While Liverpool toil away to sign a player that they’ve been ‘monitoring’ since early in November, Manchester United will likely have signed the best midfielder in the English Premier League by the time you read this article.
Juan Mata has – as of Friday evening – seemingly agreed a huge deal to move to league holders Manchester United, a move which has probably equally baffled people, whilst causing no shortage of envy. That goes double for Liverpool fans, I’d imagine.
Because while we’d shown brief interest in Mata, it seemed unlikely that we’d be able to make a successful move for the little Spanish genius until we could offer Champions League football and also offer a ridiculous sum of money to a club unwilling to sell to clubs they considered rivals.
But as the season has progressed, Liverpool have emerged as genuine contenders for a top-4 spot, or possibly even a title contender. Despite a shaky run over Christmas and into the New Year, Liverpool would surely be a more promising move for a player of Mata’s calibre; able to offer guaranteed first-team football whilst looking likely to qualify for next season’s elite competition.
The greatest confusion over Mata’s move to Utd is the clubs’ current predicament sees them in their worst position for decades and seemingly on the decline. There is no doubt Mata will strengthen the club, gain first-team football and likely make Spain’s World Cup squad but the chances are, not even he will be enough to haul Man United into next season’s Champions League.
Sadly, Liverpool’s biggest stumbling block either appears to be a lack of funds or – more likely – a lack of any willingness to pay what the club’s owners consider ‘over the odds’ for any player. In the instance of a player such as Mata, there should be no such things as paying over the odds.
The example set in the Salah debacle shows that, in terms of the transfer market, and negotiating great transfer deals to the club, Liverpool are still miles behind their rivals and that is what is likely to see them fail, not just in this window, but also in making the top-4 as I just can not see the club being able to significantly add any quality to the side that will help us keep up with only 7 days to go.
I mean, if we’re incapable of closing a deal that we’ve been working on since November, how in God’s name do we stand a chance of being able to sort out a deal or two before the window closes in 7 days time?
The Egyptian forwards likely destination, Chelsea, have shown that money is of no object but they’ve also shown that the most likely way to sign your top targets is to meet the club’s asking price, or at the very least, don’t offer such derisory sums below their asking price that they start touting their player around Europe.
For the past 10-15 years Liverpool have missed out on numerous targets through dragging their heels or refusing to budge from their opening offers and sadly, that is likely to see us have one of our most disappointing transfer windows in some time. All we can do, as fans, is hope that that doesn’t have the knock-on effect of levelling our hopes of qualifying for Europe’s biggest attraction.
It’s so depressing to see Mata sign for MU . Would love to know how the Fenway Fops are “working really hard.” Another day, another lost opportunity: back in the Summer they were cheap and wouldn’t pony up the $$$ for Christian Eriksen — who went to Tottenham. Then Henry & Co. develop short arms and deep pockets with Salah. So a team whose depth is paper-thin is just going to stand pat? Watch as they fail to finish in the Top 4 — and then watch as the truly irreplaceable Striker wants out. And watch as John Henry stands, watches and drools.
On behalf of my fellow Americans, I’m sorry he owns Liverpool.
FSG out !!! Only the dumbest of the dumb could possibly support the scummy corporate Yankees.
Jack I think anyone rich enough to be part of owning top sports teams generally are corporate.
Now I don’t know about scummy but Yankees? Is this the level of argument. Let’s not forget what role the Yankees had in helping with the second world war, that’s not to say they were all good and neither were the Victorian English but still…
Now I might be dumb for ‘ giving them a chance ‘ but I suppose some of the nicest people in the world gave people a chance, sometimes numerous.
‘ it always seems impossible until it’s done ‘ Nelson Mandela. Who became friends with his jailers and torturers, FSG save our club and are not even thanked for it, amazing fans us lot, amazing.
Yawn . The boring troll is still at . Trolling people’s comments.
Everyone knows what a troll and idiot aaron is , yet hes still wasting his time trolling
Your right jack , aaron is the biggest fool. But don’t feed the troll any more . Ignore
at least we can sell Suarez to RM for 70million + one player, good
deal..excellent money..LFC
“on behalf of my fellow americans am sorry he owns liverpool”….apologies accepted….the problem is not just missing out on top4….i had my eyes close to that title…..miss top4, miss ur players….d likes of coutinho, sturridge, suarez, glen, skrtel wld all be tempted to move….if not for the money, then for sucess or a burst up against the management…..dreaming of top4 is becoming difficult esp with the fact that teams with better squads are strengthening e:g everton, chelsea, man u
The only way forward for LFC is the removal of john henry . We will continue to be a non-entity and bring embarrassing dross like joe allen and aspas to our club under fsg.
