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Coutinho’s a bargain buy, but would you now trust Rodgers with £100m?

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LFC managerHOW much will Brendan Rodgers have to spend at LFC this summer? Is £100 million unrealistic? In my opinion we need at least that sort of money, spent wisely, to get us from being mid-table to top four.

But is Brendan Rodgers the right man to trust to spend it wisely? I think Rodgers will, like Kenny Dalglish, be given real cash to spend, especially with the increased TV revenue coming in.

There is no debate surrounding the fact Dalglish was given real money to spend as LFC manager. Whether that money was well spent or not is another matter. Should Rodgers get credit for making Dalglish’s signings look good (or do they even look any good is another topic of debate)? Let’s deal in facts and then the debates and opinion can follow.

How much has Rodgers spent gross? Net?

Depending on where you look you get different figures on transfers so these are just indicative: (roughly right)

Players in:

Joe Allen £15m, Daniel Sturridge £12m, Fabio Borini £12m, Coutinho £8.8m, Nuri Sahin £4.4m, Oussama Assaidi £3.5m, Samed Yesil £1.1m

Total: £56.8 million

Players out:

Charlie Adam £5.5m, Dirk Kuyt £800,000 Andy Carroll Loan fee £1.1m, Alberto Aquilani (undisclosed but believed to be £1.7m)

Total: £7.4 million

So that’s 56.8 – 7.4 = £49.4m net over two transfer windows – but that’s only half the picture as so many high earning players have been released on free transfers and a number of other players on loan, not just Carroll.

Now I am going to assume all of what we read about players being on more performance-related pay is true. I am also going to assume before Rodgers, players where on higher wages so the salaries of Allen, Courtinho, Sturridge, Borini, Yesil, Assaidi are offset by salary savings of Kuyt, Adam, Carroll and Aquilani. I think in reality the salaries would be more than offset and there are savings.

We are lead to believe Joe Cole was on £120k a week, so let’s assume the following players average out at £70k a week as most of these players (Fabio Aurelio, Maxi Rodriguez, Joe Cole, Nuri Sahin (loaned in and terminated loan), Alexander Doni, Craig Bellamy) were free transfers and so paid very well to reflect the lack of transfer fee.

6 x 70,000 = £420k a week which works out as £21,840,000 a year.

I think this figure is a conservative estimate.

So we could say in reality the saving Rodgers has made in wages mean LFC has spent net 52.4 – 21.84 = £30.56m over two transfer windows.
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There are a number of players on loan and all, or hopefully most, of their wages are off our books (e.g. Jay Spearing, Dani Pacheco) but we don’t exactly know so to keep things simple let’s just ignore them.

Now £30.56 is not a lot for us to spend over two transfer windows.

How successful have Rodgers’ transfer dealings really been?

Joe Allen age 23: Joe started brightly but his star has faded of late thanks to injuries and a ‘resulting’ lack of form. So, not very successful so far and not looking like value for money at £15m. He got the plaudits from the pundits, or at least he did at the start of his LFC career but in my opinion he never really did anything noteworthy.

(Nuri Sahin: Looked like an expensive error but I’m struggling to find out if we got any of the money paid for the loan back so at present £4.4m written off.)

Oussama Assaidi age 24: I like him the rare few times he’s been on the pitch and at £3.5m he may prove to be a good signing. At present not a great purchase.

Samed Yesil age 18: One for the future with a huge reputation but not seen anything yet. At £1.1m and at his age, we can afford him the time and space to develop.

Fabio Borini age 22: Fabio has had two big injuries and not really got into any rhythm or of form. Not looking like money well spent but is it fair to judge a player who has had no stability and moved so often over the last few years? A young man in a foreign country and injured; call me generous but I’ll make up my mind later. £12m not looking like money well spent, yet.

Daniel Sturridge age 23: Hit the ground running and looks at home in a LFC shirt, a rare statement. £13m well spent so far, an even rarer a statement.

Coutinho age 20: Looks like a class act! He’s a quality player and again, seems at home in a LFC shirt (getting less rare, this statement!) At £8.8m he was a bargain by Premiership standards, not just over the top LFC prices.

So out of the six players still at the club one has been injury plagued, another not been given enough of a chance with the first team, so that leaves four players. Out of those four buys, two are real first team successes – not great if you think two out of six – but what’s promising is its Rodgers’ last two buys. In a recent interview Rodgers explained that the scouting network had been improved from the summer. Maybe Mr Rodgers is learning about LFC and the types of players that will succeed here.

Coutinho does look a bargain. Even ignoring our own past big spending on Carroll, Downing and Henderson we can look at Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Santi Cazorla. Hazard (age 22) cost £35m plus £6m to his agent, Oscar (age 21) £25m, Mata (age 23) £23.5m but that’s money bags Chelsea. Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla (age 28) only cost £12m.

Coutinho’s stats: 6 games, 2 goals, 3 assists and 12 shots. Oscar: 27 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 44 shots. Hazard: 28 games, 8 goals, 8 assists, 56 shots. Coutinho looks like a major bargain.

