Juventus today signed Christian Poulsen from Sevilla in a deal which is believed to replace their interest in Xabi Alonso.
The 28 year old has signed a 4 year contract for the Italian giants.
Alonso was on a shortlist of central midfielders along with Poulsen but Juventus, cash-strapped, couldn’t meet Liverpool’s asking price for the Spaniard who has another 3 years remaining on his Anfield contract.
Liverpool had offered Aston Villa £14 million plus Steve Finnan to bring Gareth Barry to Anfield but Villa have refused to budge on their £18 million valuation. They value Steve Finnan at only £1 million.
With Alonso almost certain to now remain at Anfield, and with Gerrard, Mascherano, Lucas and Benayoun all capable of playing in the centre of Liverpool’s midfield, Benitez may now be tempted to withdraw his interest and focus instead on the capture of Robbie Keane or a winger to replace hte outgoing Harry Kewell.
Do you think it’s time to drop our interest in Barry? Are you pleased that Juve may have lost interest in Alonso?
I think we dont need David Villa because F.Torres and D.Villa is not a good team like if D.Villa attacks and F.Torres with him he won’t give the ball to F.Torres because D.Villa only wanna score for him self not for LFC.
Ahmad.
send the yanks back home and then we can buy those expensive players!!
I think David Villa and David silva are the two we need at the moment….Please rafa bring them on !i think we will become unbeatable if we get these 2
See the likes of gerrard,torres,silva,Villa wat a dream team!
I think we liverpool fans need to push the management to bring villa to create wonders in the club and to win the League single handedly!
Alonso should stay at Anfield while barry can go to any where for Alonso is better.
I want alonso to remain at our Anfield. Barry can go
Alonso stay, Barry no no , Keane please , BIG please ! DOWNING !! u mad !
sorry…that’s for billy not redheart
Redheart, you seem like a nice chap, but to anyone but an Aston Villa fan your team looks like mid-table…sorry. And to echo what everyone else is saying, Barry would be a nice edition, but I wouldn’t rate him over 9-12 million (at 18 MON is having a laugh and clearly doesn’t want to sell him…why doesn’t he just ask for 30 and say “that is our valuation”?). Leave him there and that will guarantee that Villa won’t break into the top 8 (nothing quite like your captain hating playing for your team and the fans booing him every time he touches the ball).
I don’t however agree with most of you on Alonso. Bags of skill, but are we so quick to forget the defensive breakdowns on Alonso’s part that led to the last 5 most damaging loses of the last 2 years. He’s not offensive, wastes tonnes of chances by firing the ball into the crowd and has no idea how to mark near his area, committing fouls in the worst possible places. I’d for one would get what I could for him and look at strengthening areas that need strengthening – which is not in the middle of the pitch.
Aussie Red is spot on. Silva and Keane are the two men we should look to bring in, both would certainly help us create more chances, especially against teams who come to Anfield to defend (where we dropped to many points last season). Yeah Barry would be a nice addition but surely if Rafa does want another striker (as already stated) then Stevie G will move back into central Mid! additionally with the promising Plessis coming through the ranks then the central midfield area is not where we should be looking to strengthen!
So come on Parry lets have these signings ASAP so Rafa can get them into the squad.
The Gareth Barry situation has been forced by by Martin O’neil, who is trying to hold out on a principled stance, but, I think has overpriced Gareth. I’d like to see Gareth at Liverpool but I think Rafa is doing the right thing in negotiating. I also think that Robbie Keane is overpriced, he’s a great player with a huge heart, but if we are going to pay top money we should get top value for that money.
Personally I think let those situations develop and be prepared to wait till January to do business.
In the meantime i’d go all out for Aguero.
Barry has got two years left on his contract. I think Rafa is trying to build a team of captains ie a team of Carragher’s. Steven Gerrad, torres , barry, keano.
With these sort of players i feel confident that in games which we have drawn with these players i feel we can turn games into 3pts instead of points dropped. I would love to see Silva in a Liverpool shirt next season as well.
Keep Alonso and bring Robbie and Silva. Forget Barry he is too epensive
Oh and yeh, I forgot to add, Downing is no better than Pennat on the right I’m afraid!!
I can’t believe we are actually still in for Barry!?! Like many of you have said, we can get him for nothing next summer or try and force through a dramatic cut in his price to get him in January. But £18m for a player who has 1 yr left on his contract is ridiculous! Look how much we had to drop Crouch’s price as he only had 1 yr left…we’re being taken for a ride here.
