Liverpool offers 45 million euros to Sevilla by the Croatian midfielder Ivan Rakitic and Spanish defender Alberto Moreno. Edit - beat me too it!
all i need say is aspas... ilori... alberto... none of which look to me to be even medium term good enough for top 4 or lfc. ilori maybe but alberto? don't think so and aspas isn't worth 2mil
In fact if we accept that you're right that all those players are rubbish then you're proving G's point. All 3 together cost roughly what Stewart Downing cost, now add Carroll and Adam.....
Why are you expecting an instant return on investment for Ilori and Alberto, they're signings for potential. In fact Ilori hasn't even played yet so how can you possible judge his performances? Aspas is looking like a bad signing but a bad signing cost is £7mil this time instead of £20mil+. You can not expect even the greatest managers in the world to make good signings 100% of the time.
Wouldn't say we overpaid for them, I actually think Alberto will be a quality player for us, quote me on that Illori I'm not sure about, haven't seen him play yet so reserving judgment on him.
Aspas as been poor but it wasn't a massive amount and we'll get some of it back. I've not seen Ilori either and I agree that Alberto show signs of quality and needs time to develop.
I'll give him Aspas, he has been poor (although he's not really had a lot of playing time, on top of being injured. Problem is he isn't going to improve much, unlike LA or Illori)
Ilori has barely played in the first team. Aspas has had quite a few opportunities now to show what he's about.
To balance out the negatives and not quite good enoughs if you look at all areas on the pitch we have young players who are only going to keep improving. Mignolet is young for a goalie, Kelly, Sakho, Wisdom at the back, Coutinho, Alberto (everything crossed), Henderson, Sterling in mid and Sturridge and Suarez up top I still don't think have hit their prime, ok Suarez possibly in it but with possibly even more to come.
Exactly mate. I'd probably agree with you and say Suarez is at his prime atm, but Sturridge is yet to hit it which is a massive bonus.
Our average age against Spurs was 24 Even lower if you include the substitutes....definitely a good sign.
ok guys... I am not basing anything on the amount of fee paid but on what i've SEEN with my eyes. i.e. u21 games with ilori and what alberto has managed to do for the firsts... AND what aspas has done. whether its 7mil or 20mil.. its a waste of time. aspas is sitting there not sucking much wages as we discussed this in the summer, 20-30k is what he was on then... BUT add 5mil and bid for eriksen. coutinho cost 7mil. DId we really have this much faith in these players as to spen a combined 20mil on three men that to ME, (my opinion, i'm entitled) do not look good enough to make it in the prem... None look like henderson... whom i defended ad nauseum when he signed and now its the fashion and when I say actually he's our weakest attacking player and i want him to play deeper i get criticized for daring to think for myself. In short alberto doesn't look good enough, he's not got drive. He looks like a spanish shelvey. Ilori looked shaky at best at u21 level in games i saw and aspas is a weak player who can't get into games. Our summer was defined by 3 buys, mingolet, toure and sahko. I contend still reina today would be a better option this season, skertl has displaced toure (wrongly IMO) so our success this season thus far is based on last januarys buys and suarez playing well. what will drive us on next year? not aspas, alberto and ilori thats for sure! If we buy this summer I'd rather we don't repeat this stuff. Maybe it is out of europe shopping but its never goign to improve us. I think the point redlad made about positives is fine... he named players we already had.. and i am saying last january buys is where we improved and give credit there. All i'm saying is we can do a lot better with the cash than to put in a player like ilori then ship out wisdom... put in a aspas and ship out suso... oh maybe next season both of those would be vast improved as a result but... we loaned in the awful moses too... would those two have got games... unsure given rodgers picked anyone bar wisdom before loaning him. I am willing to stick my neck out and call a spade a spade once i've viewed the players. add up those 3 and you get a big fee. none are trusted, none would be first sub on and for me they are very average players if we are seeking to have ambition. would you like any of them to be turned to in a crisis... fa cup 5th round and we are away to oh city... here aspas first pick.. thats heads in hands time.. or alberto too.. you'd be saying its too much to expect form a young player... I'd be saying he could be 28 and he wouldn't be up to it.
Ilori and Alberto are ones for the future and I for one have faith in their abilities. Alberto, despite his age, is rather composed and confident on the ball, and we need more players like this. Moses, Cissokho and Aspas have disappointed in my opinion - , all were expected to really push for a place in the first team and have failed. However, all were signed for a combined fee of £7m.
Was very surprised that Alberto went off yesterday. He looked like he has the right attributes. Good shot and played a lovely through ball (to Moses I think). Needs more game time or a Suso style loan next season.
One thing is for certain, the Moses loan won't be made permanent, and thank **** for that! Aly whilst he ain't pulling up any trees is at least giving it a go, it may not be the standard we need going forward but can't fault a trier! I guess the answer to both loans at the end of the season will be thanks but no thanks..
