Outgoing Liverpool star Jamie Carragher recently confirmed that the Reds would be looking to sign 'several' central defenders this summer, and along with a whole host of other players, Marseille's Nicolas N'Koulou continues to be linked with a move to Anfield.
According to a report in the Daily Mail over the weekend:
"Liverpool want two defenders, with Douglas of FC Twente on their list. Marseille defender Nicolas N’Koulou has also been mentioned at Anfield but could prove too expensive at £15million"
At the end of April, Sky Sports reported:
"N'Koulou is a target of Premier League clubs Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham as well as a lot of other European clubs".
Those clubs include the likes of Barcelona and AC Milan, and in October, AC Milan sporting director Ariedo Braida confirmed the Rossoneri's interest. He told La Provence:
“He is a player who we have been monitoring since he was with Monaco. We’ll continue to watch him to understand whether he could do a good job for us in the future"
When asked in April about the possibility of leaving France this summer, the Cameroon International said:
"The club and me are together on my future. If they receive an offer they can't refuse, then we will have to sell".
In another recent interview, N'Koulou shed some more light on his future:
"I will be able to talk about my future in the summer. I know the club want to balance their books and think I am an asset for them."
Speaking to Foot Mercato last night, N'Koulou continued to be a little evasive about his future:
"I respect my commitment [to Marseille], but you know in football anything can happen. My agent takes care of everything, and I'll remain focused until the end of the season"
Marseille President Vincent LaBrune clearly rates N'Koulou very highly, and he recently told France Football:
"I read rave reviews about Thiago Silva [who cost PSG £35m], who is supposed to be the best in the world but Nicolas N’Koulou is at least as good as he is. He is a true leader in defence and has an exceptional mentality. He will go very far."
N'Koulou is a versatile defender, and can play across the back-four, and as a defensive midfielder, which would be good for Liverpool as cover is needed in all those areas.
The competition seems to be intense though, so signing the African star could be a tough proposition. Having said that, he's probably more likely to get regular game time at Liverpool as opposed to Barcelona or AC Milan.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
According to a report in the Daily Mail over the weekend:
"Liverpool want two defenders, with Douglas of FC Twente on their list. Marseille defender Nicolas N’Koulou has also been mentioned at Anfield but could prove too expensive at £15million"
At the end of April, Sky Sports reported:
"N'Koulou is a target of Premier League clubs Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham as well as a lot of other European clubs".
Those clubs include the likes of Barcelona and AC Milan, and in October, AC Milan sporting director Ariedo Braida confirmed the Rossoneri's interest. He told La Provence:
“He is a player who we have been monitoring since he was with Monaco. We’ll continue to watch him to understand whether he could do a good job for us in the future"
When asked in April about the possibility of leaving France this summer, the Cameroon International said:
"The club and me are together on my future. If they receive an offer they can't refuse, then we will have to sell".
In another recent interview, N'Koulou shed some more light on his future:
"I will be able to talk about my future in the summer. I know the club want to balance their books and think I am an asset for them."
Speaking to Foot Mercato last night, N'Koulou continued to be a little evasive about his future:
"I respect my commitment [to Marseille], but you know in football anything can happen. My agent takes care of everything, and I'll remain focused until the end of the season"
Marseille President Vincent LaBrune clearly rates N'Koulou very highly, and he recently told France Football:
"I read rave reviews about Thiago Silva [who cost PSG £35m], who is supposed to be the best in the world but Nicolas N’Koulou is at least as good as he is. He is a true leader in defence and has an exceptional mentality. He will go very far."
N'Koulou is a versatile defender, and can play across the back-four, and as a defensive midfielder, which would be good for Liverpool as cover is needed in all those areas.
