They say no news is good news; clearly not in this case. Liverpool fans are still left wondering what is happening regarding the sale of the club, despite talk in July that the club was ‘on course’...
Rafael Benitez has told reporters who are asking questions about Xabi Alonso’s future to ask the man himself.
Speaking after the 5-0 win over Singapore, Rafa was asked if the game was Alonso’s last for Liverpool : “It’s a question that you have to ask him, Honestly, we’ve been talking about this for two months but I think that it is a question for him and not for us.
“He has three years on his contract and we know he is a great player – that’s why we signed him and renewed his contract. So you have to ask him.”
Rafa recently made it clear he wanted Alonso to stay, and it is now up to the player to either put these rumours to bed and say he’s saying or hand in a transfer request and do one.
Liverpool were apparently after Marseille midfielder Lorik Cana, according to various newspapers and websites, but after he signed for Sunderland this proves how little these places actually know!
Cana signed for Sunderland yesterday, with Steve Bruce saying “He’ll be a great signing for us, I’m sure of that.”
Firstly, I point you to The telegraph – which states Liverpool were after Cana as a replacement for Alonso.
This next article claims Rafa is “a big fan of Cana” (such a big fan he’s given up all hope of signing him ahead of Sunderland).
Goal – they had to be in here, Ok they didn’t come out and claim directly that Cana was signing, but they still ran the story.
Andrea Dossena is willing to move to Napoli according to his agent, while the club have confirmed they are in negotiations with Liverpool to sign the Italian.
Dossena lost his shirt number to Glen Johnson, and has been linked with Juventus, AC Milan and now Napoli; who his agent claims both parties are willing for a deal to be completed : “There is the will to join Napoli. Napoli want Dossena, and should they follow him, it means they are ready to satisfy the player’s exigencies,” Said Roberto La Florio (Dossena’s agent)
“Now they must decide, because they may need Andrea due to Fabio Aurelio’s injury. The two parts must meet to find an agreement.”
Napoli’s President, Aurelio De Laurentiis has revealed he has spoken to Rafa Benitez about signing Dossena, and that a move is being negotiated : “I’ve personally spoken with Rafa Benitez. The negotiation is ongoing.”
Xabi Alonso has refuted claims he faked injury to avoid playing against Thailand, amid speculation he was due to fly home to complete a move to Real Madrid.
The latest crap to come out was that Alonso missed the game to avoid getting injured so he could move to Madrid, yet Alonso told reporters he was genuinely injured but is now ready to play on Sunday : “I would never fake an injury not to play, I hurt my ankle in training but it is much better now. I trained on Thursday evening and again today.
“Now I hope to play in the game on Sunday. I am certainly training for that but whether I will play or not you will need to ask Rafa.”
Xabi also denied claims he is due to leave the pre season tour to complete a move to Real : “I will be here with the squad until the end of the tour”.
Alonso also told of Liverpool’s beleif in the squad and revealed Rafa’s target for next season – to reach 90 Premier league points to win the league : “It is very difficult to win the Premier League but if we do things better than last season then we will have a good chance,”
“We did really well against the top four teams last season but we drew too many games at home against other clubs which meant we weren’t in a strong position going into the last few matches.
“This season we have to be looking to get up to 90 points. If we’re able to continue to progress then we will have a good chance. We certainly have the belief.”
Rafael Benitez has told Xabi Alonso he wants him to stay at Anfield after the ongoing speculation that Alonso is off to Real Madrid.
Speaking at a press conference in Singapore, Benitez revealed he has told Alonso he wants to keep him at Liverpool: “I was talking to him yesterday and telling him to listen to the fans. They love Xabi,”
“I said to him, ‘Maybe you have to stay.’
“You can see he is a really good player and I’ll be really pleased if he stays. All the players and his teammates want him to stay. If we keep Xabi I will be very pleased.”
Liverpool Football Club have denied a fee has been agreed for the sale of Xabi Alonso.
Today’s newspapers claimed a £30million deal had been agreed, yet a Liverpool spokesman said: “Xabi is with us in Singapore, and will train with the rest of the squad. He was injured ahead of the Thailand game, people can say what they like about that.
“And there has been no deal agreed with anyone for his transfer to anyone”
If you ask most Liverpool fans what position the squad needs cover in, most will say upfront; however Liverpool have already got a perfect replacement for Fernando Torres (should he be injured/suspended) in Ryan Babel.
