Rafa Benitez has been in talks with Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton over the last few weeks. High on the agenda would have been the scale of the transfer budget afforded to the Spanish manager. Benitez has no doubt been trying to guarantee that all money from player sales is reinvested straight away into the playing staff. If he does get his way in this regard, how much money could he accumulate by selling unwanted players? I have listed a few potential sales below that could bring in a fair amount of money to build a transfer war chest for Rafa:
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Ryan Babel – £9millionYossi Benayoun – £8million
Albert Riera – £6million
David Ngog – £3million
Mikel San Jose – Sold for £2.6million to Athletic Bilbao
Diego Cavalieri– £2.5million
Krisztian Nemeth – £2.5million
Jay Spearing – £2million
Nabil El Zhar – £1.5million
Philipp Degen – £1million
Charles Itandje – £500,000
Stephen Darby – £500,000
Although I may have overestimated and underestimated some of the prices here, I think we could get at most £40m from the 12 players listed above. The question remains though, doesn’t it leave a big hole in our squad if we sell all of these players? In some respects it does but I have highlighted those in bold above that I believe need replacing. In regards to the others, there are many youngsters in the ranks who could very easily fill the roles vacated. In the goalkeeping positions, Cavalieri and Itandje could very easily be replaced by Gulacsi and Bouzanis, Jay Spearing has been replaced already in the reserves during his time on loan at Leicester by Steven Irwin, Stephen Darby and Philipp Degen’s right back slot can be filled by Martin Kelly, while Nabil El Zhar’s wing role could easily be filled by both David Amoo and Alex Kacaniklic. As Krisztian Nemeth has been on loan at AEK Athens this season, a striker replacement is not really required and both Dani Pacheco and Nathan Eccleston can more than make up for his sale.
The four in bold highlighted above means we would need to find 3 midfielders and a striker for that £40million. That might prove to be the difficult and the solution maybe found in Javier Mascherano. Masch has stalled on signing a new contract until after the World Cup and he has stated in recent weeks that his family is not happy on Merseyside. If we estimated his value at £30million, that would boost the transfer fund up to £70m. Whether this is an option for the manager is another question. Would he want to sell all of these players and would he actually get all of the money back from the board?
In any case, the list above is what I believe could be the solution to Liverpool’s lack of spending power to rebuild the team in the summer. Would you sell these players and who would you spend the money on?
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Haha. All this wheeling and dealing transfer banter is extremely optimistic. More likely scenario –
1) Rafa sells a couple big names, something happens in the boardroom and he never sees any of the money.
2) Even good deals he’s lined up fail to materialize because LFCs coffers are dawdling and other clubs come in to scupper the deal.
3) Come start of the season, he’s managed to get one bargain left-back for $6m, and still expected to challenge for the title.
Rick: I take your point about the team not geling right away. I think that’s very likely to be the case with so many changes.
The thing is I’m of the opinion that, because we don’t have a pot to p1ss in, we will need to take a hit now and sell in order to buy. In order to improve the quality of the team we unfortunately may need to sell the quality that currently exists in our team. I don’t think you’ll ever get £100m odd for Torres and Gerrard again so we need to seize the moment and just bite the bullet. We can’t go out and buy 3 £30m players but instead we need to be shrewd and buy for the future. Buy a set of players that can grow together and not have the pressure of champions league football put on their head – hopefully and happily (in my opinion) doing an Arsenal eventually.
We have a good core at present, you’re right – as good as most in fact. However, it was obvious last season we had no strength in depth. Only by selling can we provide a couple of options for some of these key positions. I don’t want to watch the dire performances that we witnessed when Torres was injured and we had pants all back up of note (and he’ll continue to get injured with Rafa playing him on a lone role up top). We need options when the injuries happen and we also need width. Jesus, John Barnes was the last proper winger that Liverpool had and that’s simply not good enough for a club like Liverpool. Take a look at each of the teams that finished above us this term and they all have width with seriously good wingers (pace, skill, goals). That’s just not the Benitez way though.