I agree with the rest of you about Keane, I really think this proven premiership goalscorer would be an excellent partner for Torres but we have to act fast to get him. Forget Barry, go for Keane…bring Babel over to the right and get Silva for the left. The other positions???…well we’ve got a hell of a reserve team, let’s make use of them!
Some of you may not agree but I think that’s all we really need for this season.
Alonso doesn’t like it here in England hence his wish to leave so don’t be shocked if he returns to Spain or if another Italian club come in for him.
Barry IS over-priced at £18M but as someone else has pointed out Rafa is very stubborn. To be honest we haven’t conducted ourselves very well at all in the transfer market this summer have we?
Silva doesn’t look strong/good enough for the premier league to me but Robbie Keane would be a great signing.
Forget barry we have alonso , use those funds + cl funds for silva & villa with a frontline like this the league’s ours.
Downing is shite
This is great news – I only hope it is true. Barry is good player but that is it we have world class already in centre and i would hate to see Alonso leave. I dont know what Rafa is thinking getting rid of Alonso for Barry no compasion in my eyes Alonso is Class.
LEAVE BARRY AT VILLA and lets bring in Siva for Kewell and the deadley Robbie Keane as people have already said he is tried tested and will always score you goals ….
Yeah Barry aint worth that sort of money with one yeah left on his contract O’Neill is having a bubble we don’t need to strengthen the middle of the park we got enough quality there, def need a tricky winger with some skill Downing isn’t the one don’t rate him much, don’t think he can produce the guille and skill we need from wide positions to commit defenders, Bentley is to slow no pace we need someone with pace and skill who is direct. If we are selling Pennant I reckon we need two wingers left and right the likes of Silva and Quaresma would be good , put Babel up front he’s a striker
Barry is good, but not more than 14m as many had said too, but to let Alonso go and replace by Barry, no way.Alonso is too good to be replaced by Barry. no one would complain if David Silva to replace Alonso though
silva and keane to fulfil the dream.
whilem i absolutely agree he isn’t wort 18Mil i think Barry would make a good addition to a squad that is in need of UK players that can play at a consistent level ( especially as Platini and Blatter are gunning for the 6+5 rule). Would love xabi to stay but if not then sometimes a manager has to have balls to take big risks. xabi is a great player but last season was a poor one by his standards and i think Rafa has to look for a different type of player to add to the mix. A winger/playmaker and Keane, plus Barry and we are getting there.
Barry is worth 18m but Finnan is worth 1m – WTF??. Scott Carson is supposedly going for 4m and Pennant could be going for not much over 3m. Also Danny Guthrie went for a reported roughly 2.5m but I’m sure if it was the other way around and Liverpool were the ones buying him that figure would be atleast double. While these figures are actually quite reasonable they are not anywhere in line with the inflated prices that we seem to have to pay for the players we want. So in conclusion – does Mr. Parry need to do his job a bit better?
Billy… what do you mean a run for 4th place??? A run for the title is what your Villa will need to be challenging us for.
Forget Gareth fkn Barry- are you kidding Rafa?!? I didn’t even realise he was in the last year of his contract until i read some of the earlier comments. Xabi is a better player, younger and like a previous comment said, he is bang in form at the minute (at long last!). Babel is perfect beside Torres next year, we need a winger and that is all- and not Bentley, he hasn’t the talent Pennant has in his little toe.
Barry is not free next summer, he has at least 2 years on his deal, but hes still not worth 18 mil…
keane and silva….
Barry has two years left on his contract, not one, hence O’Neill asking £18M.
Let’s see what happens with Barry’s situation and look at it again in January.
Of course he could always put in a transfer request, which could weaken O’Neill’s hand somewhat.
Anyway, the wide positions and maybe another striker must be priority with our limited budget.
So much for the borrowers backing Rafa.
Im well chuffed with Barry staying at Villa, but thats from a Villa fans point of view, even if he stays this season, we will still get 11 million for him next season.
I think we Villa need to keep him, then if we can get Bentley, hoyte and maybe a decent forward as back up for gabby i think we will be a force next year.
And if we dont get Bentley i would go for wright philips
I mean i think this team would give liverpool a good run for 4th place what do you liverpool fans think.
1 Guzan
2 hoyte
3 bouma
4 laursen
5 davis
6 barry
7 young
8 bentley
9 sidwell
10 gabby
11 carew
billy
I think we should persue Barry, he is a class player, already has a great playing rapore with Gerrard and is English.
