Thankfully the whole Alonso saga is now over, so I won't ramble any further on the topic. But one thing which did catch my eye about LFC's announcment, is that the terms of the deal will remain undisclosed.
Let's face it, the only reason for that is because either LFC or Real Madrid want to save face after their prolonged standoff over the transfer fee. I can't see how else to interpret their reluctance to reveal the details.
I'm hoping it was Real who requested the confidentiality, if only because I'd like to think that Rafa got what he wanted. But I guess it doesn't really matter, as long as it's enough for Rafa to sign a couple of quality players.
23 comments:
Its actually possible that LFC requested the whole silence. Think about it. Why let other clubs know how much money we have to spend ?
funny how the british press are saying £30m and the spanish press are saying €30m. big difference.
The truth will come out in the company accounts which anybody can buy for about a tenner from company house ( I bought the last few years, we paid Middlesborough a huge amount in compensation (over 7 million) for the Ziege fiasco. You can buy the accounts on line -well worth a look) Not sure is scummers Real release such details as they do not operate within normal business parameters
Well to be fair we have a history of undisclosed transfer fees (Torres, Crouch, Babel), so I'm not seeing anything weird here. Yet.
Could it be kept private because a Real player is involved?
I agree that the fee being undisclosed is nothing weird. Note however that the example you gave re Torress, Crouch and Babel involves the LFC being the buying party.
That is a good point Paul, but I would say that Rafa would have got what he wanted as he is a very stubborn man. He would have only agreed to it if it was a very lucrative deal. The player wanted to go and he is about 27 now (I think) so for a high price it is a good bit of business.
I was already resigned to losing Alonso, so I am not too disappointed. It will be interesting to see who Rafa buys to replace him. His transfers since buying Torres have not been too impressive in general.
We desperately need another midfielder as I have no confidence in the Brazilian wonderboy, Lucas Leiva. Rafa will need to act fast and make a wise choice coz our first game against Tottenham is not far away now.
lol you brought the account details, do you actually think they will reveal the amount of money received, i think you'll find that most transfers are do over a series of payments add to that the sale of other players it become a near impossible figure to actually find out. most clubs undisclose the fees spent or received, with the exception of manure and the sale of ronaoldo. they had to justify to the fans why they had sold their star man.
@Kopite - a very good point, and like Mike said it's nothing we haven't done before.
@Mike Georger - true, but there was such a difference between the 2 clubs valuations, that I was curious as to what they would agree on. Plus Real Madrid normally like to brag about how much money they spend...
@Scott - I got a feeling (possibly just wishful thinking) that we could be all singing Lucas praises this season ;-)
Why should Real or Liverpool tell anyone how much they sold him for? It's a private deal and none of anyone's business.
What's a real crying shame though is that he's going at any price - he's been a great player for us and I wish him all the best. except when he's playing against us in the CL that is!
The numbers are not in the profit and loss account or the balance sheet but they are in the notes to the profit and loss account. Buy them for yourself
To make it simple for you: when a player is bought (or re signed) he is an asset to the business and so is listed on the balance sheet. If you buy him for 10 mill on a 5 year contract he will depreciate at 2 mill a year. The shareholders are only concerned with large sums spent or received so these are broken down seperately and the small fry are lumped together in the general pool, so finding out how much we received for Alonso will be stated in the notes as this is the sort of info that is useful in attacting investors to buy shares in the company
Alonso is a huge loss but with
£30m it should allow for a decent straight replacement. Van de Vaart and Negrado plus cash would have been great. However it appears that Christian Poulsen is the player on the way. Older, dirty, and in no way a passer of the ball in the Alonso fashion. Pathetic. Benitez wasted millions last year and looks to be doing the same this year. Title? Forget it.
"Note however that the example you gave re Torress, Crouch and Babel involves the LFC being the buying party."
When we bought Crouch the figure was disclosed, I was referring to his sale to Pompey which was not a disclosed amount.
