GWistooshort

Yes, just http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11835_5516500,00.html

Today's round-up of transfer speculation from the mainstream media concerning us & players we have recently been linked with… General transfer news The Daily Mail says that Liverpool only have a budget of £2m remaining for this transfer window & it is probable they will sign no one. Jorge Fucile The Daily Mail claims Porto's 24 year old Uruguan international fullback Fucile, who can play on the right or the left "has been on Liverpool's radar but they are unlikely to make a move now with the restrictions on their current budget" as Porto want around £8m for him. The Mail claims Fucile has been chased by Juventus over the summer, "but his preference is to come to England and he would jump at the chance of going to Anfield". Tuncay The Times claims Birmingham "are close to matching Middlesbrough’s £5m valuation of Tuncay", who has been linked with Liverpool in previous articles. The Times says Tuncay has also been monitored by Aston Villa, Cologne, Stuttgart & Fenerbahçe. Sky Sports says Liverpool & also Sunderland, as well as the clubs named by the Times, have been credited with an interest in Tuncay this summer, but that Boro "are yet to get a firm bid" & that they understand no deal has been struck with Birmingham "& only informal talks between agents have taken place". Arjen Robben Sky Sports says reports in Germany claim Bayern Munich are closing in on the signing of Robben, who has been linked with Liverpool in previous articles.

From today's Liverpool Echo........... "Reports linking Liverpool with a move for either Arjen Robben or Keisuke Honda are wide of the mark. Former Chelsea winger Robben is out of favour at Real Madrid but the Spaniards are seeking a fee of around £15m. Japanese midfielder Honda has proved a big hit with newly promoted Dutch top flight outfit Venlo. The 23-year-old is attracting interest from a number of European clubs but has a £8million price tag. Even if Benitez was interested in either player he doesn't have sufficient funds to complete a deal. Unless owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett loosen their grip on the Anfield purse strings then the Reds boss is unlikely to do any more business before the transfer window shuts next Tuesday." The article also says AEK originally wanted El Zhar on loan "but that deal failed to materialise". http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-24532227/

Today's round-up of transfer speculation from the mainstream media concerning us & players we have recently been linked with… General transfer news The Guardian says that Rafa "indicated in the aftermath of [the] Villa [game] that he does not expect any additions to his squad before next week's deadline". Andy Hunter in the Guardian says that "unless Real Madrid are prepared to let one of their unwanted assets go out on loan, or the American owners change their stance at the 11th hour" & "provide Rafael Benítez with the net £20m spend he was promised for this summer" he "has his hands tied" & "looks unlikely to spend before the next window opens".Sam Wallace in the Independent believes "there will be no acquisitions [by Liverpool] before Tuesday's transfer deadline". Oliver Kay in the Times says "there was a feeling that things [Liverpool's transfer budget] might have to be reappraised after the defeat by Tottenham because it highlighted the lack of depth in the squad...but once again the owners don't seem willing to back up the promises & guarantees they made at the start of the summer". Kay says Sotirios Kyrgiakos "was only signed because he was cheap & available" & "there would have been ten players ahead of him had Benitez had any more money". Tony Barratt in the Times says "the impending closure of the transfer window unlikely to be preceded by any significant additions" by Liverpool. Krisztian Nemeth & Andras Simon The LFC official website has confirmed that Nemeth has joined Greek side AEK Athens & & Simon Spanish club Cordoba both on season long loans. Charles Itandje The Daily Mirror claims Itandje "is being offered around Europe" & is wanted by Sporting Gijon on a season-long loan, which "may now be the best option" after the keeper was unable to agree personal terms with Malaga earlier this summer. Keisuke Honda Sky Sports says that Liverpool are "understood to have been tracking" 23 year old Japanese midfielder Honda, although he did state last week that he is "happy in Holland" & "the likes of PSV Eindhoven and Ajax are thought to be leading the chase". Sky also reports that Honda's club VVV Venlo have confirmed they have received offers which meet their valuation for the player, but "it depends where he wants to go". Arjen Robben The Daily Mail says that Rafa "is believed to have stepped up his interest" in Robben, after the winger "was reportedly offered to Man Utd". The Mail says that Liverpool "might struggle to come up with the money required" for Robben, who it claims is valued at around £18m by Real, as Hicks & Gillett have said "there will be no more money to spend" after they restructured the club's debts in the summer. However, the paper claims Rafa "holds out hope his employers will still make some funds available". Goran Pandev Sky Sports reports that Pandev, who has been linked with Liverpool in previous articles, has said there is "no truth" in stories linking him to West Ham, but that "there is still time left [for him to leave Lazio] until the summer transfer window closes". Sky also says Pandev & Lazio are in legal dispute, with the player currently left out of the squad. Tuncay Sky Sports reports that Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate has confirmed that there is "a bit of interest...in this country and abroad at the moment" in Tuncay, who has been linked with Liverpool in previous articles, saying "we will have to see what develops".