The competition seems to be intense though, so signing the African star could be a tough proposition. Having said that, he's probably more likely to get regular game time at Liverpool as opposed to Barcelona or AC Milan.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
If they qualify for the CL, they will have their books balanced. I don't get these young players. He's only 23 for crying out loud. How could staying at Marseille for another year, learning some more and playing Champions League to boot be a bad thing? He'll be 24 next summer and he maybe a more established player then. If he signs for a club like Barca or Milan now, he'll just be sitting on the bench for at least a year. I don't understand how these kids don't see the likes of Lukaku's careers coming to a grinding halt and think twice before they move. If he were my kid I'd know what I'd be telling him.
ReplyDeleteas good as silva the marseille president needs to keep of the drugs
ReplyDeleteI can't see us spending 15m on one centre-half. There are equally good players out there for less. We should concentrate on signing players who can emulate the Henchoz/Hyppiä pairing, both of whom didn't cost that much back in the day. And there even might be some hope left, or rather re-installed, concerning Coates. He didn't do badly last weekend.
ReplyDeleteseries 4 of AN IDIOT ABROAD starts in september featuring david moyes in the champions league !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeletejas series 4 of an idiot abroad starts in september featuring david moyers in the champions league!!
ReplyDeleteeverton fc would like to list the achievements of david moyes as a special thank you for his services.
ReplyDeletejoined 2002 left 2013
I don't believe you need lightning pace to play that role really. Many defensive mids haven't been blessed with blistering pace so I don't think that would be an issue. He's not the slowest player out there anyway.
ReplyDeleteWatching him against Fulham reassured me he does have the skills needed to play the ball. He can defend so that part of his game only needs tweaking. He can head the ball and has the size so would not be muscled off the ball. With two centre backs behind him he would not be the last line of defence so that pressure will be gone, and his mistakes will be a little less accountable.
Worth a try you think? BR gave Enrique a chance on the wing.......
Lol! :D
ReplyDeletehe came he saw he did f"ck all
ReplyDeleteI'd rather play him there and give him a shot than have him rotting on the bench. At the very least, it gives Lucas or Allen a breather.
ReplyDeleteyou are joking ..........
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea, though I am not sure whether he could handle that role technique wise. Having a tall lad like him sitting in front of the back four, though, seems to be a good idea, at least against some opposition.
ReplyDeleteWith the owners we have i really cant see us signing all these players that we are always connected to . We are not going for nothing next year no champions league no europa so great players at high levels we wont attract. Higuain is 18 m we wont go for him eriksen doesnt want to come to us germany. tello doesnt want to come to us for the past two years in swap deal with Reina. We first have to sell Downing Carroll assadi borini skrtel to raise much of the money. So the words from rodgers we have to sign one or two new players ? we all know that we need about 5 players and 2 to be world class . transfer time is around and we are getting everone but last week of the window we will get more players from relagated clubs . Hope im wrong but this is same story again
ReplyDeleteWhat are you on about? If we act smart and get more players like coutinho and Sturridge then we will be fine, we are 5th in the table from January, next season we will start the season better, FSG give funds it's up to our transfer team to pick players out....I wouldn't sell downing,borini there good squad players, we need depth so more players will be coming in than out,
ReplyDeletedoesn't have near enough technical ability or touch to play DF!
ReplyDeleteour defensive situation is very interesting at the moment. Carra is leaving but that still leaves us with Agger, Skrtel, Coates with Kelly and Wisdom both able to play centrally.
ReplyDeleteAgger and Skrtel have both resigned, Coates has i believe 3 years left on his contract, Kelly and wisdom have both resigned recently.
Now it looks like Lloyd is getting a 3 year deal (i know little about him).
Thats quite a few CB's we have on long contracts.
Also taking into account of full backs we have Johnson, Enrique and also the young players in Flanagan and Robinson.
So who do we get rid of and who should be given a chance?
Coates and Skrtel seem to be the most popular names when it comes to replacing players but what do people think about Flanagan, Robinson, Kelly and Wisdom?
