2 Feb 2015

Breaking: LFC close to sealing £5m striker deal. Talks ongoing right now

In January, Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew revealed that he'd held transfer talks with Brendan Rodgers over the possibility of signing Rickie Lambert, and confirmed that the striker 'wants to stay and win his position'. That seemed to be the end of the matter, but new reports today suggest that Lambert is now actively considering quitting the club after just six months.

According to The Independent this evening:

* Aston Villa have submitted a late £5m bid for Lambert.

* Transfer talks 'are ongoing' between Villa and Liverpool.

Lambert's apparent wish to stay and fight for his place is admirable, but that ship has already sailed. With Balotelli and Borini misfiring, and Sturridge out injured, Lambert - recently hailed by Graeme Souness as a 'clever' striker - had a golden opportunity to make himself the go-to striker at Anfield, but he spectacularly failed to do that.

Sturridge is now back; Sterling has superseded Lambert in the striker pecking-order, and the Reds are sure to sign a new top-class goalscorer sooner rather than later. As such, Lambert is probably not going to get another sustained opportunity to prove his worth.

It'll be a tough decision to leave, that's for sure. Lambert is literally living the dream right now, and if he quits after only six months, he'll forever be remembered as an Anfield failure, just like Robbie Keane and Nuri Sahin (both of whom also left after 6 months).

Privately, I'm sure that Lambert is desperate to stay at Anfield, and as a matter of personal pride, he may refuse to leave for fear of being labelled a failure. That's totally understandable, and his position, I'd also choose to stay at the club for as long as possible.

Liverpool fans won't shed any tears if Lambert decides to leave. In January, I conducted a poll on the site asking fans whether Liverpool should sell the striker:

* 10950 (approx) people participated in the poll (which is still onging)
* A whopping 84% of participants votes for Liverpool to dump Lambert.

That's a stunning vote of no-confidence in Lambert, and it'll be interesting to see how this particular situation plays out.

UPDATE 1: 9.30pm - Sky Sports claims: "Rickie Lambert won't be going anywhere on Deadline Day. There has been no fee agreed between Liverpool and Aston Villa"

Author:


29 comments:

  1. Nicolas Chamberlain9:35 pm, February 02, 2015

    Deal is off.
    Good news. Rather lose Borini.

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  2. I don't know…I get where the stick is coming from but BR has bought two strikers in Lambert and Balo who need a partner up front to play their game but then he proceeds to use tactics that go against everything they know. How is it their fault the manager is not utilizing them properly?

    While Balo continues to disappoint with every passing game Lambert actually looked good for 3 or 4 games there. He wins headers in the final third which is what we need late in games and watching Balo lose 50/50 headers against Filipe Luis when things we getting desperate at the bridge just made me cringe. If anything, Lambert has proven he can be a physical presence up front; winning headers, holding up play pretty well, and occasionally put in a smart finish which isn’t shabby when you need another option off the bench.

    In my opinion, I'm not sure how BR is looking to Balo instead of Lambert on what we've seen this season (other than the obvious fact that Balo is more high profile and benefits more if Balo comes good than if Rickie does).

    I think Rickie has more to offer but understand the move considering DS is back, Balo isn’t going anywhere, and BR might be afraid to offload Borini as I'm sure no one is willing to pay anywhere close to 14mil anymore

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  3. Tom Ince has gone on loan to Derby from Hull City.
    When he left for Blackpool and put up good numbers, i thought he was one that got away.A stupid mistake we should've fought harder to keep.Especially when he was being linked to Inter Milan and other big sides.
    However, he's gone backwards or at least stagnated in the PL which is a obvious step up in class over the Championship.Derby will be a good club to get his career back on track.This is Ince's chance to get back to the level that had him putting up club carrying production and eye catching performances.

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  4. Nicolas Chamberlain10:44 pm, February 02, 2015

    New deal for 'young Phil Coutinho'!
    Today was a good day.

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  5. Coutinho had a slow start to the season but he's been fantastic since the formation switch.This new system has got PC playing with a high level of consistency.The only thing missing now is shooting.

