26 Jan 2013

Done deal: Coutinho on his way to Anfield in €13m deal. Excited...?

LFC transfer latest: Liverpool are ready to bite the bullet over Philippe Coutinho and match Southampton's offer for the exciting Brazilian playmaker.

Speaking to Sky Sports Italia, Italian football expert Gianluca Di Marzio claimed that the Reds are preparing to put in a €13m offer for Coutinho:

"Southampton's offer has reached €13 million, and will be accepted by Inter on Monday.

"However, Liverpool are ready to match this proposal just to take the Brazilian"


Sky Sports UK is also reporting that a deal has been struck:

"Sky Sports understands Liverpool are closing in on the signing of Inter Milan winger Philippe Coutinho after agreeing a fee with the Serie A outfit"

In his press conference yesterday, Liverpool coach Brendan Rodgers re-affirmed the club's commitment to strengthening in the summer, but insisted that the main transfer priority is improving the squad now. He told Reporters:

"The real plans are for now. Short term we want to improve and develop. You can see that, we brought in Daniel and he's been excellent so far. We got the recruitment team in, the lines are very clear, everyone has an understanding of where we're at and it's working how we envisaged it to work"

€13m (£11m) for an injured, untested (outside Italy) 20-year old? Seems like a major risk to me, especially when the club has players like Joao Teixeira coming through who could (in time) do a similar job.

Having said that, he is undoubtedly an exciting player: skill, trickery, pace - just the kind of attacker Liverpool need.



Jaimie Kanwar

NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)



102 comments:

  1. It's really worth the gamble in my opinion; he has unquestionable talent on the ball, and he's that 'real' brazilian you, and I, have been crying out for. He is miles ahead of Downing in talent and skill. Once this guy fully develops, he could really scare defences along with Sturridge and Suarez, but he may immediately do so if he comes.

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  2. For me, Coutinho's exactly what we haven't had enough of. Flair in the final third. Yes, I have my concerns about signing an injured player, after Aquilani and Carroll, but I don't know the nature of Coutinho's injury yet.

    Suarez has been absolutely superb when he stays away from controversy and Sturridge so far looks a good bit of business, but I think Coutinho is a potentially more exciting addition than Sturridge.

    Let's hope that this happens and persuades our top players that we mean business, so they also want to stay. I particularly include Reina and Suarez in this, though not all will agree.

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  3. We wouldn't buy him if he wasn't going to have an immediate impact, or else Rodgers is talking complete nonsense about wanting to strengthen in the short term. Just look at it this way: will he be better than Downing? And is he potentially more developed than Ince? I think he'll fit straight into the team, at least once fully fit. Ince is obviously doing well in the Championship but Coutinho has experience at the top level in both Italy and Spain. Of course we've seen foreign league players struggle to adapt but there is no question it would be a big step up for Ince. I suppose in the end it might come down to the qualities that the players would bring to Liverpool and you'd hope the scouting team have some good tools for determining which player will be a better fit. If we're going to splash the cash then I think at the very least the management have confidence in Countinho and I never see much point in trying to second guess the blokes who actually do this stuff for a living. 

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  4. well he wont as he is injured...........how do injured players pass a stringent medical anyway....id hoped we had learned fron carroll and aquaman that signing injured players seldom works...and this is an injured player who had no initial desire to move ...its aquaman all over again...what odds we will be loaning this guy to an itlaian club next season and paying his wages.........  

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  5. It's a really exciting signing if it happens. He got something our younger players do not have and that is 1st team football experience at a high level including champions league.

    Suarez, Sterling, Gerrard and Coutinho all add something different to Liverpool's attack and hopefully destroy the opposing defences.

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  6.  ps nick .its easy to gamble with someone elses money

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  7. Yes. Flair is what we are talking about. If FSG want an increase in our global exposure, we can at least start with looking good on the surface- people will want to watch us. Flair is the cutting edge that makes teams stand out from the rest, that extra element of cutting edge which helps get them over the line, even out of nothing.

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  8. The part of your article that stands out to me is the mention of joao teixeira. I believe he is an exciting prospect and only a year or two younger in age, i know he's had the back injury to come back from but he's still a good prospect. If we are going to ignore the players we have in youth then ok sign countinho but if not why not try find a more proven player to take the role now?
    i understand theres no harm in adding competition for these young players but i dont want to see another series of young players leaving and not getting a go because we buy slightly more experienced players to jump ahead of them.

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  9. this guy is 1000 times better than aqualani and carroll.

