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John Henry/transfer dealings

Discussion in 'Liverpool' started by Bozz, May 8, 2011.

  1. Bozz

    Bozz Well-Known Member

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    i'm writing this on my phone so please excuse any errors or lack of depth...

    Last January we saw Liverpool (most notibly comolli) go to amsterdam and spend what seemed to be a lifetime putting together and agreeing a fee for Suarez. While we did get him and he has been immense i can't help but think it took slightly too long.

    And then there was KPR's post about JWH going booloo when he found out torres was off and this got me thinking.

    Did JWH tell Comolli to get his arse in to gear with signings and to stop pissing about? I'd imagine Comolli was probably doing it so if he got a bargin out of Ajax it would make him look like some kind of transfer marker god.

    I hope transfers are done a bit quicker in the summer as i don't want us to concerntate for months on end on a player while missing out on others and if KPR was right then i think JWH and i are on the same wave length
     
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  2. Lucaaas

    Lucaaas Well-Known Member

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    What was this about mate? Anyone got a link?
     
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  3. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    Bozz.
    Firstly I think you're right about the whole Suarez situation.Comolli was a bit finerky with it.He did confirm himself that it was a difficult transfer.
    However Kenny confirmed this himself in an interview that when he rang Tom Werner to tell him that the club had signed Suarez,Tom Werners reply was ''Is that all''.He wanted more signings.
    However as you said I do believe that John Henry did want the Torres money spent on deadline day.I also heard a strong rumour and it has been confirmed on these boards by a number of posters that Andy Carroll was in fact a summer target and not a ''rushed signing'' as some people have made out on this board.
    As for the summer,Kenny in his recent interview has said that next season has already been planned for.In other words,Damien Comolli has already drawn up his list of targets and Kenny has the final say on who to go after.I also read a report on my facebook page that Kenny wants 6 new players,How accurate is that I'm unsure.
    Departures,It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out most of them,However,I'm still unsure on one or two.There could be a reprieve for someone like Joe Cole.There is a strong suggestion however that Soto's days are numbered.
     
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  4. Sharpe*

    Sharpe* Senior Member

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    Not sure about that mate, although at the time I did get a bit annoyed that we didn't seem to want to cough up, and it looked like the deal might be off.

    Perhaps he did step in. I doubt it though. However I do agree that we shouldnt fanny about too much, although we dont want to pay over the odds.

    It cannot be as bad as under Parry where we'd get linked to someone then nothing would happen for months and months!

    We'll see. We need to get winning things again.
     
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  5. Lucaaas

    Lucaaas Well-Known Member

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    Rumour? It was in the Four Four Two magazine!

    This is a part of it:

    [Comolli]"When John Henry said to me on deadline day. 'What do you think we should do?' I said: Well Andy was our top target for summer anyway"
     
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  6. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    B4F.
    I remember that.Comolli's initial bid was €12.5 million(£10 million).However Ajax wanted £30 million.When Luis Suarez himself declared that he wanted the move,things began to shift.Then Ajax declared that they set a deadline for the agreement to happen.However this deadline wasn't met.Then on dead-line day the transfer was completed.They had agreed in principle on the friday that the deal would happen.This was the same day(but not the same time) that Torres spat out the dummy.However it had been revealed that Chelsea made a bid of £30 million on the monday,Which Liverpool rejected,they came back with a £35 million bid.Some people on this board have suggested that Liverpool would not let the Torres transfer go through until they had agreed a price for Andy Carroll as Liverpool wanted £15 million plus whatever Andy Carroll was going to cost.There may be something in that,however this is up in the air.Nobody apart from Kenny and the owners know the truth.
    They did and this has been mentioned on a number of occasions attempt to try and set up deals on dead-line day for both Ashley Young and Charlie Adam,however neither came off.As Bozz said,they need to be quicker off the mark over the summer.I believe that all signings need to be made before pre-season training commences to give the new players a chance to gel with the overall squad.
     
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  7. Sharpe*

    Sharpe* Senior Member

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    I agree Pepe. We'v overcome what has been an absolutely horrible season to be a fan. It seems like those dark days of losing to Northampton, Wolves, Blackpool and Everton were in fact a season or two ago, such as been the change in our fortunes.

    It's hard to fathom we almost ceased to exist this year, we'v changed owners, been give a vote of no confidence by our golden boy who went to a fierce rival through the back door, plus there was the genuine talk of relegation. And lets be honest we were absolute dog ****e earlier this season. It almost brought me to tears. We were not just poor, we were absolutely shocking. Unbelievably bad.