A number of valid comments already:
- it is LFC's standard procedure to not disclose fees; in fact the Silva transfer in Jan was mostly complicated by the fact that "someone was talking too much";
- not disclosing the fee (if very high) means bargaining is more simple than if everyone knew what Rafa had in the kitty;
- possibly, post-Parry, still getting shafted on transfers (if much less than the £30m we were demanding) would be better hidden considering we've just lost another player on a near-free (£3.5m for Arby) having dwadled over his new contract for so long, and paid over the odds for Johnson (even though we did need him);
My gut feel though is that we did well on the fee. Rafa wasn't posturing: he would genuinely have preferred to keep Xabi (and it probably choked him to admit as much even though he didn't exactly go overboard in singing Xabi's praises!) and could quite easily have continued to refuse lesser offers. What did we have to lose? Even next season, with 2yrs remaining on his contract then, he would still have commanded a major fee...moreso if we'd just been crowned PL Champions.
Perez, on the other hand, pledged to make significant Spanish signings...and Albiol and a knock-down Arby have been his only successes. What's clear from RM's preseason is that they lack control in the middle...and there really are only 2 available Spanish players (outside of Barca) that will provide that: the 33yr old (Brazilian-) Senna or Xabi. Perez has spoken of his admiration for Xabi before and to not complete once Xabi has made plain his desire to join and walk away with his tail between his legs...it isn't Perez's style (and would've dented RM's last Galacticos policy that players must express a desire to join them and they would be signed). He had to buy, we didn't have to sell.
On the Lucas thing: he's looked reasonable in about half of his games last season, a massive improvement on the season before. He's looked better in preseason than he did last season. He's still not a starting midfielder for a PL title-challenging team though. But after 2 seasons of head shaking and acidic grumbling whenever he started or was on the bench, I think he may actually be a decent squad player this season. If his preseason form continues I think he may link well enough to not be a liability and if his box-to-box desires continue he may even get us some assists (who knows, maybe even a couple more goals!).
-bahahaha
I read on goal.com that an anonymous source said that the sell was for 34 million pounds...
All Beni needed to do was add 3 quality first team players rather than bench polishers and the title was a strong possibility. A Right back, Centre Half and a Goal scorer to take the pressure off Torres. In comes a very expensive Johnson. But out goes Alonso, Arbeloa, Huypia. Rumours of Poulsen coming instead of Wesley Sneijder or Aquilani. So Voronin comes back Leiva will get more games and instead of getting the title we will be lucky to get fourth place. Can someone please get the Yanks out and the Kuwaiti's in because Liverpool are going backwards fast. Runners up and Beni is replacing a thoroughbread with a mule.
the whole 'undisclosed' issue is just RM not wanting to show that they were the ones to give ground in this transfer saga.its easy when you think about it,benitez wasnt budging,as always,and 'football giants' RM dont want to be seen by the football world as the team who had to eventually bend over and leave their asses in the air.it was a tug of war,they lost,and now no-one must speak of it.
What does Lucas have to do to get any recognition? How about play the full 90 minutes in the 4-1 defeat of the Scum at Old Trafford... How about that for starters... He quietly goes about his business... Give him a break...
oh for god's sake can you all calm down!! I agree Poulsen is not a great replacment for Xabi, but then again we haven't signed him yet!! Even if we do, then Rafa has improved the squad year on year with limited funds, so why should this year be any different? We all need to remember that centre mid is where Rafa makes his best signings, I remember people tutting when we signed Xabi in the first place, just cos they hadnt heard of him. How about we all wait a week and see who Rafa brings in.......
Who ever comes in the mind set of the team is different. We are looking at a more attacking/creative option. if you want def mid we have Lucas (who i do not rate)
In rafa i trust who ever we sign however i do not agree with some of the amounts for the players in question. Hopefully rafa has someone in mind that doesn't cost us but can handle the job.
If Poulsen goes for a swap with Lucas that would satisfy the fans?
He could be back up to Aquilani incase of injury. Aquilani's goal ratio is not that good. Alonso scored more for Liverpool than he has done for his career.
Just have to wait and see who Rafa buys as its very rarely what the press say.
If reports are right he has gone for 30 m raising to 34 million that is a good deal and sets a precedent for future business
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