10 Nov 2014

35% Price Crash: LFC can sign 'terrific' record-setting star for just £10m. Great deal?

In April 2013, Stoke City goalkeeper Asmir Begovic admitted that he was 'happy' to be linked with a summer transfer to Liverpool, and the Reds were heavily linked with Bosnian stopper before ultimately deciding to go with Simon Mignolet. It's an open secret that Brendan Rodgers is actively trying to sign another goalkeeper, and new reports today suggest that Begovic is back on the manager's transfer wish-list.

According to The Mirror this weekend:

* Liverpool 'have targeted' Asmir Begovic, and plan to make a move during the January transfer window.

* Stoke are willing to sell for around £10m, which is a 35% cheaper that the £15m Stoke allegedly demanded last summer.

At one point during the summer of 2013, it seemed like a deal had already been concluded, when Begovic told the Bosnian media:
"I want to start preparing on July 10, with all the players of Liverpool”

However, soon after, Potters chief executive Tony Scholes dismissed the story as a 'complete fabrication'. He told Sky Sports:

"Asmir's agent rang me as soon as these stories surfaced. He assures me that Asmir doesn't know the Bosnian journalist and has certainly never spoken to him."

I personally find it amusing how often players are allegedly 'misquoted' and/or deny taking part in ill-advised interviews about their futures.

A similar thing happened last season with Daniel Agger, who admitted in a Danish interview that he'd considered quitting Anfield 'several times' due to injury, and suggested that he didn't have 'much time left' at LFC.

A couple of days later, Agger (predictably) claimed he'd been 'misquoted', even though his comments were very far from controversial. But I digress...

When asked last month about stories linking him with a January transfer, Begovic told reporters:

"Those kind of things [links to big clubs] are flattering and give me more motivation to keep working hard and keep performing, but I really enjoy what I'm doing here, and what the future holds, we’ll see."

How does Begovic compare to Mignolet?

* Begovic: 179 goals conceded in 148 apps (for Stoke)
* 45 clean sheets (1 every 3.9 games)
* 1.2 goals conceded per game.

* Mignolet: 211 goals conceded in 156 apps (Sunderland and LFC)
* 45 clean sheets (1 every 4.6 games)
* Concedes 1.3 goals per game.

Goalkeeping legend Gordon Banks is a fan of Begovic, and in a recent interview, he hailed the Serb as 'terrific', and raved:

"First of all, let me say he's had a great season and I've said to a lot of people that he's definitely up there now with the top three goalkeepers in this country,"

Begovic entered the Guiness Book of Records last season for scoring a goal from the longest ever distance in football association history (91.9 metres), but is he a better option than Mignolet?

Author:


21 comments:

  1. FFS just buy the c***.

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  2. Might be too lat for Rodgers.Anyway,who'd want to play behind our back four now?

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  3. That's a forbidden word down under. Cunt on the other hand...

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  4. So who here thinks that we need a DOF?

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  5. crab? chav? cart? clam? ciao?

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  6. It's the c-word synonymous with the nationality of people that Luis Enrique used to surf with in Byron Bay ;)

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  7. Hahahahahahaha nice one

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  8. Hes bosnian not serbian...

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  9. I believe it is actually on our national crest, A roo and an emu standing either side of a shield with the motto "f*** all youse c***s".

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  10. Begovic is having an ordinary season maybe is not as impressive without Pulis parking the bus regularly another average Joe they will sign him up.

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  11. FFS didn't know you're aussie too hahaha

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  12. Really good keepers and getting harder and harder to find. Is Begovic in the top 2/3 in the world? probably not. Is he a more solid keeper than Mignolet? probably. The main issue isn't so much how good he is at Stoke but how would he get on under the pressure of playing for Liverpool? Lots of good players just can't cut it at a top club. The ideal keeper IMO would be Lloris but we're not going to pay the money he's gonna cost.

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  13. He proably isn't as good a shot stopper than SM but h is MUCH more commanding in his box and knows how to actually CATCH a cross...

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  14. Surely we should be going for Lloris?

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  15. Is it just me or has Mignolet looked a little better in recent games?

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  16. Not just you. I've also been impressed with him. Looks like he's been working on the things we all seem to want to work on.

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  17. In my opinion, we could bring in the best goalkeeper in the world and it wouldn't make a difference with the defense we play in front of him.

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  18. Haha yeah mate, but I don't get over to Byron Bay very often, I'm on the other side of the country in Perth, around 5-6 hours flight!

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  19. He's picked up a little bit, I agree. He has no choice but to start to be a commanding player in the box and his distribution has been decent. I like that he's been looking to get the ball out to the feet of his team a bit more quickly.

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  20. Only ever been there once! In fact, Luis Enrique has been there more times than me :)

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