Every single Liverpool fan could put a post up here and say what they think should happen. It’s all here say unfortunately. We don’t know if all sales will be reinvested in purchases for a start – as you say Rick (this is a massive point that would dictate any sale of a player). We don’t know if any of these ‘rumoured’ targets would like to play for Liverpool in its current state. We don’t know if there is new investment on the way. We don’t know if Rafa is indeed the right manager for us (again, we all have our opinions and I’ll not preach about what mine is).
All we can do is live in hope, that things will not continue to get worse before they get better. We are Liverpool Football Club, this is true. But we’re not untouchable guys. Let last season be a stark warning to anyone with ideas above their station and get real. We are in serious diff’s in our current state, both on and off the pitch.
GAZZAROO that is the most sensible realistic post a liverpool fan has wrote in a long time
can u other fans carry on with the lofty expectations and unrealistic dreams as us other football fans find it amusing 🙂
To me it’s a little strange that everyone in here seems pretty confident about our defense, apart from LB position. In central defense we just have one player that really knows how to pass the ball and also bring it forward in agger. And only one that i would not rate as slow in skrtel. Agger is injuryprone though, and skrtel i don’t rate as good enough. His positioning is weak and he makes a lot of fouls in dangerous areas. But anyways we would never have any ideal constalation in my view. Carra/agger too slow, and Skrtel not good enough to replace any of them in my mind. With two midfielders like masch and lucas playing a lot last season we were just to easy to defend against. Push them hard and they would not be able to keep the ball for long and do something useful with it. simply pass it back to the defense or loose it. the likes of carra and kyrgiakos/skrtel would then too often end up with the long ball, in most cases without any adress. Our attacking must start from the back and we don’t have enough quality here. And with lack of pace also a big problem when it comes to johnson and insua tracking back we are really vulnerable on the counter attacks it seems to me. Not helping to have donkeys like kuyt,lucas and maxi on the midfield at the same time either.. lack of pace must be dealt with if we are to improve our chances in the PL. i would try to offload skrtel, should be possible to send him somewhere in russia for around 7 mill. Get rid of el zhar, degen, nemeth, plessis,intandje, (+san jose was it 2.6?) and we might get a decent player for around 12-13 mill. get rid off at least riera, lucas, benayoun and babel and use that money on a LB and some quality on the wings + hopefully sign on fee and salary for j.cole. riera hasn’t contributed at all for a year,and neither has babel. lucas must go and gerrard get back to central midfield. And some of our youth has to stand up and make some impact. pacheco and kelly first hand. team: reina (cav) Defense:johnson(kelly), carra(?),(?)(agger), new LB (insua) Midfield:Kuyt/maxi, Masch/gerr, gerr/aqui, cole/maxi,jov
Attack: aqui/kuyt/maxi/pacheco/cole
torres/kuyt/jova/ngog
midfield could do with a replacement for lucas and to me it even might be good business selling masch if we can get up to 25-30 mill for him. can then get martinez and some other quality player for the midfield.
Player wise we are not that bad, being realistic were not going to get alot of money. Gerrard and Torres will stay and Mash (unless Barca dont get Fabragras) So we have to make do with what we have. Aqualini could be a player this year as he has had time to settle, we have Jankovic as 2nd striker or wing, not to mention Maxi. So we are stronger already. However we need to clear out some dead wood and hopefully get one decent player in, dont forget too many new players means a longer settleing in period.
Out
Riera
Aurelio
Benayoun
Degen
Itandje
El Zhar
Nemeth
Spearing
Darby
Ngog
Plessis
In Hopefully one if not 2. Would like to see Martinez and Richards
Would be nice to offload players like Plessis, El Zhar, Itanje, Riera, Degen and hopefully but not likely Lucas.
Above players are all s***e and if we can get 2 quality players like Kjaer and Joe Cole in their place it would be good business.
