From the Beeb "Liverpool Chief Exec Rick Parry is reportedly giving Houllier a 30 million pound war chest to improve the squad over the summer. 14 million is supposed to be for Djibril Cisse. Some of the other players discussed as targets are Phillipe Mexes, Hatem Trabelsi, and Michael Dawson from Nottingham Forest." Mexes has already said he won't be coming if the Reds aren't in the Champion's League next season IIRC. I don't get a chance to watch the Eredivisie much so I don't know alot about Trabelsi other than he is from Tunisia and is an international. But the last couple of African internationals haven't exactly panned out. Anybody know how good this guy is? I've heard a bit about Dawson but don't know much about him either. Enlighten me please. I'm glad the board are opening the purse strings but I also want the youth academy to continue to be a vital conduit to the first team. Discuss folks.
30 million pounds is a lot of money to spend. I wonder what happens if we don't qualify for the Champions League. The budget would be significantley smaller. Its good to know that Parry realizes that lots of change needs to be made. I doubt he will be giving Houllier another 30 million to spend. Its time for a new manager.
I've got no idea where this figure of £30m has come from. More likely than not, some tabloid hack as conjured it up. Don't read too much into it. Also be prepared for a list running into the hundreds of players we're linked with.
Here is an article on Trabelsi from the Financial Times a couple of months ago. Normally I wouldn't paste a full article but this one has moved into the archives and is no longer accessible without a subscription. PS: Has anyone read Kuper's book "Football Against the Enemy?" --- World wakes up to Trabelsi's talent By Simon Kuper Published: February 6 2004 19:12 | Last Updated: February 6 2004 19:12 Nobody had heard of the wiry Tunisian who arrived at Ajax Amsterdam's training camp in summer 2001 without his luggage. Hatem Trabelsi had lost his bags at an airport, and played his two trial matches for Ajax on boots borrowed from the assistant coach. He earned a contract regardless. Now Trabelsi is probably the world's best right-back. This is his big week. On Saturday he hopes to carry Tunisia past Senegal in the African Cup of Nations quarter-final, before winning them the trophy next Saturday. By then he also hopes to have signed for a giant club: perhaps Manchester United, AC Milan or Juventus, but not Chelsea. Yet the 27-year-old remains, in the words of one British newspaper, "a relatively unknown right-back". This tells you something about the irrationality of the football establishment: not as arbitrary as art critics, but quirky nonetheless. The lorry driver's son from the port town of Sfax is one of a new breed of footballer: so fit and fast he can play in several positions at once. Just as David Beckham is both right-half and central midfielder, Thierry Henry a one-man attack and Pavel Nedved a one-man team, Trabelsi often mans Ajax's right flank all by himself. Teammates punt balls vaguely down the right, and Trabelsi comes steaming up like a locomotive, weaves past opponents like a sports car, before putting in the most delicate of crosses. Seconds later he will have dropped 60 yards to crunch some unfortunate attacker. Apologies if this makes him sound like the hero of a boys' comic, but he is. I have seen him dispossess Arsenal's giant Patrick Vieira with a block tackle, a feat of valour seldom witnessed among humans. His admirers include the great Portuguese winger Luis Figo, and the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, who exited their first encounter muttering, "What a beast!" Yet when Ronald Koeman became manager of Ajax two years ago, he briefly benched Trabelsi. When I asked Koeman why ("how on earth?" etc), he shrugged: "I didn't know him well." Koeman was a great player, and is now a sought-after coach, so he presumably knows something about the game. Yet he overlooked Trabelsi because Trabelsi is a Tunisian, and Tunisians aren't supposed to be good footballers. The national team, as Trabelsi admits, is "average". He may be Arab footballer of the year, but the Arab world is about as empowered in football as it is in international relations. Being an Arab footballer is like being a Polish pop singer: nobody outside the region notices you. Trabelsi's genius surprised AC Milan so utterly in a Champions League game last year that they changed formation mid-match, sending the great Paolo Maldini to guard his flank. Compounding Trabelsi's unfashionable origins is his anonymous personality. He has survived public life almost uninterviewed. Little is known about him except that he is a Muslim who prays five times a day. Partly he hides behind incomprehension. His only European language is French, which to most contemporary footballers might as well be Sanskrit. He famously cost Ajax a goal when he mistook his goalkeeper's screamed "Easy!" for the French "Ici" ("here") and passed the ball back to the out-of-position keeper. "But it's not just the language," says David Endt, who accompanies the Ajax team as a sort of executive producer. "There is something impenetrable about him. All you see is that big smile." The big clubs have finally seen past the smile. This summer Trabelsi will leave Amsterdam, ending three happy years during which the inefficiency of the transfer market allowed us Ajax supporters to enjoy a player who should have been beyond our bracket. Trabelsi may depart the club as an African champion, but few in Europe will pay any attention to that either.
Didn't we JUST drop 5 million pounds an a "quality" player to shore up our RB? Oh yeah, he's played MAYBE half the games this campaign. Sorry to put on my bitter pants, but 30 million pounds is an AWFUL lot of pesos. I scowl on the following accounts: a) I don't want us to be the next Leeds. b) Our last 30 million pounds hasn't gotten us very far. c) Houllier might be tempted to spread the money around on a lot of slightly above-average talent. (See: Finnan, Steve; Traore, Djimi; Biscan, Igor; Diao, Salif; Cheyrou, Bruno; that's just the top of my head.) No more of this nickel and dime crap. (If you can call 3-4 million bones at a time nickel and diming.) IF we are to blow that much money, one top class striker and one lockdown, 40 game starter, shutdown fullback (Mexes mold, maybe a bit older), and I'd turn cartwheels. (Last season I would have said add one top notch creative winger and we'd be golden, but we got us one of those and we're still garbage.)
