Summer transfers, rumors and outright lies [PART DUEX]

It we do sign Christodoulopoulos then I expect a surge in Liverpool profits. As the shop charges per letter you see!

 

Capture of £10m Kuyt will complete Liverpool signings
By Jason Burt
Published: 27 July 2006

Liverpool were in talks last night to complete the £10m signing of the Dutch striker Dirk Kuyt. The player's agent, Rob Jansen, is understood to have travelled to meet the club's representatives after Rafael Benitez rekindled his interest in the Feyenoord captain.

The move for Kuyt by the Liverpool manager followed the completion of Jermaine Pennant's transfer from Birmingham City yesterday. The 23-year-old right-winger agreed a four-year deal for a fee of £6.7m, with £300,000 dependent on appearances.

There are also believed to be other clauses which would push the total fee closer to Birmingham's original £8m valuation - way above Liverpool's first offer of £3.5m. Twenty-five per cent of the fee is due to go to Arsenal who had a sell-on clause for the player.

The former England Under-21 winger, who cost Birmingham £3m last year, is now expected to fly out to join Liverpool's Swiss training camp and make his debut on Saturday against Kaiserslautern in Liechtenstein.

"If I'm needed, I'm fit to play," Pennant said. "I've dreamt about this since I was a little boy. My best will come at this club because I am playing alongside top-quality players who will only help me develop my game.

"This is the best club in the country and the best club to be at so if I can't do it here then I won't be able to do it anywhere."

The package, the structure of the deal and the fact that Liverpool will now drop their interest in Daniel Alves, who Seville wanted £12m for, means that Benitez has been given leeway in his attempts to secure long-term target Kuyt. His hand has also been strengthened by the 26-year-old's desire to leave Dutch football and move to England and, more significantly, because Feyenoord have failed to drum up any interest from other Champions' League clubs following Kuyt's disappointing displays in the World Cup.

Feyenoord had hoped to create an auction for Kuyt, who was close to joining Tottenham Hotspur last year and has also interested Newcastle United as well as several Spanish clubs, in the hope of securing £14m.

Benitez is also close to agreeing a deal to sell Djimi Traoré to Charlton Athletic for £1m, after the Addicks missed out on Middlesbrough's Franck Queudrue, with Salif Diao also on trial at The Valley. The arrival of Fabio Aurelio has hastened Traoré's departure and his agent, Willie McKay, confirmed yesterday that a deal should be completed this week.

Benitez also intends to sell the goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek and the defender Jan Kromkamp although his attempts to interest Feyenoord in a players plus cash deal involving the pair has failed. Kromkamp is more likely to move to PSV Eindhoven.

Liverpool would prefer not to pay as much as £10m for Kuyt and had hoped to do a deal for around £8m but his arrival will complete Benitez's acquisitions this summer following on from the signings of Craig Bellamy, Gabriel Paletta, Mark Gonzalez and Aurelio.

After letting Fernando Morientes and Djibril Cissé move on, Benitez had flirted with the idea of trying to take Juventus's David Trezeguet, possibly on loan, but has decided to go back for Kuyt because he fits the bill of the kind of hard-working, powerful striker that he is seeking.

Liverpool had previously inquired about Darren Bent but were put off by the asking price. The striker has since signed a new, improved deal at Charlton, who also announced yesterday that the goalkeeper Scott Carson and 18-year-old winger Paul Anderson, a star of the club's FA Youth Cup-winning side last season, had agreed new long-term deals.
http://sport.independent.co.uk/football/premiership/article1199304.ece

 

Oh please let this Kuijt deal go through!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I'm on board.

FINALLY SOME SQUAD DEPTH!!!! It's been a long time comin'. Rafa has worked his ass off for us these past two years.

 

No kidding. The Reds look to have two quality starting-caliber players at nearly every position now. Very impressive work by Rafa, even more so when you consider that he's done it without the resources available to Mourinho or Sir Alex...

