well i think both guys are right here. I don't think 90% of frees are players anyone would actually pony up the going rate for... that seems to be the case as it is only the most dumb club that lets a player run out a deal or conversely only the rarest top quality talent who does move for free, normally they are in such demand they don't need to wait out deals. that said the thought that if you get a bellamy or say a kalou at a wage rate thats what you got rid of to bring them in then fine... ie jovanovic was awful cos we paid 100k per week for no reason.. degen similar. finally just to throw a spanner in the works if kalou is a hot property and wants 5mil in his hand to sign up then you can forget it... thats like paying a club for him so why bother?
I see what you mean there, I'm not keen on taking anyone's rejects. I like to see us prize players away from their clubs, it should be achievable to get decent players. Liverpool never buy from big Clubs anyway, can't remember the last time we did. Rossi at Villarreal (relegated) and Llorente (mid table la Liga) are all achievable and affordable.
Depends what you define as a big club. Alonso from Real Sociedad, F.Torres from A.Madrid, Keane from the spuds, Aquilani from Roma, Pepe from Villareal. IMO, these are big clubs but none of them would have been considered a stronger force than Liverpool at the time. But then, how often do you see a player leave a stronger team to join a weaker one?
Yeah, that's what I meant...we were better than all aforementioned clubs at the times of those signings. Maybe big club was the wrong term, top clubs would have been better. Or better still, players from top top clubs consistently getting top 3/4 in all of the top big leagues in Europe except fringe players...which brings us back to rejects.
I know what you mean and agree with it in part, however if our kitty is really as low as its allegedly supposed to be then I think we would be crazy not to try to reinforce with established players. I don't think he is particularly great but lets say we do get rid of Maxi and Kuyt and that say AVB comes in, then I would say for a free you really can't lose out as long as you are not paying ridiculous wages. We do need real quality in the squad and not sure Kalou is that but we also need more attacking options and he does bring something to the table on that.
This would be a hard one for me. On one hand, he has prem medals, a CL medal, FA cup medal, etc. BUT does he have these mainly because of contributions he has provided or because the team around him ( or starting in front of) made happen? At 5 mil, I would say yes and at 26 still time to where if it does not work can get the money back.
I agree with that but the wages is a major part and since most bosmans try to take advantage by making higher than they should demands, clubs usually end up paying over the odds, especially with the attitude of 'oh well, there is no signing fee'.