We can’t afford players like the above posts so fantastically suggest. What we need are good players that can be rotated in and out without weakening the squad.
what utter garbage people write on here, buy him sell him half of you don’t know what your talking about
U lot r jus 2 stupid any money made during sales will go straite 2wards paying of the debts u think the answer is jus selling the whole squad and buying a new 1 just say we sell torres, gerrard and masherano what big name players will cme 2 liverpool….. OH LET ME C YH THE ANSWER IS 0 we want 2 go forward nt backwards all liverpool fans take ur heads out of the ground. YNWA
Agger is a poor CH, but would make a good left back. Insua for cover.
Skirtel useless as well, so sell him.
But Hangleand, he’s another Sami
Lucas is getting better and at least has a go. More then SG did for most of last season.
Mach out, and I like him, and use that money for Fabregas.
SG back in the middle with him.
World class LH side midfield needed &world class forward.
DON’T SPEND MONEY ON DAFT PLAYER WHO CAN’T GET IN CITYS TEAM.
The amount of jumping to conclusions on here is frightening. Sell players and buy players, it’s easy! NO it isn’t FM 2010 it’s real life, let’s look at facts, simple facts! Last summer most of you were taling about 2009/10 being our year, I was more realistic, but you had good reasons to dream. After all we’d only been denied by a ref’s decision (Stoke home) and the width of a post (Stoke away) from winning the title (in theory). Now a year later you want a lot of these players out? The fact remains Liverpool have a fine spine to the team. Reina, Agger, Carra (I’ll come back to him), Mascherano, Aqua, Gerrard, Torres. This compares with all the top 4 if not betters them, Yes we have a width problem and more importantly a injury problem. We’ve gone and signed Doctor Brukner and hopefully he’ll get Agger, Gerrard, Torres and Aqua out on the pitch more often. If we’d done this last season we’d have been in the top 4. As for our width problem I’ll say this some of you advocated attacking full backs and believe the pundits. Well Glen Johnson is a defensive liability mind you I knew that when we signed him, I’ll give Insua one more year before I’ll write him off. Johnson has exposed Carra time after time after time. Carra no longer has the pace to cover for an idiot bombing forward and getting caught. Pretty soon Carra will have to be used sparingly (rotated) to still be as dominant as he has been (a la big Sami). This means a new centre half with some pace, Soto the Greek was a stop gap and we need a new CB within the next year. Maybe Ayala is the real deal but it has to be decided quickly, when you consider that we also need a new left back RIGHT NOW, it may be adavantageous to get someone who does both, please don’t mention Danny Wilson, the kid isn’t a regular in the SPL, I’ve nothing against signing him for the future but not a 1st team member. There are those who bemoan Kuyt, carthorse, bought as a striker makeshift right midfielder etc. To you I say do you honestly think that Rafa Benitez looked only at Kuyt as the top striker for Feyenoord and not Dirk Kuyt who played for (the Netherlands (Holland) who play 4-3-3, where do you think he played for the Dutch? Remember Van Horseface was the main man, on the right of course. Rafa signed him with this in mind and despite being the least skillful Dutch international in my lifetime (6 years) he “work hard” (as Rafa would say) and he bar one season has always got over 10 goals a season. So why are we weak? Simple we have little backup, yes yes let’s trot out all the usual Rafa has spent 200 million quid! Yes and how much has he sold? These jokers (the two yanks) have allowed Rafa to spend big, but then he had to balance the books. So in conclusion we need a LB, preferably one who can cover CB, an out and out winger who beats men with pace and trickery and at least one striker. All of these players must be international class, now if take our new Serb frontman as one of those players the other 2 mininium will cost at least 20 million, where do we get that money? Normally you’d look for the owners so we’re in trouble. In reality they’ll probably have to do something as it will cost 16 mill to sack Rafa and god knows how much for the backroom staff he brought in, so things maybe black and the storm is at it’s worst but remember the darkest hour is just before dawn and when you walk through a storm hold your head up high YNWA.
