11 Dec 2014

Transfer Boost: After 'big investment', BR reveals his plan for LFC's 'January signings'. New deals a 'possibility'

Despite spending £120m over the summer, Liverpool's squad seems to have regressed this season, and the club's pitiful position in the Premier League is persuasive evidence to support that. After such massive investment, the team shouldn't need major surgery in January, but the plain fact is that if LFC don't strengthen during the upcoming window, Champions League qualification is almost certainly out of the question. Reds boss Brendan Rodgers is clearly aware of this, and it sounds like he'll approach FSG with his begging-bowl at some point over the next few weeks.

In the aftermath of LFC's inglorious exit from the Champions League, Rodgers hinted that January signings are very much on his agenda. He told reporters:

"The possibility of January signings is something to discuss with the owners, but there was a big investment in the summer".

At the bare minimum, Liverpool arguably need a striker who will consistently score goals, but given his abject performance in the transfer market, should FSG trust Rodgers with any more money? There are two ways to approach that question:

* NO: As I've argued for almost two years now, only 2 of Rodgers' 24 signings can be considered as bona-fide transfer successes, and even then, Sturridge is increasingly injury-prone, and Coutinho is failing to live up to his early promise. The manager has wasted millions on the wrong players, and his fatal judgment in the transfer market is the principal reason for LFC's downward spiral. As such, it's arguably a mistake to entrust Rodgers with even more money, especially when there's no historical precedent to suggest he'll spend it wisely.

Having said that...

* YES: Liverpool desperately need to qualify for the Champions League this season, and without further investment, the chances of that are slim. FSG are, first and foremost, businessmen, and the group needs to protect its investment. As such, I'm sure John Henry et al will want to do everything to achieve the club's goals this season, and if that means spending more money, then so be it. Liverpool's fate is bigger than Rodgers, and if he is to remain as manager, then FSG basically have no choice but to make funds available.

Either way, it's a huge gamble. If it pays off, Liverpool qualify for the Champions League; if it goes south, then the Reds waste millions of pounds, and lose out on on a much-needed revenue stream.

For me, it's simple: back him or sack him. If FSG are to keep Rodgers in the hot-seat, then the group simply has to give him the money for a new striker. The alternative is to spend even more money on paying him off, and recruiting a new manager, who will inevitably want money to spend on transfers.

The problem with that strategy is that there's still no guarantee of success. Conversely, Rodgers has proven that - with the right striker - he is capable of guiding LFC to the top.

I'm categorically against Rodgers being sacked mid-season - after last year's outstanding performance, he's arguably earned the right to see it through to the end, and it will be undignified to give him the red card just a few months after guiding the Reds to second in the league.

That said, when it comes to transfer transfer funds, Rodgers should be allowed to sign a new striker, but that's it. With Sturridge's injury problems, LFC have a legitimate need for a new goalscorer, and it's in the club's best interests to address the issue.

Any other funds should come from player sales, and right now, there are plenty of expendable players in LFC's squad.

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68 comments:

  1. One or two strikers of major calibre, that is it, no one else. We have the other personnel...

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  2. FSG has a dilemma damned if you do damned if you don't

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  3. surprisingly i think Gary Neville of all people sums it up perfectly:

    http://www.sportinglife.com/football/premier-league/news/article/312/9601085/manchester-united-v-liverpool-gary-neville-questions-extent-of-liverpools-spending

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  4. Over paid for players he certainly has. Ifbthey are "all fails" only time will tell. But what people seem to forget is 1/ we triggered Costas contract 1 year before chelsea and before everyone knew how good he was. 2/ We offered more for henrick M 3/ We went all out for Willian 4/ we wanted Falco (dodged a bullet). 6/ we offered more for Sanchez... I also heard we pulled out of the Remy deal because we had a better striker in the bag and that wasn't Mario.... Who really knows the truth of who we want but couldn't get mainly because of geography

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  5. Origi. And if we sell Borini and Leiva, go for Lukas Moura.

