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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Wayne Bridge 8-11 million
Scott Parker 15-17 million
Luke Young 2,5 million
3 English players.why not?
Reina
Johnson Carragher Agger Bridge
Maxi Parker Gerrard Kuyt
J.Cole
Torres
Subs:Cavalieri,Skrtel,L.Young,Lucas,Aquilani,Babel,Jovanovic.Bring youngsters to the 1st team also such as:Pacheco,Kelly,Darby,Ayala.
Zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!!!!!
if i had £30M i would buy a player as good as Javier Mascherano like de jong then try to find a good left back like luke young.
i would get
banega – 10mill
bridge – 10mill
Llorente – 8mill
I think Nemeth, Pacheco, Kelly and Spearing deserve their chance. Nemeth will be worth the gamble.
Reina
Johnson Carra/skrtel Agger/Ayala Bridge
Aquilani
Babel Banega J.Cole
Gerrard
Torres
Sorry i forgot Danny Wilson to be on the youngsters playing with the 1st team.
Sorry i forgot Danny Wilson to be on the youngsters playing with the 1st team.And Jonjo Shelvey.
I would Buy Huntelaar. I would also buy a solid left back like Taiwo or Bridge. Then I would Put Steven Gerrard in The Central Mid with Aquilani. With Torres and Huntelaar up front. That would be a solid lineup.
there no chance to buy Diarra for 10 million, madrid wouldnt sell him for no less than 18 million
I think that we would get 25m for Mash – not 30m. I also think that Inter Milan will leave it late in the window, which complicates spending the money. Hence, if I were on the LFC board I would set a deadline for negotiations and rigidly stick to it – even if it means keeping an unhappy player. We need to play hardball. We already have some additional money from sales and some promided (ahem!) from the board – so I would think that with Mash funds + promised funds + sales (Benny @5m, Reira @3.5, Insua @5, San Jose @2.5, plus funds from peripheral players (Plessis, Degen, El Zhar, and possibly Soto) 3-5m) giving a total of about 60m (less 6m to offset Cole’s high wages, 2-5m on Wilson, 2m on Shelvey) Gives a final figure of close to 50m
On the suggested transfers, I think if Insua goes, we actually need 2 LBs. My preference would be two from Bridge (because he is English and thus needed for one of the 8/25), Pranjic or Fucile and Figueroa (as he knows the league). Cost: probably 15m for both
DM, I find harder but agree L Diarra should be a strong candidate. I also think Poulsen could be a good option and Banega a risk, but maybe one worth taking. I am not sure RH wants to invest heavily in a DM – so Poulsen would be good i.m.o. plus from current players I also think at a push Lucas can cover this position or even play Agger as a more classic sweeper – he is good at bringing the ball forward (though I would not want this option against the top teams). Cost for Poulsen about 6m
This leaves about 30m for strikers! Huntlaar for 10-12m (Agree 100%), plus Crouch/C Cole to make sure that we have enough ‘genuine’ home grown first teamers.
Home grown contingent would then be: Carra, Johnson, Gerrard, J Cole, Bridge, Crouch/C Cole, and probably Spearing and Darby (the others: Irwin, Kelly, Wilson, Amoo, Shelvey etc are all U21, so can be in the squad regardless).
Dzeko/Huntelaar Parker A Johnson Taiwo
———–Pepe
Johnson Carra Agger Taiwo
Cole Gerrard Aqua A.Johnson
—-Torres—-Huntelaar—-
two words: BUCK NASTY
Matt Roxburgh makes sense. Gerrard is getting on a bit and should be moved back. Huntelaar would be a good choice. I, however, would buy Arda Turan and a left back (Bridge). Money from selling Kuyt could get us Loic Remy or Huntelaar to partner Torres.
I know its important to cover all positions but Aguero 30 mill or bojan 30 mill.
We will be understaffed in other positions but it will make us monumentally better
Montolivo, Fabiano and Taiwo, 30 mil should nearly cover that.