 

flexibility and cover for injuries have been the keys to Rafa's moves this off-season. He's finally got speed on each flank, choice at full back, quality young CBs to learn from Sami, complement JC and give Sammi a day off, depth in midfield, better attacking options and a clear vision of who he wants to play with whom depending on the opposition. Stevie G. gives him losts of flex, either on the right, in the middle or in the hole. In addition, he has Garcia, Kewell and Zenden who can play more than one role depending on formation. Adding Pennant means Stvie G. can roam and we still have right wing width -- add that to Gonzalez and 4-3-3 is a real possibility with either Bellamy or Crouch in the middle, plus Fowler getting a lot of playing time off the bench.
Kuyt will just add another dimension and give us a squad that can realistically take a run at the title -- who else has improved so much over the summer?
The strong showing of Anderson, Hobbs and Antwi means Rafa can also clear out the remainder of GH's mistakes and those who's time is passed: farewell Diao, Traore, Dudek, ALT, FSP, Mellor and Kirkland along with Cisse.

 

We are not exactly the poorest side in football now, are we ...
I love the fact that we now have a fast, true right winger who can really cross...and if the Kuyt deal comes through we're golden...
I am just a little worried that Rafa will have the same troubles as Chelsea did last few seasons with players wanting more time on the pitch...but for now, those are really good problems to have...can't wait for the start of the season to see how it all works out in real life...in my mind we already won the Champs League, EPL and FA Cup-we left the Carling Cup over for Chelski and ManU

 

Rafa is getting selling and loaning out players, he's gotten shot of Morientes, Hamann and loaned out Cisse. He's clearing out dead wood as well, so he's not exactly doing a Mourinho and keeping players like Mourinho is.

 

Liverpool have asked for information on Brescia starlet Savio Nsereko, according to reports in Italy.

In the transfer speculation columns in Italy, Nsereko has emerged as a potential target for FA Cup winners Liverpool.

Nsereko is a teenage midfielder who was born in Uganda, but also holds a German passport.

He started out his career in Germany with 1860 Munich, but linked up with Serie B side Brescia last summer.

Last season was spent in the Brescia youth team and Nsereko, who turned 17 on Thursday, is rated highly by his current club.

Reds boss Rafa Benitez is always keen to add young potential to his squad and is thought to have enquired about Nsereko's talent.

 

Not trying to bring the Kuyt debate back to the surface, but now that we have two true wingers, his addition would make even more sense. He'd probably score double-digit goals off his noggin.

Can the season get here already?

 

He has about 7 games for the U-16 NT...

One of the many youth prospects for Germany....very talented from what I've heard.

 

I agree with everyone of those except FSP. If there's no Kuyt, then he's essential.

 

FSP is still very young and has performed well in the past. I think he's worth holding onto, even if his time on the pitch will be limited.

When the hell are we going to sign our striker and call it a day?

 

The Beeb's rumor page has us making another bid for Kuyt.

Toni apparently wants out at Fiorentina and an EPL team has come calling.

I doubt it's us, as he would provide little to the squad, IMO. Manchester possibly?

 

I agree i think its Man Utd that has enquired about Luca Toni. Plus i wouldnt really want him to come becuase he has just recently turned 30. But i know he can score goals but in no comparrison to RVN as 30 year old, how can easily score 20+ until he is 34 properly with his type of play. If we do get a striker he has to be quality. I was thinking Imbrimavich, class but not a prolific scorer and then Cassano would be great but for him to adapt once again to another league would be a struggle maybe.

 

Djimi set for Charlton...according to SkySports (damn link won't paste for some reason)

 

This must mean that Rafa is close to signing a new striker; I really thought FSP would have a chance to do well this year. Le Tallec was a lost project anyway.

 

There goes the Anfield trilogy of dj (djibril, djimi and medjani).

 

defender antonio barragan joins liverpool
http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-barragan&prov=reuters&type=lgns

 

No, he's leaving Liverpool.

 

I think this falls into the "outright lies" category.

 

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=375325&cc=5901

Charlton actually paid us 2m for Traore?
Rafa, I love you.