Some guys just get that bug and can't stay fit. Imagine what Ronaldo Fenomeno would have been like had he not had the injuries he had!!!
Now he was something else. Even after a few serious injuries at Inter, he was still prolific at Real! But the Ronaldo of Barca ... wow. Pace, strength, skill, composure, technique. Such a complete striker.
For me, in what I have seen in my lifetime, he is probably the best I have seen. Zidane right behind him and then dinho. Just ubelievable. The smoothest player though that I have seen live was Okocha. He had an uncanny way to just move defenders, defensive lines, slip out of pressure as cool as you like.
We should sign this guy in the summer please log in to view this image Yes, that is Zidane getting humiliated with a blind nutmeg. His face says it all
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/liverpool-line-up-daniel-amartey-2657909 Liverpool line up Daniel Amartey transfer from Sweden's Djurgarden in January
Said a few times now but now the reliable Le Parisien confirm that LFC are interested in Javier Pastore. Please be true!
http://www.thisisanfield.com/2013/10/scout-report-javier-pastore-liverpool/ Early Career Born in 1989, the Argentine started his career with Huracan, debuting against River Plate aged 18. But it was in the 2009 Clausura championship that Pastore established himself, particularly impressing in the game against River Plate in which he scored 2 goals. Huracan ultimately finished only second that season but Pastore had made his name. Palermo beat the likes of AC Milan, United and Porto to sign Pastore for €4.7 million. He spent two seasons at Palermo, where he caught the eyes of a lot of top European clubs. But PSG won the race, signing him for €40 million where he became the first mega money signing under the new regime. Things have taken a turn for the worse for Pastore and he looks likely to be sold in the next window. The Palermo Years Pastore is perhaps best fit for Italian football and was excellent for Palermo. I started following him closely from the second half of his first season when he started impressing under Delio Rossi. After a rough start to Palermo’s season, Pastore and Palermo’s fortunes turned with the appointment of Delio Rossi. In his first season Pastore played in the hole behind Edinson Cavani and Fabrizio Miccoli. Palermo were excellent that season and finished fifth that season largely thanks to excellent front trio for whom the opposing managers had no answers for. In his second season Delio Rossi used him as a trequartista in 4-4-2 diamond and a 4-3-2-1 hybrid with Ilicic morphing into a forward when needed. PSG and the decline The move to France seems to have come too early for the young Argentine and he never seemed to have settled in. He made a fairly good start to the season in front of the goal and showed a fair few glimpses of why the owners parted with such a vast sum for him. His first season stats read a fairly good return of 16 goals and 8 assists in all appearances but mask the real truth. He started that season with a bang and looked to be an excellent signing. But he just couldn’t continue in the same vein. He often faded in games for long times and didn’t look to be enjoying his football. Playing in an unfamiliar role didn’t help either and he never looked like being able to play in the rigid Christmas tree formation set by Ancelotti. Pastore looked like a player shorn of confidence. His second season was poorer stats wise but there were glimpses of him trying to fit in and make an effort to blend in. He seemed to start to form an understanding with Veratti. Truth be said, PSG always relied on the individual brilliance of players rather than a team effort and as such their play was always disjointed and lacked fluidity. One thing that remained consistent though out his time is that he always performed on the European stage. Watching him in the Champions League was a delight and kept reminding me of the potential that this man had. Under the new manager Laurent Blanc who started out with a 4-4-2 formation, Pastore was initially trusted with a wide midfield role, a role in which he failed miserably. Injury coupled with a marked increase in PSG’s watchability after switching to a 4-3-3 formation with Veratti coming in seem to confirm that he no longer has a place left in the team, surely sounding curtains on his PSG career. His time at PSG has been littered with brief purple patches and glimpses of his genius. Style of Play The PSG move came a little too soon for Pastore who looked such a bright spark while at Palermo. His fleet of foot, lazy flick of the ball, masterful vision are there for all to see. Long pass, short pass, lob, chipped pass you name it and Pastore does it. He can truly pass the ball the entire 360 degrees and there are fewer players who can do that than you’d think. Give him willing runners and he will find them all day long wherever they are. Watch him curl a pass, the type that splits the defence and then moves laterally for the runner to just take it in his stride, it is as if Pastore is teasing the defenders and making fun of them for space that they are leaving for him to pass into. It’s not just that he does it, it’s the way he does it that makes him stand out. The weight on the pass and timing of it are just so immaculate. His