HIT AND WISHLIST (From L-R): Barry, Villa, Lavezzi,
Silva, Ribery, Pranjic, Tevez and Albiol
Yet again, the summer transfer window has thrown up the names players who have been linked with a host of top-flight clubs from the continent and, despite a significantly smaller budget, Liverpool seem to be liked with a host of top names ahead of the new season alongside Europe's top teams. In the current window, the Anfield outfit have been linked with no less than ten high-profile players with only one making his way through the doors at Melwood so far in defender Glen Johnson, signed for a reported £17million from Portsmouth. His arrival was sealed after a three-way battle in which Rafael Benitez triumphed over his counterparts at Chelsea and Man City respectively.
The latest link with the Reds comes courtesy of a betting flurry late last Thursday which saw odds on Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery joining the club fall from 66/1 to 8/13 before all bets on the player moving to Merseyside were suspended - leading to intense speculation that the French international will be trading in the Allianz-Arena for Anfield in the near future. Interestingly Skybet, who lead the dramatic reducing of odds on Ribery's Liverpool move, also slashed odds on former Reds striker Michael Owen joining Manchester United 24 hours before it was announced that the former Liverpool player had signed for the Old Trafford outfit. Perhaps they know something that the regular Joe Bloggs in the stands and indeed those in the editorial offices of newspapers and websites don't.
COME IN NUMBER 2: Glen Johnson becomes
Liverpool's first summer signing
Other names linked with a move to Anfield include Croatian winger Danijel Pranjic who had touted a move to Merseyside on numerous occasions yet ended up signing for Bayern Munich from Heerenveen. Valencia defender Raul Albiol was also heavily tipped to join the Reds defence prior to the capture of Johnson until he signed for the free-spending Real Madrid.
Indeed Madrid have been involved with Liverpool a lot this summer, whether it be through trying to snap up their transfer targets in Valencia's David Villa and David Silva or trying to poach players away from Anfield such as Fernando Torres. The Spain hitman was linked with a move to bitter rivals Manchester United last month in the Daily Express and yesterday Benitez admitted that several clubs had enquired about the ex-Atletico Madrid striker.
WALKING ALONE?: Alonso and Mascherano have been
linked with moves to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively
He said: “Clubs wanted Fernando and we were contacted by agents working for those clubs but we always knew that when a bid came in we would say ‘no’. The main thing was that Torres wanted to stay here. People knew the player wanted to stay, but it did not stop clubs trying. We wanted to send out a message that Liverpool are a strong team and that we want to improve. You don’t improve by selling your best players.”
Two of Liverpool's best players expected to be leaving Anfield this summer are Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. Both are expected to move to La Liga with Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively. Alonso's proposed move to the Bernabeu, however, has been very bitter and public feud between the two clubs by comparison to Barcelona's attempts to lure Mascherano.
Alonso's Anfield future was left in doubt last summer when Benitez openly courted Aston Villa's Gareth Barry only for the deal to fall flat in the August, ensuring the Spaniard remained on Merseyside. Barry was expected to make his long-awaited move to the Reds this summer but opted instead to join the lucrative nearly men of Manchester City, reneging on his comments 12 months previous about wanting to compete in European club competitions every year - something Benitez took time to mention during the unveiling of Johnson last week.
"In this market, money is not the main thing because everyone at this level earns big money. If it's just for money sometimes you make mistakes, like Barry," he said. "I won't say too much but that was clearly for the money, 100 per cent. If a player is motivated more by money than success, then maybe it is not a bad thing to miss out on him. I believe passion should be the main factor when you are signing a player."
HAIL TO THE KING: Reds legend Kenny Dalglish (right)
signed back in at Anfield as part of the Academy set up.
For all the names that have been linked with a move to the red half of Merseyside; whether it be Johnson, Ribery, Villa, Pranjic, Silva, Albiol, Negredo, Barry or even Lavezzi, one signing has already signed and the Reds supporters could not be happier after Kenny Dalglish returned to the club in a business capacity in a senior role at the club's youth academy as well as a global ambassador for LFC. This was one deal that truly represented value for money as the Reds legend returned to work at Anfield over 18 years after he sensationally quit as manager. The Scot, who is considered to be Liverpool's greatest player of all time, was appointed following a shake-up of the coaching staff by Benitez.
Whilst the likes of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have been unfurling shirts for capacity crowds at the Bernabeu, Benitez has been quietly going about his business and snapping up some of the continent's best coaches for both his youth and senior squads with the likes of Jose Segura and John Achterberg being added to the ranks. Admittedly they are not names of the 'galactico' variety but, along with Johnson, they have been brought in to complete the much-maligned 'missing link'. Liverpool's summer rebuilding has been relatively small and it is expected to remain that way.
Unfortunately the gossip-hungry football fans will believe everything they read and Liverpool are signing players X, Y and Z. As The Jam once sang: 'Don't take it too serious - not many do. Read between the lines and you'll find the truth'.
