SIMÃO DEAL FADES INTO THE WINGS

Swan Red · December 29, 2005

RAFAEL BENÍTEZ, the Liverpool manager, has been counting down the days until the transfer window opens on Sunday, but Rick Parry, the chief executive, has conceded that the chances of signing Simão, the Benfica winger, have receded considerably since being drawn against the Portuguese club in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Parry said that a January deal for Simão had not been ruled out definitively, but, with Benfica?s adherence to a £10.3 million valuation strengthened by the prospect of facing the European champions over two legs in February, Benítez is now looking at alternatives. Mark González, the Chile winger, will join from Albacete if he is granted a work permit at the second time of asking, while a loan deal for Luciano Galletti, of Atlético Madrid, is being considered as a short-term solution on the right-hand side.

Ronald Koeman, the Benfica coach, has indicated that a deal could be possible ? with Simão ineligible to face the Portuguese team if he moved to Anfield ? but Parry told the Portuguese newspaper, O Jogo, that it was unlikely, ?largely because we?re now playing the Benfica in the Champions League?.

So we may have to make do with a lower profile wide player after all

KD07 · December 29, 2005

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