If the 5 & 6 rule were to be introduced the price of English talent would only rise further. Not only that but he is naturally left footed and has experience playing on the left wing for club and country so we are getting a winger and central midfielder.
Look at the other top 4 clubs they have more than 4 class midfielders, we need to be the same.
I honestly think that although money is tight, it is not as tight as we are being led to believe and there will be other top signing along with Barry.
Barry is good but not for the price O’neil is demanding only to spite liverpool. I think Silva more than any other player is what LFC needs. We need a play maker type of player. He can be a winger as well and he doen’t seem to be too expensive. Keane and Barry after Silva has been acquired. Raf please act fast on this.
I say pull out and get him in January for low fee. MON has been a complete Wally and the Villa fans childish. It WAS reported in the Birmingham press first about LFC offer and only in the Liverpool Echo the NEXT day were they quoted the Birmingham press. It came off the Villa fax machine. Back covering and posture by MON will back fire (I hope). He will never wear a Villa shirt again
i agree.we are happy what we have(Alonso).we need a good striker & a good winger.thats all.
Def think we should hold fire on the Barry deal….he is very good, versatile and works well with Stevie G but £18m for a player who is in late 20’s and his last year of contract??
Think the money would be better spent on Keane and Silva…very true what the maltese Scouse said about Alonso looking back to his best for Spain in the game against Greece.
We can pick Barry up on the cheap in Jan or better still on a free next summer.
I agree, If we need to pull out of one then Barry it must be. We could buy him in january for 8m or wait until the summer when he can come for free. I would like to see Silva and Keane i think they both would fit into our squad. So come on Yanks get your hands in your pockets and give Rafa some cash or sell the club to DIC.
yes i m really pleased juve lost interest….alonso is wonderful, we need him, he seems on form again watching the game of spain vs greece.
its a joke tryna replace Xabi…Barry isn’t better than Xabi, he’s way off Xabi’s quality…we should get youngsters such as hamsik from Napoli or dessena from Parma.
Barry is too old to be valued at £18M. I say forget him. Alonso was coming back to his form at the end of last season. He deserves better from Rafa. Go after Keane as a foil for Torres.
I like what LFC4Life says about Stewart Downing. Downing is a good, young, true left winger. He has not had the greatest support at Boro. He can deliver crosses well, he can cut in and score goals, he can beat defenders one-on-one, and he works hard. Being that he’s English would be a plus for Rafa and a smart move. In a side with Gerrard, Torres, Babel, et al he may thrive. The likes of Downing, Barry, and Keane at Anfield could make a major, positive difference. And don’t forget, we will be without Babel for the first two games. We have to have a winger out there. Babel could move to the right upon return. I don’t think Southgate will allow him to leave though.
Alonso is an outstanding professional, but Barry offers the Reds more options. Alonso is not an attacking midfielder, and he is not a true holding midfielder. Furthermore, he does not score goals regularly. His defense is a bit suspect. Barry can play attacking midfield, holding midfield, left-wing, and left back. He is solid defensively and scores goals, as well. He offers a lethal left foot. I really like Alonso, but he looks like he could use a league and team change. For Villa to assess Finnan at 1 million is ludicrous. He has been a solid, consistent stalwart in Liverpool’s defense for a number of years now. O’Neill has a good side so bringing in a seasoned, intelligent veteran to their young side would certainly help them on the pitch and in the locker room. Finnan is not flashy but he is a tireless worker. If the Barry deal can’t be made, maybe Valencia would take Alonso for Silva, or Spurs would take Alonso for Keane and three million.
Its a shame for barry as his comments in trying to force the move have alienated him at villa,and if the move falls through he has lost all round.on a lighter note if Alonso stays it will be welcome news as i rate him highly,i was bitterly disappointed to see crouchy leave and it would be sad if aloso followed him through the door.I agree with most of the comments about keane,but feel rafa will have to act fast as i cant see spurs allowing berbatov,keane and bent to leave at the same time and the other deals look as if they are more or less done.
Totally agree with above comments, while Barry is a good player i really do believe that we should look to the wings first then to a striker, I would love to see Keane sign for us, maybe we could sign Downing, the boy has bags of talent and pace, But Rafa bless his little Spanish heart is very stubborn, so i still believe we will sign Barry, I would personally leave it till Jan when Barry will only have 6mnths left on his contract.
Yes, I am very happy. Barry it’s true that he is a great player. But we need a winger and a striker. That is our priority.
Most definately, he’s not worth 18 mil, at his age 14 mil would be too much. forget him and go after Keane at least he’s tried and tested.