Phil McNulty, the BBC Sport's chief football writer, has said today that "the word is Rafa is more or less spent up in the transfer market". http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/200...by_critics.html

The BBC Gossip Column reports that L'Equipe has claimed Sporting Gijon have made a loan offer for Itandje, who "wants to leave Liverpool"

Holiday

Holidays were good, thanks Summaries back up & running - see http://www.ynwa.tv/forum/index.php?s=&...t&p=2436641 for today's

Unsurprisingly given the general acceptance by the media that we have no transfer funds left there is very little transfer speculation concerning us &/or players we have recently been linked with in today's mainstream media..... General transfer news The Times claims that although Rafa "would like to add to the squad" Liverpool have no targets remaining during this transfer window because "he does not have the budget to do so" & the paper rates Liverpool's spending power as 0 out of 5. It also says that Rafa "insists that he will not be selling any more of his players". The Liverpool Daily Post also says Rafa has "a lack of funds to strengthen the squad". Andrea Dossena Sky Sports reports that Antonio Caliendi, the agent of Lyon left back Fabio Grosso, has said that a move to Juventus for Grosso looks "very difficult". My note: At the beginning of the transfer window Dossena's agent said that Juve were interested in Dossena as an alternative to Grosso, raising the possibility they could resurrect their interest. Goran Pandev The Daily Mail says that reports in Italy claim West Ham have agreed a £4.3m fee for Pandev, who has been linked with Liverpool in previous articles.

Yes & no - undisclosed fee http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5464887,00.html

From Sky Sports............ Hertha - Voronin not for sale Striker staying at Liverpool By Thomas Zocher Last updated: 24th August 2009 Liverpool have no plans to let Andriy Voronin leave the club, according to Hertha Berlin. Hertha had Voronin on a season-long loan last term and he impressed with 11 goals in the German capital. The Bundesliga club were hoping to bring him back, either on loan or on a permanent basis, but it seems Voronin is back in the plans of Reds boss Rafa Benitez. "We have been talking to Liverpool and Rafael Benitez, but we have to stay realistic," general manager Michael Preetz told Spox. "At this moment they do not only refuse to give Andriy (Voronin) another loan spell away from the club, they do not even want to sell him as well. "The fact is that he is getting match practice at Liverpool and it looks as if we have to forget this possibility." Reports in Germany claim Hertha are now turning their attentions to Gremio forward Fernandinho. http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5510951,00.html

From Sky Sports............ Nemeth on AEK's radar Talks between Reds and AEK Athens over possible loan By Juha Pal Last updated: 23rd August 2009 Krisztian Nemeth's agent has not ruled out a loan move to AEK Athens for the promising youngster. The Liverpool striker has been linked with a switch to the Greek side after defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos sealed a £2million transfer the other way. Nemeth's agent Tibor Pataky claimed talks have taken place between the two clubs and he has not ruled out a loan switch for the 20-year-old Hungarian. Pataky told www.origo.hu: "This is not a finished business but it's a fact that there have been talks between the two clubs. "Liverpool have extended Krisztian's contract until 2012 lately and this shows that they consider him as a good prospect for the future. "At the moment anything can happen with him." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5510277,00.html

He's already at least equalled (& bettered if winning the penalty is counted as an assist) Arbeloa's league goals & assists tally for the whole of last season based on the stats on the Times fantasy football game site

16 by the looks of things...............

