MFletcher

Considering your correct prediction about Markus Babbel's dyslexic son moving to us, I'm inclined to believe what you say is true. So quite seriously, any interest in Chiellin for me to get excited about? I really do rate him.

It would be different if United had to sell, but I can't see Ferguson sanctioning the sale of Heinze to us simply to claw back £6M - especially when there are plenty of European clubs who would pay that for him. If he insists on moving to us, then he could easily force him to play in the reserves and Heinze - as a regular Argentine international - probably wouldn't accept that (you never know). I still think he'll move to Juventus and we'l sign Chiellini for the same price they pay for Heinze. Of course I could be wrong, but I would consider a successful move for Heinze most unlikely.

Riise is suspect defensively and lacks the ability to delivery consistently good crosses to our strikers. For every long-range goal he scores, there is a pretty high number that go nowhere near the goal and he has a dreadful tendency to shoot from ridiculous distances. Having said that, he's quick, strong, has stamina and will work for the team. It means that he is reasonably solid against poorer players, but if he's faced with someone with a real change of pace and trickery, he'll be torn apart. He may well have been part of our excellent defence for the past few years, but that doesn't mean we can't criticise him. We can improve on him, but it is not a priority position as he is capable. However, he is nothing more than that. He isn't the left sided Finnan - who I believe to be the best right back in the league. He's neither good nor s***e. He's capable.

Appparently there were reports linking Kewell with a move to Olympiakos in the Greek press today. I can't remember where I read it, although I think it was from a Cypriot fella on RAWK. I think it's a load of rubbish myself, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Due to his height and game awareness, Crouch is excellent at flick-ons and cushioning headers for teammates. Unfortunately, he rarely executes headers with both pace and accuracy whenever the opportunity arrives. Given his height and the fact that our wide players look for him whenever they're crossing, he should score more often. I can remember four instances last season, three in one game against Blackburn (Boxing Day) and once when we were 3-0 up at home (against who escapes me - we were at home though) and he had four excellent chances in or around the six yard box and he either powered it straight at the goalkeeper or aimed it towards the corner but it didn't have sufficient power to beat him. He should score more with his head, but he is a much better player than when we bought him and I'd be very disappointed to see him move on. If he can start heading the ball with pace and accuracy then he would be completely unplayable because no defender is able to mark him given his height. As it stands though, he is capable header of the ball but he should do much better. He scores nowhere near the amount he should with his head.

The entire Argentine team were poor. But Masch didn't have a right back knock it past him in the box, have him go round the other side and collect the ball. Honestly, in the three Argentine Copa America games I've watched, along with with some Man Utd CL matches, the Argentne WC matches and some Utd PL matches, I've formed the opinion that Heinze is gash. He may have been United's player of the year in the year before his injury, but since it he has been nothing short of a liability for both club and country. I fail to see why we would spend £7M on a 29 year old like this when we could be picking up someone like Chiellini (well, according to the highly reliable goal.com) for roughly the same fee. I'm hopeful that United will block the move. However, I do think Heinze is better than Riise - but I don't rate Riise. That debate is for another time though.

I know people hate them. It's what encouraged me to post it in the first place. Either way, what's the deal with Heinze then? Is he forcing his move through or is he moving to Spain? Honestly, his performance in the Copa America final was worryingly poor. He's been pretty shocking - for lack of a beter word - for over a year now.

