Liverpool have been on an extensive summer transfer mission, both with players in and players out, blowing away the cobwebs of 4 years of miserable transfer windows under Tom Hicks, George Gillett and the former regime.
Where penny pinching, and selling to buy was commonplace, LFC have been bold and ambitious and have even surprised us at the speed of developments.
Raul Meireles scores the winner against Chelsea - a club he is linked with
We thought it would take longer to carry out a full scale rebuild but it appears the reds are keen to do as much as possible this summer.
To recap
Confirmed Major Purchases
Charlie Adam (Blackpool) £6.5M
Stewart Downing (Aston Villa) £18M
Jose Enrique (Newcastle) £5.5M
Jordan Henderson (Sunderland) £16M
Alexander Doni (AS Roma) £free
Sebastian Coates (Nacional) £7M
Total Spending = £53M
Confirmed Major Sales
Paul Konchesky (Leicester City) £1,500,000
Gerardo Bruna (Blackpool) Undisclosed
Chris Mavinga (Rennes) £1,000,000
Milan Jovanovic (Anderlecht) Free
Thomas Ince (Blackpool) Undisclosed
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Wolfsburg) Free
Daniel Ayala (Norwich) £800,000
Nabil El Zhar – Released
Emiliano Insua (Sporting Lisbon) Free
Total Sales = £3.3M
Overall net summer spending = £49.7M
Awaiting a signature
The almost certainty to sign shortly is Sebastian Coates (in a deal, that if greater than £7.3M) will push the reds total net spend above £50M this summer. (Update: The deal has now been agreed)
Transfer Window Speculation
Raul Meireles has seen himself pushed behind both Steven Gerrard and Charlie Adam in the LFC pecking order. We first heard on the 13th June that he was available for the right price and posted a warning on twitter. Chelsea are now believed to be interested and according to the Guardian and Telegraph have offered in the region of £8M + Yossi Benayoun for the player.
Yossi Benayoun left Liverpool last summer for £5M, blaming Rafa Benitez for not playing him enough. The reds spent £5M on a signing on fee for Chelsea’s Joe Cole, in what many term a swap deal.
We believe LFC would be receptive to the idea of taking Yossi back on a short term deal, to cover for Gerrard and Adam, but the reds will be looking for far more than £8M for the 28 year old Portugese player.
Joe Cole is a player who could be departing. Rumours suggest both QPR and Spurs are targeting the player. The reds would be much happier with a sale, as opposed to a loan deal. Although Lille are rumoured to be interested in a loan-only deal.
David Ngog looks like a possible capture for Bolton. Owen Coyle has been tracking the player for some time, and it is set to go down to the wire as the clubs and player discuss the deal.
Christian Poulsen is also surplus to requirements. He was recently dropped from the national team when the the Danish boss advised him to find another club. (Update: The player has been granted permission to talk to a Ligue 1 club)
Liverpool may consider loan moves for both Philipp Degen and Brad Jones. QPR were fishing around Degen earlier this month but speculation has cooled in recent days. Likewise Middlesbrough were tracking the reds Aussie backup keeper.
No on Benny Onion but yes if they add Sturridge to the deal.