31 Dec 2014

Confirmed: 'Unplayable' £30m LFC target is for sale & club will 'consider' offers. Sign?

Last week, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers hailed alleged transfer target Wilfried Bony as a 'natural goalscorer', and although the Ivorian powerhouse signed a new deal a month ago, it seems that Swansea are still willing to let him leave...for the right price.

Recent reports claimed that Liverpool will 'consider' a January move for Bony, and when asked about the striker in his pre-Swansea press conference, Rodgers raved:

"He [Bony] is a natural goalscorer, you have seen it with his country. The combination of Bony and Sigurdsson is as good as any in the league. Bony is strong and powerful, and he gets goals".

Bony - recently hailed as 'unplayable' by both Jonathan De Guzman, and Ashley Williams - is now under contract until 2018, but as today's comments from Swansea Chairman Huw Jenkins illustrate yet again, contracts in football are essentially worthless. When asked about the striker's future today, Jenkins admitted that he will 'consider' all bids for Bony. He told reporters:

“First and foremost I will consider everything that arises at the time. Players move around – that’s a fact of life. Never say never in football. But officially at the moment we haven’t had any contact from anyone about Wilfried.”

In a recent interview (after Bony signed his new deal), Swans boss Gary Monk also conceded that the club is open to selling:

"He [Bony] is still a Swansea player, money dictates things, but it would take an astronomical fee for him to go anywhere".

The money needed to sign Bony is indeed 'atronomical'. According to The Telegraph today:

* Bony will cost a total of £50m in transfer fee and wages.
* £30m transfer fee; £20m salary.
* Bony's new contract jettisoned the £19m release clause in his initial deal.

Bony is good, but he's not £50m good, and any club owner who sanctions a £50m overall transfer package is a mug of epic proportions. In my view, Liverpool should leave this particular transfer race now, and let some club with more money than sense (i.e Man City) snap him up.

There's also the African Cup of Nations to consider. Bony will soon be off to play in the competition, which means any club that signs him in January will have to wait to receive the benefit of their massive cash outlay.

When all is said and done, this just underlines the overall incompetence of LFC's transfer policy. Prior to his move to to the Premier League, the Reds were heavily linked with Bony, and held talks with Vitesse Arnhem, but as usual, the club failed to act, and Swansea snapped him up for a ridiculously low £12m fee.

What happened instead? Rodgers seemingly decided that Aspas and Alberto were better suited, and the club wasted a combined £16m on two players who turned out to be utter failures. Conversely, Bony is now worth 2-3 times his original transfer fee, and is currently the Premier League's top goalscorer for 2014.

The ship has sailed on this transfer. Time for Liverpool to just give up, and try and learn from past mistakes.

Author:


27 comments:

  1. I would not be against this
    the two best options by far are him and Lacazette

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  2. Over £96k a week does seem bananas. Apparently it is one of the reasons we didn't make a firm go at him was due to his high wage demands. If this article is right then I agree with Jaimie on this one too. It is becoming a dirty habit.

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  3. Liverpool have to catch up to the big clubs or we will be left way behind like in the 90s
    Liverpool have to match Man utd and Arsenal wage wise and bridge gap between us and city and chelsea
    100k a week is standard for those clubs ,

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  4. Any signing i think should be postponed till summer window
    Bony is playing in Africa cup of nations
    and Lacazette will move in summer


    so keep Sterling up front hope he gets better because he is a good option already
    get Origi back early so we will know whether we do need to buy a new striker




    Sell Borini and Balotelli to Italian clubs , Maybe Ricky Lambert as Pulis is west brom boss i think he will fancy him , Promote Jerome Sinclair to 4th choice striker


    so
    1) Sturridge 2) Sterling 3) Origi 4) Sinclair
    all pace and skill

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  5. for that price we should get Ronaldo every other game instead.........crazy...

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  6. Non Starter!!!!

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  7. no money for B R except from sales - and time for the greatest to say goodbye - LOVE U STEVIE G - But time is up

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  8. Last season when critics said that BRs LFC were good but didn't have a 'plan b', when clubs sit back and defend, (highlighted by Joses dark ages type football last season), it was taken on board by Rogers and he opted for Lambert. Although the idea might of been a practical one, the profile of player in Lambert that BR opted for didn't suit our style as he's, although technically competent, a target man of sorts. Bony would have been a better alternative to switch our play, as he's mobile technically good but more importantly suits our style and gets goals. Alas I think that ship has sailed and I think no strikers will come in during the January period. Once Sturridge is back it will be Sterling, Sturridge, Lambert and Balotelli I'm afraid.

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  9. Bony would be another total waste of money, total waste. If we're even considering him it tells me we haven't learnt our lessons. I don't know what the hype is around this player. Like Andy Carroll, his heading is good but that's about it. We need to persist with Balotelli as I believe he'll start scoring some goals in the new year if given opportunities. He has to learn to be a lot less selfish first though. Once again, Bony is a very average player and we should steer clear at all cost. £30m? You're having a laugh over there at Swansea.

