Whoever owns Liverpool FC in January and whoever is manager by then, hopefully the Reds will at least have some money to spend in the transfer window to improve the squad. Although it would be likely we could only afford one or two of them, here are my top five targets.
1) Juan Mata – Liverpool fundamentally need wingers more than anything else during the January transfer window. With Roy’s infamous quote that “we don’t play with wingers,” I believe the first thing any manager, including Roy, would do in the transfer window is to find a player that can give the Reds attack a bit of width and speed. Mata has started really well on the left hand side for Valencia, as the team sits pretty at the top of La Liga ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Spanish Club would be reluctant to let the player go for a small sum but they still have financial issues. Despite selling David Villa and David Silva in the summer, the club still has over £300m worth of debt, and would have to consider any reasonable bid for Mata, especially since he is still negotiating a new contract with the Spanish league leaders.
2) Arda Turan – If we can’t get Mata, then Turkish international Arda could be the answer. He has the same dimunitive stature as Mata but is equally adept as the Spanish winger with the ball at his feet. Pacey, and with an excellent cross, Galatasaray’s captain provides a fair few assists. On top of this, he loves to cut in and score his fair share of goals from long range using his right foot. Has stated on a number of occasions in the past that he would like to play for Liverpool, and at only 23, he is the captain of his club, demonstrating how highly his manager Frank Rijkaard rates him.
3) Diego Forlan – Has stated recently he would like to have another go in the Premier League, the Uruguayan had an excellent World Cup, helping his side to the semi finals. He also helped his club Atletico Madrid to the Europa League last season putting goals past Liverpool and Fulham to help lift the trophy. At 31 years of age, he is getting on in years, but as his goal record at both Villarreal and Madrid tells you, he is a goal scorer who will be money well spent.
4) Mirko Vucinic – Roma striker Vucinic expressed his desire to play in the Premier League today ahead of his country’s match against England tonight.
“I am very happy there is a lot of interest from the Premier League, and I hope to do my best and have a great game. The Premier League is one of the best leagues in the world. I just have to keep playing my football in the best possible manner.”
Has an excellent goal record for Roma where he has a 1 goal for every two games ratio, and is excellent in the air as well as holding up the ball. Could really become an excellent foil for Fernando Torres if the club can afford him.
5) Lassana Diarra – Considering the travails of Christian Poulsen, and the rumoured departure of Lucas Leiva, the Reds need to consider options for the defensive midfield role vacated by Javier Mascherano. Despite being involved in Real Madrid’s campaign this season, former Chelsea, Arsenal and Portsmouth player Lassana Diarra has been used sparingly from the bench. If our manager sees the defensive midfield role as a priority target in January than Diarra should be at the top of the list as he has great speed to go with his excellent tackling ability.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
EA Sports’ New MMA Game Trailer!
i think we shell get mata,steven deouf,Gareth Bale, and mario gomez that would do it for me come on liverpool beat everton tomorow and lets get fourth place this season.
Firstly, get rid of the deadwood.
Out: Johnson (useless defender), Skrtel (liability in the box), Kryiakos (past it), Babel (enough said), Rodriguez (not good enough), Lucas (not good enough), Poulsen (bad signing), Kuyt (past it), Ngog (not good enough).
Then we need a total new defence (Carra is past it now), both wingers, 2 strikers( one current world class one to play with Torres, and a younger one to compliment them both, maybe Ricky Van W!)
We need to clear out the dead wood at the club, some major surgery to the squad is needed.
We need 11 players out and 10 players in:Over the next two seasons:
10 out:
KRYGIAKOS CB KONCHESKEY LB AURELIO LB/LW
LUCAS CM/DM POULSEN DM/CM M RODRIGUEZ RW/LW JOE COLE AM/RW/LW JOVANOVIC LW/RW BABEL LW/RW/FD D KUYT RW/FD AND NGOG FD
IN:
G Cahill Of Bolton Or S Taylor Of Newcastle CB
RB: Micah Richards Of Manchester City
LB: Taiwo Of Marseille
LB:
DM: Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid
CM: E Banega Of Valencia
RW: Jesus Navas Of Seville, Juan Mata of Valencia, Alexis Sanchez of Udinesse or Arda Turan of Galatassary should be brought to club to be out and out right winger at club.
LW: Royston Drenthe Of Real Madrid( On loan at Hercules at moment) or Diego Capel of Seville, either one of these wingers should be brought to club to play as out and out winger at club.
FD: Lisandro Lopez Of Lyon Or Lukas Podolski Of Cologne.
FD: G Agbonglahor Of Aston Villa
And Carragher has been loyal servant at club, but he is past his best and We need to bring in G Cahill of Bolton or S Taylor Of Newcastle to club, to come and compete with Skrtel for play alongside Agger.
We need to clear out the dead wood at the club, some major surgery to the squad is needed.
We need 11 players out and 10 players in:Over the next two seasons:
10 out:
KRYGIAKOS CB KONCHESKEY LB AURELIO LB/LW
LUCAS CM/DM POULSEN DM/CM M RODRIGUEZ RW/LW JOE COLE AM/RW/LW JOVANOVIC LW/RW BABEL LW/RW/FD D KUYT RW/FD AND NGOG FD
IN:
G Cahill Of Bolton Or S Taylor Of Newcastle CB
RB: Micah Richards Of Manchester City
LB: Taiwo Of Marseille
LB: Cissokho of Porto
DM: Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid
CM: E Banega Of Valencia
RW: Jesus Navas Of Seville, Juan Mata of Valencia, Alexis Sanchez of Udinesse or Arda Turan of Galatassary should be brought to club to be out and out right winger at club.
LW: Royston Drenthe Of Real Madrid( On loan at Hercules at moment) or Diego Capel of Seville, either one of these wingers should be brought to club to play as out and out winger at club.
FD: Lisandro Lopez Of Lyon Or Lukas Podolski Of Cologne.
FD: G Agbonglahor Of Aston Villa
And Carragher has been loyal servant at club, but he is past his best and We need to bring in G Cahill of Bolton or S Taylor Of Newcastle to club, to come and compete with Skrtel for play alongside Agger.
pato? I doubt we’d spend 40mil on 1 player , players out-rodrigues(liability) ,babel(talent but no end product) ,jovanovic(inconsistent ) ,ngog(no out and out quality ,not a good header ,nor does he have a great first touch) ,lucas(goes backwards rather than forward and isn’t a rock in front of the back 4 either) ,konchesky(terrible signing ,not liverpool quality) , players in – miguel-cover for johnson or johnson should play on the wing and miguel right back . Eric abidal-fallen out with barcelona but an excellent player thats underrated and should be available on the cheap . Juan mata -brings in creativeness that we lack . Charles nzogbia -underrated player with speed ,we need speed on the wings . Edin dzeko-perfect player to foil torres . Karim benzema – alot of talent and will be cheaper than his value at the moment .i hope roy hodgson makes quality european player signings and will spend properly rather than signing cheap players.
Players in
CB.Wayne bridge
CAM.Ben arfa on loan
RM.Shaun wright phillips or ashley young
LM.If the price is right G.bale
ST.Lissandro lopez and mario gomez
I wouldn’t mind seeing juan mata or karim benzema come to liverpool
Players out
Lucas leiva,shelvy,poulsen,krygikos,babel,ngog,konchesky,johnson,
( make a move for sergio aguero him and torres will destroy any defence)