http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/live...icy-is-the-right-way-forward-100252-32608698/ IAN AYRE insists Liverpool FC’s transfer strategy won’t prevent manager Brendan Rodgers from adding experience to his squad. The Reds operate a policy with the emphasis on signing players under the age of 24 - but the managing director says it’s not “set in stone” and exceptions will be made. Owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) want to invest in youth to build for the long-term and that is reflected in the business which has been done since Rodgers was appointed last summer. Fabio Borini (21), Joe Allen (22), Samed Yesil (18) and Daniel Sturridge (23) all fit that profile. Loan signing Nuri Sahin, whose stay was cut short last week, is 23 and the oldest player to have been brought in was Oussama Assaidi, who celebrated his 24th birthday two days before his arrival. Skipper Steven Gerrard has questioned the wisdom of turning your back on more senior professionals – citing the example of former Scotland midfielder Gary McAllister, who made a big impact at Anfield after joining on a free transfer at the age of 35 in 2000. Ayre believes the Reds are right to focus their attention on emerging talent but stresses players over 24 are not off limits. Ayre told the Echo: “If you remember back to the sale of the club, John Henry said we want to win but we don’t just want to win once, we want to build something which keeps winning. “If we’re going to do that then we need to do it from the ground up with young players, so that when you start winning you have still got the majority of that group to keep contributing over a period of time. “It’s not a policy which is set in stone but it’s an aspiration. If we feel there’s a particular position or player who can contribute to the group and is over that sort of age limit, it doesn’t mean we won’t consider that player. “As everyone saw in the summer we renewed deals with many of our senior player. So experience is vital and we will consider more experienced players where it makes sense. “But where a player is younger and talented with the right level of ability, we will always go for the younger option because it’s a better long term investment for the club to have someone who will be here a long time hopefully.” At the end of the summer transfer window FSG refused to meet Fulham’s £6million valuation of 29-year-old Clint Dempsey due to his age and lack of resale value. The American international ended up signing for Tottenham. With Andy Carroll having already departed on a season-long loan to West Ham, Rodgers was left desperately short of firepower for the first half of the campaign. That gaping hole in the squad was belatedly filled with the £12million signing of striker Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea earlier this month. Ayre, who is responsible for conducting transfer negotiations, has no regrets about the Reds’ inactivity on deadline day last August. “The issue then came down to a particular deal and a particular price or structure to that deal. It wasn’t right to do it,” he said. “Likewise the interest in certain other players wasn’t right. Sometimes you have to be stronger for the greater good. “People may feel they want to criticise the fact we didn’t have an additional striker. But at what price would you sacrifice spending for something that is not in the long term interests of the club versus what we just did, which was getting a great price on a great player in Daniel Sturridge? “If we had spent that money in the summer then we wouldn’t have done that trade recently. “It may have left us short, but the pieces just did not come together. We’ve come through that period now. I still feel it was the right decision.” The contribution of Robin van Persie for Manchester United this term has highlighted the instant benefits of buying someone at the peak of his powers. The 29-year-old Dutchman has already plundered 21 goals following his £24million move from Arsenal. At the end of his four-year contract his value will be minimal but by then he’s likely to have repaid that fee several times over. “Absolutely, but if you look at the United team they have a very established group and have added a very experienced player to that,” Ayre added. “What we are doing is that we are building something. But if the right more senior player became available and was the right person to contribute - and the manager made that point strongly - we would definitely consider it.” The danger with building for the long-term is that Liverpool’s established players who crave a return to the Champions League could become impatient and consider their futures. With the likes of Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel having all penned new deals in the past six months, Ayre is confident that won’t happen. However, the Reds’ MD admits that as a club they must continue to convince them that they can achieve their ambitions by staying at Anfield. “Of course we have to progress to be able to hang on to our world class talent,” added Ayre. “But we wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t think we would progress. “You need to have a mix in your squad and we have probably got the best balance in terms of any team in the league. “Our two most senior players have spent their whole careers at this football club. At the lower end we have a bunch of five or six very young players who have come through our Academy process and are now contributing for the first team. “Then in the middle of that we’ve got world class international players like Luis Suarez, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Glen Johnson, Pepe Reina and Lucas Leiva etc. That’s the right mix I think. “We’ve got people who understand what this club really means and have enjoyed success here. We’ve got young players breaking through, learning and getting experience from them. “Then we’ve got international players like Luis Suarez who could be playing anywhere in the world – but he’s playing at Liverpool FC. “We will continue to add to the group and improve it. Daniel Sturridge signed recently and has made an immediate impact. “We may or may not add to that further before the end of January. That’s something we’re still working on and considering. We will only buy when the right deal is there at the right time.”
I understand the policy but if they don't get this mix right and soon we wont be able to attract top players, I feel that this Summer will be important we have to get the right players in. If we don't I can see us struggling for many years.
I agree. But the thing is, if we're going to only bring in youth, then we need to get the best. Players like Isco, Eriksen etc are the youngsters we should be going for. Top class talents who are highly regarded around Europe.
This Eriksen fella seems to be a target, don't know much about him myself. I'd be happy if this Sniejder (spelling?) rumour is true.
