Times: Lucas Neill in January

Jezzman · October 5, 2006

Is Neill what we need on the right back? I don't like his brutal way of playing but if we buy him he'll at least be our brutal b*****d....

Benítez may renew his bid for Neill

By Oliver Kay

BLACKBURN ROVERS are braced for a renewed approach from Liverpool for their captain, Lucas Neill, when the transfer market reopens in January.

The Merseyside club failed with a bid to sign Neill shortly before the transfer window closed on August 31, but Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, has no intention of giving up his pursuit of the Australia defender, whom he firmly expects to sign either in January or when his contract at Ewood Park expires at the end of the season.

Neill?s hopes of moving to Anfield will hinge on Mark Hughes, the Blackburn manager, and his board. Hughes has indicated that he would prefer to lose him on a free transfer next summer rather than to accept a cut-price fee in January.

Liverpool offered little more than £1.5 million in August, when they also discussed the possibility of a part-exchange deal involving Stephen Warnock, and while it remains to be seen whether such a fee would be enough to prompt Blackburn to sell, Benítez is eager to add to his defence.

Liverpool are unconcerned by a potential compensation battle with St-Etienne over their bid to sign Nabil El Zhar, the Morocco Under-20 forward. El Zhar signed a four-year contract with Liverpool in August, but the French club insist that they are entitled to a transfer fee.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,428-2389039,00.html

kacangpool · October 5, 2006

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