The last player bought by Rodgers looks amazing business and Sturridge looks good too. May be with this improved scouting network we can trust him?

But then again, one swallow doesn’t make a summer…
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An armchair fan who loves the stadium experience but likes the bread and butter of replays, moronic pundits, a drink in a pub atmosphere. LFC is my religion.

Common sense is missing from football but the situation is always complicated so I endeavour to give opinion and encourage discussion and thought about LFC.

175 comments

  • solomon says:

    liverpool should buy keeper and bring carrol back,good central back,left back,right winger,good midfield it OK.then give suso,shelvey,asaidi,pacheco,and give others playing time simple

  • Danie says:

    All the “supporters” out there, accept the fact that we are not Liverpool of 2008/2009. Our club has been significantly hampered by terrible of the pitch set backs from Cowboys to Hodgson’s… We are rebuilding, with a limited budget (all part of sorting out the previous inefficiencies) and no European Football. Rodgers is trying to compete with clubs with big pockets and Managers with big names / reputations. Just look at the dragged out loan signing of Sahin, we had to bend backwards to accomodate his signing and beat other suiters of his signature, only for the * to arrive and not work hard enough when given a game, I think Rodgers has learnt a lesson there, loyalty can’t be bought.

    Currently he has to buy bit part players and turn them into European contenders, because those are the players we can attract. I see most people’s “wish list” and they look like fantasy manager stuff, get real here. We have to build first (again) to get to Europe and then we’ll be able to chase some of these $$$ hungry players of today.

    We’ve got a young passionate manager (yes, inexperienced at that) with bags of self belief. Let us get behind him and not expect him to change an average team into a European team in 1 season while competing with the riches spent by the likes of Chelski and Shitty. On the pitch our average team is yet to be embarresed under Rodgers, with some sublime passing football played at times (mostly).

    Every great project takes time, as we’ve seen quick fixes (Dalglish tried) is expensive and invaribly end in failure. Let’s give our manager the 3-5 years he deserves and then judge his transfers / success or lack thereof. I’ve always been a Rafa fan cause he put us “up there” again, we were respected around the football world, but remember one thing, he took over from Houllier when the club had stability, had European football, had talent etc. It was a much easier job than the one Rodgers got. Give the guy a fair chance, he’s got the drive and passion, he might just surprize everyone…

  • kirbyking says:

    Rodgers is destroying this club , with his poor mediocre signings and poor mediocre management

    He must not be allowed waste even more money or he will turn us into Swansea

    Worst manager in the history of LFC , yes even worse than Hodgson

    • daniel says:

      Lol you guys don’t have a clue.there’s the blue side of town go learn football there.you girls are a joke.

    • Rob says:

      And u call yourself kirby king, that says it all really. Downing 20m (27yrs old) is the worst buy ever….mcmanaman had more talent in his toenails than this worthless ASSIST so-called winger.

    • jack says:

      Totally right Kirby

    • Slim says:

      You are an absolute idiot. Worse than Hodgson? Why are morons like you allowed on the internet?

  • Abs says:

    YNWA…obviously not many true LFC fans commenting on here because the bulk of the comments are mindless rubbish made by people who don’t have a clue about football…real LFC fans have belief & faith…BR can not be blamed for the team he inherited which needed a complete overhaul, we weren’t a top 4 team when he came to us !!!..not all new players will have an immediate impact & given time will potentially come good, Lucas is a great example…stand by the manager & the team and have a little faith…if you have a clue you probably already know this…at the so called” fans” that do nothing but slate the manager & players…LFC doesn’t need or want you so go spew your poison elsewhere…

    • LFCDean says:

      Bullshot excuses from another fool. Liverpool doesn’t need pathetic fans like u who seem happy with mid table rubbish
      Go get a clue

      • Rob says:

        Dean…people like u and bob the builder get slaughtered eveyday on the lfc channel by past greats who won alot with liverpool….NOW THAT SAYS IT ALL REALLY!!! I suppose you will now criticise our past great players as you know better right.

      • Mark Henry says:

        Yep!, glad I’m not alone, Buck Rogers out.

    • dave says:

      U are a true LFC fan and u understand firmly what it takes to be a RED! I ll nominate u for the position of manager if u run against RAFA someday, though i still love RAFA anyway.ciao

    • bob says:

      go spew your poison elsewhere . and stop multiposting under different names it’s fooling nobody

    • Geoff says:

      Only mindless rubbish here is you abs. And your fellow pseudonyms

    • Slim says:

      Good to know we still have intelligent LFC fans. Let’s give him a chance at least.

  • LFCDean says:

    NO. Defo don’t trust BR. He speeds 16 m on total cack like Allen – he can not be trusted
    Brenda is totally the wrong man and should be fired
    Pellegrini or Jose in. Brenda the Bodger OUT

  • daniel says:

    Abs your spot on

  • Rodger the Bodger says:

    DO NOT GIVE THIS CLOWN ANY MORE MONEY. RODGERS IS A FRAUD

  • daniel says:

    Dean what you smoking.I always would like to live in lala land.You can tell between those who think they know the game and those who have no clue you have no clue.

