NeilR

I think we could expect the same sort of spend as normal (every year we talk about spending £50m , £60m , £70m, but we generally spend around the same) and try to bring in 3 quality players. We could top that up with sales of... Carson -- 6 Riise -- 6 Finnan -- 2 Guthrie -- 3 Pennant -- 4 Kuyt -- 6 Vornonin -- 2 Kewell -- off the wage list Total= £29 And although I'd love the likes of Messi, Kaka, Villa, Aguero, Silva, Eto'o, Alves etc this might be pushing it a little (unless our saviours DIC come good and hand us the blank cheque), I'd be looking to maximise the potential our current formation has, while allowing for Rafa to revert back to 4-4-2 or rest Torres on the occassion. So I'd go for something like this... RB = Lahm £10m (might go to Madrid or ManU though), or Rafinha £8m LB = Cashly Cole £12m (can be a bit of a prick off field but would be great for us in playing terms. Can he buy his contract out yet?). Striker / wing forward = Henry £10m (3 good years left in him, would suit our current system, could go up front if Torres rested, unhappy in Spain, likes Liverpool, and knows the premier league). For a guy struggling apparently and not starting always, 19 games, 7 goals, 5 assists in the league isn't too bad. Reina Lahm Carra/Skirtel Agger Cole Masch Alonso Gerrard Babel Torres Henry Subs = Itandje, Skirtel/Carra, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Insua, Aurelio, Lucas, Benayon, Leto, Crouch, Nemeth So with a total spend of around £32-35m, and recouping £29m of this, I wouldnt think that was a bad summers business, and gives one hell of a team with balance. Cole and Lahm do the jobs they do for their current clubs, or like Evra does for utd, while still being solid at the back, makes it less improtant for us to purchase 2 new wingers, and in the end I'd saythat formation gives us something similar to what utd have now but to me looks far more formidable, and has enough flexibility and cover to revert back to 4-4-2 or rest without too much detriment in my opinion.

I'd agree with what you have to say there, with the exception that I dont think Nasri scores enough to be considered a striker which can take some of the scoring burden off Torres. I still believe Aguero would be a frightening partner with nando, but could we afford him and would he come (although I dothink is is supposedly a boyhood red - arent they all). So ideal purchases for me would be: Fullback = Lahm (£10m) - as he can play both right and left back, would be backed up by Aurelio/Insua/Arbeloa for the left and Cara/Finnan/Arbeloa on the right. Alves and Rafhina would be other options. Winger = David Silva (£20m) and move Babel to the right as he struggles to cross on his left (although I understand the benefit of cutting in on his right to shoot), or Quaresma £16m (can interchange on left or right with Babel). Either would facilitate a 4 in midfield or front 3 as we are playing now. Striker (£20m) = Aguero, as I stated above (scores, creates, hard worker), or Villa (already has a great partnership with Torres for Spain. Its significant spend but I think needed to take us that last bit. Sell Carson £8m, Riise £6m, Pennant £3m, Kuyt £6m, Voronin £1m, Guthrie £3m and get Kewell of the wage list would see us recoup about £27m of that £50m spend. No need now to build up the squad (in fact it might need trimmed a bit) and the youth looks strong.

Is this the same Sky who have the following Premiership stats on their own website... Top Scorers: Liverpool= Torres 18, Gerrard 9, Babel 4 Man Utd = Ronaldo 21, Tevez 11, Rooney 8 Arsenal = Adebayor 19, Fabregas, 7, Rosicky 6 Chelsea = Lampard 6, Drogba 5, Kalou 5 Everton = Yakubu 12, Cahill 7, Lescott 6 So are we any different than any of the other top 5 teams??? Take the top 2 scorers from all teams and its a similar story. Its all a bit like the roatation thing, others are allowed to get away with it while the media make a point of focusing on it with us.

