6 Jan 2015

Mega-Deal: Legend urges LFC to sign 'lethal' €40m superstar. Barnes & Aldo agree

Liverpool continue to be linked with a January move for West Brom striker Saido Berahino, but Reds legend Phil Thompson has urged his old club to forget about the youngster and go for proven quality instead.

Over the weekend, West Brom Chief Tony Burton confirmed that the Baggies are willing to sell Berahino, who will cost somewhere in the region of £20-£25m.

When asked on Sunday about Liverpool's interest in Berahino, Thommo questioned the 21-year old's attitude, and suggested a different target instead. He told Sky Sports:

“I think that Liverpool need someone who is a bit more established and who has played at a higher level, like Gonzalo Higuain"

Anfield legends John Aldridge and John Barnes are also in favour of signing 'lethal' Higuain. Last season, Barnes told TalkSport:

"Liverpool need someone like Gonzalo Higuain. If you get the ball in the box he can score, he can play outside the box and he’s the kind of player that Liverpool should be going for".

In a recent column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo noted:

"I like the look of Gonzalo Higuain. He would be brilliant for us, but would he come? And how much would be cost?"

In October, multiple reports claimed that Liverpool submitted a €40m offer for Higuain, and when it comes to signing the striker, there appear to be a few things working in LFC's favour:

* Rafa Benitez is an ex-Liverpool manager, so the Reds should (in theory) have a slight advantage in negotiations. If the Argentine is to leave, I'm sure Rafa - with his enduring love of LFC - would prefer to see the striker at Anfield.

* Napoli have been regularly linked with Lucas Leiva and Glen Johnson, with Lucas recently confirming that Benitez tried to sign him in the summer. Perhaps there's scope for a players-plus-cash swap deal.

How about Johnson, Lucas, and £30m for Higuain? It's worth trying, surely? That deal would solve several LFC problems in one go: boost Liverpool's striking options big time; get Johnson's huge salary off the wage bill, and move on Lucas, who (arguably) remains a dead man walking at Anfield.

As I argued in a previous article, only a club run by mugs will splurge £20-£25m on Berahino, and although Higuain is expensive, he's (arguably) superior value for money.

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26 comments:

  1. I totally agree regarding Berahino. If we spend that on him when we wouldn't stump up an extra 4 mil to get Bony over Balotelli in the summer I will be amazed

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  2. To be fair Rodgers DID say recently that we need ready made players, I'd say that someone in the form of Higuain or even Benzema (who we've also been linked with) would fit the bill..

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  3. Berahino is not a solution. He is young and not consistent. He would probably feel big pressure in Liverpool and fail to make an impact. The same as other new Liverpool players. He would be good addition for the future and that's all. And since Liverpools style of play is different he would probably struggle to get him self into the syste,. He would need time to settle and at the time he would fit the season would be finished.

    This is pure reality. Let's not dream about some miracle signing which would save Liverpool season. Only the players of size of Suarez, Sanchez, and similar would make an imediate impact.

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  4. "Higuain or even Benzema (who we've also been linked with)" we've been linked with those two every transfer window for more than 3 years now.

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  5. The big stumbling blocks are the selling clubs and the players themselves. Why would Napoli even consider selling Higuain at this stage of the season? Maybe money would get the deal done but I'm not convinced. Plus the player himself would need to really want to come to Liverpool and there is no evidence of that at all. We're just not an attractive prospect.

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  6. Sign Berahino! I hope he flops though. I'm tired of these idiots signing inexperienced players instead go going after established ones. Sign some more starlet, idiots!!!!! Tired of this......

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  7. A deal for Higuan is unlikely just because of the time of year, Napoli wont part with him in jan for a decent amount.
    Also would Higuan fit into out style of play? i know he scores goals but what happens when he gets to liverpool and doesnt close down defenders? our style is a high pressure attack, thats what worked last season; putting defenders under pressure and our forwards finished off.
    Its time for our other players to step up also, Sterling should be at 10 league goals already this season and Coutinho and Lalana should be close behind.
    I honestly dont know who would be a good signing for us but i dont think higuain will fit our style.

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  8. Why not try to go for Bony? Hes a cheaper alternative to higuain, younger, and a proven PREMIER LEAGUE goal scorer. No reason not to try and snatch him up before city or chelsea snatch him up
    any other thoughts?

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  9. Bony ruled LFC out by saying he wanted a January switch, but only to a club in the Champions League.

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  10. Oh how did I forget that.. I mustve forgotten because I was so confused how liverpool dropped the topic of picking up Bony. I would, however, think a pair of maybe Higuain and Benzema/Lavezzi up top. We might even benefit from looking into Ivan Rakiticfor support? Not a terrible idea. I think we shouldnt hold back on our spending to try and save the season while we still have a small chance.