No, I’ve not been smoking crack; I am talking about putting Babel inplace of Torres. He scored yesterday, alright it was only against Thailand, but he has said in the past he prefers to play as a striker, and we might see more effort from him if he is in his favourite position.
Benitez spoke highly of Babel recently saying how he has come back fit having worked hard over the summer, so rather than turfing him out he has given the Dutchman praise, hopefully in a bid to raise his confidence. He is going to struggle to become a regular on the left, after Yossi Benayoun signed a new contract as a result of his brilliant performances, and Albert Riera has proved he is more than capable of filling that position; so why not give him a go upfront?
Voronin proved against Thailand he isn’t going to come and conquer the Premiership as previously promised, he got through on goal after a decent ball from Torres, and in typical Voronin style he released a disappointing shot that went wide; hardly adequate cover for the best striker in Europe.
14 goals in 91 appearances for Liverpool doesn’t make excellent reading, however how many times has Babel been upfront to prove what he can do? Not enough, so rather than going out and getting a new striker who might take time to cut it in the English league, why not thrust Babel into the limelight?
The Xabi Alonso transfer saga has gone on far too long now; surely it is time for him to come out and say he is either leaving or staying?
On a daily basis we get reports from AS/Marca acting as Real Madrid’s mouthpiece saying how he is unhappy/a fee has been agreed/they are no longer interested/they are coming back with an increased offer, yet Alonso has been fairly quiet on the subject for far too long.
When asked in Thailand will he stay, Alonso replied with “It’s difficult to give any guarantees” – Ok fair enough he is not going to say he is going to leave infront of 6000 fans, but why not just release a statement in the same way Gerrard did when he contemplated leaving for Chelsea?
All this would be done and dusted, no more messing around, no more speculation – fans would know if he was going, Rafa would know his plans, Real could stop the daily tapping up.
Just finished watching Liverpool’s match against Thailand that kicked off their Asian Tour. The match included some fairly decent football from Ryan Babel, a player I think we all believe needs to up his level this season after being unimpressive in his first two seasons. The goal came in the sixth minute off a great through ball from Carra to Babel, who just slotted it home with ease. From there it looked like an up and down match with the rust still very evident.
Thailand’s Panupong Sutee equalised in the 72nd minute with a great 1-2 that caught the back line on their heels. The second half, like the first, had some bright spots – but most of the play appeared to be in slow motion, which I guess could be attributed to the humidity.
Not much else to say other than that we’re still without a win in three pre-season matches. It’s nothing to get concerned about at the moment, but it does make you wonder about our youngsters on the squad. Also, rumours were swirling regarding Alonso not being on the bench for the match. Please note that there has been NOTHING to report as of right now.
Some people have been claiming he’s already on to Madrid to sign for the club. I haven’t heard anything of the sort at the present time.
Discuss the match as you please in the comment area below…
If agents weren’t already considered the scum of the footballing world, then this little story pushes things over the edge. Men like Walter Tamer and Kia Joorabchian are just part of the reason why the game is going to hell in a handbasket.
If you’ll recall, it was only a couple of weeks back that we began hearing rumblings regarding a potential Mascherano to Barcelona transfer rumour that had most of us (myself included) on edge regarding his future. We’ve heard all of the bollocks regarding the transfer saga: his wife was unhappy in England; he wants to go and play in La Liga; and other tired bullshit that made many of us wonder where all of this nonsense was coming from.
Mascherano remained fairly mum about the whole situation, as his scum of an agent, Walter Tamer, pleaded his case to anyone listening. Well after weeks of dealing with a mass exodus from two of our best midfielders, it looked like Mascherano was back in the fold and ready to go. But apparently his agent isn’t going to go away quietly with regards to the Barca rumours.
Tamer, who is gutless wonder, is now pushing the Masch to Barca talk once again! But where are the comments from Mascherano? Oh, they’re nowhere to be found. Shocking!
“Barcelona is the easiest deal to set up as Javier wants to go to Spain. He is tired of life in England.
“His wife has not been given a permanent visa. She has to go through an odyssey each time she wants to go. Liverpool refuse to sell, this can be overcome with an extraordinary offer.”
Rafa refuses to sell because he’s smart and understands that agents are only about one thing: money. Mascherano is one of the best players in the world, and if he’s so intent on leaving the club, then I’d expect him to be a man about things and hand in a transfer request. Until then this story is utter tosh to me.
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