Joe Cole’s signing for Liverpool on a four year contract today, subject to a medical, did really come out of the blue. I only read in the paper this morning that a move to the Reds was a possibility and when the news was revealed on the club’s official website this afternoon, it was a surprise. None the less, a player of Joe’s quality must be welcomed as we need all the help we can get. There are some uncertainties about his signing, but if he comes to Merseyside fully motivated, then any misgivings will quickly subside.
Tremendous credit must go to Roy Hodgson into getting him signed and it shows the intentions to both Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard that the ambition of the club is still there. I wouldn’t go as far as some Reds fans who believe that the signing of Cole will inevitably lead to both staying but it can only help. Some have speculated that Joe may have spoken to Gerrard before signing about whether he was staying at Anfield, but I believe the primary reason for him signing is regular first team football.
Certainly financial motivations cannot be ruled out. A big signing on fee, combined with the rumoured £90,000 a week wages over four years revealed in the Guardian, would have played a part in the deal, but I believe he would not turn down Champions League football at Tottenham and Arsenal in his home city of London just to get extra money. At both Spurs and Arsenal, competition for places would have been dramatically higher if he had chosen to join either team, and I think we can assume that at Liverpool that won’t be so much of a problem.
Of course, concerns over his injury record will remain but with the new sports science team in tow, this might be less of a worry than what might be the case. A 28 year old English international swapped with Chelsea for a 30 year old Israeli in Yossi Benayoun as as well as £5.5million is not a bad deal considering the Reds financial state. As players, I think we can safely assume the Reds got the better end of the deal.
Rather than Joe Cole, any real concern should be focused on the size of our squad. Anyone looking at a pre-season tour squad will know that there is no strength in depth in our team, and while Cole is a start, new signings need to come quickly. The pending £5m sale of Emiliano Insua to Fiorentina means we will have no recognisable senior left backs, a fact not lost on Hodgson:
“Yes, we are short. It’s going to be one of the priorities to find a replacement. It’s one of the jobs we have to do. As far as we understand, the deal has been completed between the clubs and his agent is sorting out personal terms. We thank him for his time at Liverpool and the work he did for us and accept that it was the right moment for him to move on and get first-team football with Fiorentina.”
He also said this on Albert Riera:
“I’ve hardly seen him play at all. I’ll only have an opinion about him. That will be more informed when I’ve seen him play but at the moment some players like Insua, or Riera, decisions were made about what will happen to them last season and really, I’m coming in on the back of it.”
Talking of the lack of players available for the Europa League, he hopes also that there will be some movement on transfers before July 29th and that “any new signings will be important for the Europa League.”
Two left backs, a striker, another winger (if Riera leaves), and perhaps another defensive midfielder if Mascherano’s drawn out saga concludes. In these 4 or 5 signings, Hodgson must again, like with Cole, show to Torres and Gerrard that the Reds are showing the required ambition; if he doesn’t then the high of signing Cole today might be heavily dampened by the sale of our best stars. Of course, Roy will be heavily restricted by financial constraints but with £5m from the Insua deal, perhaps £5m from Riera and hopefully £30m for Masch’s sale, we can use the majority to strengthen a squad lacking the depth and talent that could keep our stars at the club.
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I think you should trust our manager a bit more as he will probably know already that he needs a few more players and in what positions.
I agree entirely but the timing of this particular signing is immense. Roy has announced that the Capt & our star striker are not for sale then we immediately sign a creative english talen – proven in the premiership. Excellent work all round I say.
Now for our need of a striker – would love to see Remy in there equally promptly. He’s strong and fast-exactly what is needed in the premiership these days.
At left back I’d take Figueroa from Wigan but I hope Roy has bigger plans than him…(he’d make a great back up LB).
Mascherano may go & that’s fine but sooner rather than later is my opinion. We can then get in a suitable replacement pronto. If he stays then great, we will have a midfield on par again with anyone (StevieG; Masch; Cole etc).
One player who we must not forget is Aqualani, he’s been declared fully fit by the club and with a little encouragement he should start to show more frequently what he is capable of.
The future is looking less bleak than it did only a month ago….
Come on the reds!
Anyway, I would agree that we need left-backs, and Roy has also mentioned this. As for the other positions you mention. Lets consider whom we’ve got for the two wings and one up front: Riera, Maxi, Babel, Kuyt, Jovanovic, Cole, Torres, N’Gog. So, taking away Riera from that mix I would agree with another striker, if we stick with one up front, but how many wingers do we actually need? Three per side? I thought two were enough plus a youngster from our academy. You may now argue that Kuyt and Babel should not be considered wingers. Well, then they are strikers so we wouldn’t need another striker but two wingers.
agree antealer great post, if we are to keep babel, kuyt, torres and the serb. now with cole, we coudl have the funds with some more sales to buy two more wingers, would it be great or what if turan can come in place of reira, and maybe even swp on the other flank and he would come cheap, too. left back is huge problem with not many ourt there worth any money but id like to see a powerfull fast rampaging full back like cissohko from lyon or belhadji as a cheaper option, no to warnock, bridge, etc, no thanks,
WITH MASCHERANO GOING( HOPE SO ) BRING IN 2/ 3 PLAYERS WHICH THEN HELPS WITH SQUAD DEPTH.
REINA
JOHNSON CARRAGHER AGGER CISSOHKO
COLE GERRARD BANEGA TURAN
TORRES KUYT
I have heard we may need to replace Maxi aswell rumours are he will hand in a transfer request just 6 months after Benitez signed him if as expected fellow argentines Javier Mascherano and Emiliano Insua move on.
there is nothing wrong with removing the lesser players from our squad to fund the purchase of possibly better players, but my main worry is we will sell then fail to replace them suitably, like insua impending transfer, that’s going leave us with no LB, the way i see it is we need a LB and a striker, then we should look to sell riera and masch (he wants to leave so lets sell him while he has time on his contract, get a decent price lets say 25mil, while he is good his position can be fill well enough by a player worth a good 10 -12mil less, allowing us to strengthen the squad with quality. we sold alonso and replaced him with an unfit aqua (he will come good this season) this left us short last year lets hope we can fill the slots before the season starts. good luck Woy we i have faith.
I don’t understand why on almost every article I see on liverpools transfers I keep readin comments about replacing masch. If he goes then thanks for the couple of years but do we really need a holding midfield player if Roy wants to play 2 upfront who are u gonna sacrifice to put one in but if roy changes it to 4-4-2 a midfield of cole gerrard aqualini nd one of babel or maxi wiv torres nd kuyt upfront to me ain’t half bad.
IF ANY OF THE ARGIE’S WANT OUT THEN FINE, GO BUT GO NOW. ID LOVE TO SEE THESE TWO BITS GUYS GO;
degen,itandge, cavalieri, nemeth, el zhar, reira, mascherano, plessies, ngog. that lot would fetch us; £45 million. add that to the 12 million kitty that has been known that Roy has been given by the two yankie con men then if we could pull it off id go for.
That’s a cool 57 million to re- invest;
Then go and buy;
cissokho for the fee; 14million pounds
turan for the fee; 14million pounds
Huntelaar for the fee; 10 million pounds
van der vaart for the fee; 12million pounds
figueroua 7 million pounds
mascherano is going, just heard that from my brother he is in the industry,,, he is out in south america and he has phoned the club via his agent and told the board that he wants to join inter! GREAT NEWS FOR ME,,, NOW WE CAN GET ON AND BUY REPLACEMENTS