Last week, South America football expert Jose Alberti made the bold claim that Argentina striker Ezequiel Lavezzi would be a Liverpool player next season. Obviously, this would be a transfer that many Liverpool fans would love, but is there any substance to the speculation? A few days ago, Lavezzi directly addressed the rumours surrounding his future, and it seems that he's happy where he is at the moment.
Speaking to Radio CalcioMercato last week, Alberti revealed:
"Ezequiel Lavezzi will definitely leave Naples at the end of the season, but he will not go to Italy; He will move to England and sign for Liverpool".
A few days later, in an an interview with Sky Sports Italia, Lavezzi was asked about the speculation linking him with a possible move away from Napoli. He responded:
"My future? I believe that I will be at Napoli next season. I'm happy here, I have a long contract and I am calm.
"I have never had contact with Juventus and, from what I know, there have not been any offers from other clubs."
Liverpool's interest in Lavezzi is well established. In 2009, former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez tried to sign the Argentinean as a striker partner for Fernando Torres, and this was confirmed by Alejandro Mazzoni, Lavezzi's Agent, who told The Telegraph:
"I reiterate that a Fifa agent presented Napoli with an offer from Liverpool for Lavezzi. This was a formal procedure as the player cannot be contacted directly because he is under contract with Napoli"
According to TalkSport, Lavezzi has a £30m release clause in his contract, but is he worth that much, and would Liverpool pay that much?
Lavezzi's goalscoring record is nothing to write home about, and is definitely not worth £30m (IMO).
* Only 4 goals in his last 25 games for Napoli.
* In the final 22 games of last season, Lavezzi score a mere 3 goals
Lavezzi is undoubtedly a good player but Liverpool need a prolific goalscorer, and the Argentinean is clearly not that.
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking to Radio CalcioMercato last week, Alberti revealed:
"Ezequiel Lavezzi will definitely leave Naples at the end of the season, but he will not go to Italy; He will move to England and sign for Liverpool".
A few days later, in an an interview with Sky Sports Italia, Lavezzi was asked about the speculation linking him with a possible move away from Napoli. He responded:
"My future? I believe that I will be at Napoli next season. I'm happy here, I have a long contract and I am calm.
"I have never had contact with Juventus and, from what I know, there have not been any offers from other clubs."
Liverpool's interest in Lavezzi is well established. In 2009, former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez tried to sign the Argentinean as a striker partner for Fernando Torres, and this was confirmed by Alejandro Mazzoni, Lavezzi's Agent, who told The Telegraph:
"I reiterate that a Fifa agent presented Napoli with an offer from Liverpool for Lavezzi. This was a formal procedure as the player cannot be contacted directly because he is under contract with Napoli"
According to TalkSport, Lavezzi has a £30m release clause in his contract, but is he worth that much, and would Liverpool pay that much?
Lavezzi's goalscoring record is nothing to write home about, and is definitely not worth £30m (IMO).
* Only 4 goals in his last 25 games for Napoli.
* In the final 22 games of last season, Lavezzi score a mere 3 goals
Lavezzi is undoubtedly a good player but Liverpool need a prolific goalscorer, and the Argentinean is clearly not that.
Jaimie Kanwar
I think we should consider players like PSV's Ola Toivonen - he's proved he's a goalscorer for several seasons now, and has scored 12 goals in 21 Eredivisie appearances this season, as well as 3 goals in 7 Europa League games and 2 goals in 9 Euro 2012 Qualifiers. I think that shows he can be goalscorer in different tournaments. That's the kind of forwards we should be looking for.
ReplyDeleteIve said that for 2 years now, he would have well settled in by now. and scored twice the goals Carrol has scored. I,m fed up year after year buying players they say will come good and never do. We are slipping down the ranks every year. if you want players to come good keep them in the reserves until they do, like we always did in the 60s, and 70s. Buy proven players in form now !!!!!
ReplyDeleteLavezzi is a fantastic player , but not at that price and not at LFC...
ReplyDeleteIf we have 30m to spend, we should looking for more pace and a greater goal threat.
Top of my list would be:
Stevan Jovetic
Loic Remy
Junior Hoillet
And maybe a better midfield enforcer, maybe even someone better than Lucas.
Personal Favorites:
Javi Martinez
Arturo Vidal
Fernando Reges
Walter Gargarno
Maxime Gonalons
Any of those players would allow us to play a 442 with Gerrard in the centre. Right now you feel like we need 2 players in there with either SG8 and Adam. They both seem to lack a little pace and fitness.
All in all, i feel that we spent quite a bit on goodish EPL players that could get us some stability... what we need now is to add real world class talent to push for the Top 4. Not a whole new squad but move out the Dirks,Maxi,Aurilio,Spearing, etc.... and add 2 or 3 top tier players.
Toivonen is boring, Ruiz is better and he aint the goal scorer we need either. Jovetic is a worm and although talented again not the 20+ goal a season man we are looking for.
ReplyDeleteIsla and Cavani will give LFC EPL glory next season if they join the reds.
ReplyDeleteCavani!
