Swagger

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What odds can I get for Avram Grant to replace Mourinho before the season ends?

Chill. I am sure that at the very least we have an option to buy at a certain pre-set fee. Thus, if Rafa chooses to hang on to him, and forks over the cash, there's nothing anybody can do about that.

I don't think so, but Rafa obviously does.

Agreed. As much as I like Gerrard in the middle, its very hard to drop one of Alonso or Mascherano. All three together give us great balance IMO. FWIW, I think that Mascherano is a fantastic player, and I would love for us to hang on to him, even at Momo's expense. He's a far better player: slightly less energy, but more composed, more refined, less rash, and has a far better pass on him. As for Lucas, its early days to pass judgement. Lets see how a settles first, but besides he is more of an attacking midfielder. Is he worth 20m? Apart from actual value there are other considerations, such as the size of our transfer budget and our need to sign other player within that budget. Comparisons with other transfers is always problematic, you'll always find figures for and against which even argument you advocate. IMO, e.g., he is far better than Hargreaves, who as we know cost United around 18m.

Easy to understand Dudek. Being dropped after such a massive game is a heck of a blow. But from Rafa's point of view, and the club's, if you have the chance to bring in a player who is a lot better than the one you have, then you obviously should. And Pepe is by far a better 'keeper. Good luck, Jerzy. Your place in the history of this great club is cemented.

Sure, but if an oral agreement is put into writing, then the written agreement overrules the oral agreement that precedes it, since the assumption is that the sides choose which parts of the oral agreement they want incorporated into the written agreement. Thus, if the sides in this situation orally agreed that Heinze will not be sold to certain clubs, but then the written agreement made no reference to that, the assumption would be that they subsequently decided to drop that provision, else it would have been expressly written. None of us have seen Gill's letter, but on the face of it I would say that we stand on solid legal ground. Leaving aside the legal agreement, it is clear that Rafa really rates the player if he is willing to wait.

A letter can be legally binding. (For that matter, even an oral agreement is binding, though it can be harder to enforce). I do not know the exact wording of the letter given to Heinze, but it is fair to assume that it is basically Gill putting on paper an agreement reached between the two parties whereupon the player would be sold to any club willing to pay a pre-agreed fee, and as such it is as binding as any other contract. Oh, and there is nothing Fergie can do about that.

From .tv: Harry Kewell has joined up with the Liverpool squad in Hong Kong earlier than expected following his country's surprise elimination at the quarter-final stage of the Asian Cup. The Aussie winger immediately caught a flight out of Vietnam to join up with his club-mates in time for their first training session at a baking hot Mongkok Stadium on Sunday afternoon. About half way through

I think Yossi had a good game. Showed some neat touches and a couple of very good through balls. He's going to surprise a few people. Will help him having better players around him than at WH.

I agree, Heinze was shocking. I know one game is not much to go by, but it mirrors his form since getting back fron injury. I really hope Rafa is not in for him.

Israeli media reporting that he will indeed wear shirt no. 11. He usually wears no. 15 (West Ham and Israel national team), but as we all know that no. is taken by Crouch.

Has Speedy definitely moved to Betis? If so, Babel will probably get shirt no. 11.

Bu the way, has Speedy officially signed for Betis

Agree that Kewell should get another shot, but I think that Pennant also deserves another season. It seems that Rafa also wants him to stay, as per his quotes after the Wrexham game: "Jermaine is the type of player I like, a winger who goes forward and puts crosses in". It seems that we'll have Pennant, Gerrard and Benny on the right, Kewell, Babel, Riise and Leto on the left, with both Babel and Benny able to play anywhere upfront.

Surely it is not as simple as that. I am not a great expert in the financial breakdowns of transfer fees, but I assume that if we sell a player for 10m, for example, then out of that 10m come agent fees and payments to the player himself (as with Bellamy), especially if the player himself did not demand the transfer. Consequently, you cannot look at the quoted transfer fee and say that this the actually fee the club received, and thus our net spending is probably higher than quoted above. Hicks talked about one more major transfer, and with all the speculation surrounding Heinze, surely that transfer will be a defender, be it him or someone else. I really don't see another winger coming in.

Thats why I think that our forward lineup is done for the season, the one player still wanted by Rafa and hinted about by Hicks is a defender.

I know, but ES has a better track record.

ES has given us a pretty big clue.

Cisse gets some unjustified stick around here. Fact is, he simply did not fit into Rafa's system; perhaps things could have been different for him had Houllier still been around. His injuries - specifically in his first season - did not help either. Best of luck Djibs, no hard feelings. 8m pounds or so is brilliant, especially considering Marsailles were talking about another loan just a week ago.

From Wikipedia: Speculation in the Dutch media on Saturday July 7th claims Babel has agreed an £8.7m transfer to Liverpool F.C on a 5 year contract worth £45,000 a week. When questioned on the move at Ajax's pre season training camp Ajax coach Henk ten Cate has been quoted as saying "We'll know more after the weekend, for now nothing is agreed". Wikipedia

To be fair to him, it was Riise he wanted to whack. That's mitigating circumstances in anyone's book.