I would love us to become successful (i.e. chellenge for the league every year if not win it, and make a serious push in the CL) with Rafa at the helm as he seems to do things most of the time in the Liverpool way. But if at the end of the season we don't win the CL and miss out on qualification to it next year then I feel it is time to move on. And yes the FA cup wont appease that in my eyes this year as it would have done in the past as we have had time to develop into a side that can challenge for e the league but are no closer realistically. I'm not saying the manager has to win the League, but would need to be there or there abouts come the end of the season, which we haven't been for a long time. Thats the most dissapointing thing for me. With every new manager regardless of their history there will always be a risk. But if the club isn't progressing (arguably going backwards lately), then sometimes you have to make a hard decision, let the head rule the heart and move on. I didnt think Klinnsman was what we should be looking at but I also don't buy into the thinking there is no other suitable managers available out there that could possibly take us on further. There is Mourinho who like him or hate him has won the league with Chelsea (ok lots of money involved), but also won the CL and Portuguese league with Porto (not much money involved there and the CL win could be arguably a more difficult task comparing us and them at the times). My main concern about him is the attitude and circus, but no doubting he can win things. Then there is Marcello Lippi (5 Italian leagues, 1 cup, 1 CL, CL runner up 3 times, and 1 world cup) who isnt working at the moment and is at a good age (balance of experience gained through time served and plenty of time to build something) of 59. Hard to find a more decorated manager out there. Also, available after Euro 2008 is Gus Hiddink or Philippe Scolari. And there are probably other suitable candidates who could possibly take us forward. Dont get me wrong, I would love to win the league or CL again with Rafa, but I'm starting to get the feeling I had during Houlliers last season.

I took it as being a positive comment too. He's had his talks with the owners and is happy to extend his contract under these terms (or simlilar).

Quaresma & Diego Milito

"When we talk we avoid discussing moves, but I know he's talking about a probable move to Liverpool." Is it just me or is the use of the word "probable" here interesting, instead of using the word "possible"! It might just be Masch's use of English, but could be more to it. You would imagine he'd know something about Tevez's interests if they are mates and in contact, and has tried to sell Liverpool to him.

How about: ------------------------------Reina-------------------------- Finnan----------Carra------------------Agger----------Aurelio ------------------Masch----------------Alonso------------------ Alves-----------------------Gerrard-----------------Quaresma ------------------------------Eto'o------------------------- ...a bit Barcelonaesque with only 3 additions needed. Personally I'd also like to see another top quality forward signed as well for 2 up top dependant on tactics.

I'd go as far to say definately one (possibly 2 wingers) are needed and 2 forwards. Wingers: On the right, SG can be used here but its horses for courses and sometimes he's better suited for the centre (I feel this depends on who we are playing and our tactics). Garcia again horses for courses. Pennant is decent but there is an opportunity to look for world class here. Left sidewe have Kewell (fitness doubts), Aurelio and Riise are left backs in my eyes, and Leto (may need time to adjust and is potential at the moment). Good options = Simao & Quaresma (one of either can cover both flanks), Alves (right back and right mid). Anderson (Porto - LM or in the hole) is young, not finished article but has potential (maybe the same situation as Leto though). Pederson is a bit like Pennant, decent but I think at our stage in development we sould be looking at world class. Messi would be asking for too much!!! Striker: Its obvious we need a predator and is where I'd spend most of our funds. I'd have both Kuyt (work horse and attitude spot on) and Crouch (very different option to have) staying. Bellamy I think will be moved on (played a part this year but like with the wingers we need world class). With Robbie, Pongolle and likely Cisse gone, I'd like 2 top class brought in with the sole purpose of scoring goals (we have hard working options already, e.g. Kuyt if needed). Options = 1 has to be from Eto'o and Villa (preferrably both in a dream world), and then if not both (i.e. hopefully we can get one) then one of Torres, Owen, Trezuguet, Tevez, Robinho, Milito, Iaquinta or Gomes (Werder Bremem, 13 goals, 13 assists in the league this year).

"Ideally, Benitez wants at least a fifth new face to join the club by then - followed by another two before the transfer deadline. The stand-off between Liverpool and Seville for the £10m transfer of Daniel Alves is continuing, but Benitez is already considering his plan B, which involves bidding for Feyenoord's Dirk Kuyt." If, say, Benitez's plan A is to have Alves as the 5th signing for £10m, and looking for 2 others, what is the problem with buying Kuyt and not bothering with a 7th signing? Ok, I understand that the other signing might have been a cheap option. But surely not making it would free us up £1-2m even in this case. That, coupled with sales of players like Traore, Dudek, Kirkland, Warnock, Pongolle, etc etc for £1m each (not unreasonable and not mentioning getting other players like Diao, leTallec and Cheyrou off the wage bill) surely we can get both Kuyt and Alves as long as prices dont go up even greater! Just dont know why if we are that tight on cash, supposedly, then why not free up that little extra by not making the proposed 7th signing?

