Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his joy at the capture of Luis Alberto from Sevilla – and insisted he can see similarities between the Spaniard and Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho. The 20-year-old signed a long-term deal with the Reds, subject to international clearance, on Saturday morning. Rodgers was delighted to complete the transfer and believes Alberto can follow in the footsteps of January signing Coutinho, who made an instant impact at Anfield after arriving from Inter Milan. The boss told talkSPORT: "He's another Coutinho-type. We brought in young Philippe Coutinho in January when he was 20 years of age but he had good experience and more importantly fitted the profile of what we're trying to do here and what we're trying to build. "Young Luis is exactly the same - a talented, very highly-rated young player when he was at Sevilla, but obviously spent last season at Barcelona B. "He's a big talent and one for now that can play. He's got competitive games behind him and is one we see progressing over the next few years. "Importantly, he knows the type of game and model we're trying to work in." Alberto is Liverpool's third piece of incoming transfer business so far this summer after the club also agreed deals in principle for Manchester City centre-back Kolo Toure and Celta Vigo's Iago Aspas. Rodgers added: "Kolo Toure is a player I've admired since he came into the Premier League. He was a wonderful servant for Arsenal and a part of that 'Invincibles' group and did exceptionally well, and in the transformation of Manchester City, they brought him in as one of their key players. "We're losing an absolute colossal player in Jamie Carragher, who was absolutely brilliant for me. It's very, very hard to replace that type. "Kolo Toure will give us that experience and winning mentality. He's still very fit, very strong and will come in, offer that support and fight for his place in the team. "Iago Aspas was one of the stars for Celta Vigo. He's a goalscorer, he's quick, dynamic, aggressive in his game and has a winning mentality. "I feel these are the types of players that can come into Liverpool and keep our momentum moving forward. Players that are hungry to succeed, because that's important for us. "We have to bring in players that are willing to fight for the shirt and these players are very much hungry to do that." Having been busy in the transfer market so far this pre-season, Rodgers was eager to pay tribute to the work going on behind the scenes at Anfield to ensure Liverpool land their targets. Indeed, the manager admits the Reds entered into the summer break consciously looking to get their business done as quickly as possible. "There has been a lot of great work gone on over the last six months," explained Rodgers. "We wanted to get as much of our work done as early as we possibly could for the summer so we could get the group back in and get the players together as quickly as we can. "It's been a good summer for us so far." He continued: "I think every club and every manager would love to get it [transfer business] done as early as they possibly could. We had made a conscious effort this summer to do that. "It's great credit to everyone at the club and our recruitment team, our analytical team, Ian Ayre our managing director and the owners who have backed us really well. "There has been a lot of work that has gone on and a lot of people sacrificing holidays to ensure we can get the players in want" Source:http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/rodgers-luis-can-be-like-coutinho
sacrificing holidays lol, well i suppose it makes a change from when they couldn't wait to go on holiday when season finished and we missed out on players, how that was allowed to happen i will never know. positive signs at long last, esp the noises that are coming out about Luis as well, if he goes we have even more money to strengthen, if he stays we have a world class player, win win not seen any of Alberto or Aspas so looking forward to pre season games to see what they are all about. haven't felt this way in a long time sadly,but genuinely excited about our prospects for next season.
Sounds like Luis A. is going to get his chance sooner rather than later Agree with you there jenners,it's slowly shaping up nicely.Can't bloody wait.
Considering Coutinho is highly likely to get into double figures with goals next season and I would guess he would be our top player for assists. If Alberto is half the player that Coutinho is, then he will do well.
A note of caution chaps...I've heard all this waffle before a hundred times. Whilst we may have unearthed a couple of gems it's just as possible we've signed another couple of duffers. I'm not quite sure what's so exciting about players who've played little if any football at a high level. I'm not saying they won't be great but there's sod all evidence (yet) that they'll improve the squad nevermind our first team. In fact they might well just end keeping the younger players already at the club from getting a run out.
do you mean as in sell or loan deal? i think we want to keep personally and see if with regular time on loan he will improve. i sort of see same argument with Shelvey going on loan rather than sell as well, but don't see him improving personally, so would sell, esp if its funds needed to improve other areas.
Just saying... I'm just not sure why there's "real confidence" about players 99% of us had never even heard of. They may well end up being perfect fits for us but equally they could be the next Cheyrou and Le Tallec. Remember all the hype when they arrived? Well they were ****ing bollocks. I'm glad that we've moved early for our initial signings but while the likes of City, Chelsea and even Arsenal will spend big on proven quality we are buying players with "potential" only. No guarantee of any transfer being successful but there's a danger we could actually be slipping further and further behind those above us.
Either - Lets be honest, with Coutinho and now Louis Alberto, he's well behind in the pecking order. Doesn't seem to have that winning mentality. I would personally sell if it was down to me. But we'll see what BR decides... Id rather keep Shelvey than Suso - purely because Shelvey offers something different. Suso is far too similar to the players I've mentioned but no where near as good.
i see more value in keeping Suso as apposed to Shelvey. say both dont work out for arguments sake. Suso we could use as a bargaining tool esp Spanish clubs in getting another player and using him as a sweetener,he is regarded as a good player over there to my knowledge, Shelvey is likely only to go to an English club and don't see him being much use as a bargaining tool.
Possibly as a bargaining tool id agree - but purely what they can offer the current squad with regards to what we have already, id keep Shelvey. Suso has no passion for the club, and i would argue Shelvey is indeed very passionate for Liverpool.