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  11. Higuain is good, but of we move on Lucas we'd need to sign two defensive midfielders, which is leaving a bit too much to chance. The only reason he appears to be a "dead man walking" is because Rodgers decided to sacrifice him to shoehorn Fowler - oops, Gerrard - into the team. Lucas has nailed down his spot since he returned against Madrid.

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  12. And I agree about Berahino. Stupid money.

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  13. He said that last season, too, with the caveat that the owners needed some convincing to think alike. Clearly he's not been able to convince them yet, to the team's detriment.

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  14. What price would people find acceptable for Berahino? He's clearly a pretty promising player. I'm not totally convinced by him. But we'd be looking a strike force of Sturridge, Origi and Berahino looks pretty interesting to me, with Sturridge as the senior man and the others supplementing him.

    But yeah, what price? Would the originally quoted £12-14m, rather than this crazy £25m, be acceptable to youse?

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  15. Haha! Too much watching Cambridge United lately probably.

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  16. It's not necessarily that 25m is too much for him, it's just that we assume we can get a more established - dare I say better - striker for that sum of money. Wages will be a factor, of course.

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  17. Higuain would be a brilliant signing but we won't get him. We were in a fine position to sign him the summer when Napoli did and we allowed them to sign him because we wouldn't stump up the cash. As long as this current transfer policy remains this rigid, we will never again see players of this stature at the club and the only way is down. Our midfield next year will be Henderson, Lucas and Allen for crying out loud. That wouldn't even impress a Villa or Newcastle supporter yet we're supposed to believe this is the midfield that will bring us back up the table? What worries me more than anything else is the fact that now even Rodgers is coming out saying we need to sign more established players. That suggests to me that he has very little to say about who comes in and his influence on this fabled transfer committee is very limited.

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  18. 10-12 million I would probably consider fair

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  19. I agree with regards to the transfer committee. It seems to me that they come to Rodgers with a selection of players and Rodgers picks, hence his "final say" on transfers. That's not the same as identifying targets yourself. This also isn't the first time Rodgers has publicly spoken about signing established players or "marquee signings"

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  20. He reminds me a bit of Rosicky. Maybe it's just the hair.

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  21. The owners need to backing B Rodgers with higher net spend than £20-£40M per transfer window.


    B Rodgers needs to be given £50-£60M this Transfer window and whatever he bring into club by shipping out these Seven dead wood average players now out of club:


    B Jones(32) GK RB: G Johnson(30) CM: J Allen(24)


    DM: L Leiva(27) AM: Suso(20) FD: F Borini(23)


    FD: R Lambert(32)




    And then B Rodgers should bring in these 5 top class quality players for now and future of club:


    1: GK: A Begovic(27) Of Stoke for £10-£14M to compete with S Mignolet(26) for next 5-8 seasons at club


    2: DM: L Bender(25) Of Bayer Leverkusen for £16-£21M
    To be clubs Main Defensive Lynchpin in Centre Midfield for the next 4-6 years


    3:CM: M Veratti(22) Of PSG for £18-£24M
    ( S Gerrard (34) will need two top class Centre Midfield players needed to replace his class and quality he brought to club for most of his time at club as a centre midfielder in the centre of the park, Verrati(22) is one of them and in the summer if we make champions league. T Alcantara(23) Of Bayern Munich should be brought to club for £25-£35M )


    As a midfield Trio of L Bender(25), M Veratti(22) and Alcantra(23) would offer class, creativity, mobility, goals and youth and they would be a match for any centre midfield in Europe. That can not be said with the likes of Can(20), Allen(24) and Henderson(24)


    4: FD: L Vietto(21) Of Villareal for £10-£13M to compete with D Sturridge(25)


    5: FD: L Adriano(27) Of Shakhtar Donesk for £5-£7M to compete with Balotelli(24)


    Those 7 players need to be shipped out as soon as possible, whilst the 5 players above would be for Now and future of club and if we have any real ambitions of competing with the best and genuinely wanting to be in the Champions league year in year out, then the owners will need to get rid of the poor transfer committee and joke I Ayre(52) and then the owners need to give B Rodgers £50-£60M to spend without having to sell anyone and then whatever he can bring on the 7 dead wood players we should ship out now he should be allowed to also use in new signings.

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  22. So he looks like a good option for £8-10, fair or acceptable at £10-12, and totally overpriced at £20m+. So it's not that we don't want him, just as Y.O. says, we fancy we could do better for the top money. Sorted.

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  23. My bad. I thought you were saying Logan's comment was a massive waste of your time, and that his existence is madly disappointing. Apologies.

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  24. This post was made rather redundant within 4 days of posting.
    Maybe you should voice your concerns and doubts about Mario...then he may get a hat trick against villa :)

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