ReplyDeleteDowning, Henderson, Adam, Carroll and Joe Cole were all league proven. Kuyt and Suarez were top scorers in Holland. Torres has been proven with us, look how he is performing for Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteWhat if we're swapping Suarez with Lavezzi? Do we want that to happen?
ReplyDeleteDont waste my time. he's not in the list.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone missed a trick with Di Natale. He has been a goal machine for the past few years and he is still at Udinese. He is getting on now (31 I think) so I doubt he would move. We won't be paying massive wages so Mario Gomez won't be an option. Toivonen isn't an out and out striker so again, won't really be a viable option.
ReplyDeleteCavani is my personal favourite, but will he sign for us if we don't get Champions League football?
Higuain would be a decent option too, although he won't leave unless Real Madrid go and buy another striker. It is Real Madrid though so I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Higuain seems to lose composure in massive games though, so I'm not sure if he will be suited to the Prem.
If we aren't going to spend alot of money on a striker, then Jackson Martinez, or David Texiera would be good options. Both have good movement, can finish and also very good in the air.
If Lavezzi would be a good player for us depends on the formation and style of football we want to play ....
ReplyDelete- If we want to play a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation with wide forwards, then he would be an excellent signing. We would just need another prolific centre forward, if Carroll hasn't established himself as one until the end of the season (he is improving game after game, so let's wait and see) .... and please don't tell me that Andy would struggle without wingers in the team .... that's nonsense !!
- If we want to play a 4-4-2 system, then it wouldn't make any sense at all. We should rather look at players like Hoilett, Sinclair, Dyer, Albrighton, Jarvis, Afellay, ....
In my opinion, we should try to get Lavezzi, because the 4-3-3 formation is the most balanced one and also suits us best with the current group of players we have got. This system also brings the best out of Suarez and there is no denying it, it's a fact !! Our fullbacks have also more freedom to join the attack than in a 4-4-2 and I think we should use them to their best of ability, both are great going forward, Enrique just needs to pass the ball more often and release it quicker. We have Gerrard and Adam, who are really good players, but play a lot better in a three man midfield, especially Gerrard when he plays as an attacking midfielder behind the striker or strikers.
All in all, I think we are better off, if we go for the 4-3-3 system.
Unpredictable free flowing football rather than one dimensional football with pace.
Luuk de Jong in my opinion is the best choice (in our range) !!!
ReplyDeleteDi Natale is scoring goals, that's for sure. However, he is the only target man in the box in Udinese's attacking system. I don't think he will have as many chances as he is now in Udinese if he comes. In addition game speed in italy is slower, which means he may need long time to adapt. At his age, i doubt he will have a successful spell in EPL.
ReplyDelete-Jelle Vossen (Genk, 15goals on 34apps this season)
ReplyDelete-Luuk de Jong (Twente, 22goals on 32apps this season)
-Stevan Jovetic (fiorentina, 12goals on 18apps this season)
-Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord, 71 goals on 101 apps 2003-2006)
ReplyDelete-Luis Suarez (Ajax, 81 goals on 110 apps 2007-2011)
-Mateja Kezman (PSV, 105 goals on 122 apps 2000-2004)
Cavani is incredible and very shapeable.
ReplyDeleteA creative attacking midfielder like Eden Hazard, Christian Eriksen or Lucas Moura would be a far better addition to the current Liverpool team than Lavezzi. Hazard would probably be the ideal player as he can also play on the wing, while Gerrard, Henderson and Shelvey can all play in central positions.
ReplyDeleteHazard would be more attacking than creative. Someone like Aquilani who knows how to play attackers in would be awesome though.
ReplyDeleteTorres scored 82 goals in 214 appearances at Athletico, a conversion rate of just over 38%, this increased to 65% with us and now sits just below 9% at Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's as important as some people on here think it is, (the conversion rate of strikers, that is). If a potential signing shows signs that he could likely fit into our system and compliment what we already have, I think this will be a bigger deciding factor.
Joe Cole would have served us well this season. If we don't get Hazard, I think we should stick with Cole. If we don't get Hazard and LOSC win the league as a result of having Cole, we should bill them for the rest of his wages!
ReplyDeleteNo way, I wouldn't swap him for any other player around right now, unless Torress can play like he did against Real in that 4-0 win every game.
ReplyDeletethere is Giroud, he's on fire now ..
ReplyDeleteHe'd cost a fortune though, I'm sure his club's chairman has quoted 50m Euros (40mpunds) for him to sell. I still think that Morgan will be our main striker in a year or two, being supplied from the wings by Sterling (L) and Silva (R) with Suso sitting behind him and Coady mopping up behind them.
ReplyDeleteWe have, potentially, the talent coming through to do what Barca are doing and what Man Utd dis a decade ago. I'd love to see this happen.
That should read 42m pounds, not 40mpunds!
ReplyDeleteBloody hell.
why not sign fabrizio miccoli cracking striker and really good in the air just ask palemo fans
ReplyDeleteplus youd get him for around 20million
ReplyDeleteEriksen, Honda, Marin, etc. There is no way we should pay 30 million for this guy and he is in a better team than ours at the moment in any case, so why would he want to come? He'll get other offers that will push the price up.
ReplyDelete