Eriksen would be the ideal number 10 - exactly what Rodgers wants and needs. Such a clever player, full of tricks, good vision, fantastic quick snappy passing. I think he is a target for the summer. Sneijder would provide a lot of experience but I feel his signing in January would prevent the signing of someone like Eriksen in the summer. As Ayre points out, if we had signed Dempsey in August, then we wouldn't have signed Sturridge in Jan, and I know which one of the two I would prefer.
Could we manage both? Sniejder would add experience now which is needed with Eriksen then coming in and looking to the future.
Depends on how cheap we get Sneijder and how long his contract would be, I suppose? Can't see us getting both I'm afraid
look the youth policy is designed to make moeny too. player comes in young and is sold at 18 you make 2-3mil. he plays to 24 you might make 10-20mil (suso for example) this is a SELLING club policy so just watch out. worked for ajax but we can't go mad if players follow the arsneal model cos we are 6th and not 4th like they would like and then when really good they want medals... either you are a winning club (which fsg say we aim for) or you are a profitable club. right now everythign we are going is aimed to trun a profit in the enxt two years.... no mean acheivement after G&H but we are getting close.
The policy is fair. But the issue with our current squad atm is that if one of the listen senior players gets injured they can only be replaced by a youngster and we loose a lot because of that. The experience also needs to be spread out. Out of the experienced players he listen only one of the is in attack. Gerrard gets forward but his main role is very deep. Before the half way line we have some really good experienced players. This means that if a youngster, like Wisdom, has to come on they have less pressure on them and will be guided through the game. In attack we have Suarez, and only Suarez. He has been scoring all the goals this season. the other forward players there for have a lot of pressure on them to score. Sterling, Suso, Borini. It is a lot of pressure and they are not getting goals.
Agreed - our experience levels are top heavy i.e. GK and defence are very experienced but then it thins out further up the pitch. Even Suarez is 25 and you could consider him a youngster ...
You've got to have balance imo. It's OK having a policy of only buying young players, but you're generally buying potential rather than the finished product & if they're British you'll also pay a massive premium. So buying young 'up & comings' is only sound business sense if you somehow manage to get it right every time. You could buy a youngster for £10M who developed into a £25M player, but you could equally buy a £20M young lad who ended up being worth £5M. Equally, paying huge transfer fees for players who'll have zero sell on value makes no business sense & unless you're awash with benefactors cash, those sorts of deals are foolhardy.
We know this only too well but hopefully have learned from that and future targets are scouted properly and are the right player. You have a point though if we continue to get this wrong we could be in a lot of trouble.
Ayre has said nothing more than the youth policy is not set in stone and that any deals we do have to be right for both the short and long term. I don't think that there is anything to argue with in those statements. Gerrard has stated that he believes that we should not ignore older more experienced players. Ayre's statement is the official response to that challenge. ie We agree but not at the cost of the long term plan. So, how does that play out when you consider somebody like Sneijder? The true answer is that I don't know.
Unless it improves you up to a level of winning trophies, playing in the champions league, winning titles and make money other ways, like increased ticket sales and merchandise.
I dont think ay LFC fan has a problem with us buying youth But its the quality we are buying, were Juve,Real,Inter,AC scouting Allen,Borini,Ince and Sturridge.Errrrr no, why because THEY ARENT THAT GOOD.We should be looking at Eriksen,Isco,Damiao,Muniain,Belhanda.Why arent we looking at these players,BECAUSE THEY COST TOO MUCH,and FSG would rather eat a tescos burger than spend cash The line from Ayre about if we had got Dempsey we wouldnt have got Sturridge, VERY,VERY,VERY WORRYING, if thats the case, we have the wrong owners its that simple Spirit of Shankly,are very, very close to making a move IMO, the fans I know are ALL absolutely f**kin fed up with FSG and there total lack of ambition.They dont give a f**k whether this club is successful or not,as long as they are making money.I suspect they are looking at possibly trying to sell, there are strong rumours that they met Rick Parry less than a month ago, I dont think that was because they want him back on board, its cos they want his contacts from when he sold to H&G This press release was supposed to have calmed the fans down, looking at twitter its done EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE,its confirmed what we all thought about FSG they are clueless and wont spend Its looking very likely we wont get top 4, if we dont we are gonna have to spend some serious cash in the summer, otherwise Suarez could possibly leave although I suspect he loves the club and doesnt want too.If Suarez leaves, FSG s life will become an absolute f**kin misery, if they havnt sold up by then, it will be a deathnail in the FSG coffin
If these players were available, we could afford the fees and the player was happy to join us, do you think our owners would allow it? Robin Van Persie - 29 Arjen Robben - 28 Xabi Alonso - 31 Mario Gomez - 27 Christiano Ronaldo - 27 All could fill the holes in a squad and move us closer to where we want to be fast.
Do you not think that there was maybe some self interest from Mr Gerrard in making those comments? Given that he's got 18 months left on his current contract & fancies an extension, plus, building for the future, is not where he would like it to be - as he needs it to be now or never due to his age.
'kin 'ell, they've spent £65M net in 2 years on players, to be fair it's not their fault that most of it wasn't spent overly well.
