With the potential arrival of Glen Johnson it does indeed seem that Arbeloa is longing for a return to his old Real Madrid side. The player was quoted as saying:
“Going back to Spain is always an idea that’s in my mind.
“I’m happy in Liverpool but I’d like to go back as I’ve barely had a chance to play in the top flight over there.
“It’s always nice to be thought of by important teams, more still when it’s this Real Madrid which Florentino (Perez) is buidling.
“They are making a big effort to build a great team. I have a year left at Liverpool but anything could happen.
“Certainly, I will go back one day because, outside of football, I miss everything I have in my country.”
We reported last month that Arbeloa was likely to leave Anfield as the player has resisted talks of a new Anfield contract and with Liverpool facing losing the player for nothing they may be forced in to a sale.
The Javier Mascherano story to Barcelona has taken another twist with the Spanish media claiming that the club’s directors have met with Mascherano’s agent. Lionel Messi has also waded in insisting it would be great on and off the field to have his Argentinian team-mate at the club.
A figure of £45 million has been banded about.
And Barcelona continue to annoy the reds with thoughts that they can purchase Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina, to replace Victor Valdez. Barcelona seem to think they can get the player for around £15 million but not only will Liverpool not sell Reina, but the player himself does not seem interested in a move.
One bit of good news that is slowly emerging is that Madrid have been scared off concerning Xabi Alonso. Real Madrid’s sporting director acknowledged Liverpool’s statement over the weekend about the fact that Xabi wasn’t for sale, and the Spanish media also have dropped the story from their radar.
» Discuss our summer transfer targets and potential sales in the forum
Suggesting we buy Joey Barton is the biggest load of bol**cks i think ive ever heard! But Kev does make a gud point, Masch probably wont be as missed as i was thinking, £45million would be very handy, and we do need another striker and having Gerrard back alongside Alonso would be a good thing and Spearing coming through aswell. I was hugely impressed when he came on against Real Madrid, he didnt look out of place at all, he could be the future. We need everyone else to stay though.
I wish Barca and Real M would take “no” for an answer!.We made it clear very recently that neither Alonso or Mascherano are for sale but they seem determined to get their way.It also seems the very pro-Man Utd British media wants Liverpool to sell it’s top players as they know that we’re getting closer to challenging their darlings.
I’d much rather that we kept our best players then take the money because it takes years to build a winning side.Here’s hoping Rafa understands this loud and clear!.
Mascherano is good, but Alonso is better. We NEED to hold on to Xabi; if we can get £40 Million + for Javi, that would be great, but frankly I wouldn’t sell Xabi for that – he’s just too important.
We do need a second out-and-out striker. Torres spent too much of last season out of the game, and without a recognised striker we struggled. Would finding a class striker be so difficult with £40M to spend?
Most importantly, though, we need to bring through some of the youngsters, and while we’re doing that, remind the team what it means to defend a set piece. Sort that lot out, and the title can be ours…
right you lot ae of your head why would we sell javi mascherano hes absolutely amazing if anyone watched liverpool in the gerrard houllier years then youd know about didi hamman in the holding midfield role absolutely mint mascherano is the hamman of the moderner times. he smashes everything up and gets liverpool the ball back. you cant replace him hes amazing.glen johnson would be a great right back hes a solid defender and a fantastic wing back. and slso who said carra was getting to old your wrong carra’s got experience.
Sell the likes of Dossena and Lucas, they are passengers, buy Owen as a second striker something we missed last season. Keep the rest.
I can see where Kev is coming from with this, 45 mil for Masch will allow us to sign 2 quality forward players, which we desperately need. There were obviously a few games last season in which we couldnt break teams down when they parked the bus. Stoke home and away, Fulham at home, just a couple of examples.
Id take 30 to 35 million and have Barca throw Bojan in the deal. Eto’o would cost us a silly amount in wages. Bojan is young and has massive potential. Then, maybe even take a gamble on Mickey Owen. The lad still knows where the onion bag is.
As others have said, we have some good young lads coming through….Spearing, Plessis, Lucas even. It might be time for them to step up and take their chance.
As for the 2 attackers we could buy with the cash from Masch….Rafa will have somebody up his sleeve, whether or not it be Silva. Schneider was a good shout, but he seems a little lazy when Iv seen him play, which, to be fair, isnt an awful lot.
I just hope to God he keeps hold of Alonso.
We have a strongest 11 that is as good if not better than anything else in the premier league. This has been proven by our resutls in head to heads against the other big 3.
Primarily, our biggest problem has been cover for these players, particularly Gerrard and Torres. Clearly we don’t lose many games, losing fewer than anyone else last season but still coming 2nd. Therefore we must start turning draws into wins. This has much to do with the players we employ in the absence of Gerrard and Torres. For most of the season Gerrad was our only regular scoring midfielder and following Robbie Keane’s departure, Torres was our only recognised top class centre forward.