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  6. If he improves his shot, and his simple passes he is better than Hazard.

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  7. Ironic, it seems he's Ibe's replacement after we recalled him :D

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  8. Selling Lambert now is pointless. He was bought to fulfill a very specific role in the squad, a back up striker to provide a plan B/C, and that's exactly what he's doing. He was never supposed to get regular game time. And to say he failed spectacularly when given that brief run of starts is utter nonsense. He scored a couple goals, helped create a few more and worked hard for the team. He's contributed more than Balotelli & Borini combined. His opportunities will continue to be limited, but that was always the plan

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  9. Piece of excellent business. I'm pleased.

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  10. If he improves his shot, he will be one of the deadliest attackers in the prem. He was an absolute wizard on the ball against West Ham.

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  11. I think the player will feel as if he can still improve. It's been rough for him because he didn't get the playing time he got at Southampton and perhaps for a guy at his age what he really needs is a run of games to hit top gear. Certainly he played a few consecutive games and to his credit he did score so he's not had zero impact. I don't begrudge him wanting to stay a bit longer and really push himself to see what he can achieve. If nothing else he'll want to have spent an entire season at his beloved Liverpool and say he was part of the team, scored goals in front of the kop and contributed to a reasonably successful campaign.

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  12. And Lambert now knows his true worth to Brendan Rodgers. Not so much as a Plan B but rather, a million pound profit over the 6 months he spent at Liverpool.


    As Brendan said with Sakho, it's nothing personal.

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  13. No, I dislike his hypocrisy. I used the example of him leaving his wife. It's a simple misunderstanding, Lazars. I'll happily oblige you more of my unbiased opinions. Suggest a topic, or troll at will.

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  14. Oh you're the guy that doesn't like Brendan Rodgers because he left his wife, right? Can't wait to hear more of your unbiased opinions on the management of the first team at LFC.

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  15. Actually, I dislike his hypocrisy, and used leaving his wife as an example, which ran contrary to other utterances he made on Being: Liverpool.


    It's a simple misunderstanding on your part, but I'll happily oblige you with my biased opinions, like this one:


    It's nice that you're paying tribute to Robo Lasers.
    His insights are appreciated. Maybe yours will be too, at some point.


    Until then please troll on.

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  16. I dislike Rodgers hypocrisy, actually, and used the example of him leaving his wife. This was contrary to things he said while Being:Liverpool was filmed.


    I'm glad you agree my opinions are unbiased. Some people can't resist sarcasm to disguise their own shortcomings.


    Also, nice to see Robo Lasers has die hard fans. We don't always agree but his or her opinions are generally very well articulated and backed up.

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  17. Exactly. People need to see him for what he is. He was never brought in to score 20 a season.

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  18. You know Lambert is worth something coz at least he knows where the back of the net is ,i'm sorry i can't say the same about the other two ...cheers

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  19. He IS a tit for leasing his wife that way

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  20. Hehe, leasing. C'mon he's not *that* bad.

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  21. Why resist sarcasm? It's like delicious rhetorical jam. And you and I both know I have no shortcomings whatsoever ; )

    Even so I regretted writing that bitchy remark after posting it and came to apologise: sorry for the needless snark, your posts here are valuable and distinctive.

    I think you're right that it's "nothing personal": but as Rodgers said, signing Lambert wasn't about sentiment. If he wasn't up to it he wasn't up to it: he's playing with the big boys now.

    I don't mind Rodgers giving mixed messages. Saying one thing and doing another is essential in competitive management, not just in football. Even better, saying one thing to one group, another to another group, and then doing something completely different. It's basic tactics to stay unreadable. The sort of thing I thought Rodgers was not capable of initially. I was concerned he'd prove naive -- I still think he is, sometimes.

    Anyway in the event Liverpool didn't sell Lambert so this whole narrative exists in a parallel universe...

