No. He's been tracked by Houllier for a long time, so until recently at least, he was seen as a potential partner for Owen and not a replacement. I don't think there are many strikers in the world who are as prolific as Owen.
Seems somebody on my ignore list is posting. Boumsong is a large athletic centre half who is already playing for France. He'd fit in well right away as at least cover for both of the H's. Cisse is another lead or target forward who could be seen as competition or a replacement for Heskey. In either case, they would not replace Owen --- FSP is a similar player to Owen but while he's really good is not as precocious and prolific as Mikie. The real question is if he really wants to leave -- I think at this point it's more likely he'll push a large weekly pay rate increase with a one year extention. Then the issue is how long he stays after that.
Owen is not going anywhere. Real doesn't need him, i don't see him replacing either Ronaldo or Raul, so what are they gonna do ?? Play with 3 strikers ?? Not gonna happen !! Barcelona on the other hand could really be intrested because they need a new striker, But I doubt it they could afford 27 million. Maybe some kind of exchange deal could happen, that would see Kluivert to Liverpool and Owen to Barcelona. Kluivert has said before that he would like to play in England, so who knows ??
Don't assume Ronaldo is staying at Real. Though at this point, any speculation is just that, speculation. And speaking of speculating, Roux sounds like he is resigned to losing Cisse at the end of the season. While the source of the quote is anything but reputable, I'm not sure if it could possibly be taken out of context: "We can't hold on to him any longer... We always try to keep players at Auxerre for as long as we can... but the time comes and Cisse's time has come now," he added in The Sun." http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/031113/21/edu8t.html
While losing Owen certainly wouldn't be ideal, I think FSP can provide much of what Owen does. If Owen does leave, then Houllier would be forced to address the Heskey situation. As long as the Reds have a striker as proficient as Owen, keeping a hard working partner who can't finish may be a reasonable trade off. But if the production from the other striker is reduced, then there is no way Heskey can maintain his position in the team. With Baros and FSP, the speed up top that Owen brings can be replaced, but it is the partner who will need to be upgrade. Maybe that is where Cisse comes in, but there has to be other options as well.
Liverpool selling Owen would be the same as Blackburn selling Duff, you get loads of cash, buy 2-3 players with it, then wonder where your match winner went.
Owen is awesome , unique amongst his generation . He is also under-rated, he plies his trade often on scraps, If MO had a great team around him ,who gave him great service ..WOW. This talk of letting him go, is nothing less than sacrilege.
Yes, unfortunately I must agree that this is a likely scenario. On the other hand, I don't think you can compare Liverpool to Blackburn because if Owen were to be sold, Houllier would have advantages that Souness did not. After selling Duff, Blackburn had 18 million pounds to spend but no drawing power to attract another player of similar caliber. Their only option was to spend smaller sums of money on several players who were never going to be world-beaters. Had Duff not been a Blackburn player already when he made his name, it is doubtful that he ever would have signed for them. Liverpool do not have this problem. If, at the end of the season, Owen is sold to Real Madrid for 30 million, his departure could potentially pay for two major signings--say, Cisse and Van der Vaart. It is certainly conceivable that these two, as a pair, may be a more potent attacking threat than Owen. Of course this may not turn out to be the case--Cisse may flop and Van der Vaart may not match up to his early promise. But they could also be better than expected. Theoretically speaking, there is no doubt that Owen's departure could improve the team.
Sell Owen and pick up Rooney! (I'm sure Livy management would give nothing less then their left nuts to get that guy) PS. Vandervaart is reserved for Milan (I'm allowed to dream..)
Real sure does not need Owen and there is no way he would displace a healthy Ronaldo or Raul. AC has Shevchenko, Inzaghi and Tomasson, Bayern have Makaay, Pizzaro,(and conservative spending) not to mention ManU and Arsenal. There are already strong strikers at the clubs that seem to be getting regular Champions League Football. Going to a club like Barcelona that seems like it is on the decline, would be a mistake. If Rivaldo came in, with a healthy Baros and Owen up front, and Kewell, Hamman Rivaldo and Dioaf in the mid, now you are talking Champions League for Liverpool.
Is Dioaf a combination of El Hadj and Salif? And uh, where do you suppose our captain will play in that setup?
Wildman would drop Gerrard. He's a tactical genius with the footballing knowledge of every manager ever born combined in one brain. Christ, this weed is strong ...
Okay, I gave my two cents on where Rivaldo would play. Anyone else? Assume Rivaldo is on the field, what does the line up look like up front and in the mid? It's probably a waste of time anyway. I don't see bringing in Rivaldo, but my guess is that they would play him up front with Owen, even though he would be better as an attacking mid.
That was a gentleman's disagreement, not one obscentiy in it. We can disagree on tactics without resorting to insults. Thanks.
I was taking the piss, you fucking spaz. God, I look forward to the day you finally find yourself some hot, sweet pu**y and you get a fucking life. Twat.
So ... you can't answer the question. You fail again Wildman. Maybe I should pop over to the Mod's forum and add this forum to the 'Things Wildman should be locked out of for his own good' list. You're not even fun anymore, you're just a brainded lump of waste that gets in the way of decent folk trying to have a proper conversation about football.
I don't know where he goes. We know Rivaldo would not want to go anywhere unless he gets 1st team football. Forget I said anything cause anything I say upsets people around here. Rivaldo Owen up front Gerrard Muphy in the middle. There, now everyone can be happy. I quit.
This is about the thirtieth time he has flounced off from a thread in which he is getting torn to pieces. He'll be back, regrettably.
But at least he is now admitting he has no idea what he is talking about. Which just leaves the question of why he bothers in the first place ...