Therefore When either of these two are knackered or injured or just not playing particulalry well, we need players in the squad that can come in and essentially fill the void left by these two key players. these players do not have to be carbon copies, however they do neet to be players that can create as well as score goals. I.e. when Rooney and Ronaldo are not firing at Utd, they can call upon Tevez and Berbatov. in some cases when Utd have been struggling, Fergie has had all 4 on the field at the same time and Utd have duly turned either a losing or drawing position into a win.
I do acknowledge that part of our problem last season was in the way that we played. In the latter part of the season we released the shackles and were a bit more ambitious in our play and as a result scored goals for fun finishing the season as top scorers. I totally accept how important Masch has been to us, however, if we are to play more ambitious football then why the need for a holding midfield player?
Part of the reason we have utilised a holding player is becuase we haven’t had the attacking talent to defend high up the pitch, instead preferring to soak up pressure and hit teams on the break. We did less of this during the latter part of last season and played some of the best football of the Benitez era. I believe Masch is a world class player, but not a title winning one. Players that win titles for you get goals and make goals and we simply do not have enough of them. If we could get £45m for him then perhaps we could use the money to get some top class attacking players to play alongside torres and Gerrard and turn more of those draws into wins. We have an abundance of players at the club that can hold the midfield including Alonso, Lucas, Plessis and Spearing Alternatively we could spend a small amount of money on a proven premiership player that could do the job. I only mentioned Barton becuase he would be cheap cover. We could even get Marcos Senna and still have plenty of change left over from £45m. At 32 he surely wouldn’t cost much. clearly this team needs to evolve and sometimes it happens at a cost to certain players. Judging by our financila situation it appears we’ll have to sell big to buy big.
“I totally accept how important Masch has been to us, however, if we are to play more ambitious football then why the need for a holding midfield player?”
Remember, the Galactico Era at Real ended with the departure of Makelele.
Would you rather turn 5 draws against weak teams into wins at the cost of losing against the big 4 / in CL?
P.S.
Senna won’t play in the same club as Xabi.
He was angry some time ago that Xabi was starting for Spain and he was not, and declared that he feels he too much better than Xabi to be sitting on the bench.
The galactico era ended at Madrid becuase that club has no stability at all. Coaches that win the league still get sacked if they fail to win the Champions League at Madrid. By the way let me just remind you what the galactico’s won between 2000 and 2006 when Perez last had the presidency. Two la liga titles in 00-01 and 02-03 and one solitary CL in 01-02. Not a great return on the money laid out for players such as Figo, Zidane, Beckham et al.
During that time (6 years) Madrid had 6 coaches Carlos Queiroz, Jose Camacho, Mariano Garcia Remon, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Juan Ramon Lopez Caro and Fabio Capello. Also during that time our very own Rafael Benitez landed 2 la liga titles and a uefa cup. So how influencial was Makelele during this period? Not very so the ‘facts’ would seem
You could attribute the decline of Madrid at this time as much down to the losses of Hierro, Redondo and Macca as much as losing Makelele.
NO! dont sell masch!! we’re terrible without him at defence
i heard that xabi and mashcherano are coy over their future and alonso says if he gets a better deal he’ll leave us we cant let this happen mash ans xabi should be given new contracts pls someone pls enlighten me on tis topic i cant handle xabi or mash leaving anfield
okay this is heart breaking as we are so close to getting the complete first 11 right, if we have to go back to the drawing board then id probably do this, (this is only using the money after selling whats been reported as alonso being so called ready to leave? and macsherano’s agent meeting barcas agent? here gos.
if you think we could get 45 for msacherano add that to the 35 mill for alonso thats a recoup of 80mill,
a, get aguero and silva and van der varrt with that cash.
b, with the budget rafa has which is so called 20mill, id use that for the 10 mill for johnson and by sjender.
c, with players sales, like arbeloa, dossena, hobbs, itandge, leto, hamill, degen,voronin that would fetch about 25 mill, id buy richards and llorente
my team, torres aguero
silva van der vaart gerrard kuyt
capdevilla agger carragher johnson
reina
subs / squad = lucus, insua, aurelio, skrtel, snijender, benayoun, reira, babel, richards, i know this seems crazy but with all these options and tha chance to bring in player for all positions, but players with proven ability we then have much more strenght in depth.
You know, real life is not football manager.
All those changes will unsettle the team
Silva, and VdV are not physically strong, so they might be a gamble, and so is Aguero. Remember Rafa had the opportunity to get him before he went to Spain, but didn’t, just because of that reason.