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  6. Martinez/Bony/Higuain/Benzema any two of those three, sell Borini and possibly Ballotelli that should fund a bit of that. Throw in the fact Sterling might be up for grabs then the money we get will cover these transfers. Also give Markovic/Lallana more game time.

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  7. I'd rather gamble with FSG's money than LFC's future.

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  8. Jamie you frustrate me SO much!! You provide fairly reasonable information in your posts, but your own personal opinions seem flawed to me. And quite often we are poles apart. In essence that's okay. I don't expect you or anyone else to have the same opinions as me and I don;t really have a problem with you holding your point of view. The problem i have is....you post your opinions, which influences less thoughtful people. That's not necessarily a problem...if you provide the correct information and base YOUR opinions on the correct information. However, YET AGAIN I read a post of your which does NOT hold the correct info. In this post you claim that Rodgers should not be trusted with transfers as he keeps getting it wrong. Unfortunately for you. You have forgotten (Or don't know) that LFC's signings are made by a comity not by Rodgers. I would be extremely interested to see which players BR actually would like to sign. Rather than the players the club transfer comity agree to. You have NO right to criticise Rodgers transfer deals, when Rodgers does not have control of transfers.
    Dispite differing opinions, i'll accept what you have to say....If you get your facts straight first

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  9. Origi won't be with us until next season i'm pretty sure, we need a fresh injection up front before then.

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  10. Interesting post and good points. Who was that other striker?

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  11. We probably will sign a goalkeeper but the only way I see more players arriving is if two or three are sold.


    Not sure they trust Rodgers and the committee so it will be interesting to see what happens.

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  12. I wouldnt trust BR with anymore money

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  13. Even if he got the money considering our form at the moment we will only get average players at best

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  14. Didnt BR himself say that he has the final say on any player we buy

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  15. For a "final say" to be meaningful one has to have the loudest say from the beginning of the process. 'Final say' can easily mean that he grumpily compromises because he needs a player in a certain position and the committee has refused to sanction a deal for the player/s he actually wants.

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  16. Rodgers also said, "No new taxes."
    Wait...that was George H.W. Bush.

    Rodgers said something along the lines of "Balotelli will not be signing for Liverpool".
    Point is....Rodgers a politician of sorts, and politicians usually have copious amounts of sh!t flowing out their mouth holes. What they say usually differs from what actually is.

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  17. Spend to get the best and set the precedent. But nothing less than the best will suffice. It's as simple as that.
    It is LFC

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  18. I don't know who that was but its comes from Jason kundy who works at Chelsea. He wouldn't say who the player was.

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  19. “Alonso has three years left on his contract and we are really pleased with him, so we do not want to sell,” Benitez said.

    Benitez was an even bigger politician...

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  20. I don't think it's even a question if FSG are going to give money. Regardless if the plan is to sack BR or not, they aren't stupid. I don't care who our manager is, we can't win games without someone who can score on a regular basis. However, I can't see them supplying much more than what is needed for the transfer of another Striker. Frankly, we have enough midfielders, AMs, even FBs. The only other position that we might need a recruit is CB, but as of late we've been okay. Sure we've been shaky, but our Defense is a whole lot better than its been.


    I'm not saying that we don't need replacements, just that FSG won't want to fund any purchase aside from a striker.

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  21. the problem is that even when we target the right player they don't want to come because they don't believe in Rodgers, people will talk about the location but a top manager could easily make up for it.
    Doesn't matter if we have the money we won't get a striker that's going to be good enough to make the difference.

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  22. New striker and a new keeper required.

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  23. So my question is…do we need someone who would have made those transfers happen?
    From what I've read so far BR doesn't seem engaged in the whole transfer process, doesn't really speak to the players (I believe a few we signed said they never spoke to him before coming), and - in some cases - would rather be on vacation than secure a players signiature. We hear of managers doing everything they can to get their man and in several cases they have cut short their vacation to close a deal.
    Doesn't seem like BR understands how important putting effort into every aspect of a transfer goes (especially with big names) and it looks like we're constantly settling for our second and third choices but spending first choice fees

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  24. The plan should be just to fire BR and rfeplace with someone who will taks the club forward. As part of that new manager's interview shoudl be the questions of "Do you have your personal scouting network, Give examples of when your scouting network unearthed raw gem players, paid normal prices, the players went on to become successful in your teams", [25marks] also "How best do you think your network can help make you a success as Liverpool manager" [25marks]

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  25. Yeah BR did say that about Balotelli. And that is exactly my point!!!!!
    BR says no to Balotelli......Committee says yes. And look what we've got.
    The point is, there really can be NO criticism of BR for transfers, As BR does not get to pick the players he actually wants.

