Fagan

no reason to suggest the echo would be in the know anyway and/or alternatively they be asked to keep it hus hush until its done

maybe we are trying to tie up another deal before announcing riera aswell. i bet we'll announce 2 first team signings today

well done Rick, silence your critics

berbatov strikes me as a bit of mercenary, if the arabs at citeh offer him crazy money he'd happily go there over untied id imagine.

SKY: 14.54 Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez has reiterated that he wants to keep Xabi Alonso at Anfield, while Albert Riera is expected to arrive from Espanyol.

indeed and another reason to lump a premium on to british players transfer fees. wouldnt be surprised if the agents are demanding higher wages on that basis either

thats not necessarily a surprise though!

can we expect any surprises today wth riera?

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thats a big week for us, united on the saturday and marseille away on the tuesday and all likely to be without gerrard

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no, if your read my post, i was saying that the new rule coming in is another reason why rafa is signing english players, rather than because they are less risk in terms of adapting to english life. no secrets im afraid!

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well the kid has signed for liverpool at the age of 16 and was told hed be involved in the youth cup team this year, so apparently not in terms of being too old and id expect rafa to say that about the youth policy to any potential signing. the crouchy stuff sounds like absolute bo**ox i agree, but in fairness, your man said he overheard benitez saying when he was getting off the phone to people.

Was talking to a mate of mine today and he was telling me about a guy he knows whos son (irish) has just been given a youth contract by liverpool. the kids 16. He had a lot of offers from clubs and his father went with him to talk to all the clubs. The day he went to anfield, rafa came and met them face to face which he was surprised at, the father asked him straight out about what the chances were of his kid making the grade. Rafa said he could give no guarantees, but stated that the club is absolutely convinced that UEFA are bringing in the 6-5 rule, whereby you can only have 5 foreign players, and on that basis they are signing shed loads of youngsters from all over the place, because when they buy them at a certain age and the kids stay with them for a certain amount of time, they become naturalised and therefore technically 'british' so the irish and foriegn kids will qualify as domestic kids. he also said that that is another reason why liverpool will be pursuing more english players. he said carragher came in and said a brief hello and was giving out because hed been done for speeding again and was worried hed be put off the road for while cause of all the points he had on his license! The kids father also said he overheard rafa giving out yards about Crouch's agent looking for way too much money in his transfer out of the club! not saying its gospel, but interesting all the same if the club are planning ahead on the basis that this rule will come in

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