"and can slot in at right-back if required" - close season transfer banter 2014

bargain

is this the end of di maria? or have they given up on illarmendi replacing xabi alonso?

first club to remember that isco exists is probably going to have a good summer

deandre yedlin to liverpool stories now, dude can certainly slot in at right back

That'll only be if the £47m bid for Nat Clyne fails.

can't wait for ned vs arg tbh

uh...bad translation?

Dejan Lovren has told Sportske Novosti his head is already at Liverpool despite Southampton rejecting an offer worth 20 million pounds.

Croatia defender Lovren, 25, appeared set to be the latest star to depart St Mary's, with Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana already having moved to Anfield while Luke Shaw has joined Manchester United. Their former coach Maricio Pochettino has also departed for Tottenham.

However, new Saints boss Ronald Koeman rejected the Reds' bid for Lovren and the player has expressed his frustration at the situation.

"Liverpool sent the offer and the club haven't informed me," he said. "Not even about the subsequent Liverpool bids. That wasn't right. I found out about the bid from other people which disappointed me and I realised I've got no business staying at Southampton.

"Liverpool sent a 20 million offer and they (Southampton) paid nine million for me, so they would've earned twice the amount.

"At this point, I don't know what I'll do and I don't like it. It was unbelievable that a few days ago I had an offer of 20 million pounds. It was in the morning and by the afternoon the club had said I was not for sale. Frankly, my head is already at Liverpool."

He said he had addressed a letter to the club to make clear his feelings but no longer knew who was in charge of such decisions.

"Honestly, I don't know who the main man at the club is anymore," he said. "They are now looking for 25 million pounds, but I don't think they'll get it."

He added: "Liverpool is one of the biggest clubs in the world. Only Real Madrid have as many fans around the world. The last time I played at Anfield, I got chills when I heard 'You'll Never Walk Alone.' I would like to listen to it all the time."

Lovren, who arrived from Lyon a year ago, insisted he would not be looking to leave Southampton if the club had aimed higher.

"Look, I'd gladly stay in Southampton if the club had any ambitions, if they kept the key players," he said. "[If that had happened] not even the Liverpool bid would have dissuaded me."

He added: "When I decided to go to Southampton, many people were surprised, but I went because the people at the club had great ambition. They gave me assurances about the project -- the former chairman, Nicola Cortese, and the former coach, Mauricio Pochettino, convinced me. They gave me incredible confidence.

"When I began training there, I realised they had a very good team. They promised to buy two more players -- they bought Osvaldo and Wanyama. They are great players. The aim was to qualify for Europe, to get into the Europa League at least."

He said that midway through the season, when concerns were raised over the direction of the club and Cortese ultimately left, he realised there were problems.

"No one knew who would take over the club," he said. "Suspicions were raised. I asked Mauricio what was happening and he couldn't say whether or not he would stay on or make promises for the next five or six years about investment in the club, challenging for the Champions League, making new signings or keeping key players.

"It was because of that I'd agreed to sign for Southampton. When the chairman left, and Pochettino was going too as early as April, I realised things had fallen apart."

his head is at LFC and they will be exploring the possibility of placing it on Sakho's body.

Has lovren suddenly become incredibly good or something that Liverpool are willing to spend that much for him? Lyon were quite glad to get 8 million for him and now he's worth 20 or more?!?!

Andy Carroll £35m. Stewart Downing £20m. Adam Lallana £25m. Is all you need to know.

they're all English tho

shhh they don't realise he isnt

Lovren is a good player who has shown he can play the sort of high-line pressing game that Rodgers values, Southampton's defence was very mean indeed until they ran themselves into the ground, but he's not a £20m player even in today's market.

The price also reflects the fact that Lyon were clearly more willing to sell than Southampton are.

buying three players from the same club in a summer isn't just poor form, it also shows a shocking lack of imagination

just the nine dutch players van gaal signed for barca was it...