    Balotelli is a money-ball signing made by FSG. They saw a 24 year old player, regarded (wrongly) as a top player, and a "cheap" price for a "top" player. So they figured there was money to be made. Buy him "cheap" now, sell him in 2 years for twice the price.
    Balotelli is NOT a Rodgers pick! He does not fit the profile of player BR is looking for. Why would he sell an immobile Andy Carroll to replace him with an Immobile Mario Balotelli.

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  26. When it came to it, we did not want to sell Alonso. The problem is that decision was not the clubs. It was the players choice.
    Alonso was an awesome player for LFC. We finished 2nd in '09 then 7th the following year with the same team....except for Alonso. n

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  27. The problem is BR is not in charge of transfers....The committee is. And so the committee deals with the transfer. This is not an uncommon set-up. It's normal on the continent for this to be the way things are done. It's abnormal to us because we are not used to it. And I for one don't want to get used to it. I don't not think this is the best way to build a squad. My view is it should be down to the manager. Let him Manage.....otherwise we may aswell just call whoever is in charge the "head coach"

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  28. I disagree with the names you have thrown out Paul. They ALL seem to me to be over rated players. (with the exception of Bony). Higuain/Benzema/Cavani/ non of them are as good as the press think they are. All are over-priced and would ask for over-the-odds wages. I think we need to steer clear of these types of players. Over-hyped, Over-rated, Over-priced.

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  29. Obviously you mean you wouldn't trust the LFC transfer Committee with any money. Since it is the committee that spends it NOT BR

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  30. Ah okay. Well at least it shows there was some method to what looked like madness.

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  31. It's not because of BR. The problem is BR does not get to convince the players...the committee does it. Which means BR does have the opportunity to highlight he vision for the club or where HE sees the player in his squad. If he did have that opportunity then i'm sure we'd be a little more convincing.
    And your totally wrong about the location thing. Players often have wives or girlfriends who will not move to the UK unless it London. You can convince a player all you like. If his missus aint going for it, then it's not gonna happen. You have to remember that transfers are not just about football.

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  32. Totally disagree Bruce. Read my post about the transfer committee signing players and not rodgers.

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  33. Jamie....why have you deleted my comment that disagrees with you??
    I didn't break any of you rules. I thought you were interested in both sides of an argument. Not just the stuff you want to peddle.

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  34. Jamie. If i want a caramel slice and you offer me a bakewell tart or a french fancy. I will have the final say by choosing a bakewell tart. The problem is I HAVEN'T GOT WHAT I WANTED.

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  35. Why are you spreading this myth with such authority? You make it sound like it's an absolute fact, when it isn't. The transfer committee does not decide on which players are bought, and Rodgers and Ayre have stated this explicitly. Examples:

    Ayre

    "It's not signing by committee, it's 'analysis by committee'. It's certainly not a structure where we would force a player on the manager"

    And:

    “We have a head of analysis, a head of recruitment, a first-team manager, myself. It's a combination of old-school scouting and watching players — and that’s Brendan, his assistants, our scouts — with statistical analysis of players across Europe and the rest of the world.”

    Rodgers

    “There is absolutely no way a player will come in here if I don’t want him. I will always be the first person it comes to. That’s not being arrogant, that’s how we operate here and how it works in this country. It’s very clear: anyone we sign will be because I want him here.”

    and:

    “The principle idea when I first came in was that I will have the first call on a player and the last call. That’s the call on whether he’s good enough to continue to look at and try to organise a deal and the last call to say yes or no. We will never bring in a player here who the manager doesn’t want in"..

    http://www.liverpool-kop.com/2014/06/debunking-lfc-myths-16-rodgers-final-say-transfers.html

    So, please stop spreading inaccurate information. Rodgers has 'first call' and 'final say' on transfers. End of story.