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  10. I am sorry Jaimie but this story is about as pointless as it gets. Primarily the newspapers fault rather that yours but still you have written this. Leaving aside the fee, which is silly...the fact that ANC is on makes this move (to any club) impossible. It starts 3rd week of Jan so FIFA rules mean he will be on a plane by the 7th and won't return until after the window so purely logistically by the time Swansea have haggled it could not be done. Even if it could NO team would sign a player at winter window premium price and let him swan off to Africa for a month. If they get to the final he could be gone until at least 17 Feb, and players returning from this event are notoriously tired/out of condition/form for a period after that. That's not even considering the risk of injury or illness (one of the Toure Bros seem to catch Malaria every time they go), or the possibility of the winning team disappearing for a party which has happened before. Never been less chance of this transfer and we don't need him anyhow for that money. Talksport reported Berahino might force a move to us for £14m and would rather take that at the price, a player that Rodgers can coach and improve over time like he has with Studge/Coutinho/Hendo and yes Suarez.

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  11. Liverpool pay a lot more wages than Arsenal. Don't forget that Arsenal are a stingy club. And for your information, Liverpool are a massive club. You must be an Arsenal or United fan.

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  12. I appreciate it's an extreme example, but the fact it's an extreme example kind of emphasises the point I feel. They are both statements and can be taken equally literally, but what they infer takes on a different meaning when you apply previous experience and understanding of the statement to the context it's made in.
    I suppose you could say that's the root of a difference of opinion and probably one to be hailed; wouldn't we all be boring otherwise :)
    For me, I hope Carra didn't mean it as you've seen it, I didn't see it that way, but it has raised a good point about what's not really acceptable for a pundit to say or divulge. For a real poor example of an ex-red pundit, IMO, have a listen to Stan Collymore on talksport, he makes Carra look like a UN peace envoy.
    Happy new year

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  13. SAS to be replaced by SOS. SAS consisted of 2 players; SOS will consist of 3 players and better than SAS.

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  14. Just read in Daily Mail that City have opened talks for Bony. Great news!

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  15. 4eva LFC, LFC 4eva4:18 am, January 01, 2015

    Mate are you serious comparing him to Carroll, wake up, Bony is the top goal scorer in 2014 Andy was probably top goal scorer when he was14 thats about it.
    Now im not saying he is worth 50mill god no, but im not stupid enough to compare him to an overrated british lump of wood either.
    Bony is deffinately worth 20-25mill thats it.

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  16. No, Arsenal pay more than Liverpool.

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  17. Am I the only one that agrees with Jaimie on this? I simply don't see how Carra saying this contributes to uplifting public discourse on the matter other than reinforcing Carra's status as someone with inside knowledge of the Melwood and Anfield corridors.


    Anyway, who was our last young midfielder who was rash and was called out for being reckless, if not dirty, on the field? Wasn't he a fella called Steven Gerrard? He got the captaincy to channel his rage and passion, no? Carra is playing favourites again.

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  18. There are better strikers out there in the big wide world outside of the Prem that we could try to sign.

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  19. Happy New year to all!

    "There won't be a lot of transfer activity from us - if any - over the course of the January period. My job is to coach and manage the players that are currently here and work hard at maximising the talent that they have. That's what we'll look to do."

    Rodgers continued: "I don't think it's a good time to spend. If you look at last year, we never brought anyone in. My job is to coach the players we've brought in, to manage them.

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  20. You can't look at every player in the league signed by another club for a smallish fee that turns out to be quality and claim Liverpool are "incompetent" for not signing them. It's an absurd standard and not based in any kind of reality. Of course every manager wants to work that way, that's the common goal they would all be aiming for. Managers make judgement calls and frankly there is quite a bit of luck involved. It's fair enough to call it a missed opportunity but quite obviously there are 100s of similar scenarios happening over the space of a few years. Suggesting it is "incompetent" is quite over the top and I doubt the Liverpool transfer committee are feeling too bad about it all. This is just how things work out and although it's clear that Liverpool are not having an awful lot of success with new players coming in I think it's actually quite similar for many other clubs. We're not fans of other clubs, we don't scrutinise their transfers with this same level of detail. I think if we did we'd find it's quite a similar story no matter where you are.


    As for Bony, in your linked article I didn't see you advocating very strongly for the player at the time. You posed the question but there is no real enthusiasm is what you wrote, you even suggest that success in the dutch league is not a strong indicator. Obviously Bony was a risk at the time, not guaranteed of doing well in England. You certainly seemed to think that at the time so it's a bit rich to now turn around and criticise Liverpool for not pulling the trigger.

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  21. If Sterling is going to get a rest then I would go with


    Mignolet
    Manquillo Toure Sakho Moreno
    Coutinho Can Henderson
    Lallana
    Borini Balotelli (or Markovic for Balotelli)



    This lineup will ensure our pressing continues and our midfield will have creativity and work rate non stop. Emre Can showed vs Swansea his passing is up to scratch too so I cannot see him having any issues with playing as the anchor in midfield and is also an excellent runner with the ball.


    As long as Rodgers does not play Balotelli up on his own which is unfortunately what he might do if Sterling is going to be given a rest.

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  22. Rodgers is not going to move away from this three at the back because according to him, it has 'galvanised' the team. Gerrard is definitely going to play and I am pretty sure he is not going to drop Hendo. So, we will most probably see him in the RB role. Borini is finished in LFC as far as Rodgers is concerned. So, if Sterling is given a rest, we might see Balo come back and Markovic at LWB.

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  23. Could not sum it up any better than the last paragraph. Spot on.

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  24. Balotelli, Lambert, Ibe, Sterling and Sturridge. Though that might be a little too defensive for my tastes

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  25. Said it all mate, said it all.

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  26. Jamie, what about "what happens on the training ground stays on the training ground"? You didn't reply to my answer.

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