Paulfc. Firstly, as I mentioned, Joey Barton would not be a first choice, only a squad player. Personally I think he could give us more than Lucas in the same position. As for him being hated on merseyside well fair enough I don’t like the bloke either. If that is enough reason for people to think he’d be no good then fine. I understand he is a bitter blue but weren’t we in for Heinze only a few seasons ago who played for that other club that we all love to hate? Any player that plays for the mancs is inherently bitter towards Liverpool, however people had no problem with that one.
As for selling Masch, I’m saying it would only be a worthwhile idea if we could get a top striker in as part of the deal or use the money to get a top forward. Eto’o’s name has been metnioned. Preferably I’d not let Masch go, certainly not for another holding midfielder such as Ya Ya Toure, whom for most of this season wasn’t picked as Busquets was preferred. I feel we need another goal threat to take the pressure away from Gerrard and Torres.
As for Silva, in the current craziness of inflated transfer fees, Silva could cost up to £25m if reports are to be believed. A high price to pay for a player that only managed 4 league goals and 7 assists in the whole of last season. This is less than Kuyt and Benayoun whom cost considerably less.
Well I did say it was a long shot. I just think that if we cash in on Masch, and at £45m I think maybe we should think about the options, then the majority of the money should be spent on another top attacking player / forward to take some of the pressure off Gerrard and Torres. We have many ‘possibilities’ across midfield, so perhaps there would be no great need to get another holding midfield player, though we do struggle sometimes when we don’t have a deep lying player that allows Alonso to be a bit more offensive. The home leg of the CL quarter final with Chelsea proved that. I think there are players in the squad that could do the job, but again I think it helps to have at least 2 proven premiership players in each position.
Bearing in mind what a good footballer he is, I’d like to see Agger be given a deep midfield role, just to see if he could do it. He can certainly win the ball well enough in that position and his range of passing and vision is top class. He can also shoot from distance. Again it is another potential option. Although he has proven to be a bit of a greedy bugger, I feel a bit disapointed that we never got Barry at £12m, especially if we were to offload Masch for £45m. Whatever happens I trust Rafa implicitly to do the right thing.
Thank you for mentioning the CL quarter final home leg against Chelsea! Our defense was terrible without Masch!
Nothing to do with poor defending at set pieces then?
For 45mil let mash go and buy Villa, D Plesises should be stepping up from the reserves this season and J spearing has the same terrier charactistic.
Joey Barton? hahahahahahahahaha! Don’t talk soft, i wouldn’t sell masch at all, most of us know how important he is, and Gerard is in the right position now and says so himself. IF he does go, i’d want Yaya Toure in the deal and enough money to have a proper crack at Silva. Joey Barton hahahhaahaha knob!
i reckon for 40mil, they should sell mash, and buy villa, and silva. as carra is getting older he can take mash,s job over. reads the game well tackles better, than mash. a new role for carra.
No chance on Joey Barton. Absolutely no chance. Considering the fella isn’t even welcome in Liverpool, coupled with the fact he is one of the bitterest blues about, it is likely that the last person Liverpool would ever sign would be Joey Barton.
I think there is more chance of seeing Gary Neville in a Liverpool shirt than him.
joey barton is only fit to die in the gutter
talentless
motiveless
liverpool don’t need scum like this
I am sure Rafa can find another quality midfielder to replace Masch as well as have some extra funds to buy other needed players, if he has to.
I reckon if we can get £45m for Masch then we should let him go, especially if Barca are willing to throw Eto’o into the deal. Think of it like this. If we let Masch go and get a world class striker with the money or as part exchange, then Gerrard can go back into the middle alongside Alonso and as good as Masch is, I personally don’t think we’ll miss him with that central pairing. We’ve still got Lucas as a holding midfield player should we need him and he’ll only get better. He came through some tough criticism last season to finish the campaign in strong form. We’ve also got Jay Spearing coming through.
Here’s a long shot to think about too. I reckon we could get Joey Barton for a knock down price. OK he’s had his issues and you’re not sure what you’re gonna get, but in fairness to the lad, when he was on his best form at Man City he was playing very well and courted the interest of Arsenal and Utd to name a few clubs. He’d be in the last chance saloon with us and obviously any more bad behaviour and he’d be out of the door as quickly as Bellamy was. the difference is we wouldn’t be buying Barton to spearhead our midfield like we bought nBellamy to spearhead the attack. I think he’d make a more than decent squad player.
Are you mad? Joey Barton shouldn’t even get a job as the driver of Liverpool’s lawn mower let alone pull on a Liverpool shirt.
Joey Barton ??
Why take 5 steps back with a player like that. He would only bring trouble to the club, and besides we have better players already who don’t play every week.
As a die hard supporter we all need Xabi, Reina, Torres and Arbeloa on our mission to win the premier league trophy next season