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  36. I totally agree with you.

    Example...if i want a caramel slice and you offer me a bakewell tart or a french fancy. I will have the final say by choosing a bakewell tart. The problem is I HAVEN'T GOT WHAT I WANTED a caramel slice

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  37. Again Jamie. I repeat. if i want a caramel slice and you offer me a bakewell tart or a french fancy. I will have the final say by choosing a bakewell tart. The problem is I HAVEN'T GOT WHAT I WANTED a caramel slice.

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  38. Absolute BS. Rafa forced Alonso out. Even told him he had to train instead of being at his child's birth and Rafa even made it clear to him that he will be replaced.


    Just like your BS story about Rodgers having no fault for any of the players signed. .

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  39. It is no different to what happens at other clubs. All managers will give the requirements and the scouts will go scouting and then the manager will go have a look at the players that have been scouted.


    :"The transfer committee" is just a glorified name for a scouting system.

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  40. You are in the minority it seems.

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  41. And it's not inaccurate information.at all. And if i can be bothered to spend some time finding them then i'll be back with my own examples.




    Also, i still don't know why you have deleted my original post. could you please explain?

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  42. That's a very plausible case for what's going on, and if so, it needs to change. Players don't care what Ayre has to say about the squad, because at the end of the day they won't be playing for Ayre, they'll be playing for BR.
    And to be clear, Ayre can continue to sort out the transfer figures and wages, but BR needs to close every deal especially when its a big name. Don't think it's ever acceptable for a top player to say another club "wanted them more" or "tried harder to get me"

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  43. You are wrong. It's that simple. That is not how the committee works, and both Ayre and Rodgers have confirmed that.

    Why don't you read the comments below *properly*. Rodgers has first and last call, and he decides whether the club should 'continue to look at' potential targets. So, if he doesn't like one of the players being discussed, he has the power to scrap the pursuit.

    You have zero evidence to back up your contention about the committee. Quotes from Ayre and Rodgers constitute persuasive evidence for my argument on the subject.

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  44. Agreed your examples do show whats been said in public.
    I will go away and come back with my own examples then.

    But just for now....could you offer an explanation for the balotelli transfer please?

    Could you please explain to me why BR has totally turn his back on the profile and type of player he likes to sign.just for this one transfer.

    Why would he sell an immobile Andy Carroll 2 years ago, only to replace him with an Immobile Mario Balotelli now.

    Balotelli is not the type of player BR likes. Could you please explain why BR picked him them?

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  45. Your absolutely right Rafa did force him out. He tried to sell him to juve one year. So Alonso took his future into his own hands the following year.
    At least.....That's what Alonso said anyway.

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  46. Do you think so. Lets do a pole a see how many LFC fans want BR out shall we.

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  47. But you are making things up by saying Rafa did not want to sell Alonso just like you are making things up that Rodgers is not responsible for the players that have been signed.


    Do you honestly think FSG were intending to waste 100's of millions by not getting the go ahead from Rodgers regarding signings?

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  48. Jamie, I'm not an antagonist, I genuinely have no idea why you deleted my original post. Could you please explain it to me?

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  49. Canceled out. Back to 0.

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  50. Since I have a multiple personality disorder all 1m of us say yes

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  51. BR's time is up.

