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View from the Kop

What would you do with £30m to spend?

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Of course I know I am purely speculating here but if Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano was sold for the best part of £30m to Inter Milan, and the majority was given to Roy Hodgson to spend, what would you do with it? I know it’s kind of playing a game of Football Manager with the funds but if I was Roy, I would split the money into three. £10m on a striker, £10m on a replacement for Mascherano and £10m on a left back.

Left back (Taye Taiwo/Wayne Bridge) – the position is difficult to fill for two reasons, one there are few really decent left backs in the world, and secondly, the lack of home-grown players in the Reds squad means in all likelihood that at least one of the two spots will have to be filled by an Englishman. Wayne Bridge has again been rumoured and with his odds on joining Liverpool moving to 4/6 on by Sky Bet, it is an interesting development because the same thing happened with Joe Cole a couple of weeks ago. Bridge was certainly not on the greatest of form last season, and the arrival of Aleksandar Kolarov at Eastlands from Lazio for £17million, has raised question marks over his future. He will be available for sale but I think Roy should look elsewhere for a first choice left back. Although my first choice would be Benfica’s Fabio Coentrao, he would cost between £15m-20m, and I think the most value for money defender on the market could be Taye Taiwo. The Nigerian full back has a year left on his contract and will be available for a lot less than £10m. He has demanded a transfer and would most likely welcome a move to Anfield.

Central Midfielder (Lassana Diarra/Esteban Cambiasso) – Many who commented on my previous post about five replacements for Mascherano, talked of buying a player such as Steven Defour or Javi Martinez. While they are very good players, I believe a direct replacement is necessary for the departing Mascherano. A midfield enforcer is always necessary to compete at the top level, and although, probably both long shots, I would attempt to purchase either Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid or Cambiasso from Inter Milan. Cambiasso would need to come in exchange for Mascherano so a more likely bet would be Diarra. A good tackler and dynamic going forward, the French midfielder could give the Reds midfield some added bite. If he was available for £10m, we would be getting a very good all round player.

Striker (Klass-Jan Huntelaar/English Option) – With only Fernando Torres and David Ngog as our  exclusive strikers with Dirk Kuyt and Milan Jovanovic most probably committed to wider roles, another striking option will definitely be needed for next season. I have stated on a number of occasions that Milan’s Klass Jan-Huntelaar would be my favourite for the role. Still only 26, he is available for transfer and could be bought for £10-12m. He can play either as a lone striker or up front with Torres, which could make him an ideal purchase for Hodgson. Roy may however have to opt for an English alternative to improve home-grown numbers and both Peter Crouch and Carlton Cole have been speculated. Both decent front men who have excellent aerial ability, but are they worth the price if we look at their respective goal returns? Out of the three positions, the striking berth could be the most difficult to fill but there are options out there.

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34 comments

  • nkk says:

    left back poss: taiwo would be the best. reportedly unsettled and one year left on contract – got to be under £10M?! bridge also a good option. bring riise back? Every player since he left has been no better! should never have sold him anyway! Def mid: the ghana midfielder playing for udinese – asamoah i think his name was. banega, parker, annan. need a tough tackler/no nonsense player. Striker: without a doubt Huntelaar – got a great scoring ratio for club and country. Always liked Crouch – Benitez never appreciated his efforts. Llorente? Prob not possible…

  • nkk says:

    oh… got to give these youth players a chance to progress. what’s the point in spending on recruiting them, to not give them some game time.

  • steve mcauley says:

    purely to make the home-grown quota…bridge@£7m, ireland or cattermole@£7m, SWP@£6m and huntelaar@£10m. i would also sell kuyt and buy arda turan and use what’s left from player sales to take a chance on potential like young petersen, who we were linked with last week

  • lee says:

    I would go for Figueroa wigan ,Diego Perez Monaco,
    And Remy …those players will cost around £30m ..

  • daniel richardson says:

    Look for £6 million you could buy the goal machine Humberto Suazo

    desperate to play in the prem he walked away from the chance to be David Villas replacement at Valencia after impressive 6 months in Spain securing Zaragoza top flight status and he is being linked with the likes of Wigan and Birmingham.

    He is a Rooney type player who would thrive at anfield and the team would thrive off him.

    HUMBERTO SUAZO – THIS IS YOUR MAN

  • Lewis Riley says:

    Banega

    Taiwao

    Benzema!!