I would just like to reply to some of the above remarks to players who should stay or go at lfc .CARRAGHER first and foremost straight out of the door he is a complete liability useless ,then KUYT,HOOKNOSE BENAYOUN,AURELIO,DEGEN,NGOG,REIRA,LUCAS,EL ZAR, KYRIAGOS all of these players would be lucky in blackpools side ,PLAYERS WE SHOULD KEEP REINA SKRTEL,AGGER,INSUA BUT NEEDS TO IMPROVE,GERRARD,MASCHERANO,TORRES,RODRIGUEZ,and then bring in quality ,and also intruduce some of the younger players and then maybe will have a chance of winning the premiership ,but get rid of the rubbish now ps i have forgot to put BABEL in the get rid of’s
I think there needs to be an enormous shakeup this summer but I also think that we can build a team to challenge for the tittle without needing massive investment from those bastards who have persistently tried to ruin our club.
1st of all we have 1 of the best keepers in the world & to be fair to Cavalieri he’s done reasonably well anytime he’s played in a league cup game so we’re more than ok in this position.
Right Back: Glen Johnson is 1 of the best in the business in this position if we can keep him fit & with cover from Martin Kelly who is looking a really good prospect I think that RB is well taken care of.
Left Back: Ok this is a major problem, Insua is certainly not good enough to start & should only be used for cover but who could we buy to replace him? I think a few million spent on Roysten Drenthe could be worth the risk. He definitely has the ability & with a run of games I think he could work out to be a very clever buy a probably around 5 Million.
Centre Back: We’re actually not too bad here with Agger, Carra & Skirtel but lets be honest none of them are world class & a move for Jan Vertonghen from Ajax. He’s extremely highly rated & if he turns out to be half as good as the Belgian Arsenal got last year we’ll be doing very well. I think we’re all pretty sure that Ryan Babel would love to return home to Ajax & maybe we could get Jan Vertonghen for 5M + Babel. I’d love if Babel finally got it together and fulfilled his potential but lets be honest we’re not really in a position to wait for that to happen so I think a deal similar to this could be great business.
Right Wing: Dirk Kuyt works his ass off & we all love players who give 100% everytime they put on the red jersey but my fear is that his 100% just isnt good enough. I hate saying this but if someone in Italy ie Roma/Juventus are willing to pay 10/12 Million for his services then I think we should take it. With Maxi’s versatility I think he could be great backup for Jesus Navas who would cost in the region of 18-20 Million but what a talent this lad is & if we don’t move for him quickly then he will be snapped elsewhere. there is even a possibility that Seville are interested in Yossi who I for 1 don’t want to see leave but he does want 1st team football so a move away is most likely & if this were to happen then we may get Navas for 10M+ Yossi.
Left Wing: This is again a major problem for us & the answer is not easy to find as left sided players are not plentiful & the few good ones that are out there don’t come cheap. Trying to take big named player from 1 of Europe’s Elite would be difficult so really I would look to Benfica who haven’t been up there with Europe’s elite for a long time. They own Angel Di Maria who is sure to want a move after the world cup but the only problem here is the fee. He will probably cost 25M because of his age and ability but unfortunately this is what we’re gonna have to pay. The other option is a name being thrown around for year & that is David Silva of Valencia who can play either wing or as a supporting striker. It is rumored that Valencia like Riera so maybe would could get him for 18M + Riera. Lets face it, he’s definitely leaving us so hopefully to either Benfica or Valencia in part exchange for 1 of these great players.
Midfield: This is where the real movement will happen. Mascherano I like you, you’re great at breaking up play & you do try hard for the team but unfortunately you are not Xavi Alonso & if you’re not happy & want to leave & Barcelona are willing to pay £30 Million for you then please pack your bags & off you go. I think the money would be great but would we be allowed invest it if we got it all? Probably not so maybe with Barca after signing David Villa it could pave the way for us to take some of their up & coming stars who lets face it are gonna find it very hard to get into the side. The 1st name that springs to mind is Bojan who is an unbelievable talent who seems to thrive on confidence so a run in the side is probably all he would need to consistently find the net week in week out. The other player that I think will struggle to get in the side in Kieta, especially if Masc signs for them. He’s a genuine midfielder who can sit in & pull passes all over the park but is also not bad going forward. I think these 2 combined + 10 Million for Mascherano is outstanding business. That other 10 Million should be spent on Wesley Sneijder who I still can’t believe we didnt sign last year. With Jose gone from Inter he’s almost sure to want away & it’s unlikely he’ll follow him to Madrid after the way he was previously treated there. Sneijder can play anywhere in the midfield & has the ability to change a game in minutes.