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  52. you just let everybody see your and the other users mail ids

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  53. ah and his IP address too

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  54. and he's another crap player signed by us

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  55. B Rodgers net spend in the summer was about £30M which was nothing considering he was promised £60-£70M for making the Champions league. And then he had to sell L Suarez (27) for £75M, plus he brought in £8M Selling these three players ( P Reina(32), D Agger(30) and C Coady(21) )


    So B Rodgers brought in £83M and spent £115M = 115- 83 = £32M
    B Rodgers net spend in the summer was £32M. That for a big top club is comical


    The owners need to give B Rodgers or whoever is at the helm in January : £70-£80M plus whatever they can bring into club shipping out these 6 dead wood players in JANUARY 2015:


    GK: B Jones(32) RB: G Johnson(30) DM: L Leiva(27)


    CM: J Allen(24) AM: Suso(20) FD: F Borini(23)


    B Rodgers should then spend £55M sorting out the defence and centre midfield problems: GK DM CM


    1:GK: A Begovic(27) Of Stoke should be brought to club for £10-£14M to dislodge/displace S Mignolet(26) from the first team


    2: DM: L Bender(25) Of Bayer Leverkusen Or M Schneiderlin(25) Of Southampton should be brought for £17-£22M ( Class energetic mobile quick good tackling DM)


    3: CM: Y Cabaye(29) Of PSG for £16-£18M to dislodge J Henderson(24) from the first 11 week in week out and so they can compete with one another


    And then B Rodgers needs to spend £42M ON these 4 top class experienced proven quality players ( Not Potential) :


    4: RWF / LWF: Pedro(27) Of Barcelona for £23-£27M to compete with R Sterling(20) and keep him on his toes


    5: LWF /LW: A Ayew(24) Of Marseille for £4M in January or he needs to be signed on Pre Contract for the summer.


    6: FD: L Adriano(27) Of Shakhtar Donesk for £7M in January or he needs to be signed on Pre contract for the summer.


    7: RW/ LW: K Bellarabi(24) Of Bayer Leverkusen for £5M in January or he also needs to be signed on Pre contract for the summer.




    Those 6 dead wood players need to be shipped out as soon as possible and the 7 players mentioned should be brought in.
    The 7 players mentioned are top class quality players in their positions and are of Champions league Class and level.


    That cannot be said about the dead wood average players who need to be shipped out in January


    And then in the summer the following dead wood average players need to be shipped out:


    L Alberto(22) AM O Assaidi(26) RW/ LW I Aspas(27) FD


    S Coates(24) CB

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  56. Nobody knows for sure but a boost to Rodger's ego might have had something to do with it ...... to prove he could succeed with Balo where better managers had failed .

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  57. Way to early to judge BR or the new signings. They overachieved last year and he needs at least to the end of 2015/2016 season. Anyone with a shred of wisdom knows these things take years not months. Unfortunately the media demands dramatic soundbites because it equals clicks and there is a steady line of ex players willing to forsake common sense and give it to them. Give him another 18 months at least. He's a good young manager and needs to learn from his own mistakes. If we let him go, someone else will get the benefit of his experience.

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  58. Um... negative 1? I'm with you and Bob.

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  59. Thank you. This is like a breath of fresh air for my eyes.


    Alonso himself said at the time that he was joining Real Madrid partly for tax reasons. I remember reading that and feeling disgusted.

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  60. Haha, thats a hell of a burden to bare Gene. The thing is, I don't really need to make an argument here.. It's only ever the minority that's vocal about sacking managers.

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  61. Thanks, Phil. Top example, that. Illustrates the point perfectly. I'm also hesitant to judge Rodgers on transfers for two reasons. One: Many of the players he's brought in are good on paper and were sought-after by other clubs. Two: there are not enough facts to truly know if the signings are genuinely his choice or not.

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  62. Jamie??? Any reply to this? Or are you running out of arguments?

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  63. Good points, and I don't know how true it is that BR doesn't make the signings.
    It just doesn't make sence. It does speak volumes that he isn't playing any of the new signings. However as Jamie said. If he doesn't want them the buck stops at him. They wouldn't sign someone he didn't want.... That would be stupid

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  64. At no stage did i make up the fact that Rafa did not want to sell Alonso! I said...it was the players choice. And it was, A year after Rafa tried to sell him. I did't make anything up at all.


    And since FSG took control. Transfers have NEVER been conducted on the say so of just one man! Look at the Kenny/Comolli debacle.
    So yes I do honestly think they would waste 100's of millions...they already have!

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