January Transfer Window 2012/2013 Season Rumours/Signings

[BaZ87]

It's getting to that time of year when the January transfer window rumours start to pick up so I thought I'd start this.

And some Liverpool snippets to kick us off; Rodgers told the press midweek that he has money to spend in January and hopes to sign 2 or 3 attacking players in the January window. There's a fair bit of talk linking us with Huntelaar and Walcott but (particularly in the case of Huntelaar) I'm not sure how much that is the press putting 2 & 2 together. I can't see us being prepared to pay much of a fee for Huntelaar given his age and the fact he'll be free in 6 months, nor can I see us offering Walcott more money than Arsenal or the chance to play through the middle either.

As well as the possibility of a few incoming players, it'll be no surprise if the club (try to) ship out the likes of Enrique, Downing and Cole.

Anyway let the arguing and off topic discussions commence

 

[BaZ87]

Walcot and Sturridge are not what liverpool need. Don't think thier ego's will do our young team any good. Plus they aren't excactly goal machines. I would be happy with rummored drogba season loan. We need goals plenty of them.

We play a 4-3-3, Suarez is playing the central role of the front 3, playing incredibly well and scoring more than his fair share of goals. Why change that by signing a centre forward that will expect to start regularly (and his pay packet will justify that)? Drogba or similar isn't the answer or at least shouldn't be a priority*.

We obviously need cover for Suarez but the priority should be goal scoring wide players. I agree with you on Sturridge's attitude (not so much Walcott) but in terms of style and effectiveness, he and Walcott are exactly what we need.

*Unless we can afford to go out and sign a world class striker, in which case fair enough. We can't/won't though.

 

[BaZ87]

Sorry but i just don't see effectiveness in walcot. Maybe its were he plays at arsenal but i just don't see it.

According to wiki:

13 goals and 9 assists two seasons ago, 11 goals and 10 assists last season and already 7 goals and 4 assists this season.

That's all done predominantly playing from out wide. Compare that to any wide player we've had in the past few seasons; I don't think we've had any wide player get into double figures since Kuyt & Benayoun in 08/09.

 

[BaZ87]

I'm not a huge Walcott fan but for all the **** he gets, he chips in with his fair share of goals and if he were willing to join, he could prove a bargain given his contract situation.

 

[BaZ87]

Didn't you say the same about Cole, how did that turn out

Not quite. I was content with his signing, hoping he couldn't be worse than Benayoun and given the way Benayoun's gone since leaving, he possibly wasn't. I did moan all summer that the decision to sign him was made by the managing director rather than the manager though.

 

[BaZ87]

Whatever happened to all the cool Brazilian names? We used to have Rivaldo's, Zico's and the like, now we've got Fred, Alan, Wallace and looking through wiki's 'recent call-ups' for the Brazilian National side, Ralf, Bernard and Elias.

 

[BaZ87]

A couple of reports tonight claiming that Liverpool have opened talks with Chelsea over the possibility of signing Sturridge in January for a fee of up to £15m. Sturridge comes across as a bit of a **** but he's the style of player we're crying out for in our squad.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/fo...looks-to-bolster-Anfield-clubs-firepower.html

 

[BaZ87]

Would rather Torres for that money than an overly greedy striker who misses a lot

£15m and £150k per week for a player that's past his best and in our current system, isn't likely to get in our first 11?

If he massively cut his wages and we could get him for sub £10m, he'd be worth a punt but given what he's produced over the last couple of years it's far too big a gamble for anything more.

I'm sure people forget the premium you pay for English players. 15m is about right for Sturridge, he's still young, has potential, is very good on his day albeit he's looked iffy this season he's not exactly given regularly starts nor playing in a position he wants to play in.

Even if you ignored the premium for him being English/EPL proven, it's not an extreme value. He's far from a bad player, relatively proven at a decent level and at a very good age. It wouldn't be that easy to get somebody notably better than him from abroad for much less.