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  10. I totally agree, well worth the risk. Considering how much we wasted on Carrol etc, 13m euros isn't the end of the world.
    Also, was Oscar proven in the premier league when Chelsea signed him? No, but he's doing just fine.
    I would love this guy to come to us.

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  11. and who knows if his desire wasn't initial. it's all talk. torres loved liverpool one day, snuck away the next.

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  12. watching some video of him he reminds me a lot of Suarez, very direct in how he runs at and around players. obviously runs himself into trouble a fair bit but seems to have enough vision to remember there are other players around him who can finish things off. suarez would be an ideal player for him to learn from, how to transform some of that trickery into goals and assists. 

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  13. i think it could be a great buy,we are going in the right direction with rogers and i think we will put one hell of afight for that fourth spot this year

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  14. 13 million your kidding right for someone we offered 8 for origanally absolute farce not worth that much imo 

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  15. liverpool4life5652:04 pm, January 26, 2013

    Worth the price, he got a big future, with Rodgers there he will fulfil it, if Rodgers can make downing look good who isn't that talented then can't wait to see coutinho!:) also lucas,Suarez,Coates can help him settle down :)

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  16. hope we get him , he's a skill , which we'll enjoy and he'll contrabute to the liverpool cause , exciting times coming our way slowly but surely,

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  17. he wont cost that much. Lots of reports saying its less than €10m

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  18. yesterday you wrote a whole article about how and why coutinho wont be able to get his work permit. and you seemed so certain that this is the case. today you write a new article about the same transfer news but doest mention that work permit issue at all! is the permit issue still there and u simply didnt find it important to talk about it? ( which seems so weird) , or is it that you'verealused that you were completely wrong yesterday and of course there will be no problem for him to obtain his work permit? thanks for answering me

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  19. Absolutely agree, we're a decent team to watch at the moment but if Suarez isn't on his game we lack flair, hopefully this guy we help us on that front.

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  20. agreed Pigman , we need a creative mid who can take on defenses and create spaces and passes for suarez and sturrige ... from the little ive seen  the boy has talent , would love to see him in ...and also regardless of what was said he seems to really want to come to Liverpool ...with suarez , lucas and Coates he could settle very quickly ....just hope we get him and then use him properly ....slowly ....

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  21. And your problem is what, exactly? I've already covered the work permit issue; why should I repeat myself? Irrespective of that issue, the club is pushing forward with the deal, which is what this article is about.

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  22. Hi Jason, the problem is that some reports quote euros and others sterling. The 13M is in Euros which is about 11M sterling. The 8M was in sterling so an increase of 3M.

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  23. but but but why jamie?

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  24. RAFASdaysWEREtheGLORYdays4:57 pm, January 26, 2013

    I just hope if we sign him it doesnt mean Suarez wil be leaving in the summer,so were getting in our replacement before the price goes up after selling Suarez.Gerrard seems to think Suarez wont be staying around if we dont get CL,rodgers said he could of gone last summer but chose to stay so obviously the same scenario is going to crop up again with him having the opportunity to leave again.I just hope its not a case of spend £8m and gain £40m.

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  25. He is a good player, and even though he is injured he should be back soon. Medical teams in England are a lot better than those in Italy so you never know.

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  26. Jason- you really have no clue! Most of your talk is complete rubbish! You talk like you know best! I'm afraid you don't. Start getting behind the owners the manager and the team we are building!

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  27. It's called negotiating!  

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  28. I would love to here your thoughts on who we should be buying, why and at what price Jason!

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  29. Jamie- I'm guessing that the club will already know that he we will receive a permit especially when shelling out that kind of money?

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  30. It is risky business but We need players with flair and technical ability. Coutinho looks like a good buy. He is a better player to Downer by far. Downer will be getting less playing time from now on. Come summer he should be moved on. 

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  31. Coutinho is a huge gamble and i would have prefered we go for Ince but a player is a player none the less, and IMO Coutinho is already similar to Suso. BR better have a good plan for Coutinho cause he is cup-tied for the Europa League which means he'll be thrown straight into the EPL when he is fit. But seriously why go for him now when he is injured and cup-tied? According the the BBC, the deal has been done

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  32. The deal cost 8.5M according to BBC Sport. 8.5M for a player who has just 1 international cap, injured, cup-tied and would require a work permit!! He better be the a Messi-CR7 mod that....lol

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  33. Considering Ince's price, Coutinho seems fair. Brazil International... U-20 World Cup winner, Played in Serie-A and La Liga. Has experience... Could be LFC's Iniesta

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  34. You could see this the other way round, spend 8m to try and get into the top 4. Also remember when CR7 was bought he wasn't a world beater he grew into that role. less than 10m euros sounds like good business sense to me and good negotiations, i've heard jurnos saying he worth at least 15m euros!