Agreed. If Houllier stays, he has to buy established quality stars. We all want to keep the LFC tradition of not doing that alive, but Houllier's bragging rights when it comes to unearthing gems is gone.
I agree entirely. But the likes of Cisse, Mexes, and Trabelsi ARE established stars. Also, to be fair to Houllier, his policy of spending peanuts on potential did bring players like Hyypia, Henchoz, and Baros to Anfield. The time for investing in young players is gone but it isn't as if Houllier's spending policy has always been a complete failure. It is also worth noting that 20 million is the minimum amount that the club needs to buy Cisse and a quality centerback. And many of us want a right winger as well.
I was agreeing with you, those are the kinds of guys we need to sign. H & H, yes...but that was five years ago. Baros, absolutely, but he's one in a large group of basic failures and extreme disappointments. I, for one, have little faith in Houllier right now to sign a group of unknowns and turn them into a championship team.
I was also agreeing with you! *hugs* I picked your post as the one to reply to mainly because it was the last one on the thread. Note that SuperElf didn't directly respond to my post either.
Without Champions League, the budget would at least be cut in half. If we were to have 30 million available that would be great. I figure it would cost a little more than 20 million to get both Cisse and Mexes from Auxerre. Then we would enough money left over to buy a quality midfielder. 3 top players would improve us a great deal.
The BBC site didn't name the sourse for the figure, but they did name that as the figure. Of course it could be jsut specualtion (more than likely it is) or it could be a ploy to take the heat off of Houllier and Co by appeasing the fans fro the time being. It certainly is an intriguing scenario none the less. Thanks for the info on Tabelsi. With Carra at LB we have a solid defender, if Hatem showed up we'd have a great right sided attack/defense form the sounds of things. It would be nice if we could pull that off, but he may want to go to a club that is "bigger" than Liverpool.
We should also get some money for transfers out during the summer which will offset some of the transfers into the club. How much do you reckon we could get for selling Hamman?
It appears the £30m GBP figure was conjured out of thin air by a journalist for the Daily Mirror newspaper in England. There is no quote from the club stating this figure at all - it is all conjecture. As for my wish list IF we have money available: 1. Centre half - couldn't do worse than Mexes 2. Right winger - Shaun Wright-Phillips of Man City, young prodigy and adopted son of Ian Wright of Arsenal fame In addition: 3. Cisse looks a certainty 4. A decent right back, although I don't see this as too urgent, providing Otsemobor is given a chance. I firmly believe this kid is the future and would much rather he was given the chance to play for a while in the first time than bring in yet more players along the lines of Trabelsi.
[keegan voice]I would love it, just love it, if we bought Wright-Phillips[/keegan] Now I want City to go down so they have to sell their players off cheap.
I think there would be a Bundelsiga club that would pay 5-7 million for Hamann. I think there would also be interest in Henchov from the Bundesliga. 30 million is definetly a believable figure. If we qualify for Champions League, we get around 20 million just for that. Plus, there is always money available for transfers, with our without Champions League. Also if we sell players such as Hamann, Henchov, and Heskey we could raise another 10 million. I think its obvious that if we want big signings this summer we better finish this season strongley and get 4th place. Qualfying for Champions League is crucial for next season. My shopping list would include: Cisse- He will be class, and is definelty coming. Mexes- He won't come here without the champions league. It would be a great signing. There is a good chance he will be starting for France in Portugal this summer. Replacement for Hamann: We need someone that can pair up well with Gerrard. Someone who can make a tackle but also help us going foward. Mark Van Bommel would fit this role.
Does anyone know anything about Welsh? I've heard a lot about him but I haven't really seen him play. Could he be a potential replacement for Hamann as early as next season? From what I read, he seems like a similar player to Gerrard and would make a good partner for him in the midfield. Any more information about him would be appreciated.
Interesting news item from the mother ship: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N144656040423-1352.htm The quote in question: (re: the 30 million pounds rumor) "I was shaving when I heard that story and I thought it was so funny that I almost cut myself," said the boss. Oh, and after sleeping on it, I'm warming to Richy's idea of Shawn-Wright Phillips as a third purchase, should Rick Parry find 8 million pounds lying under a rock or something. . . Suss - all I know about Welsh is what I've seen in a couple dozen games from the reserves on the e-Season Ticket, and him turning into a fool-proof stud every time in Championship Manager. I have no idea what kind of player he is day-in, day-out, or if he's ready to go next year, but god is he good in CM by 2006 . . .
Welsh is viewed by the academy staff as the finest prospect to come out of the youth system since Steven Gerrard. In my opinion, one of the failures of Houllier in his time at the club is that he hasn't managed to introduce young Welsh to the first team squad. Hamann's influence has decreased this season and due to his age, he may need to be replaced at great cost--this season or the next. Had Houllier blooded in Welsh the way he has done with Le Tallec and Pongolle (and Gerrard in the past), Welsh could have been competing for a starting spot next season.