Liverpool thread

[mileni4uk]

Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 July 2007, 19:05 GMT 20:05 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Liverpool close to Benayoun deal

Benayoun has been at West Ham for two seasons Midfielder Yossi Benayoun is set to seal a summer switch to Liverpool, BBC Sport understands. The West Ham playmaker and Israel international has long been linked with a move to Anfield and a £4m transfer will be finalised on Wednesday. Reds manager Rafael Benitez has made no secret of his admiration for the 25-year-old who he has been tracking since the end of the season. "It's clear he'd like to come and he's a player I like," said the Spaniard. Benayoun, Israel's national captain, moved to Upton Park from Racing Santander in a £2.5m deal in 2005. He has played 72 games for the Hammers and scored eight goals. The clubs have already done business this summer with striker Craig Bellamy moving to the capital from Merseyside in a £7.5m deal.

[davidmphill]

Not sure what to make of the proposed Benayoun deal myself. Sure he's played well at the Hammers but is he the top quality on the flanks that has been missing?
Somehow I don't think so.
He's similar to Pennant for me.
Need to bring in quality like Quaresma or Simao for me.

[friskyfitz]

Dont know whether to laugh or cry...

Yossi is a class act when he plays up but the problem was that it may only be once every 5-6 games and getting only 8 big games a year isnt heartening as a fan. If he can improve his work rate and get more from his engine then he'll be a very good signing for Liverpool... If he plays like he did at WHU then it will only be 8-10 excellent games per year and some truely bad performances and loss of possesion...and no games for a while before any international either (even meaningless friendlies)

A fee of £4m is rumoured and for us Id say that it a good enough deal but it needs to be spent wisely now!!!

[Darren]

Originally Posted by friskyfitz

Dont know whether to laugh or cry...

Me neither

Yossi has a little bit of class and is more suited to the left overall, but I think we a bit weaker in the flanks for having him and losing Luis Garcia. For 4M he'll do alright though.

[Darren]

The Liverpool Echo reckons we will have the Babel and Benayoun deals sorted soon
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...name_page.html

Not seen a lot of Babel other than the Euro U21's but when it was Arsenal linked with him the fee was 5-6M. I've seen from several sources that Ajax are looked to get 13.5M off us for him. He'd need to be bloody special at that price.

[Darren]

Originally Posted by 2hcb

thanks for that. so we have got ourselves a good little winger for this season at least then? What are his strengths? Pace, crossing, dribbling, goal scoring? I'll report back to you on how he gets on!

Hard to describe him as I don't see him play very often, I have just high hopes for him from what I have seen. He was superb in the Youth Cup Final against Man City, looked very skillful, good touch pace and quite explosive. I think he was on the bench for the Galatassaray game in the Champions League this season.

This was a year ago
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTErXIaZhgA

[davidmphill]

Babel's a good prospect but as you say at 13.5m its a hell of an outlay.

Mind you Wenger did pay Juventus a fair whack for a certain left winger from France called Thierry Henry and he did okay.

[gripper]

Originally Posted by davidmphill

Babel's a good prospect but as you say at 13.5m its a hell of an outlay.

Mind you Wenger did pay Juventus a fair whack for a certain left winger from France called Thierry Henry and he did okay.

Okay i'd say more than ok son

Also your pic is shitting me up

[2hcb]

cheers for the link Darren, tidy finish although lucky to get the nutmeg!!

He seems highly enough rated by Liverpool that I'm suprised no big Championship sides wanted to loan him. Hope he does well for us.

[mileni4uk]

Originally Posted by friskyfitz

Dont know whether to laugh or cry...

Yossi is a class act when he plays up but the problem was that it may only be once every 5-6 games and getting only 8 big games a year isnt heartening as a fan. If he can improve his work rate and get more from his engine then he'll be a very good signing for Liverpool... If he plays like he did at WHU then it will only be 8-10 excellent games per year and some truely bad performances and loss of possesion...and no games for a while before any international either (even meaningless friendlies)

A fee of £4m is rumoured and for us Id say that it a good enough deal but it needs to be spent wisely now!!!

Something like a new Luis Garcia to me

Btw something from the official site ..

YOSSI FEE AGREED, BABEL TALKS BEGIN Paul Eaton 11 July 2007
	Liverpool have agreed a fee with West Ham for the transfer of Yossi Benayoun as the Reds also look to secure a deal to bring Dutch youngster Ryan Babel to Anfield.
Benayoun has agreed to join the Reds after rejecting an offer of a new contract at West Ham United while Babel, the star of Holland's success in the recent European Under-21 Championships, has been given permission to talk to Liverpool. Chief Executive Rick Parry said today: "We've agreed the fee with West Ham for Yossi Benayoun. "We're not quite there with Ryan Babel yet, but we've now been given permission by Ajax to talk to the player. We hope to reach an agreement with Ajax very shortly."