We sign championship players allen aspas assaidi borini llori and more , while our rivals sign world class talent.
Honestly hicks and g were bad , but at least they tried to make us successful , and they did bring us some good years. Henry and co are making us mediocre with no sign of any top payers arriving
its heart breaking we feel pain inside y always we, to miss out on our targets,y always we hv craps owners,its make me feel very angry wen DIK wanted to buy our team ze fanatics board zat we hv sold twice to ze yankees as if ounce was not enouth, we need to hv a strong squad fight for ze tittle not for 4th 5th…., sorry we are nt going in zat direction so sad ////
lfc is now pitiful,i still don’t understand why benitex was not contacted when lfc was in hunt for coach. Rogers does not have taste or morale to approach world class players.bring in experience players,he cant but delights shoping around other teams reserve.
Wtf we couldn’t sign a bowl of beans it’s embarrassing to think we only buy players of a certain age value and the most damming of all can we make a profit when we sell that player good for busyness not good for the team u sopport
As a Liverpool fan I find this piece ridiculous. We have paid way over the odds for very costly flops for a number of years. Over £50 million on players who were injured at the time??? It’s not dragging their heels that’s the problem, it’s poor judgement around 50% of the time.
Can someone feed Aaron the toll he’s been missing just worried about the little noob that’s all lol.
I’m here Steve, I’m actually not hungry today, your inadequate comment and general bull sh it has been consumed and regurgitated back out again. Gonna have to have a session with Dr Steve Peters to ensure I haven’t contracted your habit of tedium and general ignorance, seems like it’s been catching and is quite rife on this site.
Aaron is always here . He constantly trolls everyones comments , often with insults , put downs and homophobic comments . He is just an idiot
Give Man United fans credit where it is due. They knew that whilst successful under Fergie, the wheels would come off because of the debt. They knew that the Glaziers would milk them, so Man United fans at least tried to mobilize a campaign against the owners. Owners they know manipulate a fans love for the club. What did we do. Buy tickets by the shedload and every kit they throw at us. With almost no attempt to hit FSG or even H&G in the pockets. Be under no illusion FSG have no intention of letting this cashcow (i.e. us) go. Its too lucrative and you the beauty for them is, they don’t even need success on the pitch. We turn up no matter what. And the city will be full of new kits come summer. Keyboard activists are we. For my part I will never spend a penny over and above the season ticket renewal. I cant afford to lose that. It is only second to the family home as a possession. And even that is a close call. YANKS OUT.
Anyone who thinks we are going to make top4 is deceiving himself cos we will finish 6th and then watch out 4 Brendan’s excuse in March.If lfc English fans continues to keep moot about fsg then we are doomed to bcome a midtable team under fsg.As 4 Aaron the shit fool on this site I bet u are a Manc fan.Shame on u Aaron that u like lfc signing the likes of Aspas,Cissokho etc.
Never once have I applauded the signing of Aspas etc. They are sh ite, no debate.
What I do applaud is the direction we are going. Might be too slow for some, but not for me, this sort of progress after 1 1/2 seasons isn’t bad from where I’m standing. Every manager has made awful signings, we could debate whose were worse for a long time.
Being fourth with only the best sides above us, is…..the opposite of tragic? Especially considering Tottenham and Everton have drastically improved and Utd defending champions.
Toure, Sakho, Sturridge & Coutinho have done nothing but enhance the first team. Flanagan, Skrtel, Sterling & Henderson have all been reborn under current (this season) management. Suso, Assaidi, Wisdom & Robinson all doing well at their loan clubs, getting game time and will supplement the team/squad next year.
A winning mentality, beautiful football (at times), scoring at an alarming rate, is something I find difficult to not like.
Even if we lose to Arsenal (they do have the better team) will be a set back but continue smashing the teams we should, hopefully will see us top four, which we all want, right!
Boring troll aaron talking rubbish as always
Boring idiot
A gud coach will sign players,nt rodgers..always show interest he will nt sign,for top4 dis season we nid attackin midfield,centre,leftbck,flank player…with all dis we can make it..boss make a deal complete stop panic
Some muppets STILL makin excuses fir the greedy crooks in charge of our club , LOL
Also some Muppets are masquerading as fans…. Can you guess who they are yet??
a) Posters on this site
b) Posters on this site
c) Posters on this site
The boring troll continues to troll everyones comments
What a loser
I think Aaron needs a crash course in supporting a club. Where is your indignance at a lack of ambition at LFC? Where is your pride in our great club? We are the most decorated club in English football, this is what LFC is about. BR & FSG dont share that passion and desire. If you cant see that then you must be blind.
