You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Ruud-Less Transfers, Rumors and Lies Thread.

Usually i don't agree with Demogorgon's negativity, but in this case he may have a point. I haven't followed Llorente much, but the guy hasn't scored more than 14 goals in a season in La Liga (according to him, i haven't checked the stats)? He is 26 years old? Perhaps he is a bit overrated? How did Benz look when he played at Lyon? Very good. It is much harder to put up those performances when you play on a team in which you are not the primary option. Sometimes at least. How will Llorente perform in Madrid?

You're right, I don't know much about Morata. However, if Higuain is 100% next year, we are talking about the 3rd striker on a team which plays 1 striker (and sometimes none at all). It makes sense to me to give your best youth product some minutes as the third string player. What's the point of having Aguero or Llorente as your as your 2nd and 3rd string, not even starters (unless you're thinking of sitting Higuain) and pay crazy amounts of money to get them?

Regarding Mou, he has been asking for a third striker, but he hasn't been asking for 2 starter quality strikers that cost a ridiculous amount. I can understand sending Benz on his way and signing 1 other striker, i can never understanding signing 2 other strikers each at 35 million euros or so (a guesstimate).

I just think that all the pieces are here. Remember, Benz just turned 23 years old. All the other young talent is 22-23. If you want to be as good as Barca, you can't have a revolving door of players/managers. You need to allow this young group to grow together. But then again, I'm not Perez.

 

I think that Aguero and Higuain would complement each other nicely though. Both have great movement and obviously got the Argentina connection goin on.

lol @ complaining that Llorente isn't good enough b/c he hasn't scored more than 14. He plays for Bilbao. Opposing teams prepare their defensive game plans around him.

 

The ones that look like they belong, yes. I agree that Benzema looked great at Lyon. Look back at the threads when we got him - I was super excited. Thus far, he has really disappointed me.

Benzema is best when he is facing the goal and taking on defenders. The problem is that we need him to do other things and that he is facing teams that play really tight lines against us. I don't know that he is going to become a different type of '9' at 23 years old. I don't see enough evidence to make me think otherwise.

I don't hate the guy; but I don't have a lot of confidence in him either. I hope he proves me wrong and lights it up in the second half this year ... and I will still stay that I would love to see Llorente here.

 

I agree

Until Benzema proves otherwise, he seems most comfortable playing in a position similar to Ronaldo rather than up top.

If they end up buying another striker and Benzema doesn't get sold, he would be nothing more than alternate to Ronaldo. Long term that wouldn't work since I don't think Benzema likes the view from the bench. He may still learn to play up top but right now he clearly isn't comfortable up there.

 

On the Torres front, I can't see Liverpool selling him within the EPL during the winter transfer window. That would be bizarre.

 

I don't think posters here are talking about this winter.

As for the poster who couldn't think of anything that Llorente is better than Torres at, let me say the obvious: health!

 

Leon to England.

Nothing official of the sort today, but I can very much see this happening. We all know he isn't Jose's most favoured player, and he is a very similar to Pienaar who Chelsea were in for last week.

 

Use Leon as bait for Drogba!

 

At Atletico, Torres was averaging like 36 league games a season which is quite good for a striker. His injury problems came when he went to a team in the physical EPL that lacked the quality depth for their campaigns.

So wait till (and thats if it ever happens) llorente is first choice in a top club without depth, which means he is rushed back from injury often before declaring it a clear advantage.

 

I find it hard to believe that Liverpool would even sell Torres within the EPL this upcoming summer unless its for some ridiculous bid.

I don't even know why Torres would want to go to Chelsea. Chelsea is going to have to completely rebuild their squad. Torres need to go a club that can compete for a title. That was the whole point of him leaving Atletico in the first place.

 

Perhaps you are right, but, can you really tell if Benzema is the right man for the job or not based on 1.5 years, most of which he was not a starter? I mean, he just turned 23 years old, he is not your typical goal poacher, perhaps he will take longer to develop? Llorente at 26 is fully developed (one would think, although from what i've seen and heard/read, he is having his best year this year), what will Benz look by 26 years old? No one can predict the future, but I think he will look damn good, and damn good at 25 too. Why were you so excited over Benz? Was it his potential? Is that potential gone now or is a new league, new teammates, his style of play, etc., just causing him to take more time to develop.

