skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Archives for June 2007
Each season brings a wave of optimism (naive at times) to Liverpool supporters around the world. The prospect of new player arrivals always wets the appetite, with all the speculation and what not.
So far this season, we've already had our new away strip launched, some new players have arrived (with more to come), the new stadium is to be unveiled shortly.
All the above was pretty much expected, however, it appears Rafa is not content with just that and has now started sporting a brand new look of his own with his new goatee. With Liverpool becoming hip again these days I guess he didn't want to be left out too ;-)
Now there's something I just didn't see happening ! Mohammed Sissoko today signed a new 4 year deal with Liverpool. With the wealth of midfield talent we have in Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano and new arrival Leiva, I didn't think Sissoko would be staying for much longer. Don't get me wrong, I think he's a fantastic player, has a never say die attitude, but when it comes to passing the ball, he is nowhere near as good as the other 4 midfielders. He's had his fair share of bad luck with injuries but has proven his worth so many times on the pitch for us.Having said that he's going to have a real fight on his hands trying to secure a midfield birth with Liverpool, can't fault his attitude though, wish all players were like that with Liverpool, we'd never lose !I reckon if new signing Leiva proves his worth in training and in any first team games he's given, Sissoko will end up being sold next summer (unless Mascherano doesn't stay after his loan period is up).
Liverpool FC has announced that its extending its long standing sponsorship agreement with Carlsberg for another 3 years. The new Liverpool stadium is due to be completed in 3 years time and the Reds are believed to want no commercial connections when they make the move.
This should make it easier for them to negotiate new deals (such as stadium naming rights etc). The Hicks-Gillett regime will hopefully be unveiling the new stadium plans next month !
How is it that Benitez manages to sign so many goalkeepers ? We've had Carson, Martin, Reina, Padelli (loan), Bouzanis and now Nikolay Mihaylov. Today is the first time I'd ever heard of the Bulgarian under-21 goalkeeper.
He's been signed from Levski Sofia and only just turned 19 today. He also comes with some Champions League experience, having played against Werder Bremen last year. He'll be our new third choice goalkeeper, replacing Padelli who didn't quite perform when given the chance.
Interesting tidbit of info - his father Borislav is the most capped player in Bulgarian football history and the current head of the Bulgarian Football Union !
The great enigma that is Djibril Cisse is on the verge of being offloaded at an £8m loss as Liverpool are unwilling to allow him another season on loan at Marseille and would prefer to bolster their transfer kitty.
He is our current record signing (£14m) who was originally signed by Gerard Houllier. At the time he was highly coveted by many of Europe's teams due to his prolific goalscoring in France and his lightening pace. Great things were expected of him when he arrived but he failed to live up to expectations and was also very unfortunate with a couple of horror injuries. A very colourful character, famed for his distinct haircuts, he never quite fit in with the Benitez regime.
Bolton Wanderers have been reported to be interested to the tune of £6m for him, however, another possible use could be as a makeshift player swap deal alongside Luis Garcia in the bid for Fernando Torres !!!
Despite all the rumours and interest from a number of clubs, Scott Carson will not be leaving Liverpool (at least not this summer). Benitez has confirmed that he expects him to fight for his place with Reina.
His heroic displays while on loan with Charlton Athetic last season have demonstrated that he is starting to fulfill his potential, however, I can't see him dislodging Reina this season.
Ultimately I think he is just a stop gap solution for Benitez until another quality goalkeeper can be found to act as backup for Reina. But who knows, all it takes is for an injury to Reina and then Carson will get the chance to seal his place with Liverpool.
Danny Guthrie, a talented 20 year midfielder is to go on loan with Bolton Wanderers for the entire 2007/08 season.He's a dynamic midfielder with a great engine, very comfortable on the ball and a very good passer, hailed in some quarters as 'The Next Steven Gerrard'.
We already have a crowded quality midfield (Gerrard, Alonso, Mascherano, Sissoko) with the addition of another potentially world class player in Leiva.
So it will do Guthrie the world of good to gain premiership level experience and he will need it to have any chance of breaking in to the first team proper with Liverpool./span>
As expected the new Liverpool away shirt has reverted to a white styling.
Looks like we'll continue to alternate between yellow and white each year.
I think it's much nicer than the Euro Away Kit.
Like the vast majority of Liverpool fans, I'd love to see him in a Liverpool shirt, however, therein lies something of a problem for us...Realistically we're looking at north of £27 million for Fernando Torres, which is almost double the club record for a signing !!Most people will try and argue that we're now cash rich thanks to the influx of the Americans (Gillet & Hicks) but the fact remains is that they've never stated how much cash will be made available for transfer funds, plus they're also trying to finance the building of the new stadium.Should Liverpool go all out and make Torres their first major signing it could set a dangerous precedent in that all other clubs will look at us and believe we're cash rich and subsequently raise their price tags beyond what they would have done and what we can probably afford !The Torres saga will play out over the next few months regardless of any input from Liverpool.For now we need to be more pragmatic about getting several quality players (for less than half the price of Torres), which is what I hope to be Rafa's approach. Better off focusing on them first and not give the impression of us having a bottomless transfer kitty !A lot of people seem to be making noise about how he sported a captains armband recently with "You'll never walk alone" written on the reverse, but money talks louder than words and this player is heavily coveted by Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal (should Henry leave) and they can all probably out bid us if they want to !!However, given Atletico's reluctance to part with Torres, it could fall to Luis Garcia to be the makeweight which convinces Atletico to part with their captain in favour of us over the Chelsea etc
It's been pretty quite so far this summer, given Rafa's outbursts after the champions league final about the length of time it takes to secure players, there appears to be no improvements made in that arena.
The big name signings have yet to emerge, and we're merely subjected to daily rumours and have already lost out on some.
Having said that, we've already secured 3 new players who have some potential :-
Lucas Leiva - this young Brazilian midfielder is extremely highly rated and should provide genuine competition for places.
Sebastian Leto - this young Argentinian left winger is very fast and skillful, hopefully he'll fulfill his potential and not turn out to be another imported flop !!
Andriy Voronin - this Ukranian striker will be probably end up as a backup striker, albeit a capable one at that, can't complain given that he's arrived on a free transfer and we'll probably sell him for a hefty profit in a year or two ;-)
Liverpool FC submitted their plans for the new stadium on Monday 18th June. Rumours have since started that this could be quite a unique design. Most new stadiums have the same bowl shaped style (Emirates / Wembley etc).
The new stadium plans though seem to indicate something of a throwback to the old days when stadiums where developed on an ad hoc basis with the 4 sides being totally different from one another.
Gillet and Hicks have already stated that The New Kop (circa 20,000) should be the focal point for the new stadium, which is likely to be a cast single tier stand overlooking the rest of the stadium !
Overall capacity for the stadium is likely to be 60-70,000, but if the rumours are true that they're no longer restricted to a bowl shape, it should make future extensions easier.
As much as I hope the rumours are true, its likely that the planning permission will be rejected as Liverpool City Council previously advised a few years ago, that they would only grant permission to a bowl shape.... but who knows what will happen..... hopefully we'll find out in the not too distant future and get to see some models of the new stadium ;-)
Each season brings a wave of optimism (naive at times) to Liverpool supporters around the world. The prospect of new player arrivals always wets the appetite, with all the speculation and what not.