Sounds like it's going ahead........... AEK agree to Kyrgiakos exit Defender poised to make Anfield switch Last updated: 19th August 2009 AEK Athens have revealed they have agreed to let Sotiris Kyrgiakos join Liverpool. As exclusively revealed by skysports.comon Tuesday, Liverpool have lined up a move for the former Rangers man to bolster their defensive options. Kyrgiakos later claimed on his own personal website that he was set to join Liverpool after receiving an offer from the Merseyside outfit. AEK have now announced that they will not stand in the way of the Greek international to make the switch to Anfield after he informed them of his desire to join the Reds. A club statement read: "It was not in our intentions to sell any player at this moment, but the desire of Kyrgiakos to accept the offer of Liverpool was really great. "Kyrgiakos accepted Liverpool's offer and although we did everything to keep him in the team we respect his choice. "We fully understand that it is a great challenge and honour for any Greek player to play for a historical club as Liverpool and AEK could never be an obstacle in the evolution of a player such as Sotiris Kyrgiakos." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5500898,00.html

Definitely wasn't last summer - I think it was in 2007 - & I don't recall hearing that he was overawed - in fact I'm pretty sure that I read that he scored a screamer in training with the 1st team I'm also pretty sure that there were quotes from him at the time saying the most important thing for him was continuing to play 1st team football, which is one of the reasons he didn't want to join us at that time If he comes to the Premier League will be interesting to see how good he is

Johnson played the entire second half in an unfamiliar left-back role, a position he has also been filling in during sessions at Liverpool’s pre-season training camp in Badra Gaz. Benitez told the ECHO the temporary positional switch is designed to bring the best out of the 24-year old defensively. “Johnson did well,” said the Reds boss. “I was using him on the left because he has to think more about his defending there. “We know that he is really good going forward and in this game he played well in defence and well in attack so it was good. “If he is playing left-back it means he cannot go in attack in the same way because he is not quite as comfortable with his left foot as he is with his right so this means he will think more about defending.” http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...252-24168258/2/

It was - I was just responding to the posts which referred to it in relation to whether the club would be interested in any players from Real in part-exchange for Xabi if he goes, which is why I quoted t1971's post

Rafa on Voronin......... "He did really well in Germany last season, scoring plenty of goals, and he has told me that he wants to stay at the club and fight for his position. I have told him that will be difficult with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard as our first-choice strikers, but he realises this and the players we have in the squad. But he also knows that this club always plays more than 60 games a season and that means there are opportunities. He will fight for his place. At this moment, he is a Liverpool player, but it depends on him. He is continuing to work hard and is playing well, so he will have a chance. It is good to have him back. When we signed him, we were looking for a player who could play between the lines as a second striker with quality. He has game intelligence, which is something we are always looking for." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_5436697,00.html

This is what the official club statement said: Liverpool Football Club has today released the following statement. "Despite repeated media speculation on the futures of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, Liverpool has received no official approach or offer from any club regarding the players. "Neither is for sale and furthermore Liverpool has no interest in the long list of Spanish based players being linked with a move to Anfield as part of any deal." http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/archivedirs...090614-1327.htm

Sorry that I haven't been able to do the daily transfer round ups for the last week or so, but things have been very busy at work. I won't be doing them for a few more weeks either as I'm going on holiday in a few days time & am unlikely to have internet access.

"All this running around is killing me!"

Available free for a limited period on Sky Channel 434 and Virgin Media channel 544 if you have the XL package on Virgin Media. Doesn't say how long it will be free for, but does say the free period will cover all of our pre-season friendlies, although it's only delayed coverage of them. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N...090714-1002.htm

The Mirror reckons Gary Ablett is in talks with Stockport County about becoming their new manager http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/200...15875-21497935/

Reported in the media to have injured his knee while playing football in the garden with his kids, but hasn't been officially confirmed although Dossena's agent reportedly said Aurelio is injured http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_5400912,00.html