    We have had to call on all our resources available this season. We were down to our last line of defence in bringing back Kenny, who I would say has actualy saved us from oblivion and long term damage (along with the new owners), and has somehow left a positive spin on the season.

    The point i'm making is that this season could have been a massive ammount worse- imagine where we would be had Roy been kept in charge! We must make sure we buid on this reprieve and make sure this never happens again. Plus we must use this momentum to really secure our future and make sure we are taken seriously as title contenders.

    No bollocks, lets get people in/out and absolutely go for it!

    YNWA
     
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  8. suarezlfc

    suarezlfc Active Member

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    I remember reading all the sh*t in the papers at the end of last year about how we'd probably finish 12th or 13th (probably 16th or 17th in a few articles too) and then it suddenly became 7th or 8th, and now it's 'likely' that we'll finish 5th or 6th. It's ridiculous how often journalists change their predictions, and how they often state these predictions as fact, when quite clearly they're not. They can only see like a week into the future. Sometimes you wonder if they even watch the game.

    Anyway, I agree regarding the transfers. No messing about in long drawn out negotiations. If we make a couple of offers and they still don't accept, we should just move on to somoeone else. That way the selling club will probably drop their asking price too if they think we're gonna walk away.
     
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  9. Sharpe*

    Sharpe* Senior Member

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    To be fair suarez situations have changed as well as predictions. Under Roy I think the press were write in saying we would probably finish between 8-12th.

    It's changed as Kenny as arived and the weight has been lifed. I never expected us to be 5/6th and I don't think we would be in this situation had nothing of changed. Such a contrasting season for us.

    Cannot wait for it to be wrapped up and we learn. At least we'v picked up a couple of good players and the academy guys have taken their chanced.

    I certainly have a thicker skin after this seasons experiences!
     
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  10. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    B4F
    I agree with your sentiments.
    Between October and January,we hit rock bottom,we couldn't fall any further than we had done.However John Henry cleverly enough said ''Enough is enough''.He actually last October wrote this season off.I read a report that Kenny when he was appointed that his instruction was to get the club into a respectable position in the league and that respectable position was anywhere between 10th and 8th.Nobody and I mean nobody would have envisaged that Liverpool would be on the verge of European qualification after possibly the worst season in 50 years.
    Now seeing as we've had a nightmare season and those clubs that are supposeably vastly superior to us haven't taken advantage,tells us more about them than it does it about us.Spurs should be light-years ahead of us,with the squad they have that has been heavily invested in.They aren't.So should City,and they aren't.Spurs and City for all the money they spent are top 4 sides.Thats currently all they will be.Can we over-take them with good management and clever signings.Yes.I don't see a problem.With a bit of luck we can annoy the hell out of Man United and Chelsea too.
    Finally in a nutshell,we've hit rock bottom and are on our way back up,moving faster than expected.The players have themselves realised there is no more excuses.They can't blame the manager,because amongst players and fans,he's a 'hero'',they can't blame ownership issues because thats been solved.The confidence has returned,the feelgood factor is back.And for the first time since 2009,I've noticed a glint and this is only a glint of a nasty streak.
    Now its time to punish those that have ridiculed us,as I firmly believe that we've gone from the premierships laughing stock into the most dangerous side in the premier league. This has been justified since Kenny's arrival that we've collected the same number of points as both United and Chelsea since January.
     
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  11. Bozz

    Bozz Well-Known Member

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    Agreed! This is why 'Arry is saying he doesn't want europa league football next season anyway - it's because he knows Spurs will lose at Anfield. Our home form has not just been good, it's been scary! Smashing Man City, beating Newcastle 3-0 and making it look routine, outclassing Man Utd it's no wonder Redknapp seems to have all but given up any idea of beating us at home.

    Next season Fortress Anfield needs to stay and hopefully we can also put an end to our poor away form too
     
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  12. suarezlfc

    suarezlfc Active Member

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    For top 4 next season i'd say we'll be looking at around 70-75 points. This season has been quite low points-wise. If we win 15 at home (i think we're more than capable), that's 45, meaning we need 30 points away from home. That's the equivalent of beating all the teams in the bottom half away.
     
