5 Apr 2015

Legend insists: Liverpool must 'spend big' and sign 'stunning' €63m superstar. Agree?

Saturday's sobering defeat to Arsenal proved once again that Liverpool need to sign an experienced top-class striker this summer, and Reds legend Phil Thompson has implored his old club to target one of Europe's coveted goalscorers.

Speaking to Sky Sports this week, Thompson bemoaned the fact that Liverpool 'cannot rely on Daniel Sturridge' anymore, and urged Brendan Rodgers to target 'stunning' Uruguayan superstar Edinson Cavani. He explained:

"Rodgers needs to bring in a more established striker. Edinson Cavani or somebody of that ilk is required, which means Liverpool are going to have to spend big to be considered title contenders next season"

Earlier this season, Cavani's Agent, Claudio Annellucci, confirmed Liverpool's transfer interest, and revealed that the Reds made a concrete offer for the striker. He told Uruguayan newspaper El Telegrafo:

"Cavani had offers from Liverpool and Arsenal. He would love to play in England, but has not made a final decision. He's not interested in money and fame; he just wants to be happy playing football."

Liverpool were also linked with Cavani 'stunning' in 2012, and at the time, his Agent told reporters:

"Liverpool and Arsenal are the first clubs that Cavani has agreed to talk to. It is no secret that Edinson want to play in England. It is one of his greatest dreams".

Cavani - nicknamed 'El Matador' for his flamboyant style on the pitch - cost PSG a whopping €63m, and if Liverpool are to prise him away from France, the club will almost certainly have to pay through the nose.

Like Suarez, Cavani is an extremely hard-worker on the pitch, and he's a perfect fit for Liverpool in that regard. Indeed, after Uruguay's 2-1 victory over England at the World Cup, Oscar Tabarez raved:

"Gerrard couldn’t play his game because Cavani was stopping him, so today they had more difficulties than normal".

Despite constantly being played out of position to accommodate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Cavani stats at PSG are excellent:

* 43 goals/9 assists in 83 apps.
* Goal/assist every 2.5 games.

Cavani seems to have his heart set on a return to Napoli, though, and in a recent interview, he noted:

"I'd really love to go back [to Napoli] one day. I have such strong feelings for that city and if I could, I wouldn't think twice about returning".

Still, if one of Cavani's 'greatest dreams' is to play in the Premier League, then at the age of 28, he's running out of time to achieve that goal. unfortunately, there are a few significant stumbling blocks to securing a transfer:

* Cavani is reportedly on €10m-a-year after tax, which means Liverpool will probably have to smash the wage structure to sign him.

* Current contract expires in 2018, and PSG will probably try and recoup the bulk of the €63m paid for the striker.

* Liverpool may miss out on the Champions League, and if that happens, the deal is a non-starter.

* Steven Gerrard is leaving soon, which means the Reds have no internationally renowned footballers at the club. Combine that with Rodgers' lack of European profile, and it's hard to see how the Reds can attract elite players like Cavani.

One thing is clear, though: with Sturridge's unreliability, there's a vacancy at Liverpool for a robust striker, and if someone like Cavani comes in and does well, he'll almost certainly replace Sturridge as the Reds' go-to striker.

Worth pursuing?




Author:


32 comments:

  1. Without doubt.

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  2. never going to happen.


    we probably had a chance last summer, but it's gone now

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  3. Not in CL it's going to be a problem attracting any decent quality striker or for that matter any other essential player . Also the big question .....with his track record will Rodgers have the pulling power and how much will Fenway give him to spend this time ?

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  4. There's no way he would come, no cl football, no big wages, we have no direction br is just taking us no where, we need a fresh start with a top manager, who" I don't know but something must change or look forward to more millions been wasted and no improvement again, sorry for the negative vibes but that's my opinion

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  5. A cheaper option would be J Martinez.

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  6. How we missed on a relatively cheap Mandzukic this summer,having CL, is beyond me..

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  7. Juan Arango the new 'Suarez'

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  8. Only hope we have of getting some top players in is to have a higher profile manager!

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  9. These footballers are worse than dogs

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  10. Any time somebody gets bitten its compared to Suarez - I prefer to blame Defoe he started it on Mascherano : |

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  11. Liverpool had a good chance of bringing in top players last summer.We should've struck while our iron was hot.We went after Alexis Sanchez, then seemingly gave up after getting rejected.Then went back to targeting the same standard of player we could've easily got without Champions League football.
    Supporters who expect superstars this summer, will only see big names arrive on your Playstation.Sorry but realistically it won't happen.Liverpool will shop at the same football supermarket.The one that has no proven top quality players in the store.
    We'll target players a standard below.Hoping to turn players with big potential into megastars.I hope we put better products/players in our trolley this summer.

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  12. Hope you are talking about PES, not FIFA..