[Darren]

PARRY: NEW TV CHANNEL FOR A NEW ERA Paul Eaton 11 July 2007
	Rick Parry today looked forward to the launch of LFC TV and declared: "The channel heralds a new era for Liverpool Football Club."
As revealed on liverpoolfc.tv this morning, the Reds have signed a three year deal with Setanta Sports for the launch of the club's own dedicated TV channel which will be available at no extra cost to subscribers of the nine channel Setanta Sports pack. "We've been thinking about this for some time, but until Setanta came to us with an extremely attractive offer, I wasn't entirely convinced by the traditional model of club TV stations," said Parry. "What's attractive about this package is it's available to all subscribers. The channel is effectively a free addition on top of what's available as part of the Setanta Sports pack. "The channel heralds a new era for Liverpool Football Club. We always welcome the opportunity to engage with our fantastic fan-base and LFC TV will bring them closer to the club and the team they love, at what is a very exciting time both on and off the pitch."

[Darren]

REDS SNAP UP LIONS STARLET Mark Platt 11 July 2007
	Liverpool have swooped to recruit another talented youngster after agreeing a deal with Millwall to sign striker David Amoo.
The highly promising 17-year old has joined for an undisclosed fee and will start training with his new team-mates at the Academy today. Amoo was a prolific goalscorer for the Lions youth side last season and his signature was courted by a host of leading clubs. The Academy's Head of Recruitment Malcolm Elias told Liverpoolfc.tv: "We are delighted to have completed the capture of David. "He's an exciting young talent with fantastic physical prowess. He's a natural athlete who possesses great pace and has represented London as a sprinter at the English Schools National Track and Field Championships. "Along with Marvin Pourie and Nathan Ecclestone he'll provide excellent competition for places among the first year boys in this season's under-18 set-up."

[Darren]

Originally Posted by mileni4uk

Something like a new Luis Garcia to me

Btw something from the official site ..

Good to hear things are starting to move on with transfers, hopefully the Babel deal will be done quickly then. It seems almost every senior transfer we do is a long drawn out affair these days

[mileni4uk]

Well at least we don't negotiate months for players we lose in the end -? Simao, Alves etc. Now we got the money to buy what we want. Ajax wanted 13mil. and they were offered quickly.

[davidmphill]

Still need Simao or Quaresma in for me but it doesn't look like happening right now which is a shame as I don't think Pennant / Benayoun is the answer.

[Darren]

Originally Posted by davidmphill

Still need Simao or Quaresma in for me but it doesn't look like happening right now which is a shame as I don't think Pennant / Benayoun is the answer.

Same for me, I like Simao and from the little I have seen like Quaresma.

Babel/Benayoun/Kewell will cover the left side though? Benayoun or Kewell maybe doing the odd game in the middle. What have we got on the right, just Pennant (and Stevie ), think we are light there.

[Darren]

And according to Sky Sports News Babel has passed a medical and agreed terms, just the fee now needs sorting out. According to them we have offered 10, Ajax want 13. You would think if true they will make an agreement.

[davidmphill]

Originally Posted by Darren

And according to Sky Sports News Babel has passed a medical and agreed terms, just the fee now needs sorting out. According to them we have offered 10, Ajax want 13. You would think if true they will make an agreement.

Good news for me.
Meet in the middle, 11.5m deal done!

[Valderrama11]

Can't understand why we've not gone back for Simao at around the same money we're going to pay for Babel. Offloading Pennant and bringing in Simao would, imo, give us a decent title shot.

[Darren]

Dudek seals Real deal

By Francisco Acedo & Lucas Brown - Created on 12 Jul 2007



Real Madrid have snapped up Jerzy Dudek on a free transfer as back-up to Iker Casillas following his release by Liverpool at the end of last season.




The Polish international was linked to Bolton and Manchester City, but was always keen on trying his hand in Spain.
Bernd Schuster gave the green light to complete the deal for the Pole after he finalised deals for central defenders Pepe and Christoph Metzelder, who arrived from Porto and Borussia Dortmund respectively.
Madrid have been after a new keeper following the sale of highly-rated youth team product Diego Lopez to Villarreal for €6million last month.
Dudek was released by Liverpool after six seasons on Merseyside as he was unable to earn a regular place in the team ahead of Jose Reina.
Having spent the last two seasons playing second fiddle to one Madrid-born custodian, Dudek will now perform the same task in the Spanish capital itself.
Casillas is the undoubted number one, but the club's technical staff wanted experienced cover rather than to promote a keeper from their youth team. Francesco Toldo was also approached by Madrid only for his wage demands to rule him out of any move.