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  35. Maybe we get both, BR was saying he wanted 2 players in the remainder of the transfer window. It's safe to say we won't get any french players with Newcastle buying their whole league!

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  36. I think with work permits it is always a gamble, i would say LFC are about 90% sure they will get one, but it could go wrong. I would hope that hey have in the contract that if they don't get a work permit the sale doesn't go through

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  37. Liverpool Echo states the fee is around 8.5 mil pounds or just under 10 mil euros.. thats a pretty reasonable price..

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  38. Maybe Ince aswell if not now then in the summer for peanuts?!

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  39. Well different sources say the fee is around £8.5 million (BBC). I very much doubt Liverpool will pay £11 million considering they would not go over £6 million for Ince. Take into account BBC is a more trusted source so I dont know where you got £11 million pound fee that is 13 million euros.

    Every transfer is a risk, but I still believe it could be a smart piece of business. Hernandez cost £6 million for United so paying £8.5 million to a team like Inter for an upcoming footballer can be taken in  positively.  

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  40. Agreed, some reports were mixing the two currencies up as this is what crap journos do!

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  41. Also agreed, remember, Spurs offered, if memeory serves me correctly, £20m for Carroll.

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  42. That fact that he's a talented 20 year old, costing a multi million transfer, has broke through to the first team, albeit in a friendly, will go along way to him getting a permit granted. The kid is, potentially, going to be a first team player for us for a number of years. This, too, will go towards his permit.

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  43. What we paid for him is a better deal than Zaha's. 

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  44. Absolute farce? How do you come to that conclusion? I seem to recall on a previous thread you slagging off FSG for not coughing up the selling clubs asking price for players and potentially missing out as other clubs step in (ince and swanseas bid) yet you now have a go at FSG for meeting the price on this lad to avoid losing out on him! i said at the time on the previous thread that if this is your view then FSG can't win and you've just proved me right. It's fair enough if you don't think he's worth it, many would disagree with that, but to label the process a farce is a massive contradiction after your previous criticisms

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  45. I'd prefer him to be a clone of Ronaldo, tbh, the skinny one, that is.

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  46. Cant see why though, we have suso whos alike him, couldve spent better this money, why another midfielder, we needed an old fashioned striker, or a left back, a back up of enrique so johnson could stop playing there and go to his natural position

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  47. Like Jamie said... Coutinho has skill, trickery and pace. He can do what Iniesta does for Spain and Barca. Hopefully we could get Ince too. That would be super cool.
    My LFC Lineup

                       REINA

    JOHNSON/KELLY    SKRTEL       AGGER              ENRIQUE

                     LUCAS/ALLEN 
                 
                                     GERRARD/HENDO

    COUTINHO/SUSO                                  INCE/STERLING 
                     
                                SUAREZ / SHELVEY

                       STURRIDGE / BORINI

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  48. "Talented Kid" loophole???

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  49. Agree with the article, major risk, personally would be more excited if we were after another out & out striker like gary hooper

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  50. its the fans money to, from tickets to merchandise even paying for sky tv to watch them if you cant make matches.

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  51. ticks all the right boxes, sounds like ince could be next.
    without pushing it id like a good experienced player in, either left back or centre mid..........maybe striker!!!
    but hey even with this guy and sturridge in, one of our better transfer (efforts)  ;0)

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  52. what nearly doubleing your price come and negotiate with me 

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  53. because its i farce they offer a lot less than milan want then other clubs become involved then we pay more than we could have got him for in the 1st place

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  54. Stupid way to look at this deal. He is better that any wide player we have at the club. Our focus is the league and pushing for 4th place and this guy can help with that. Who cares about Europa.

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  55. Ronaldinho like free kick under the wall was brilliant. 

    Can't deny this guys attacking ability but under BR he will need to track back and defend because the 4-2-3-1 with Suso in the middle lasted about 15 minutes. 

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  56. Really looking forward to this signing. But, then i was wrong about fsg being skinflints this window. Kudous to Rodgers for showing the owners just how threadbare our squad is. I was underwhelmed by Sturridge. So far so good. I do question his ability to put performances in on a regular basis. Ill reserve judgement on Coutinho for now. But he does look quality. Hope it works out. Lets be honest we all want exiting players who can magical things with the ball. We have Suarez. Lets hope this player can fulfill his talent. I hope his body holds up in our league to.