    • jack says:

      Only Mancs and Everton fans want Liverpool to keep Rodgers
      Why ?
      Because they are laughing at us with this clown of a manager.

      • daniel says:

        You are correct jack. I’m just trying to be positive about it. I’m 12 years old but I wanted Rodgers given a chance

  • ai says:

    out
    reina 12
    skrtel 15
    enrique 8
    henderson 15
    downing 12
    shelvey 6
    borini 8
    allen 8
    assaidi 4
    carroll 16
    coates 6

    total 110 and 50

    total 160

    in
    ochoa 8
    dede 18
    williams 10
    coentrao 15
    strootman 18
    wanyama 15
    eriksen 25
    mertens 25
    martinez 25

    total 159

    —————-ochoa—————–
    jonson—dede—-agger—coentrao
    ————strootman—————-
    —-gerrard————–eriksen—-
    suarez——-martinez——mertens

    subs
    —————-jones——————
    flanag—-williams—-kelly—-robins
    —————wanyama————–
    —-lucas——————suso——
    stering——sturridge—–coutinho

  • sgken says:

    BR has done well but I guess he has reached his limit. Tactically, he is clueless. This is fairly evident from all the matches we have played against top teams as well as teams with good coaches (like Southampton).

    Also evident from the line-up when the likes of GJ gets to play every game when he has been one of our worst for the season. How many goals has he scored? How many assist? Compare this to how many time she has lost the ball in the last 3rd or middle of the field. We have lost games because of GJ and yet BR just cannot or will not see.

    BR cannot attract the best players. KD can. So can AF, RB, AW, JM, etc… the list goes but certainly this list does not include BR and probably will not.

    We’ll need someone like in the class of Mourinho or RB who are tactically astute and brilliant. RB and Mourinho can put out a team to play and win against any team anytime.

    When the game in progress changes, RB and Mourinho can make the right decisions to change the game. Not BR. In fact, BR has lost so many games that we were supposed to win because of inaction or bad substitutions. West Ham was a good example.

    BR is nice man. But if LFC really wants to get back to our glory years, BR MUST go.

  • rowland says:

    its a pity we av lost dat champ mentality,pls d mgt of lfc shldnt turn us to swansea cos we r lfc wit reach history

  • Rohit Mehra says:

    I don’t agree with slagging the manager but we have chosen the wrong man , this job is too big for him

  • lfc police says:

    br was hired to rebuild a lfc 4 the future. give him tym

  • lfc police says:

    it took fergie 6 yrs. give him tym.he will do it.

    • daniel says:

      Lol. Fergie was a proven manager who had already achieved loads…he also improved utd immediately
      Rodgers is a nobody
      So .it’s a silly comparison

  • Andy says:

    He can be no worse than what Kenny Dalglish did with £100m.
    We have already improved on last season with the youngest squad in the league. There have been times where we have been poor, but there has also been times where we have been good. Look at the bad decisions against Everton away, Utd at home, Sunderland (shouldve been a pen) amongst others. INDIVIDUAL mistakes from Skrtel, Reina etc. We would’ve been much better off and possibly top 4 if we werent so poor individually in terms of letting in goals, and if the refs did their job properly.

    He needs time and i’m willing to give him it.

  • True Blue says:

    I AM a Everton fan and I think you should give Brendan a 10 year contract

    He is doing a great job

    hahaha hahaha hahaha

    Your not even the best team on Merseyside any more

    • tony says:

      true blue Im a massive liverpool fan i have liverpool tattoos and house full liverpool videos cups scafs watch everygame the sad thing is your right. your 100% we shouldnt like it we should hate it but we have supporters that think brendan rodgers is a fairytale like peter pan . Peter pan is not real the way things are going FSG will end up being the wicked witch . What the hell is diffrent From the time we sacked RaFa. nothing it worse true blue for the last two years is right. and the is so so wrong.

  • Geoff says:

    Rodgers is an awful manager. Tactically he is useless .he has mo idea how to change a game
    His transfer record is atrocious. All of his summer buys are terrible. He talks rubbish and tries to lower expectations too

    The second division is where Rodgers needs to learn hid trade not at a top club

  • Barry says:

    I don’t think Rodgers can be trusted with any money . He is a poor manager that will only waste it like he did last summer

  • Karim says:

    We are only two or three players away from breaking into the top four.

    We require
    – A Commanding CB who can read the game, distribute the ball and be a leader on the pitch

    – A Defensive Midfielder who can make a tackle and pass the ball forward, and also have a bit of height about him so he can be a danger from set pieces

    – A Target man for Suarez and Sturridge to play off.

  • fotheringham says:

    Dalglish win percentage in all comps last season = 49%
    Rodgers win percentage in the same 3 comps = 41%

    Rodgers is doing a terrible job…we are worse off than last year

    He has inflicted our worst season on us in over 65 years
    The man is out of his depth

Comments are closed.