excellent technique on the ball allows him to move it around with such pace and precision. He is an excellent dribbler too. He collects the ball, looks up, drives into space, picks out a pass moves to a new pocket of space. His exquisite dribbling skills and passing ability make an excellent player in tight spaces. He is a pure no.10. A between-the-lines kind of player who revels in playing in the hole. That’s where he is in his elements and it is his best position. Playing at the base of the midfield in Ancelotti’s “Christmas tree”, he was always going to struggle. But he has learnt from that and has become a better all-round player. Weaknesses Given all this copious amount of talent at his disposal it is quite sad that picking out faults in his game is just as easy. There are large stretches of the game where he disappears completely. And I mean to a point where you actually count the number of players to make sure all 11 are still on the pitch. He just looks disinterested and bored. He is a tactical nightmare when he is in such a mood. He won’t track back properly, consistently get caught out of position, make pathetic decisions and misplace pass after pass. He has been criticised for his lack of work ethic and industry off the ball. Although, this wasn’t always the case; Palermo were a counter attacking team and every man had to put a shift in defensively. He rarely had poor matches and was always very much at the centre of the play. Value For Money? He is very much an FSG type of a buy. An excellent player with oodles of talent, disillusioned with his life at the current club, looking for a fresh start and available on the cheap? Yup, fits the profile well enough. He may find it difficult in the Premier League though as he is very lightweight and could easily get bullied off the ball. However, with the recent success of small quick players like Mata, this gamble may just be worth our while. He looks set to be offloaded this winter as PSG seem to have lost their faith in him and the player too is looking for a fresh start. PSG seem to be looking for a replacement with rumours rife of a failed Ozil bid and Mata looking to be their winter target. I would personally recommend a loan with an option to buy deal as it would be a win for all the parties involved. Rodgers has proven that he is capable of handling players low on confidence and of poorer work ethics and has a reasonably good chance of succeeding with Pastore.
He's a bit like Sakho in that he is a very good young player that has been squeezed out the picture at PSG because of the massive spending they've done.
Don't underestimate me This is true however he has been poor (as the article describes) - could argue that he's more like Sturridge. Bags of talent but hasn't delivered consistently, and needs the change is reignite the self belief. He cost €40m so it will be interesting to see how much they would let him go for. I would be disappointed if we paid more than £20m considering his poor form, his desire to leave and PSG's desire to get rid. But he's definitely the calibre of player we should be looking at least. However, we do need to be looking DM's as well.
Would we be happy paying £17.1m for him if he hadn't previous had a transfer fee of £34.2m...? Agree about him being the right calibre and needing a DM.
I would be. The way I see it as there are 3 tiers of players and valuations: Tier 1: Free - £12m mark. Unproven players, bigger risk. Tier 2: £12m to £30m mark. Class players who have a good reputation around Europe but not deemed as world class. Less of a risk because they tend to come straight in and do a job. Tier 3: £30m plus - World class players, hard for LFC to attract without mega bucks and CL football. For example - Coutinho and Sturridge were in Tier 1 which was an absolute bargain. However, if they were in Tier 2, they still would have represented good value because of the impact they had. And the fact there were in Tier 1 was a freak. At £17m, Pastore would be Tier 2 IMO and it represents value so I would be happy. Tier 2 is where we should be buying our players because it balances risk and cost. i.e. we're not overspending on a world class player with the risk of him not performing to his value. Alternatively, we're not buying players on the cheap from smaller clubs where their experience and ability may match their valution. Tier 2 means that we're spending decent money and decent players. Of course we want to be buying from Tier 1 but it's extremely difficult.
All depends on contract lengths, player/club happiness and the financial state of the selling club too. Wasn't Coutinho reaching the final stages of his contract and Inter wanted money to buy Paulinho? Sturridge wanted to leave too. Suarez and Torres both cost us around the £22m-£24m mark and both achieved world class status with us. The aim should always be to buy a player that is the next star rather than current star. The former means a better return in both performance and financial turns. The latter generally means you don't get as high a resale value.
Agreed - these tend to be in Tier 2. Transfer committee are at least looking at the right players - Mkhitiryan, Costa, Pastore. The former 2 were going for £20m-£25m.
Bit controversial here but I don't want to see us signing many tier three players and I'd prefer no one over £35m