I think we still need a good fast tricky left winger with Joe Cole starting on the right I think it could make a massive difference and make us very dangerous we have not had a winger with great delivery,pace and tricks in a long time so I reckon if Roy is keeping the old system but playing just 1 holding midfielder and Aquilani and Gerrard in front then it is more important to buy a great left winger and rely on Kuyt,Jovanovic,N’gog who is developing and Pacheco who has been on fire in the Under 19 european chamionships to supprt Torres so sell Masherano-£28m,Babel£9m,deadwood-£8m {Degen,Itandje,Ayala,Nemeth,Plessis,El Zhar,Hansen etc.} I know some of them are youngsters with potential i.e. Ayala and Nemeth but we wont really miss them after purchasing youths like Wilson and Shelvey and there must be some money all ready there because we have sold Benayoun£5.5m,Riera£4.5m,San Jose£2.7m,Insua£5m and weve only spent £3.7m after brining two great bosmans so if we say £5m plus the sales of the above mentioned we could have nearly £50m and we wouldnt need to use it all but here is what I think will get us challenging buy Scott Parker/Mathieu Flamini£8-14m,Ashley Young£20m,Taiwo£8m and with that I think we would have a strong enough squad without adding a forward but if there was any money left I would like an Englishman Crouchy or C.Cole for around £10m or maybe Santa Cruz if he is available cheap
Scott Parker would be epic – Parker, Gerrard, Cole? 3 great looking englishmen? would convert many young fans. Unfortunately we can’t waste 12m on a 30 year old. 26m from masch, maximum:
Banega – 12m
Huntelaar – 4m+Babel
Taiwo – 10m
use our previous sales to pay their wages.
Purslow made it clear that new contracts come from the transfer budget. If you offer a player 50k per week 4 year contract you’ve already spent £10m before the transfer fee.
£30m to Liverpool effectively means ONE marquee signing.
I would take
Banega
Drenthe
Wickham
why all fairly young esp, Wickham theres the future sell a couple and buy a backup striker.
We don’t need a defensive midfielder. Skrtel and Agger are two fast, strong and agile centre backs. With Johnson on the right and Salcido on the left (purchased for 3M), the defence will be solid. Therefore, Roy should get Yoann Gourcuff the Bordeaux playmaker. I think they’ll let him go if Liverpool offer the right price. He should be avilable for 30 – 35M. We can get funds from Masch’s sale(25M) and 20M++ for Kuyt (Total = 45M++). With Gourcuff, the departure of Xabi Alonso will FINALLY be filled. Secondly, we should get Huntelaar for 4M + Babel. And lastly, we can end our transfer window by signing Juan Mata from Valencia in a swap deal for El Zhar and Plessis + the leftover 10M.
With that I conclude with a 4-4-2 formation and a Starting XI of :
GK Reina
RB Johnson
RCB Skrtel
LCB Agger
LB Salcido
RM Joe Cole
RCM Gerrard
LCM Gourcuff
LM Juan Mata
CF Huntelaar
ST Torres
Subs : Cavalieri, Carragher, Wilson, Lucas, Maxi, Jovanovic, N’gog
MAKE IT HAPPEN ROY !
£30million? If that’s what’s left after Mascherano leaves I want to know where the rest of the money has gone from other sales this year and other imminent departures. If Rafa rated Mascherano at £50million last year (albeit perhaps when he was trying to get the club as much as possible for him, knowing he was leaving), then he’ll need to cough up a lot of money now. No part exchanges.
Roy should give some of the young players a chance. If his assessment is that they are not good enough then they should be let them go to ply their trade somewhere where they will get regular football. Kelly, Spearing, Pacheco, Dalla Valle, Nemeth, Irwin, Eccleston Amoo, Shelvey, Amoo & Darby should be given a chance now or let go.
Flamini looked a good player in his last year with Arsenal. Perhaps he could do a job, if Spearing isn’t rated good enough or even if he is good enough. Kelly looked the part before his injury and should be in the squad. Should he start at right back with Johnson pushed forward? Kelly’s versitile and can play across the back. Perhaps Johnson needs the space running from deep provides and wouldn’t cut it in midfield? Riise took some stick from some elements of the terraces before he left, but has anyone done a better job since he left? Bring him back? Looks like Figueroa though. Robinson for the future? How good is the kid? Does Agger have a problem playing left back permanently? We looked more solid with him that position despite I read some criticism of his pace.
Forlan? Ex Utd, but so what? I’m wary of signing players on the back of world cup performances, but Forlan has been consistently good for some time. He’s not another Diouf.
Keep Kuyt and Maxi (unless he’s angling for a move).
Squad
Reina/Another
Kelly/ Carragher/Skrtel Agger/Figuroa/
Johnson/Darby Wilson/Soto Irwin
Maxi/ Gerrard/Lucas Jovanovic/
Kuyt/Amoo Aquilani/Spearing Cole
/Flamini
Torres/ Pacheco /Eccleston /Forlan
I believe 11 of these are home grown out of 26.
Sufficient level of home grown players and leaves room for a couple of extra signings.
Dalla Valle / Shelvey might have to wait a year to be home grown.
Nemeth and Ayala might have to be sacrificed as they don’t meet home grown criteria. Ngog too despite his goal tonight.
A few Liverpool lads included too which is important.
But what do I know? I’m only a fan.
ugh…. i’d love to get involved in this ”who should we buy” thread but i think realistically we’d be lucky to see half the money brought in by sales, being spent. I honestly hope that i’m wrong but…..