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  13. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    Bozz.
    I agree with that.
    Some of those results didn't flatter us in the slightest.I reckon with more ruthlessnes,we should have scored more than 3 against United.I don't think we made them pay as much as we could of done.Even though we did destroy them.The 3-1 score-line didn't reflect how badly we beat them.We beat 3 shades of ****e out of them.It bordered on nasty that it was beautiful.We beat them and beat them royally.We dropped them like a bad habit.
    I reckon they are in for more of the same next season,however if we go 3-0 up,we can't relent.We have to keep piling on the punishment.
    Only the score-line against Birmingham justified the performance,none of the rest of them did.Against Chelsea at SB,the score-line didn't reflect how easy it was.I agree that our home form since Kennys arrival has bordered on cruelty.I'm convinced that the nasty streak that hasn't been there since 2009 is now returning.
    Kenny has gone back to basics and is making it look easy.Theres a lot of work that needs to be done.But at the rate is going.Liverpool are going to upset a lot of people next season.Last summer,I was very down,not expecting a lot.The ownership thing hadn't been resolved,I was expecting Hicks and Gillett to act the bollox.Now I'm extremely confident that Liverpool are going to flex their muscles and are ready to destroy anything that stands in its way.
     
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  14. _

    _ Member

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    I think you're being a bit harsh on our transfer dealings in January! Just because everything looks great and now we can nitpick... seriously though can understand your skepticism because our club- for years and years- has been linked with all sorts of signings, we sign one player who genuinely fits in the first team and then get linked to all sorts up until the last day and fail to sort it in the 11th hour.

    It is important that we stuck to our guns over Suarez, and you guys might say that we left it too late, but if we saved a few million (he could easily have cost £28-30million) and gave ourselves the image of tough negotiators early on then it is a job well done. And because there was no preseason to be had, there wasn't really much benefit to paying more just to get the deal through in more time.

    I think many are too keen to say 'it's only a few million more just pay it'. Every time we pay over the odds, we are more likely to pay over the odds in future deals. Owners and the management come under huge scrutiny by the media and fans for how much a player costs (every one of Chelsea's games since January has been in the shadow of the £50mil Fernando Torres deal- even when they win by several goals), and with the financial fair play rules coming into effect we need to squeeze as much out of our budget as possible- a few million on every deal soon becomes tens of millions.

    The difference this summer will be the targets we are linked with. No more last minute reports of a bid for Carlton Cole. I think we will sign 2-3 potential first team players in the first half of the window, and then maybe pick up a couple more curve ball/obscure signings towards the middle/end of the window as Comolli earns his crust!

    People are keen to criticize Comolli because Harry 'the media loves my potato head' Redknapp has slated him. Also i have to say he does have that slightly french arrogance about him, just a kind of smugness (maybe it's only me that sees this!). I'm delighted he's at the club though, as for the first time in years i'm genuinely optimistic we will make some great additions this summer. As for Redknapp's criticisms:

    The mother of all sources Wikipedia:
    "During his time at Tottenham, Comolli was responsible for Tottenham's policy of signing some of the world's brightest young talents, bringing players such as Gareth Bale, Alan Hutton, Kevin-Prince Boateng, Giovani dos Santos, Adel Taarabt and Younes Kaboul to the club.[8] Comolli was also responsible for the signings of current Tottenham first-team squad members Luka Modrić, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, Heurelho Gomes, David Bentley (now at Birmingham City on loan), Vedran Ćorluka and Roman Pavlyuchenko, as well as Dimitar Berbatov (now at Manchester United)"

    Meanwhile Harry Redknapp's signings:
    "Jermain Defoe from his old club Portsmouth for £15.75 million and Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios from Wigan Athletic for £12 million. Long-serving Chelsea keeper Carlo Cudicini also joined on a free transfer, ex-Spurs player Pascal Chimbonda returned to White Hart Lane from Sunderland for a fee in the region of £3 million and Robbie Keane, who like Chimbonda and Defoe had only left Spurs within the last year, re-joined after an unsuccessful spell at Liverpool for an initial fee of £12 million...Darren Bent was sold to Sunderland for an initial fee of £10m, while midfielder Didier Zokora departed for Sevilla for £7.75 million. In came England striker Peter Crouch and Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjčar from Portsmouth for £9 million and £2 million, respectively and defender Sébastien Bassong from Newcastle United."

    Some nice wheeling and dealing there Harry!
    Have to say of Comolli's signings you're looking at Dos Santos (a star of the World Cup and 37caps at 21), Taarabt (just fired QPR to promotion), KPB (now playing for top of the league AC Milan), David Bentley (bit of a lame one this one) and maybe Pavlyuchenko as flops. I'd throw Gomes in but i know plenty of people still rate him somehow. Now if they're the kind of flops we get in order to sign Bale, Modric, BAE, Berbatov, Corluka and Alan Hutton (i think he's decent enough, his runs from right back grabbed spurs some key points earlier on in the season) then give that little smug Frenchman a big wad of cash!
     