Dont thimk Aaron is a supporter , probably a fsg stooge sent here to troll . Every forum has one
Liam your paranoia is getting the better of you, have a lay down, start thinking that man did actually set foot on the moon, instead of dreaming up this stooge theory of yours.
Also, using your theory, if by defending owners I’m a stooge, people attacking them could be stooges from other clubs trying to disable the club from the outside in.
So Who do you support Liam Whoooooooo???
Liam, I honestly thought you were better than this. Shame on me.
ignore the troll liam .Aaron is just a childish idiot with nothing better to do than troll all day
Fortunately for me I don’t live in the past. What you see as lack of ambition I see as necessary reconstruction. There is more than one way to build a winning sustainable team/squad. We’ve had various owners in the PL era yet the holy grail has always eluded us. So have all owners have either lacked money or ambition in your opinion, content being a cup team for the past two decades plus?
FSG are attempting to overhaul many things that were wrong with previous regimes, items that were never taken advantage of, maximising revenue, which in turn will be used on players. Past regimes have been guilty of buying dross too but we look back fondly of the managers who signed them. Any one remember Biscan, Diao, Kvarme, Gonzalez the list is endlessly embarrassing, especially the prices we paid for them £11 Ryan Babel still amazes me (similarly Borini/Aspas) but nothing vexes me more than selling Riise for £4m and purchasing Dossena for £7m.
Also, Hodgson aside, we generally give managers at least five years (Kenny was a good stop gap but was never going to be long term) with the team progressing I’d like to give the owners similar benefit of the doubt.
If in your eyes that makes me blind, that’s your opinion, I am just as passionate as the next average fan and desperately want league success, I’m in the age range where when I started supporting club, we hadn’t won the league for one season, twenty (or so) years on I’m still waiting for my maiden chance to see league trophy lifted. Nothing would please me more.
Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnn Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnn Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwnnnn
Trolling again . nobody cares what this boring idiot says
Aaron ream on you plank.
Awesome critique, do you work for the Daily Mail?
Idiot
You can’t blame Rodgers for all the signings he’s been given a blue print on what players to buy age and how much the club will pay theses are the plans he must stick too under the current owners that if a player is young and cheap enough we will buy so if it does go wrong they can sell for more or at least what they paid for that player in some circumstances there will be a loss but then it won’t b a heavy loss and there is always a chance that there is a diamond in the ruff. So like I said all of this good for business not for running a team and trying to improve in key areas to match are rivals
No one at Man U likes the glazer but at least they hide that fact by buying matta when there lying in seventh knowing if we don’t do something we are doomed. Not saying we could of signed Matta (cause he does not fit in too the three golden rules to buy a player at Liverpool) but to show we are up for the fight we need that one signing that says we are up for the top 4 in the long hall not with mentality we pay to much for a transfer and miss top four but the reality is if we miss top four at least we didn’t wast money and that’s how the owners view this at the moment if we get top with out spending I will be over the moon, still I would be much more confident if we signed a player that could slot into the first team in one of the key areas we need to strengthen
Rodgers to blame ? Fsg to blame ? Ayre to blame ? I dont know . But whichever way you look at it , its obvious our club is being run by eejits . We need new people running our club because the ones here are making a balls of it . For the last 4 years Liverpool FC has been an embarrassing mess
I think Rodgers has done a very good job this season and has made the team play at a higher level more consistently which is promising signs but I think the January window is just as important as the summer window just signing that one player could give the fans the players a massive lift. You can not tell me that Man U are not more of a threat with matta in there ranks regardless of how poor this season they have been. When wengar and pellagrine ( I think that’s how u spell it) complaine that Manu sign him you know they are worried
Common Aaron I need you to pull my comment apart and make yourself feel good I’m wating………..
I can’t Steve mate, it’s a good comment, some spelling mistakes but nothing major.
B+
Idiot . Nobody cares what the boring troll aaron thinks . He is just a joke
MR JOSE is he clever or ze fool of ze century, sell one of his great player (according to him) he is no doubt ok, use him to warm ze bench, sell him to his rival, a record fee signing of MU 37 m,who is useless in his team, though MU accept ze record fee, then 37 m Mata to buy 12 m salad, poor salah i wish to know where he will sit to warm ze bench, only time will tell
He’s such a snake. After beating MU and left them far away from title contenders, he immediately sold Mata to strengthen them, to blocks any other contenders (Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal, Everton and Tottenham).
But I can guarantee this. That pain in the ass prick, whose playing all dirty and messing up with other team/players, will get his punishment at the worst time he ever thought of. Being kicked out from Chelsea and several other club to come is what he deserves in the rest of his career.
Real Madrid has shown that quality teams are fed up with dirty plays.