Never saw that thread. And theres me thinking I had too much time on my hands!!! But just reiterates that we should have enough money to get in the players we need, as long as Rafa is smart with his spending, which I'm sure he will be. As for Fowler "resigning".....ooops!!! I think I left out one of these guys "-" in that word

There have been loads of different quotes and speculation of how much people thing we have to spend in the transfer market this summer (values ranging from £40million to zero). I'm not privvy to any info, but looking at our spending over the last few years its probably safe to say Rafa will be given £20million to spend (on top of the fact we already have Gonzalez and Paletta as these deals have been done for a while now). Now, he may be given more (investment might be confirmed), but I think we can work on this as a safe minimum value. I reckon with this we'll still be able to do some very good business on the market and get the players in we need for the positions. For example: - We have Gonzales for LM, Paletta & Agger (who will effectively be like a new signing) as CB cover, and if rumours are true we have Aurelio for free as left back. Thats 3 positions covered. - We have sold Morientes for £3m. That would effectively cover Pennants price (maybe have to add £0.5-1million). - If we sell Cisse for the asking price of £8million (which I think we will), that effectively covers Alves' price. So, still nothing really spent from the budget and we'd have added to CB (paletta & Agger), LB (aurelio), LM (Gonzales), RB (Alves), and RM (Alves and Pennant). We would be 2 strikers down though (even though Fowler has resigned). But we would have that £20m pretty much in tact for buying these 2 players, as all the other positions we have are all pretty well covered with these dealings. You could also include possible sales of the likes of Traore, Kirkland, Dudek, Le Tallec, Mellor, etc, etc as well as releasing players like Diao and Cheyrou to name a few, to free up some more dosh. So all in all, I dont think we are sitting badly in our position and I wouldt be worrying about lack of purchases so far either as we still have about 3 months left of the transfer window, and its hard to get deals signed with players away at the world cup. I have full faith that Rafa is working to ensure he has deals and fall back options sewn up for us that will significantly improve our team and squad like above. Even if the palyers in/out arent' exactly the same (I was just trying to show examples), I think we'll be looking strong come the start on the new season. In Rafa we trust!

How about Podolski as another alternative. http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=38...lid=357&cpid=88 Probably still end up at Bayern, but at £6.8million surely we could try to hijack that one at least.

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=38...lid=357&cpid=88 Would be a great signing for our team (price, age, ability, etc) and it looks like his proposed signing to Bayern has hit a snag. I still think that move will probably go through, maybe at an agreed reduced fee, especially as he's able to go for 1million next year (probably a bit like the Owen transfer from us to Madrid). But at £6.8million I think it would be a great option for us to test the waters and see if we can hijack it.

More on Aurelio (anyone speak Spanish who can translate this as I see "Liverpool" is mentioned in the text)... http://miarroba.com/foros/ver.php?foroid=8...&temaid=4708887

Not completely the case. But I agree that the competition will not stand still. But the main competition is Chavski and they can improve their team quality but not by much. They will more than likely improve their squad quality more. Even still I think that team outlined above would do very well to rival any team about. Getting the consistency and new signings working as a team is harder (same with any team this summer). But my point is that we aren't in such a dire situation. If the board can give rafa £30 million, then fantastic. But I just wanted to make the point that with a very realistic £20million, even without investment, could go a long way.

...to turn our side in to a league winning side? With all this rumoured talk of Rafa demanding £30million from the board, it got me thinking if he'd really need this to transform our league chances next year. And the answer is I don't think so. Of course it would be nice if he was given this amount, but I think Rafa is more clever with his transfer dealings, won't pay over the odds for players and can spot some great talent for cheaper prices. With this in mind and the fact that I don't think we are too far away from having an extremely strong starting 11 and good backup, I think Rafa could work wonders with even £20million. For example... - Owen, Kuyt, Yakubu, etc are options we can look at for players who know where the back of the net is and for £12million ish, we might be able to get one of them (of course there are other similar options). - Its obvious we need a right winger and we could pick up the likes of Pennant for about £5million I'd say (less if the brum get relegated). He has his off field problems, but even with these, theres no denying he's has been in outstanding form for Birmingham this year. Mayvbe rafa could straighten him out. At that price its worth taking a chance. - Some have been saying we need another LB. Aurelio of Valencia would be a great addition to rotate with Riise and I think he is on a free transfer this summer (need to double check). We also have Gonzales already coming. This would leave us with the options of: Reina/Carson Finnan/Kromkamp Carra/Paletta Sami/Agger Riise/Aurelio Pennant/Gerrard/Garcia Gerrard/Momo Alonso/Hamann Kewell/Zenden/Gonzales/Riise Crouch/Pongolle/Fowler £12-15m striker Quite a strong side and squad. And at an outlay of £20million (if a few of those prices are pushed up) its not bad. Plus I haven't even mentioned selling any of Cisse, Morientes, Traore, Warnock, Mellor, Le Tallec, Potter, Kirkland, Dudek, etc which could raise a large amount of the cash to go towards that outlay. Not all doom and gloom and shows we aren't far away or that much money away if we could work transfer dealings like that, which I think Rafa can.