Staying with the midfield, Steven I love you & I really hope you stay but if you don’t & Madrid want you which I’m sure they will then I would look for Gonzalo Higuain & 10 Million in return. It is looking likely that Gerrard has had enough & wants a change both in his career & his personal life & I for 1 would wish him the best even though I’ll hate seeing him leave. The extra 10 Million should go towards buying Di Maria or Silva.
As for Lucas & Aqualani? I really don’t know what to say about these 2 except if we can get £15 combined for both of them I think we sould take the hand off whoever is offering it. This money would certainly be enough to buy Stephan Ireland who wants out of Man City but I think if it’s true that Milner really wants to be a red then put another 5 million with it & welcome him with open arms.
Striker: Fernando I’m begging you to stay & I think if he sees similar activity to what I’ve written about above then I think he just might. The prospect of playing up front with the likes of Higuain or Bojan or even both & play makers like Snijder, silva & Milner would surely be appealing to him. Jovanovic who I know little about is apparently a done deal & anyway how bad could he be next to Ngog who i firmly believe to be the worst striker in the Premier League so 2-3 Million for him would be a steal. Juan Mata is another possibility & would cost about 15 Million which could be made up from the sales of all our other dead wood or could be bought with the money for Bojan/Higuain. After all we will only want him if 1 of those didnt come.
Now for the sad reality that Torres might leave. Lets face it we wouldn’t all the money as some of it would go towards paying off our interest but with Man City & Barcelona probably the only 2 clubs in the world who could possibly buy him for 70 Million then surely 2 players from either club would have to change hands. Ibrahimovic/Pedro spring to mind from Barca & Ireland/Teves from man City maybe even Robinho who lets face it still must have unreal ability. Hopefully Fernando will stay though & none of this will be relevant.
When you work out the maths for all the above it would mean that we would only end up spending approx 25-30 Million which certainly isnt outrageous by any means especially when we have the likes of El Zhar, Deagan & other reserves that could fetch us another 10-15 Million.
Reds fans I think something along these lines is very possible & Liverpool’s squad next season would look something like this:
Goalkeepers: Reina, Cavalieri
Defenders: Johnson, Kelly, Drenthe, Insua, Agger, Skirtel, Carragher, Jan Vertonghen & Kyrriakos.
Midfield: Gerrard?, Sniejder, Silva (or Di Maria), Navas, Maxi, Kieta, Milner, Steven Ireland, Shevely.
Strikers: Torres (hopefully), Bojan, Higuain, Jovanovic.
We may need to buy another central midfielder but on the cheap, maybe someone like Senna or Albelda who are coming to the end of their careers but still very capable of doing a job.
As for a manager, personally I’d love to see the back of him & see someone like Rikaard come in who don’t forget is responsible for building the majority of the current Barca team but Rafa if you are going to stay please get rid of our below average players, stop rotating & play the best available 11 players every week. Rest the likes of Torres when we’re 3 nil up but get the job done 1st.
YNWA
i think we just need 2 improve the defence in our squad:
insua is a decent LB but he need to improve his concentration and tackling.
carra should have more composure in the defence…he always ran out of position and leaves a big hole in the defence…
glen should improve his defending or just use masch against good attacking opposition…n use glen against defend minded opposition.
babel should leave…n gog is far better in holding n heading the ball solo up front…
lucas has improved in the end of season…hope he continue to…
thats all…juz cont with our new policies of buying young englishmen…n with the new academy coach and medical director…we will be the champs next season!!!!!
but if we operate in the transfer market…this is my choice:
GK:no prob
CB:agger and skrtel,carra need to have more composure cause last season he always out of position and leaves a really big hole in the defence.ayala n soto as sub,soto can be use as tactical strategy.