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  22. Well he did pay for her for a while and then decided to return her... ;-)

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  23. The thing is R Lambert(32) is a liverpool fan, he was brought as a numver 3/4 striker and may come good in Europa League and in some games where we need to play direct and long.


    I am just annoyed and gutted how F Borini(23) and J Allen(24) are still at the club, They are both useless headless chickens who are both way out of their depth. And to make matters worse we paid £25.5M for them both


    As there was no clear out this transfer window i am hoping and praying all the dead wood average/mediocre players are shipped out and some of the players on their last legs need to be shipped out also:


    Outs as soon as season Ends/ Finishes: 10 players out:


    GK: B Jones(32) CB: K Toure(33) CB: S Coates(24)


    RB: G Johnson(30) LB: J Enrique(27) CM: J Allen(24)


    AM: L Alberto(22) FD: I Aspas(27) FD: F Borini(23)


    FD: R Lambert(32)


    Top Class quality players needed in to replace Average Mediocre players above: 8 players needed in at end of season:


    GK: Marc Andre Ter Stegen(22) Of Barcelona for £11-£14M to compete and cover S Mignolet(26)


    CB: N Subotic(26) Of B Dortmund for £12-£15M to compete with Lovren(25),Sakho(24) and Skrtel(30)


    LB: A Robertson(20) Of Hull for £7-£9M to compete and cover A Moreno(22)


    DM: L Bender(25) Of Bayer Leverkusen for £14-£20M to compete and cover L Leiva(27)


    CM: J Claise(22) Of Feyenoord for £7-£14M to compete and cover E Can(20)


    RW: J Montero(25) Of Swansea for £6-£8M to compete with Sterling(20)


    FD: C Benteke(24) Of A Villa for £17-£22M to replace R Lambert(32) in the summer


    Marquee signing: World class player to replace class and quality of S Gerrard(34):


    CM: M Veratti(22) Of PSG or T Alcantara(23) Of Bayern Munich for £20-£32M

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  24. Where did you get those lowball values from, and where is this avalanche of money coming from?


    Clasie for 14m? At age 22?


    Follow Aerosmith's advice and "Dream On"! :)

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  25. Taking offence over Internet posts is a recipe for disaster so no apology warranted.


    Rodgers is poor at these mind games. Benitez was arguably the only one who could play them, but his austere personality and inability to play the media hurt him. (Remember FACTS?)


    So, Lambert knew he was a bench option. Rodgers is on the record as being effusive in his praise for Rickie. Now, he suddenly wants to sell his bench option, 6 months in? It smacks of Rodgers pretty much outsmarting himself.


    The only spin would be that he realised a mistake early on and had an opportunity to correct it at a profit.


    Only problem with that is that there are many other mistakes that have yet to be addressed (Borini, Allen, Aspas, Luis Alberto, Ilori and Lovren, off the top of my head).


    Viewed that way, Liverpool's atrocious transfer record under this regime gets dragged into the limelight yet again, exactly where we all (and Rodgers/Ayre especially) want to avoid it heading.

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  26. We must be the only club who got regular stiffed with over priced average players. so what if claise is 22.


    He is playing in the dutch league and he will cost between £8-£14M, just like C Eriksen(22) cost spurs£10.5M two years ago.


    But watch Koeman get him for even cheaper if he goes for him

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  27. Eriksen had a year left on his contract, and STILL was worth 11m pounds. Clasie just extended his contract to 2018. He's into the 20m bracket.

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  28. He is not worth £20M, he is in the £12-£17M bracket like A Lallana(26). But we over spent on him and do not think J Claise(22) is a £20m player at all

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  29. It's not the player's value based on ability, it's the club's valuation based on his age, contract length, and development potential. The factors I've mentioned, in real terms, mean the club is entitled to an amount of 20m and up.
    To compound that, as a Dutch international player, a team known for its technical prowess, and his role in the Pogba/Vidal part of the field - not exactly an easy space to occupy - Feyenoord will easily attract that kind of money.


    How about a breakdown of why you believe Clasie is in the sub-20 amount? They're all opinions and I am interested to understand your rationale.

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