Do Any Summer Signings Depend on Sales?
THERE were slightly concerning reports in some of the mornings’ papers that Kenny Dalglish (or whoever’s in charge) will have barely £20 million to spend in the summer. That, seemingly, includes the money we got for getting rid of Raul Meireles on the final day of last summer’s transfer window. If we can move on Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani during the summer too, that’ll help to ‘swell’ the coffers to the tune of around another £6-£10 million, so we’d be basically looking at having around £20 million in the summer.
Now, if we were a club with an already decent squad, that wouldn’t be so bad. And given the money we spent last summer, the owners probably thought that not much more would be needed. I mean, for that some of money we could bring in another top class player to supplement what – we thought – we already had or buy 2 or 3 solid squad players to give us more depth. Unfortunately, we’re in a situation now where we need another summer of massive change. Players like Kuyt, Maxi, Cole, Aquilani, Jones, et al will probably be moved on and players like Carroll, Downing, Henderson and Adam haven’t given us suitable value for money.
The problem we now face is that we’d need to raise the sort of money we had to spend last summer via player sales and there is no way in hell we’d get £35 million for Carroll from anybody, nor would we ever get £20 million for Downing or even half what we paid for Henderson. The closest we’d get to the fees we paid for one of these players would be perhaps £4-5 million for Charlie Adam, and he set us back around £9 million.
I’m not suggesting we’ll sell any of these but if we did, we’d be taking at least a 50% hit on all the transfer fees so would it even be worth it, unless we could guarantee we were going to get value for money? So, we’re effectively facing a summer of further transition, during which we don’t seem to have the money to make the changes that are needed.
It’s very much a concern and any players brought in are going to be even more highly scrutinized given the huge outlay and massive failure of the players we signed last summer. The manager is going to be faced with choice over whether to splash the whole transfer fund on a top marquee player that will galvanize the fans and players alike, or to bring in 3-4 players that can add to the depth of the squad without being particularly spectacular. Perhaps, with that in mind, it would be wise to start looking to our reserve and academy teams to give the youngsters there a go and save us a bit of money.
Whatever happens, it’s going to be a tough summer and if the rumours are true the lack of cash from above is going to make it harder. I can’t really blame the owners because they were true to their word last year and pumped over £70 million of their own money in to the club and have seen little return, in terms of performances, from the players the money was spent on. So the manager will need to prove that he can spot a bargain over the summer and the fans can only hope in the meantime that targets are already being identified and deals are being put in place.
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April 30th, 2012
50% hit on Caroll, Henderson , Adam and Downing. Who the hell would pay17.5 million for Caroll or 10 million for Downing or 9 million for Henderson. We would b lucky if we got 10 million pounds for all of them combined. I don’t blame the owners at all for not giving any more money to KD to waste.
May 1st, 2012
Your a wum!!!
May 1st, 2012
Yes Bekim, damm right. Who brought this mess to us. Who gave that shopping list of Carroll, Henderson, Adams and Downing to DC? When FSG sacked DC, its only half the job done. The main culprit KD is let off the hook, but i hope is not for long.
Would any sane person gives another 100 mill or even 10 mill to KD? Clearly KD could not be trusted with any amount of money. You can’t even trust him to pay a decent amount for a hotdog stall.
We need massive rebuiding and since KD can’t be trusted to do anything decent, the best option is to sack him and complete the job.
We need to move forward, we had wasted too much time and money. FSG needs to be decisive.
April 30th, 2012
I’ll reserve judgment until 1st September! Time will tell, not some cynical lying hack!!
April 30th, 2012
you can only agree with BEKIM, about the players we bought last year but there are signs carroll has realised whats expected of him, but where did the 20 mill figure come from? i for one dont believe it if the americans want success they know 20 mill is nothing at all
April 30th, 2012
Gfergo if is only 20 million than the only reason might b that they might not trust KD with money anymore. And I think it’s not good for Lfc.
April 30th, 2012
What about the 45 mil from standard chartered and warrior deals?
May 1st, 2012
It does not matter if 45 mill of $45.00. You can’t trust KD with it.
April 30th, 2012
First I don’t think the net outlay was 70 mio. but I may be mistaken. Second there’s no way we would sell players whom we bought for the long haul after just one season – and rightly so. Third we don’t need a massive overhaul of the squad but instead a few quality addition – and by that I don’t mean the Soldados, Higuans, Cavanis or the like but rather young and hungry players who fit the FSG strategy. Gaston Ramirez, Adam Johnson, Elm, de Jong, Giroud and players of that calibre and age. I have faith in FSG and KD’s project. Concerning the funds I’d think that if we get Aquilani and Cole off our books that will free up wages for 3-4 new additions. It’s not just about the transfer fee.
April 30th, 2012
Agree with the players you have mentioned. I would love to c A Johnson in the red shirt. I think he’s awesome.
May 1st, 2012
Except for the 4 clowns basically our squad is ok that needs maybe 2 to 3 additions. The problem is not so much the players, but the manager.
Do not forget Rafa got our team to punch above our weight in 2009 where we nearly won the title.
April 30th, 2012
If the owners thought that 70 million would sort out the squad in one season then they are very gullible and need to p*** off back to the States!! But I don’t believe the 20 mil rubbish.
May 1st, 2012
You are writing this article on the off chance of us maybe getting very little money to spend in the summer, when in fact everyone within Liverpool football club, has promised there will be money available. And when we scout the likes of Giroud, who will probably cost up to £20M alone, you know where the standard is set. Yes, we most likely won’t get the same amount of money to spend as we did last time around, but a budget of around £30M is likely.
May 1st, 2012
You people should know by now not to take note of what is said in newspapers. There is noway that any of those journalists know what budget we have. Last time I checked the owners said if there’s a player that we need they’ll provide the backing necessary to get that player. As for players coming in this summer only Kenny knows what he wants, this isn’t football manager you can’t go buy anyone and expect them to just fit into our system. Kenny has a plan we playing great footie and had we finished our chances we would’ve been much higher up than we are and no one would be complaining about Kenny’s signings. Relax we on the right track and we’ll be up and firing next season. YNWA
May 1st, 2012
YOUR A WUM!!!!!!
May 1st, 2012
You write a blog based on a fictitious article in a British newspaper/tabloid, most of which should be filed in the fiction section of the library. Was the writers next article about the British inventor who developed the auto that drives 1 thousand miles on a drop of water?
May 1st, 2012
Chelsea snatched up Marin…seriously wanted him with us, disappointed, lets hope summer turns out better.