That said, if we did go for him I'd hope it'd be closer to £10m.

edit: Another player we've been linked with over the last few days is a return for Tom Ince. He's supposed to be doing incredibly well for Blackpool (I've not paid too much attention tbh) but watching him in the same youth/reserve sides as Suso & Sterling, despite being a couple of years older he didn't even look half the player as either of them.

 

[BaZ87]

A fox in the box isn't what we need - it's certainly not a priority anyway. Unless we can sign an absolutely top class centre forward (not a fox in the box) then you'd have to be off your trolley to move Suarez out of the centre of a front 3.

We need cover in the central role of the front 3 but our priority has to be goals coring wide players.

 

[BaZ87]

You've just gone and pigeon'd any chance of that happening!

 

[BaZ87]

Hargreaves was a quality player that turned injury ridden.

Turned injury ridden?

You do realise that Hargreaves always was a crock and missed nearly the entire season before joining Utd.

 

[BaZ87]

Rodgers has confirmed (again) that he'll have cash to spend in January but that he hopes to bring 1 or 2 players in on loan too.

This is true, but no-one was to know how it would turn out. Plenty of players have a year out and come back as fit as before these days.

It wasn't just that year though. The year previous to that was only very slightly better and given that Bayern were playing 55-60 games per season, to have only once managed 40+ games in a season was a poor return.

Throw in the fact that he wasn't that great anyway and I can't see how anybody could argue that ~£20m on Hargreaves was wisely spent.

 

[BaZ87]

Any player signed at a relatively young age is regarded as a prospect but you've also got to take into account their current ability too. Anderson wasn't (nor has he become) nearly as good a player as Rooney was when he signed nor nearly as good as Hazard is now either.

Potential alone isn't (or at least shouldn't be) enough to warrant paying a huge fee.

 

[BaZ87]

The way you go on about Hargreaves Frank, it's as if he won the CL on his own. He was a reasonable player - not as bad as some made out pre 2 games in the WC and not nearly as good as he was made out after that.

Anyway, Tony Barrett is reporting in tonight/tomorrows Times that talks to re-sign Tom Ince are at an advanced stage. Although the club never wanted to let him go, as I've said before, it seems an odd deal. He's doing well at Blackpool but looked out of his depth in our reserve side, despite playing with younger inexperienced players.

 

[BaZ87]

Tom Ince is a real odd one, he didn't stand out when playing with the reserves but has done really well at blackpool. I can't see him going into the `1st team or who he would displace on the subs bench either.

Must admit I'm quite scared that this is the level of player we'll be looking at in the january transfer window to address our atacking problems.

I've not watched much of him since he's left (although he's supposed to be doing very well) so it's difficult to say too much but I would be tempted to guess that he's going to offer us more than Cole or Downing coming off the bench and be considerably cheaper than either of those.

The talk is that we're after up to 3 players in January so assuming he's coming in to bulk up the squad/replace other squad players and we'll be signing others, I don't see too much of an issue there.

 

[BaZ87]

Whether we can get shot of them in January or not until the summer (or even after), as long as he's an improvement on them then that's all that matters.

And hopefully we're going to be bringing in another attacker or 2 that could go straight into the first team.

 

[BaZ87]

So much for Lescott being first choice, which you were so adamant about in the summer Biz

 

[BaZ87]

and Baz, He was first choice until we got Nastasic in and Mancini hasn't looked back. Bear in mind Lescott was up against Kolo and Savic till Nastasic came in and you can see why he was first choice

I was referring to your posts where you claimed that you were signing a CB as cover for Kompany/Lescott because Lescott was so good

 

[BaZ87]

Llorente will be sold in January, makes no sense to let him leave on a free

If you're Llorente, it makes no (financial) sense to leave in January either. Any fee a club would pay in January will end up in his pocket come July if he leaves on a free.

 

[BaZ87]

Earlier today the Liverpool Echo reported that we're close to agreeing a £4m deal for Tom Ince from Blackpool and that we've held talks with Chelsea over a possible £12m deal for Daniel Sturridge. Tony Barrett in tomorrow's Times is supposedly taking it one step further and reporting that fees with both Blackpool and Chelsea have been agreed.