Liverpool sign Ba(Humbug): the winter transfer thread

He's the real deal. He played for a terrible team during his time in Mexico and still scored plenty goals. Now that he's scoring for fun at Porto, it doesn't surprise me at all

 

I see a bid for Xabi Alonso

 

Zenden get away from Liverpool boards dont you have a job at the plastics?

 

Already got our near future starting XI worked out mate

------------Torres/Falcao/Cavani-----
Mata------------Oscar----------Hazard
---------Mascherano---Alonso-------
Cole-------T.Silva----Hummels----D.Alves
-------------------Cech---------------------

You like? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

get a decent goalkeeper, and it's all good...

and why do you have Joe Cole at LB?

also, Falcao won't want to play btwn Torres and Cavani, trust me.

 

We could have had him this year for a quarter of the price...

 

Looking to France for a striker, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Pierre Aubameyang from St Etienne. Unfortunately, they are chasing the title right now, and will not be selling him during the window. If we loan somebody for the 2nd half of the season instead of purchase, I'd love to see us make a move for him in the summer.
Oh, and this guy Anthony La Tallec is playing well for Valenciennes right now...

 

here's an interview with Saint Etienne by Dishwalla

 

As a VfB fan, I wouldn't mind them sniffing around Martin Harnik.

The Korean kid from Hamburg, Heung-Min, is also one I would think about. Gotta get an Asian to sell some kits (/sarcasm), and I think he's quite decent to boot.

I really don't think they're going to spend much. Might find a moderate striker (say, 7-10 million) and a midfielder, and that's probably it. Maybe find a taker for Joe Cole, if he's fit.

 

Would love Liverpool to sign forward / winger Marco Reus, the 23 year old from Dortmund: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Reus

I expect Dortmund to win the CL or at least make the final based on their current vein of form, in which case the value of Reus will skyrocket to Citeh or Chelski levels.

Snowballs chance in Miami we get him for anything close to £7-10m before then, but here's hoping!

 

Reus' transfer fee to BVB over the summe was 17.1m euros. So I highly doubt we'd get him for anything less than that...

 

30 is the start on a kid like him. And Dortmund won't sell him.

 

Not happening. Like going for Hazard in the summer from Chelsea. He just went to Dortund and right now they're ahead of us in just about every way. Would be a downward move. We need to focus on some of the lesser known talents that can develop into a player like Reus.

 

While we're getting Reus for £7M, let's go get Falcao for £8M.

 

Sounds like a solid plan. Which FIFA cheat code should I use?

 

We were simply just lacking major strike power in the Swansea match today. It's as simple as that. I thought we played better than Yanited did vs QPR, but Yanited was able to over power QPR by releasing all 4 of their strikers upon them.

This is why the 4-striker system is the way of the future. It's why Yanited and City continuously pull these wins out of their asses and score so many late goals to sink their opposition. In today's game to compete with the best you need: (the big 6, useful players only...no loaned players and no Chamakh)

A Target Man: Van Persie, Balotelli, Torres, Giroud, Defoe, N/A
A Playmaker/Second Striker: Rooney, Aguero, Moses, Podolski, Adebayor, Suarez
A Utility Forward: Welbeck, Tevez, Sturridge, Walcott, Dempsey, Borini
A Super-Sub: Hernandez, Dzeko, N/A, N/A, N/A, N/A


As you can see, only the Manchesters have all 4 covered, and it's no wonder why they are so much better than the rest. Us, along with the 3 London powers don't have that dynamic option off the bench, and we're a second step back because we don't have that lethal target man either. Suarez is sort of playing that role right now, but he is more of the #7 he is than a #9, and for us to get back into the top 4 we'll need that true #9 and if we want to compete for the title we'll need a bench specialist. I think Borini can become that guy if we steal Walcott from Arsenal, but that isn't as big of a priority as a target man is right now. (Of course, Borini's hurt right now, so ignore him in relation to today's match.

The quality and type of the player also makes a difference, however I don't think it's nearly as significant as just having the positions occupied with effective players as a base for your striking core. I would argue that for example if Arsenal had a player capable of coming off the bench and scoring clutch goals, that they would be right up there with the Manchesters despite the cumulative talent of their striking team being lower than that of the Manchesters. However, I'm not at all saying we'd be alot close if we still had Carroll, because he isn't anywhere near the quality of the 5 target men I listed above, nor does he fit the system. Based on all of this, I also don't think that simply buying Falcao and selling Torres will make Chelsea better. Chelsea's biggest problem is that key impact player off the bench, and although Falcao may score a few more goals than Nando, I don't think it'll improve them significantly at all. That team has issues stemming from other positions anyways.

This is all just my opinion, but I think it's pretty valid to believe that any team with title ambitions in this league will need a diverse mixture of 4 effective strikers.

EDIT: I posted this here instead of the Swansea match thread because I was thinking more about buying strikers in January than just analysing the faults for our draw @ the Liberty.

 

Being linked to Argentine striker Zarate:

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/footba...-favour-lazio-striker-mauro-zarate-in-january

I wonder if this is a rumor based solely on the transfer valuation he has.

 

He's a mediocre Serie A player. Not what they need at all.

 

Score twice in 22 outings. Now, where have I heard that one before ...

 

If that's the level we're fishing for I'd rather just keep our money and play more kids. Sheesh.

 

FIFY.

 

Gotta love the addition of Joke Hole.

 

Having seen Senor Gaston Ramirez a few times now, boy did we really miss out on him. Would have slotted perfectly into our system, me thinks. Odds on us offering 20m in the summer?

 

If the Saints go down, I would imagine he'd be sold. I wonder if he has a relegation release clause in his contract.

 

Really wouldn't count on that unfortunately