Definitely since Lucas is making so much mistakes , we could use Coates in mid
ReplyDeleteAt this moment in time I can't see Flanagan or Robinson make it at Liverpool. Robinson is still young enough to improve dramatically, but we should find another back-up at right back instead of Flanagan. Maybe that young Northern Irish lad, McLaughlin, will step up.
ReplyDeleteGetting rid of Skrtel and not buying a more experienced centre-back would be a bad thing to do. I really like Kelly and Wisdom, but could you imagine one of them being our main centre-back for an entire season at this stage of their career?
I couldn't see us sign all the players we are linked with even if we had an Abramovic-esque or sheik owner. It would make no sense at all to have all the popular names at one club. There's only so many players a club really needs. Why sign ten or twelve international forwards when we play only two or three of them every week? Why sign six goalkeepers when we actually may only need one to replace Reina?
ReplyDeleteAnd at his age he surely won't evolve anymore, right?
ReplyDeleteDo you remember when Lucas first played for us? What you just wrote about Coates is exactly what many people said about Lucas back then. You might be right, though. I am not a talent spotter or scout and am not exceptionally good at judging the potential ability of a player.
lol ;-)
ReplyDeleteRYAN McLAUGHLIN is fantastic going forward.He reminds me of a young DAMIEN DUFF but defensively i would question his positioning at times but he's young and with time he'll get better.I suppose he's not that different to the player who currently occupies right back.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you smoking ????? You and your husband have to understand we have finished 8th 7th 6th 7th 7th this year . myself and lots more liverpool fan believe nothing has changed simple when we lose Suarez the same way we lost torres. torres mascherano arbeloa alonso Gerrard hypia Garcia reina are 8 world class players we had at once and we were in top 4 with the sell before buy system of hicks and gillett . Now world class Gerrard Suarez maybe Couthino . with FSG sell before buy. So we are better on now Right . We didnt have Shiek with Rafa top 4 was there all but once.there is no way in the world that Allen borini downing carroll assadi are good enough to get us top 4 now way . Couthino looks like it.
ReplyDeleteYou do realise that we are linked with about 100 players, Miss.
ReplyDeleteApparently Robinson did a descent job at wolves this season so i would like to see how he goes in pre season, but if the rumors are to be believed we are looking at Digne to come in (which isnt a bad signing but not sure if its really a priority).
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Kelly make the move inside because i think him and agger could make a good partnership, But i agree that it wouldnt be a great idea at this point to try him as the starter all season.
Arbeloa and Garcia could do a decent job, but they were never 'world class'. Agger, Sturridge, Lucas and arguably Henderson are better players than those two.
ReplyDeleteWell, we seem to have plenty natural centre-backs, but hardly any full-backs as back-up. So, yes, lets see how Robinson does, give Kelly and Wisdom a few run-outs in the centre, too, but we really should sign at least one quality centre-back to play with Agger as our main pairing.
ReplyDeleteHope he gets a few games next season.
ReplyDeleteGreat one miss Genius , if you read the post thats exactly what i said we are linked to everyone,
ReplyDeleteGarcia is 100 times better then borini
ReplyDeleteTony - cut out the stupid comments. One more and you'll be banned.
ReplyDeleteWhats the stupid comment jamie i thought it was a she ? second is it that i have a opinion that not like buy rodgers fans . look at all my postings here over the months not one problem? anteater has a opinion that i dont share ? this is social media isnt it i dont swear i dont abuse no one . jamie you hold the right to do what you want. and if its ban so be it . ill still believe that the last 5 years 7th 8th 6th 7th 7th not going foward my opinion .
ReplyDeleteN'Koulou is what liverpool need both in defends and defensive midfielder...liverpool should get him,he is 2 in 1.
ReplyDeletethank you and yes misunderstanding we all have diffrent opinions. Is it great as well that Rafa benitez has won the europa cup great manager should be at liverpool
ReplyDeleteWell, some people on the internet seem to know it all, anyway.
ReplyDelete