absolutely convinced by him as a major signing myself I must admit, but there is no question he is a good player who you would think will settle in pretty quickly.

Sometimes there are good players right under your nose but people just can't see them. Though we all take the p!ss out of him, Lampard was a steal at 12 mill off West Ham when pretty much everyone (definately me included) thought he was worth nowhere near that. I remember when Ferguson moved heaven and earth to get Dwight Yorke I thought much the same thing, but he wasn't a bad signing in the end for them, neither was Sheringham either.

The manager by and large has a good record with signings, particularly his major ones and it's just possible that Barry is a good buit better than many of us are giving him credit for. It's to be hoped he is a big player, because it is increasingly looking like we are going to have to pay big player money if indeed we are to get him.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:16 pm

Leonmc0708 wrote:
s@int wrote:I think its time to call the whole deal off and concentrate on signing someone who could actually make a BIG difference to our season, Villa , Silva, Aguero etc etc.

Dont take this the wrong way mate, but how do you know they will make any difference ?

I think we are still short on creativity, and from what I have seen of Silva and especially Aguero they have that in abundance. Villa while not perhaps having the same creativity as the other two, has something equally important to offer ...... goals.

And while I may not KNOW they will make any difference, I think they would, which is about the best anyone can really say about a player.

by **Rafa D** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:18 pm

Silva - £20m - possible

Aguero - £40-50-60m - ney chance.

by **Bad Bob** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:25 pm

I suppose MON's reaction was predictable. He's not just going to roll over is he? My worry is that we've gone so far down this road that we will end up seeing it through no matter what the cost. We've turned Barry's head, Alonso's got one foot out the door, we've got Gerrard all excited to play with his mate and we've got Rafa, no doubt, with big plans for slotting Barry into the team. That all adds up to us spending much more than initially hoped for the lad, IMO, as we never seem to be able to play hardball over transfers.

This is really starting to feel like a depressing transfer window. As Saint's mentioned in another thread, there are class players out there to be bought this summer but it looks like we'll just be window shopping and dreaming, whilst our competitors get the charge cards out and snaffle up the creme of the crop.

If that's the case we need to focus on consolidating what we were doing down the stretch last year. We had a settled formation and a largely settled side playing quality football. If we can get most of the players back to that same level (or, in the case of youngsters like Babel and Lucas, getting them to step up another level) we'll still have a chance. Arsenal, after all, were very quiet on the transfer front last year and still made a good fist of it. So, a quiet summer of transfers does not necessarily mean we can't challenge. Still hugely disappointing, though.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:31 pm

Rafa-Dodd wrote:Silva - £20m - possible

Aguero - £40-50-60m - ney chance.

Aguero would have only cost about £10-12 million when I first started banging on about him mate

. I think we could get better value for money elsewhere now if I am honest , maybe Van der Vaart or Diego, but if I had my pick I would probably still prefer Aguero or Kaka who is definately out of our reach.

No doubt there are other creative players that I have never even heard of that could do a great job for us, but its that "type " of player that I would like us to sign.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 12:56 pm

I think it's pretty good that we are being linked with people like Milner, Barry and Downing.

I do think we need some English leg-crunchers.

A bit of steel in the team. Fairly young too.

Barry is 27, Milner is 22, and Downing is 23.

For those talking about David Villa, forget it. Way out of our price range.

Valencia will hold Real, Chelsea etc....to ransom.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:06 pm

The Manhattan Project wrote:I think it's pretty good that we are being linked with people like Milner, Barry and Downing.

I do think we need some English leg-crunchers.

A bit of steel in the team. Fairly young too.

Barry is 27, Milner is 22, and Downing is 23.

For those talking about David Villa, forget it. Way out of our price range.

Valencia will hold Real, Chelsea etc....to ransom.

The problem as I see it though mate is that Barry is not much of an improvement on Alonso , and Milner and Downing arn't that much better than what we already have in Pennant, Benayoun and Kuyt.

So we pay signing on fees, probably get ripped off in the transfer market and for what ?........ a slight improvement at best and another year of players needing time to settle in etc etc.

I know it might not be popular but I would rather go with what we have and save what little money we have, than buy players that arn't going to SIGNIFICANTLY improve the team.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:08 pm

Benayoun and Kuyt I would agree with.

Not convinced about Pennant though. I think Barry may be better than him.

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