I'm sitting in America at the minute (laptop - wifi zone - view of the Gulf of Mexico out the window - lovely), but I still watched the Copa America final on some obscure Spanish channel where the only words I understood where "gol" and the player's names. Either way, I thought Heinze was shocking and was so easily skinned at one point it was laughable. Tevez wasn't much better. He's three years older than Messi but is so inferior to him it's ridiculous. He always seems to be offside as well. He was pretty poor in the semi against Mexico - which I also watched on the same obscure Spanish channel. Since I left, we've signed Babel and Benayoun. I haven't had a chance to read what was said in the press conferences, but I'm assuming that we've signed them for the left and right wings? I also had a brief look at an Echo article talking about Lucas needing the right documents before joining. Does anyone have any idea what the deal is there? Either way, I'd be very happy with Chiellini as mentioned earlier in this thread (had a quick flick through the last five pages or so) but goal.com aren't exactly a completely accurate source. And did I hear Dudek was moving to Real Madrid? Anyway, I read in the Mail (which you can get here) that Heinze was going to buy his contract with Utd out because Ferguson refused to sanction his transfer here. I may be mistaken, but surely this only applies when they're moving to another country?

It's a mystery really. I rate Carragher as the best centre-half in the league. His performances in recent seasons have been absolutely incredible, and yet two injury-prone players who aren't half the player he is come into the team in his place? And then a Man Utd reserve takes the right back spot? It's ridiculous. I'll be delighted if he retires though, because it will mean that when the rest of the international teams are playing two matches in five days, he'll be sitting in Liverpool with his feet up in front of the TV.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...d=1779&ct=5 Liverpool star quits England Carragher fed up after failing to win McClaren's vote By BOB CASS - More by this author » Last updated at 22:12pm on 7th July 2007 Comments Jamie Carragher is ready to quit the England team after being left out of the crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Estonia last month. The Liverpool centre-half, who played in four of England's five games at the World Cup last year, has made just five appearances under Steve McClaren. He has never started in his favoured position in a back four, even when John Terry and Rio Ferdinand have been injured, despite winning rave reviews as he helped his club to a second Champions League final appearance in three years. His likely decision to retire from international football, which mirrors Paul Scholes' self-imposed England exile,was brought to a head when he was left out of the side who defeated Estonia 3-0 in Tallinn. A source close to the 29-year-old said last night: "Jamie does not want to sound like a big-time Charlie. He just feels that at this stage of his career it would be better if he concentrated his efforts on helping Liverpool become the No 1 team in England again. "He has always regarded it as a tremendous honour to represent his country and he has happy memories of pulling on the shirt. But things have to end some time and he thinks this might be a good time to bow out." Against Estonia, the euphoria surrounding David Beckham's England return overshadowed Carragher's huge disappointment at being dropped to the bench. He had accepted the fact he was behind the likes of Terry, Ferdinand and Jonathan Woodgate in the central defensive pecking order but, in a match when both Ferdinand and Woodgate were unavailable, McClaren's preference for the injuryprone Ledley King came as a bitter personal blow. The situation was made worse when the England manager picked Wes Brown at right-back, a role Carragher has filled in the absence through injury of Gary Neville. McClaren, having failed to talk Scholes into returning to the international scene, has not given up on persuading Carragher to reverse his decision and has been in constant touch with him. He will seek to meet the player on his return, before he names the squad for the friendly against Germany on August 22 at Wembley. Carragher has collected 34 England caps since he made his debut as a substitute against Hungary in April 1999, ironically in the game that also signalled Brown's nternational arrival. In that time, the Anfield favourite has earned a reputation for being a wholehearted player who rarely let the side down, despite being asked to play all across the back four. Eriksson once tried him as a holding midfield player, but McClaren has used him at right-back, left-back and as one of three centre-halves in a 3-5-2 formation, as well as, briefly, in his favoured position. Carragher won 27 caps during Eriksson's reign, but his appearances have been restricted to just three starts since McClaren took over.

He signed a new contract a week back. Silva that is.

I would agree with this, but the cupboard is rather bare when you think of left wingers who could provide that. The only player who comes to mind for me is Vicente, but the man is permanently injured. Of course, we could go after Downing - but he's absolutely rubbish. I reckon it's the reason we've tolerated Kewell's injuries for so long. If he gets back to 80% of the player he was at Leeds, then we'll have one of the better left wingers in world football. There really is no stand-out left winger who we would be able to sign.

