Liverpool continue to be linked with a summer move for Benfica midfielder Lazar Markovic, and the Reds are reportedly taking concrete steps to secure a deal for the exciting Serb, though the price tag appears to be prohibitive.
The story so far:
* April 10th: Liverpool scouts watched Markovic in Benfica's Europa League game with AZ Alkmaar.
* March: Liverpool's Chief Scout watched 20-year-old Markovic during Serbia's 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
March: The Mirror reported: "Liverpool are bidding to beat Chelsea in the £20million chase for Lazar Markovic. He has been on the Kop radar since he was a kid. Brendan Rodgers wants to land the Benfica wide man in a massive deal"
Well, it seems the Reds will indeed have to pay a 'massive' fee to land Markovic. According to reports this week:
* Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers 'has been quoted' £30million by Benfica for Markovic.
* Markovic is allegedly the manager's 'top target' this summer.
* LFC 'officials' have met with the player’s agents to talk about a deal.
Markovic is a massive Chelsea fan, and seemingly has his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge, as he revealed recently:
"Chelsea [is] my dream. I had all the pictures on my wall at home back to when they had Gianfranco Zola. And any time they are on TV I try to watch them. Chelsea are the best".
The presence at Stamford Bridge of fellow Serb Nemanja Matic could be a deciding factor in any move to the Premier League, and the midfield is a big fan Markovic. In February, he told O Jogo:
“He [Markovic] will mature and then he'll be unstoppable. It was great to have played with this fantastic kid for six months.”
I just don't understand all the hype. How is Markovic worth £30m? What has he achieved in the game to warrant that inflated price-tag? Take this season, for example: 6 goals/0 assists in 35 appearances. Is that what £30m buys these days? Coutinho has 5 goals/7 assists this season, and he cost only £8m.
If Liverpool are going to spend that kind of money on an attacking player, he better offer a shedload of goals/assists, and that clearly is not the case with Markovic. Given the fact he's predominantly a winger, his lack of assists is especially concerning.
Massive fees should (IMO) be reserved for players who are the finished article, and will come into the team and make an immediate impact. There's absolutely no guarantee that Markovic will do that, and if he can't create a single goal in the Portuguese league, how is he going to fare in the (arguably) superior - and tougher - Premier League?
Author: Jaimie K
The story so far:
* April 10th: Liverpool scouts watched Markovic in Benfica's Europa League game with AZ Alkmaar.
* March: Liverpool's Chief Scout watched 20-year-old Markovic during Serbia's 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
March: The Mirror reported: "Liverpool are bidding to beat Chelsea in the £20million chase for Lazar Markovic. He has been on the Kop radar since he was a kid. Brendan Rodgers wants to land the Benfica wide man in a massive deal"
Well, it seems the Reds will indeed have to pay a 'massive' fee to land Markovic. According to reports this week:
* Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers 'has been quoted' £30million by Benfica for Markovic.
* Markovic is allegedly the manager's 'top target' this summer.
* LFC 'officials' have met with the player’s agents to talk about a deal.
Markovic is a massive Chelsea fan, and seemingly has his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge, as he revealed recently:
"Chelsea [is] my dream. I had all the pictures on my wall at home back to when they had Gianfranco Zola. And any time they are on TV I try to watch them. Chelsea are the best".
The presence at Stamford Bridge of fellow Serb Nemanja Matic could be a deciding factor in any move to the Premier League, and the midfield is a big fan Markovic. In February, he told O Jogo:
“He [Markovic] will mature and then he'll be unstoppable. It was great to have played with this fantastic kid for six months.”
I just don't understand all the hype. How is Markovic worth £30m? What has he achieved in the game to warrant that inflated price-tag? Take this season, for example: 6 goals/0 assists in 35 appearances. Is that what £30m buys these days? Coutinho has 5 goals/7 assists this season, and he cost only £8m.
If Liverpool are going to spend that kind of money on an attacking player, he better offer a shedload of goals/assists, and that clearly is not the case with Markovic. Given the fact he's predominantly a winger, his lack of assists is especially concerning.
Massive fees should (IMO) be reserved for players who are the finished article, and will come into the team and make an immediate impact. There's absolutely no guarantee that Markovic will do that, and if he can't create a single goal in the Portuguese league, how is he going to fare in the (arguably) superior - and tougher - Premier League?
Author: Jaimie K
he will come in for 18M. Chelshit have financial fair play issues to contend with do they will only have enough for a tpp striker. So no Markovic or Luke Shaw
ReplyDeleteat Chelshit.
I think our poor performance in the Christmas window may end up costing us the league , the squad looks bare when you take Sturridge and Hendo out
ReplyDelete'Pool's transfer policy would never sanction this kind of nonsense. We'd probably offer 6 million.
ReplyDeleteLook a BR's net spend?, he hardly need a fortune to create a good team, he will not be blowing loads of money!!!................he doesn't need to.
ReplyDeleteWe have also been linked with Rodrigo and tried to sign Siqueira who is on loan at Benfica. How does the journalist know that we were scouting Markovic?
ReplyDeleteAccording to reports, Markovic also has more than one ownership which will make any deal to sign him a complete and utter headache just like it was with Mkhitaryan.
Summer 2013 net spend:
ReplyDelete1) Man City - £86m
2) Chelsea - £60.7m
3) Southampton - £37.5m
4) Arsenal - £32.4m
5) Man Utd - £28.9m
6) Cardiff City - £25.1m
7) West Ham - £21.5m
8) Norwich City - £20.97m
9) Liverpool - £19.3m
10) Swansea - £19.25m
BR has actually done superbly well while cutting the wage-bill, he clearly has a plan.
It would be great if Sunderland can cause an upset. Do not hold your breath though...
ReplyDeleteI think I said before that it seems likely he would go to Chelsea given the choice.
ReplyDeleteBut I doubt he would play much. They bought Salah, and he barely plays.
Saying that, who would make way for him at Liverpool?
If Citeh play like they did against us I can't see it happening either but they put up a good fight against us and they'll have to to have any chance of staying up so here's hoping for a poor pitch and an open minded ref.
ReplyDeleteThey can sell to buy. Mata will have helped
ReplyDeleteBy all means we should throw out these signals so to confuse the competition. I hope we keep our eyes on target though. Rakitic and Kono should be at the top of the list. Then we need another left back, because I don't believe Enrique is coming back. We have young talent that is out on loan that we should bring back into the team: Ibe, Wisdom, Llori, McLaughlin, Borini and Robinson. We have young talent that should get a shot in Texeira. We need to sell Alberto, Aspas and maybe Suso to offset some cost of Rakitic and Kono. Then we need to decide if Borini has it in him to be the third striker. If he does we still need a #4...I think it could be Jordan Rhodes. But if BR doesn't think Borini can consistently win LC/FAC matches then we need to shop for a third and a fourth. I think Rhodes could be the #3.
ReplyDeleteESPN has a long list of world sports teams pay structures. City top the list. The real value appears to be Athletico Madrid...paying $5M dollars per player less than RM or Barca and kicking butt in LaLiga. Liverpool is #20 on the list AM is number 94. I was a liittle shocked at what Indian teams are paying. I am assuming that IPL means Indian Premier League.
ReplyDeletePandle thats 20/20 cricket mate.
ReplyDelete