Anfield Red

Liverpool Football Club have today finally announced the signing of Maxi Rodriguez on a free transfer from Atletico Madrid, who has signed a 3 and half year contract at Anfield.

Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez says he will be looking to strengthen his side in the transfer window should the opportunity arise.

Liverpool are to sign Maxi Rodriguez on a six month loan deal from Atletico Madrid, according to reports.

Liverpool have been linked with Aston Villa striker Emile Heskey over the last few days; isn’t this a sign of how bad things are getting at Anfield? In pre-season, Rafa admitted David Silva was a target, yet now we are scraping the barrel going for a player who was not deemed good enough during his first spell with Liverpool.

The latest names to the physio table include the likes of Yossi Benayoun and Albert Riera, both of which are dealing with knocks that could see them miss matches after the international break. With the injuries mounting and the quality names on bench and in the starting XI dwindling, it would appear that it’s time Liverpool started looking for some depth in the January transfer window.

Transfer funds haven’t been guaranteed this winter, so it looks like it may be time for Liverpool to dip into the loan bin for a couple of quality players to plug the gaping holes in the club’s ever-crumbling wall.

One such name being thrown around is a wantaway striker from Tottenham who’d be a great choice to fill the striker role for Fernando Torres.

Hopefully Rafa saw the negatives in Andriy Voronin’s performance last night; rather than claiming he is a good player who can have an impact on this season. He proved last night he is nowhere near good enough to play for Liverpool; it’s time for the number 10 to move on.

This week saw the ridiculous suggestion that Rafa Benitez was trying to bring John Arne Riise back to Anfield; but what most people forgot before they ran the story was the original source (who I am not going to mention for obvious reasons), and the fact we already have 3 left backs at the club.

The story was a total non starter from the outset on what must have been a slow news day, yet most sites ran the article claiming Benitez was going to bring Riise back; despite the fact we have Insua, Aurelio and Dossena already in that position.

Rafa always said he wanted two players for each position, and he recently stated to Paul Tomkins that Dossena was a model professional, so if Aurelio and Insua got injured I doubt we’d see him think twice about putting the Italian in that position.

Let’s go back to Riise; he was part of the Istanbul glory, part of the FA Cup 2006 team, but he started to struggle for form, was no longer scoring goals (and was more often than not wasting out free kicks by being the man the ball was played to before blasting it into row 66 of the kop); he argued with Gerrard on the pitch during a match with Arsenal a few years back; and effectively put us out of the Champion’s League by heading into his own net in the 94th minute against Chelsea rather than putting his right foot through the ball. Aurelio is a better set piece taker and can put in a better cross than Riise; while Insua has time on his side having made his breakthrough into the first team at a young age.

Most Liverpool fans will never forget Riise for the goal against the Mancs or his goal against Everton that prompted his song; or the ball he played into Gerrard in Istanbul; but there’s no way Rafa would bring Riise back to Anfield.

We already have Riera on the left, while Benayoun and Babel also ply their trade on the wing sometimes so why would Benitez drop either of them for Riise?

Who is going to be linked with a ’shock’ return to the club this Sunday? Biscan? Traore? Cisse? I can’t wait to NOT read this load of tripe again..

I know, I know; we don’t have any transfer funds. That seems to be the general consensus around the world when it comes to discussing Liverpool’s prospects for signing a big name in the January window.

Even without the transfer funds, that hasn’t stopped a number of websites from linking us with some fantastic players who could be on their way out the door. The first name on the list? How about a Valencia player not named Silva or Villa!

The January transfer window is still a long ways out, so it would be a bit rash to start predicting where the club will be by that point. However, it’s never too early to start predicting potential targets to acquire at the beginning of next year.

Rumours are being reported that Rafa will be given £12 million to spend on new talent in January. With that in mind, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the biggest needs for the club, and who you think would fit with the current squad.

Have at it in the comments section and spend the £12 million wisely!

Has there been a more frustrating player at Liverpool in recent years than Ryan Babel? Some may throw another name out there — but I’m fairly certain most would agree that Babel has been a complete flop since he came over from Ajax as the next great Dutch hope.

With his time on the pitch (and the bench, for that matter) dwindling, Babel spoke out to a local Dutch paper about what he claims to be promises that weren’t kept. Now he’s eyeing a move back home to Ajax.

Is it time to loan him out with the intent of letting him go back to the club on a full-time basis in the summer?

“There have been a lot of things promised, but they haven’t been followed up,” Babel told De Telegraaf. “I would get to play for more minutes and have more chances, but after the first defeat, I only lost my place.

“Loaning me out was not an option (in the summer). Now we have agreed to review the situation in January. I see the current situation as a signal that I really have to get playing.”

Whilst he’s not getting playing time at the moment, I’m not so sure the squad has enough depth to allow him to move abroad — even if it was just for the summer. Regardless, it would be a good move for Babel with the World Cup approaching. And who knows, maybe he could find his game during that stint.

What do you make of the whole Babel situation? Is it time to loan him out? Or would you rather just see the club cut its losses and sell him in the next year?