beejay

Echo's piece today reckons we have agreed personal terms with Torres and Rafa is serious about Heinze http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-19392494/ What's happened to Bascombe? His last report was over 2 weeks ago

We also have to make one more big signing next year - Mascherano

far left is Putterill

Tevez was a big manc fan as a kid..but I can't see the logic in him going there with Rooney in his position. Few rumours around that we have another big deal lined up (not Tevez). Mancini maybe? If the Heinze link is correct (the Count & Echo) you can only deduce that there is something in the Riise to Newcastle story. Should be an interesting week.

Can't understand what Fat Sam is up to. He keeps banging on about Owen's & Martins' buy-out clauses "every one knows how much they can go for" - it's almost as though he is promoting their sale. Unless his son is agent for both players

http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/ki...alleurope/index Quite a dynasty

Re Tevez, I recall Paco saying (in the context of our summer transfer targets) something about the need for a No 10 to create more chances rather than over-concentrating on the strikers missing chances. Unless he's thinking of Kewell or Benayoun fitting this category, Tevez would certainly fit the bill and given his agent's quotes about the Premiership his options must include us, perhaps on a loan now, buy in a year out of next summer's kitty, similar to Mascherano? The Echo's piece about Tevez a back-up target for Torres just doesn't ring true to me - they are completely different types of player.

There's no winning this debate - to some, buying Torres for £20m+ is proof that G&H have fulfilled their promises ; to others, the sales lined up for this year mean we can buy Torres and still only spend as much as usual thereby proving Bascombe, Usher & the Count right. As you say, who cares about who's right & who's wrong - if Rafa lands his key targets we should all be happy.

Agree. What we all hoped for was players to come straight into the 1st team not more squad players. Quality not quantity and Torres is a great start with hopefully 1 or 2 more to come offset by several sales.

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I wouldnt say that, bents speedy and runs the lines a lot better than berbatov because he's fast. I think they're both strong players and good in the air but other than that, not really that similar at all

Is that £20m plus Garcia?

To be fair, most of the concern came directly from Rafa's comments so maybe your 1st para is addressed to him and he should be sending a written apology to G&H? It has been a weird summer so far but there's a long way to go yet before we know what our net spend will be and how rafa has spent the money. As I've said before, Torres is/will be a great buy, a top class striker and just what we need to develop our play. Phase Three I reckon will be sales - Bellamy, Garcia, Gonzalez, Cisse plus the likes of Le Tallec but maybe a surprise departure still?

But do you think he was told to tow a certain line by the club in order for teams to know we're not loaded!

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That's smart of him to rule out Man City - West Ham can't try to bid the price up now. Have a hunch that West Ham will wait for the all clear tomorrow on the Sheffield Utd enquiry then buy Bellamy off us with Benayoun coming the other way to replace Garcia.

Any word on Benayoun? Seems to have gone quiet, but that could just be West Ham waiting to see if they are relegated

Echo say we might wait until Torres is back on 10th July - some people's heads will explode well before then!! http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liv...-name_page.html

Think you need to scroll back 2 or 3 pages

Huh - is this another Google translation from a foreign report??

Read the transfer spec thread and cheer up - Torres is our new striker and he's the dogs b*llox

If the choice was Henry for 16m or Torres for 24m (I'm not saying it was, it's hypothetical) then IMO Rafa's got it right. Torres will be a sensation at Liverpool and if the deal goes through I won't care if we don't make another signing - I will go into next season with more confidence than for a generation.

The mix is pretty good - Rafa has done a top job in blending youth with experience - but Zenden & Fowler moving on may have left some room for a veteran on a free. 1st team squad 2007-8 Young (18-23) : Carson, Agger, Sissoko, Mascherano, Leto, Lucas, Torres In Prime (24-29) : Reina, Arbeloa, Riise, Aurelio, Kewell, Gerrard, Carragher, Alonso, Benayoun, Pennant, Crouch, Kuyt Experienced : (30-) : Hyypia, Finnan, ?????

The club would make sure the echo down played the story if there was nothing in it. We are definitely in for Torres, he definitely wants to come, Atletico accept he will leave and need the money to rebuild their team, so all are playing games to get the best deal.

I have a bad feeling that the longer this goes on the less chance we have of completing the deal for Torres. What we wont do is stump the entire load in for Torres. What if they dont want Garcia?