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  57. Finally! Iwe been waiting for this! How can people not be pleased when we have signed a young attacking player that has gone the grades on national level of the best attacking football-nation in this world. Yes I will agree it is a risk, but that is also the reason we are able to sign him for such a reasonable price. I think as the clubs status is today this might in the near future show to be a genius move. Remember that the days of signing players in the absolute top bracket has long gone. This guy has more potential than most signing done in resent 5 years by our beloved club (Suarez excluded). I do remember some people saying exactly the same when we signed him though. Just concider that if the bet payes of, we might have signed a guy that could be a Brasilian national player the next 10 years for peanuts. BRAZIL FFKSake. Im waiting for all you negative dissers to come crawling back in a coupple of years saying: we always new we where buying gold at the price of gravel on this one.

    Well done Brendan.
    Now go and get us Ince and Buntland for the future and we (the realistic fans who are not living in a dream) are well pleased.

    Get behind your club and manager or get lost!

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  58. You don't think inter would have been aware of what interest there is in the player then? You think they'd just rush in and accept the first offer they received in the ball park they were willing to accept before waiting to see what other clubs would offer? Of course not. And right now you, like everyone else, has no idea what fee inter wanted or what we've agreed, it's all speculation. And if you're basing this opinion on the tabloid speculation then its actually been suggeted we've offered LESS than Southampton because the player would prefer a move to us, not more. The fact is we will have had to pay what inter can get for him on the current market. Whether its value for money remains to be seen but when you compare his fee to others we've paid and players such as zaha have gone for this window then it looks a good deal

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  59. PLEASE DO NOT SELL OUT SEBASTIAN COATES AND OUSSAMA ASSAIDI. JUst sell out Downing,Henderson,Doni and Lucas to get more fund budget.

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  60. -----------------------------Reina/B.Jones-------------------------

    G.Johnson/Wisdom---------Skrtel + Agger-------J.Enricque/J.Carragher

    ---------------------------Coates/J.Shelvey-------------------------

    Suso/ Countinho-----------Gerrard/J.Allen--------------Sterling/Assaidi

    ----------------------Sturridge/Suarez/Borini----------------------- 

    If you look with this team list line up,i am sure are can be strong now. Please use all your material with wisely.No need more unnecessery signing

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  61. Yeah right. Lets see now sell Lucas and Hendo, or crawl back under the stone you came out from? Now thats a tough one LOL

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  62. sell lucas!!! you my friend are a clown.

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  63. finally!! i have been waiting days for this deal to be done! theres no way a player like coutinho can come to the premiership and be a flop, hes going to fit in beautifully :) would love tom ince to follow...im new here this is my first comment and just want to put it out there i would love to ryan babel back! i think hes quality and BR could bring the best out of him and he would also fit into the new liverpool :) would love borini to have a blinder and get a coulpe of goals and also suso today against oldham would be quality!

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  64. yes i would like borini to bang a few in , want to see him grow in confidence , yea the brazilian lad countinho , he's going to rip  them apart and more exciting will be the movement around him as he attacks , we be camping in their box for ninety minutes , happy campers

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  65. Excited? No. Happy people can stop moaning about how we can't compete with Southampton financially? Definitely!

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  66. The fact that Coates and Shelvey are in the same position says enough :-)

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  67. Brilliant attacker with pace, what more can ppl ask 4. Has skill & can create, add him to Suarez, Sterling & Sturridge & the thing that was lacking - speed & off the ball  movement is suddenly terminated into 1 of the best attacking forces in the premier league- gr8 signing if true....

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  68. I think suso needs more time hes a quality player but looks a little out of his depth in some of the games I seen him play but I agree we could use a left bk I think its one of the few areas were light

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  69. The new Johnny Barnes? Looks full of trickery, in and about the box too.About time we got a John Barnes type at Anfield. Now if we can find another Molby i shall be quite happy.

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  70. inter wanted 8 million if we had paid the 8 million straight away the deal would have been done,but we f"cked about as usual and southampton got wind that the player was avalable and upped the anti so in the end we have payed more

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  71. imo coutihno was worth 8 million if we had just done the deal it would have been fine done and dusted,but like ive said we messed about and alerted other clubs to his availability and they upped the offer on the table meaning we have paid more than we could have got him for if we had just met milans origanal asking price

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  72. god you would get us relagated 

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  73. if we could find a new king kenny i would be over the moon

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  74. No we didn't the fee is £8.5m. You only ever make negative comments your either a miserable sob or support someone else

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  75. how do you know how much we are paying did you sign the check ,get real these loads of different prices flying about

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  76. I am happy. This guy is a good buy.QED! Lets get Ince and we don't need a left back IMO. We have jack Robinson

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  77. Sorry Jase, but on this one I have to disagree. I moaned seriously about FSG dragging their heels on this deal as you know. The whole situation got a bit messy for whatever reasons, (possibly FSG f.rting about), but, if they have decided to pay an increased fee to finally get this sorted, then I think they should be applauded. It's what I've been asking them to do so feel credit must be given where it's due...