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  15. Jimmy Squarefoot

    Jimmy Squarefoot Well-Known Member

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    I completely agree with this statement - you only have to look at the likes of Man City, Real Madrid and Chelsea who are being milked in every deal. I don't think any of us want Liverpool to become like those clubs even if we had the resources. I would rather us conduct our business sensibly and become a model business.
     
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  16. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    Thats what Damien Comolli did.
    He knew that Ajax were going to slap a rediculous figure on Suarez' head,technically they had every right to as the selling club.However bargaining is allowed by law.So Damien Comolli tested the water with an lets be fair an unrealistic bid,and as soon as Suarez knew of Liverpools interest,he piled on the pressure.We've had the same thing done to us over Mascherano and Alonso and Torres.Then the bargaining starts.Liverpool bargained with Ajax and got him for say £3 million less than Ajax were at one stage willing to accept.
    However Newcastle did to us what we did to Chelsea so its completely different,It was deadline day,and time was running out.So Chelsea had to meet our demands and we had to meet Newcastles.Who got the better deal between us and Chelsea,I'm unsure.But at the moment,it looks like we have.
    However.I reckon there won't be long winded transfers,as I do believe they have set out their list of targets,identified the areas that need strengthening and have and this has been widely reported have more than one target for each position.
     
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  17. Muppetfinder General

    Muppetfinder General Well-Known Member

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    I was impressed at the hardball FSG and Comolli seemed to play over Suarez and it's what I expected form what I knew of them. But when the chips were down and we needed the deal done it was done immediately. When the early bid was so low it was probably an insult to Ajax it was said by the insightful wums that this was FSG and they had no money and we'd be a selling club and they were all wrong. When the deal had to be done it was done without fuss and Suarez was ours.

    I was also impressed by the timing of it, as the Suarez deal being done knocked the Torres transfer request off the top news headline spot. That is ace managing.

    Then the bank must've wondered what the bright green flash through their building was, as £35m zipped from Chelsea's bank to Newcastle's, hardly touching down in ours.

    So now the market knows this is not City and we won't be a soft touch. £25m for Lescott, anyone?

    At the same time the market knows when FSG really want a player (like Carroll) then the old adage, "Every man has his price" is in full effect.

    It's been said elsewhere that Comolli shouldn't be given credit for buying Bale because everybody knew he was a prospect. That's true everywhere - everybody knew of Torres - but it was Comolli who got him.
     
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  18. _

    _ Member

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    Everybody 'knew' Ryan Babel was a prospect but that didn't stop 95% of his energy going into Twitter!

    Agree completely- Spurs payed a significant amount for Bale so it takes bold judgement to sanction that kind of fee. Reminds me a bit of the Andy Carroll deal, but Liverpool have hardly given the 'overpriced' story the time of day. We paid for quality, we have faith in him, seems to be the position.
     
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  19. KingPepeReina.

    KingPepeReina. Active Member

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    Bale was a prospect.Yes
    However you're forgetting one thing,Bale is a failed left back.His defending is almost as bad as Paul Scholes' tackling.Its not existent.Okay Glen Johnsons defending at times can leave a lot to be desired.However I don't think he has ever been managed properly.That includes Redknapp at Portsmouth, whose idea to get the best out of him was moving him to the right side of midfield instead of attempting to make him more disciplined.Kenny has identified this,and has improved his defending slightly I may add by making him play at left back.Okay some may suggest this was done to accomodate the excellent Martin Kelly.I tend to believe that Kenny did it to make Glen more disciplined by making him use his weaker foot.Alex Ferguson is a prime example of a manager who did likewise,He did it with Denis Irwin.Denis Irwin was one of the finest right footed left backs.Kenny did it before with Steve Nicol,who was as comfortable at left back as he was at right back.Then again ''Chopsy'' would play up front(and did) if he was asked.He did so in 1987 against Newcastle and scored a hat-trick.
     
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  20. BringBackfootie

    BringBackfootie New Member

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    Babel never got a chance really, never worked out, some fit in some need ot play week in week out to be effective, Babel wasn't given that time as we don't have the luxury of time in this day and age, seldom do clubs go through 2 consecutive seasons with exactly the same squad
     
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