Did the Echo not claim the Cisse fee was £8M last night?

I was amazed when he moved to Hamburg actually, I thought he'd move to a big European club. Again, all I have is hearsay, but he seems to be highly rated and I'd be very keen to sign him.

I meant the "speculation in the Dutch media" part.

Can anyone confirm those reports though? Anyone can edit Wikipedia.

What's his delivery like? Would be able to get to the byline and deliver in a high quality ball or would he be prone to cutting in and taking a shot? Having never seen him play I don't know.

I haven't seen Ryan Babel play. All I can go on is hearsay and hype, and I've read that he is an exciting prospect. He's still young though, so surely he couldn't be the proven left winger we would need?

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle2038671.ece Marseille trying to pass Zenden off as a 'coup'... http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfoot...ssfeed&att= FIFA.com claiming Cisse has already moved? Strange.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N...070706-1356.htm They've given Voronin number 10...

Given the wages and fees that West Ham are throwing about, we could collect well over £15M for the pair of them. Whether we can force Cisse to go there is another matter, but with the wages they could offer he might well turn Marseille down. Of course, if he refuses to move we could simply force him to train with the youth team, not play in the reserves. He'll sooner move to West Ham than run the risk of missing out on Euro 2008, especially after missing the last two major tournaments. I can only hope that the £10M and £9M figures I read WH were offering for Bellamy and Cisse respectively are true.

We have Sissoko, Mascherano, Alonso and Lucas in centre midfield. We have Torres, Kuyt, Crouch and Voronin up front. The likelihood is that we'll play 4-4-2 with two of those four in central midfield, two of those four up front and Gerrard on the right. Of course, Rafa will rotate, giving Alonso a break, bringing Gerrard into the centre, giving Pennant a game on the right. We'll also see the 4-2-3-1 on occasions (like against Arsenal), but that would involve dropping three strikers to accommodate Gerrard. Whether we agree with it or not, Gerrard will be on the right more often than not next season. Personally I think he's better there, because he has freedom to roam and Finnan can deliver an excellent cross when he moves forward. I think we're a much more solid team with Masch and Alonso in the middle - we completely control games then.

Then we force him to see out his contract in the reserves. He won't accept his career being stalled and will move on to a club making a sufficient offer. That is if Marseille offer a derisory amount and Cisse insists on moving there of course. I'd much rather he went to whoever who was offering the highest amount of money. £9M would be crazy money for such a limited player. And I'd love Mancini to come here. He's a fantastic player. He's 27, so he'll be coming in to his prime, has real pace, purpose, an eye for a goal and can beat his man. It could take £15M+ to get him though, but with Roma signing Esposito, they could well be preparing for his imminent sale.

Lucas cost us €9M (according to Gremio's official website), so that was £6M spent on a non-necessary position. Momo has just signed a new contract as well. If we were in desperate need of funds, we certainly wouldn't have both Lucas and Momo now. I believe the line pedalled by Bascombe was his childish reaction to receiving no inside information. I could be wrong, but I'll be very wary of what he writes again. I reckon he only came up with Forlan's name because he knew that it would get supporter's backs up, thus encouraging them to believe his ridiculous rantings about a lack of funding. And does anyone remember the story that we were only willing, and able, to offer £10M for Darren Bent? I'm pretty sure that was in the Echo as well. They really knew their stuff. I bet they'll spin it and say "money was made available", thus excusing themselves from their fabricated articles.

If he turned down a move to Bayern because the weather wasn't good enough, what the hell would he think of Liverpool? Imagine him turning up for an early round cup match, away to Grimbsy on a cold, rainy January night. Would he get stuck in? Or would he spend the entire time thinking of the sun in Portugal? I could see him going to Atletico Madrid for a number of reasons. Besides, one tentative link in the Times doesn't necessarily mean we're after him. Is there any evidence of a link to him in the Portugese press?