RB:glen start against defend minded team,degen could be sell(really dont know how to def n physically not good)..masch start against good attacking side
DM:masch or lucas(if masch play as RB lucas could strt)
CM:gerrard,aquilani,lucas or shelvey
AM:ireland(12M),gerrard or lucas or even maxi….get rid of benayoun
LW:offload riera,babel n try to play gerrard/ireland on more advance left sided role juz as malouda did 4 chelsea…try maxi on the left
RW:kuyt n maxi,take joe cole(0M) or SWPhillips(8M) to rotate the squad.
ST:torres,jovanovic(i am not sure about his abilities),n gog n pacheco shouldnt play solo upfront(change to 442)…n mayb higuain if he doesnt renew his contract(juz last in 2years of his contract)
and this is the best possible team we could get without sacrifice our best players…
Why give Rafa any money? He will just waste it on players he puts on the bench.
i think that everyone needs to get realistic and think sensible why need to build the team around these players
riena(GK)
carragher(CB)
GERRARD(CM)
TORRES(ST)
this is the backbone of the club and these players need to be kept another really inportant player is a.aquilana i think he could be as big a gerrard or even bigger as for transfers if there is money for rafa we need
A left and right winger
(milner and simao)22-25million
a patner for torres
dzeko from wofsburg 25mill
a partner for gerrard
(xavi from barca or gareth barry
1 10mill LB and 1 10mill RB and we will definetly be fighting for the title with man U and chelsea
We should sell Itandje £1-2m ,Cavalieri £2m, Degan £2m, Insua £3-4m ,Krygiakos £1m, Lucas £5-7m, Plessis £2m, El Zhar £2m. Riera £7m, Ngog £5m, Kuyt £8M and Bennayoun £6-8m.
And hopefully the owners will be out by then and new investment in and add more investment to the amount gained through sales and bring in young, quality, class, hungry players with the potential to being world class in future for the club.
And Bring W Hennessey of Wolves £3m
M Richards of Man City £6m
Simon Kjaer Of palermos £10-11M
Taiwo Of Marseille £6m
Belhdaj Of Portsmouth £3m
Flamini of AC Milan £6-10m
S Ireland Of Man City £7m
Jesus Navas of Seville £10-15m
Diego Capel Of Seville £7-£10m
Adriano Free Transfer
Lukas Podolski of cologne £6-£10m
And with additions like this, Mascherano, Gerrard and Torres will see the club do want to achieve things and would not want to leave the club.
But in order for this to happen, we need new investment in as soon as possible and also a change of manager and ideas, the players, us fans need new buzz, new ideas, new excitement around the club.
I agree with Donal’s sentiment – the priority for Liverpool HAS to be a top class winger. It is no coincidence that every Premiership champion has had at least one of the top wingers in the league, with even Chelsea (who had by far the best squad in the league last year) needing Malouda to step up his game considerably just to scrape to the title.
Starting Kuyt & Maxi regularly as our wide-men just isn’t going to cut it! After bringing in two pacy and skilful wingers (e.g. Silva + Petrov or Turan + Quaresma), a big secondary striker (e.g. C Cole?), left-back (e.g. Belhadj?) and physically dominant centre-back (e.g. Luisao?) are the next areas to be filled in that order, depending on funds available
I also agree with those that wouldn’t trust Rafa with £70m though – we need a manager that prioritises pace, power and technical ability over just work-rate and determination (typically the main attributes for players near the bottom of the league).
A good attitude is important to a team winning the title, but having a number of quality match-winners is what ultimately makes the difference between the title winners and the chasing pack
Bring in a good manager to replace Rafa Benitez and see what he can do with squad then let us make a judgement on current squad.
At end of day is our squad good enough to win at Wigan, Pompey, Sunderland, Stoke, Blackburn… or is it Benitez is a wrong ‘un