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  13. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:02 pm, April 05, 2015

    He told Suarez to leave in that season in 2012
    because we were not in champions league


    so why would he not take his own advice

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  14. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:03 pm, April 05, 2015

    Would love him


    1) Lacazette
    2) Cavani
    3) Higuain
    4) Falcao
    5) Vietto
    6) Dyabla

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  15. We must sell Sterling day one of transfer season - were all sick to death of him and B R grovelling to him - BUT NEVER TO A LONDON CLUB - Dont be daft about ED C - Premier League spends fortune on vastly overated players - DO WE NEVER LEARN ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

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  16. Whatever floats your boat!

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  17. More absolute nonsense about Liverpool signing top players. How obvious does it have to be - TOP PLAYERS WON'T GO NEAR LIVERPOOL. Why the hell should they? What has the club got to offer? A manager who is utterly clueless? The prospect of lining up with Joe Allen or Lucas Leiva? Playing with Glen Johnson? If they give Rodgers any money to spend they must be even dafter than I think they are and know even less about football than I suspect they do.

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  18. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  19. Cavani to Liverpool will never happen. The reality is Liverpool FC under FSG are a developing club. Can nobody see this? Buy young players with potential, develop them and sell them for a profit. Coutinho, Moreno, Can, Markovic and to a certain extent Sakho and Sturridge. Then you'll get your 2nd rate players like Lallana and Lovren. No top class. Don't pay high enough wages. It's so bloody obvious!! Not saying it's right or wrong. Everyone has their own opinion on how their club should be run. So the sad reality is don't expect top players in their prime to join and with the money of City and Chelsea, the spending power and brand of United and the consistency of Arse under Wenger, Liverpool under FSG will not win the title. There will be one-offs (like last season)where everything clicks and get 2nd/3rd/4th but competing at the top is done. No doubt Sterling will be off and in 2-3 years Can will be playing for Bayern. In the meantime I will enjoy the beautiful Can. It's up to you if you're ok with that for the club you love or not but that's the reality of it.

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  20. Cavani can't even score lot of goals in best team in french league so really don't wanna see him in liverpool. look lacazette who would be cheaper, much younger and has scored plenty of goals.

    if you wanna another example, there is falcao – great goal scoring record but he has been piss poor this season and never worth the asking price. i think it's the completely same with cavani.

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  21. Agree to a point but:


    Even under the model you describe we very nearly won the EPL last year so winning it from time to time would be achievable even for a team based solely or largely on developing players


    Going forward FFP levels the playing field somewhat with City and Chelsea



    The money from television will shortly dwarf other income again narrowing the gap


    So it might be possible in future to afford to keep players that the club has developed and also compete with other clubs for other top players,

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  22. Maybe when he's 34 and washed out...

    Let's face it, we are and been in the past 25 years shopping in the B and C transfer market.

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  23. Even when he's 34, the king of free agents, AC Milan, will give us absolutely no chance!

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  24. Might as well.


    But no way will the owners sanction such a big transfer unless they can sell someone of similar worth to offset it.

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  25. You know, we wasted more money on a misfiring, disinterested Balotelli than we ever would have risked on Loic Remi having a qestionable medical. Cavani won't come here with no CL

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  26. 4eva LFC, LFC 4eva4:27 am, April 06, 2015

    Here is where the problems lie we have guys like Phil who want us to by Cavani for 60-70 mill, but why would he want to come to us, seriously we have one of the most shocking midfield and defence in the game for a club of our stature, players look at what we have to offer, i mean we have no world class players, lets see does Cavani what to play in front of Hendo, Allen, Lallana and Lucas or would he prefer Oscar, Cesc Fabregas, Willian and Hazard, i mean we need to be realistic. We need a Keeper (Neto), a right back (Coentrao), bring back Tiago, a DM (Khedira or Song or Diarra) up front (Lavezzi, Vietto), this is realistic and looks better than what we have also would work in together with what we have IMO.

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  27. Ok 4th place is not looking good but United have got City and Arsenal next 2 games, if they get 0 or 1 points from them and we win both, we are back in it.

    Anyway for next year I'd be looking at the squad changes:

    OUT: Jones, Johnson (free), Manquillo (cancel loan), Toure (free), Coates, Enrique, Gerrard (free), Alberto, Aspas, Lambert, Borini, Balotelli, Teixeira (I'd sell with a buy-back clause)

    BACK IN SQUAD FROM LOAN: Wisdom, Ilori, Origi, and Sinclair, maybe Teixeira.

    PROMOTE: Rossiter, McLaughlin and Brad Smith

    IN: Butland (around 6-7 million), Janmaat (8-10 million), Imbula (10-12 milion), Pjanic (25-35 million), Lacazette (25-35 million)

    Some may say Pjanic and Lacazette are not possible without CL but Liverpool is still a top PL club, if the club/project is sold properly we can still attract these type of players. These 2 are not in the top bracket yet but are very highly rated, similar to Torres and Suarez when we bought them.

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  28. Martin agree totally. The man has to be moved on and the experiment not repeated . The squad needs to be emptied of the average Joe's we have .

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  29. we need defenders and midfielders ..as it stands unless we ship out or they desert we have balo,sturridge,sterling.borini.origi and several others who can play 10

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