We have seen some advancement with Benz. I mean, over the last 3 games Benz has saved our asses (or Madrid's ass actually). It was Benz as a sub who attracted two defenders then laid the ball off to Granero for that awesome goal to get us the victory 1-0 (i forgot who it was against, but it was 3 games ago), then the next game he got the goal himself, again to save our ass and give Madrid the 1-0 victory, and in this last game in the CDR against Seville, it was Benz and his glorious run and goal.

I'm just saying, let's not give up on the kid. The potential is there. And who else doesn't love the pass first mentality he brings? It is useful to have that mentality when you have shoot first attackers like ronaldo, Higuain, etc.

 

Am I the only one against dishing out 45m for Kun?

My prediction is, Adebayor comes up big and Real end up choosing to the option to buy him and we end up with Torres, Llorente nor Kun.


P.S. What Llorente's price tag?

 

36M if im not wrong

 

I'm with dmar on this one. Anyone who followed Spain's qualifications to Euro 2008 up until this World Cup victory will be as frustrated at him.

He has struggled to fit in, even when in top form in Liverpool or during the days when he made a fool out of an in form Vidic he'd still go to Spain's NT and we'd see none of that. I have never seen a top striker run and leave the ball behind him on counter attacks as much as Torres did in one tournament. Ever since that i just stopped rating him as much.

As for Llorente he deserved to start this world cup. The fact Torres even got a chance was pathetic.

I still remember this game. It had a few gems even before it started and they all turned out to be true.

 

I know i'm with you. I find it pretty ridiculous to spend that much money on either of them, 45m for Kun? I mean, I like his game, but how do you spend 15m on Ozil, 5m on Canales, 10-12m on Pedro/Khedira, all of them great value deals and then chip out 45m for Kun? I think last year the management changed their tactics on buys, went from spending crazy amounts for the finished product (ronaldo, Kaka,etc) to buying extremely young for value (ozil, canales, etc.). Hopefully they continue with this value buying instead of throwing huge sums at Kun, Llorente, etc.

 

True Kun is not worth 45 mil. I'd say 30 mil would be a fair price for him. Llorente should be 20 if the god damn market wasn't so inflated (thanks Man City)

 

Just for the record, Llorente is 25 not 26.

A couple of points, starting with the Villa comparison. If you don't get hung up on the 14 goals figure, their records are not too different.
As soon as Villa moved to Valencia his goal scoring record, went from less than a goal every 2 games to around one every game and a half. He too made the move in his mid twenties.

Secondly, with his league total at 12 so far this season, I think we can stop getting hung up on this 14 goals line.

Different players develop at different rates and it's not surprising that a strong number 9 who uses his size and strength to cause problems will perhaps take a little longer to blossom than a quick mobile striker.

Rather than get hung up on history, perhaps we should focus where we are now.
We are looking at a striker ideally suited for what Jose wants (big, strong , can hold the ball, play with his back to brings goals...yet with a good touch, skilful and useful on the ball).
We are looking at a striker who is improving season on season both in terms of play and goals and who is offering a goal every two games at a mid table club.
We are looking at a very good player.

 

Looks like Torres is going to Chelsea.

http://www.marca.com/2011/01/28/futbol/futbol_internacional/premier_league/1296249931.html

 

All this talk about Llorente and no youtube video?

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHo-S33H-w8"]YouTube - Fernando LLORENTE - christinayan[/ame]

 

Pure class. So Ruud-like. If he's doing what he's doing at Bilbao just imagine what he'd accomplish with the players we have.

Having Ronaldo, Llorente, Ramos and Khedira in the box for a corner kick is a wet dream. Or knowing how bad we are at set-pieces, maybe not.

 

if only one day, someone uploaded a highlight vid with the in-game commentary instead of random music.

 

Agreed word by word.

True, but he has had some other "advancement" periods only to sing down to mediocrity again. And it took serious rumors of him being replaced the next year to do it, which casts big (even bigger!) doubts about his character.
This smells a lot of Robinho, if you ask me.

Yeah, but, as Alma said, his potential just doesn't fit what the spanish league and Real Madrid needs.
And as for "pass first" mentality, I don't love it when it gets in the way of scoring a goal, and that has hapenned a few times. And, to be frank, I do like my strikers to "shoot first".

And don't forget we're talking about a player that earns a lot of money and cost us a lot of money. And every year we wait for his alleged potential to surface his value goes down in the case it finally doesn't.

Or, if you prefer it that way, you don't get a second chance if you disappoint (and make look bad) the Floro that much.

 

This.

Torres' style is sited to the EPL. Outside of there he has always been a bust. If he came here he'd be a lot like Benzema, only with more hard work and more aesthetically pleasing goals.