  • Eugene Burns says:

    Perhaps Crouch. If Crouch had forseen Torres injury problems then he’d have got plenty of games with LFC. Left to play football, would he get enough games if he came back?

    SWP not good enough. It would be like having Pennant back again.

    I thought Huntelaar was staying with AC.

    Ireland looked good with Man City the season before last. Worry about his mindset however after the FAI debacle and a few other things.

    Cattermole would be a good signing but I don’t think Sunderland want to sell him.

    Ardan Turan rumours seem to have died a death.

    Maybe N’gog will live up to his promises if we keep him. The nightmare scenario of defeat in Macedonia didn’t happen. Perhap’s N’gog’s goals need to considered in light of the opposition he scored against. He took the second well. He took his goal against Utd well too but didn’t push on to score enough throughout the season.

    Reports about Taiwo demonstrate petulance and a desire to go to Spain, so don’t think that deal will happen or if we should want him.

    Bridge was rumoured years ago to be interesting Liverpool when he was at Southampton. He went to Chelsea. He missed his chance to become a RED and shouldn’t be given a second chance.

    For fans the game is about passion, desire and loyalty. Like Young, if the attraction of LFC wasn’t enough, then he’s not worthy.

    Hopefully Torres has been given an honest assessment of what’s happening with the club this year and it’s inspired him to stay.

    Whatever happened about the proposed auction of the club that was referred to by Broughton when Hodgson was announced as Manager? August is what I recall was when it was supposed to happen. Has anyone any news about that?

  • jay says:

    well if i had thirty million quid i would throw it all on a horse at the odds of 1000/1 at lucksin downs called emlynns fund and id buy liverpool football club when it romped home and sort all the crap out then i would put a generous bid in for mascherano(in my wifes name)to run around like slave for 7 years worth of spending i would write it in scouse the contract and the muppet would just sign it looking at the sum at the bottom(by the way i wouldve already had his agent killed by a baghead for twenty quid)and he would be cleaning my bog after a curry and a bevvy by the whole team the (this is where you put your own words in )

    ynwa

  • jay says:

    the contract

    alright kid whats happnin rafa the jaffa reckons your boss m8 but hes threw an offer in fella for thirty million quid to take you there

    you are so allowed to leave you bell end but i had a better offer for u kidda

    mebirdthinksurabellendtoo have put in an offer of 9 million a year for you and a lot more for us they play in the dothedinneryoucunt league in the wipemearse islands just off the coast of idontgiveashitislandicanwritewhathefuckiwanttocauseurabellend
    the league is of a good standard you can look forward to seeing harry kewell there too
    all you have to do is sign here

    here

    £63,000,000 guarenteed

  • jay says:

    masherano get ur ugly bird out of our city you bum

  • jay says:

    tell him as well if he gonna sue me cos he sees dollars$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    in the case and my staffordshire bull will eat the bailiffs b4 they get my telly u bumnut

  • Ozzy says:

    Firstly I doubt Masch will go for 30m, more like 25m. With these funds I feel we would only have to buy a suitable replacement for him, a LB and possibly a wide player with the funds. I think our strength in depth up front is better than people think. I would have Ngog, Pacheco and Babel covering Torres. A few eyebrows may be raised at Babel’s selection here but people forget he was a front man until Rafa pushed him out wide, and he also prefers playing through the middle. As for transfers in I would feel De Jong who will probably be open for a move away, after loosing his starting place to Yaya. He could probably be bought for around 15 million. With Figueroa on the way I would like to see another experienced LB challenging him for a starting place; people like Taiwo and Ziegler would be good options, both probably commanding a fee of around 10 million. I don’t feel we need an overhaul of the squad, instead I would trust younger players such as: Amoo, Spearing, Kelly, Ngog, Pacheco and Dalla Valle with more senior roles after their impressive performances in pre-season.
    My starting XI for Arsenal would be:
    –Reina (GK)–
    -Johnson-Agger-Carragher-Ziegler/Taiwo
    ———Gerrard–De Jong———
    –Kuyt—–Aquilani—–J.Cole
    ———–Torres———-

  • Ozzy says:

    To add: Forget about wide man 🙂 If funds are available (Doubt they will be) I would sign Turan who has already said he would like to join.

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