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  78. Totally agree. FSG would not push this deal through at a financial increase to them for nothing in return...I'm pretty sure they have looked into the whole permit thing and have enough grounds to put forward a decent application based on all the aspects you mention..

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  79. I can't believe this is their thinking at all. Rather, they have realised that the future must start somewhere; and to have a future you must first have a present. I think deals like this are done to KEEP our best players.

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  80. Looks like Reading have entered that one with an £8m bid...

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  81. I don't believe that BR is going to change his opinion any time soon and get that 'old fashioned striker'. He has said on many occasions that he prefers versatile players up front. 

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  82. Can't really say I agree with any of that!

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  83. Welcome.....Can't say I totally agree on the Babel idea but hey, who knows? Totally agree I would also love Borini to have an absolute blinder and Suso to play well.

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  84. Can't please all the people all the time.......

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  85. You've made the point yourself there Jason, no one knows how much we are paying or what inter wanted because we don't write the cheques or are involved in the negotiations. One minute your using the speculation to back up your argument, ie inter asked for x amount and we ended up paying more, then you admit to Kev that there's so many figures being banded about no one knows. You're the one that needs to get real. Somehow you've turned signing one of the top talents in Europe into a negative when we haven't paid a lot of money and he hasn't even officially signed yet let alone kicked a ball for us

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  86. Again how do you know we messed around? Is it not conceivable that Southampton were in for him straight away, at the same time as us or even before and made multiple bids themselves? That's more than likely as their manager took him on loan to Espanyol so knows him well and Southampton have cash to spend and can offer guaranteed first team football so have a reasonably strong case. It would be naive to think that clubs only become alerted to a players availability because another club is trying to sign them. Any interested club would have known all along and FSG are only trying to get the best deal for te club and it looks like this is a good one so they should be commended not derided for it!

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  87. Are you kidding me? Hendo? Lucas?.. Now, I know we have few plastic fans!

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  88. im a babel fan, always have been and i think he suits this liverpool team down to the t! hes fast, powerful, and he never got that chance playing under benitez but BR could make him into the superstar he is!! think about it, babel playing along side Stevie, Suarez, sturridge, sterling, borini and of course COUTINHO!! would be scary...!!

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  89. i don't agree i think we do need a left back because i don't think we ever filled riise boots! i really don't see jack robinson being like kelly and becoming massive for liverpool and he will end up a good buy for the likes of QPR etc...still aint 100% on jose enrique and don't think hes the one but he does have his days as we've all witnessed! i know im probably living in a dreamworld when i say JORDI ALBA for left back and don't see it as "impossible" 

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  90. Finally we are starting to sign players who at least have the potential to one day win the ballon d'or.  No disrepect to Downing, Carroll or Henderson, who are signings past, but they are NEVER, AND THE ROCK MEANS NEVER!.....ever going to win it or even come close.  This league is full of space for special players to exploit if they are good enough, this could could be a Barnesy or Ronaldo moment for us. 

    The future is looking flippin exciting.....

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  91. agree 100%

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  92.  agree 100%

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  93. Whooooooo Jason CN got you cornered!! Jaimie ain't coming to help ya!!

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  94. From my understanding of the Work permit issue. Coutinho has a work permit in Italy. Italy is part of the EU so there should be not big issue with him working in the UK. 

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  95. Seems like we got a good deal, so defo cant complain. Yet another lightweight kid though. Does BR think we're playing in La Liga? Our frontline could get blown off the pitch when the March winds come around!

    I'm just hoping we're getting the kids prepped now, so they can settle, then bring in a few experienced heads in summer. How we could have done with Bellamy and Maxi this season!!

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  96. What is the deal with his injury and work permit situation?

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  97. ANOTHER MIDFIELDER - MADNESS

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  98. Jamie is right on the quote but wrong on the number. This whole 13 mil euro number was debunked by the Liverpool Echo. They stated that this number was fabricated in Italy and every reliable source from inside both clubs clocks it at just under 10 million - so £8 million pounds. Small, but significant, detail. Look up James Pearce's and the Echo's Twitter feed and they discuss this...giving you links etc.

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  99. How would the Echo know that? Let's wait and see what the final figure turns out to be. I'd rather believe Italian sources, i.e. journos who are actually close to Inter, than U journos hundreds of miles away with no connection to Inter.

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