Not convinced any of the three are actually likely to improve Liverpool much either, when you consider the impact that one powerhouse central midfielder would have.

http://i.imgur.com/26AOTOQ.png

Markovic to Liverpool done apparently.

for 20m huh

This is turning into last summer. And we've turned into Tottenham.

yeah i was weighing up which to invoke out of lamela and patrik berger

This is turning into last summer. And we've turned into Tottenham.

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, July 6, 2014 6:48 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh man, don't even make a joke like that. Are LFC going to buy any defenders then?

I laughed at Ken Early's take on Suarez: "he's basically The Ring out of Lord Of The Rings"

I think I'm just gonna use the Lovren figure (£20m) as a benchmark by which to make sense of things in the modern transfer market. As such, Liverpool are apparently buying Origi for half Dejan Lovren.

its a bit fascinating how footballers (directly talking about lovren but others have said similar things) think in a similar way to shit fans ie they paid 9m and offered 20m thats all that matters as if wages, agent fees, bonuses, how important to a team etc. dont matter and transferr fee doubling is all that matters. its so simplistic! im sure there are no other matters for a club to consider!

lloris expects to stay

now for us to confirm Sandro as captain 4 lyfe

Ashley Cole to AS Roma

Seriously Liverpool don't do this.

I already can't be bothered with this season. Seriously if all finishing 2nd achieved was to parlay more power for rodgers to spend a ridiculous amount of money on players we don't need I'd rather we had finished 6th tbh.

Don't we need the Suarez cash to actually comply with FFP considering the losses of the last 2 seasons? Madness.

Outside of FFFP (and yes, Suarez cash probably needed to get over the issues of losses, but not having him on the books might just mean the wage bill is ok) the real thing I'm taking away is an acknowledgement of the lack of depth in the squad, although what that says about every other transfer window or the dozens of youth players bought from Benitez onwards that have failed to break though is anybody's guess.

Well we have CL now, so we do need *more* players. Whether that means these players at these prices idk, I haven't seen them enough. I'd rather the Suarez money went on Martinez, Sanchez and Pogba but that's familiarity talking.

Cl might mean only 6 more games in effect. I'd rather have Suso and Borini back plus Lambert (£4m is okay) Can (versatile, young, can sell him later at no great loss) Markovic. Lallana and Lovren no thank you. Would like a LB but not at £20m or whatever we were quoted for Seville guy. How about keeping some of the money back and seeing how things go? Majority of Suarez money should be needed to replace Gerrard sometime in the next 3 transfer windows if a target becomes available

I just hate bloated squads so so much.

hi

Hmm, going by Wikipedia squads there was a squad of 30 for the 12/13 Europa campaign vs 25 last season, but then there were 16 players out on loan last season so squad size shouldn't be an issue even if quality is.

looking back, how many of spurs signings last yr were received with cautious optimism tho? just no way of telling tbh.

having a decent/settled manager and system makes it a different prospect tho?

Last summer I thought Spurs had signed some cracking players. 5 of whom I though were a clear upgrade on what Spurs already had (not counting Bale).

Majority of Suarez money should be needed to replace Gerrard sometime in the next 3 transfer windows if a target becomes available

otm

Lloris as well, I'd like Lloris.

The squad was out on its feet after 34 games last season, and that's with no real cup runs, few injuries or suspensions, and the stroke of luck that Flanno turned out to be really good.

surely it will take less than 3 transfer windows to find a holding mid less inept than Stevie

http://www.statsbomb.com/2014/06/gifolution-five-years-of-steven-gerrard/

paulinho IMO 20m yours

dat logo

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t1.0-9/10486059_10152286347352746_3270486232263569460_n.jpg

squad looks a bit big

anderson and nani cropped out?

the Utd twitter account has a full squad version with Nani (and LVG's head photoshopped on to Moyes' body)

No Ando though

Sad Fellaini is looking sad.

Was considering using this thread to post the new LFC Warrior 3rd kit but didn't want to turn it NSFW. Oh my eyes :(

http://i60.tinypic.com/vzv40w.jpg

looks pretty great imo