16 Jun 2015

Transfer Stunner? Liverpool still want 'world-class' £18m 'beast' who smashed 38 goals/assists in 37 games

In what must surely go down as one of the most improbable transfer rumours of recent times, Liverpool are once again being linked with a summer move for PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

In April, The Independent claimed that Liverpool 'could sign' Ibrahimovic for a 'cut-price' fee £18m, and according to Sky Sports over the weekend:

* Ibrahimovic is 'keen on a move away' from Paris Saint-Germain this summer.

* The 33-year-old is wanted by a 'number of European clubs', including Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

The Swede recently served a 4-match ban for calling France a 'S^^t country', but even if he's on the outs at PSG, rudimentary common sense dictates that this deal will never happen.

Ibrahimovic's agent all but confirmed this recently, when he told Foot Mercato:

"This is bulls^^t. Zlatan cannot be on the transfer market. There is no need to ask me that. Zlatan has a contract with PSG. Will he be here next year? I answer yes"

Ibrahimovic remains one of the world's top strikers, which is why this deal will never happen in a million years.

Indeed, according to Chelsea striker Diego Costa, Ibra is one of the best strikers of all time. In February, he told Sport magazine:

"Zlatan is a beast. He is one of those players that I like because of his character and his quality. He is among the best strikers in football history"

We're allowed to dream though, right? I'd love to see Ibrahimovic at Liverpool, even for £18m. He's a winner, and like most winners, he has an indefatigable will to succeed, which rubs off on the players around him.

The Swede has done the business wherever he's played, and his stunning goals/assists record is a testament to his perennial effectiveness:

* 323 goals/134 assists (457 total) in 572 appearances.
* Goal/assist every 1.2 games over his entire career.

Superb stats, and even at the age of 33, Ibrahimovic - described by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard as 'world-class' is still one of the best strikers in the world.


This season, for example, Ibrahimovic has 38 goals/assists in 37 games for PSG, which proves he's still operating at the highest level.

Ibrahimovic's agent makes it sound like a transfer is out of the question, but you never know in football. Alas, if he does decide to move, I doubt it will be to Liverpool.

Wither way, if true (The Independent and Sky Sports are credible sources), then it's heartening to see Liverpool targeting a genuinely world-class player like Ibrahimovic...even if he is in the twilight of his career.

Author:


71 comments:

  1. Let me put your mind at rest right now: England will not win a major tournament in your lifetime, or in ten lifetimes.

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  2. Theycallmemrburt7:24 pm, June 16, 2015

    Morcambe and Wise, Skinner and Baddiel, Lee and Herring and Skrtel and Sakho are some of the best comedy duos I have ever witnessed..... especially the last pair.... absolutely F@ckin hilarious together.... ahhhhhhhhh those were the days. *looks off into space*

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  3. Theycallmemrburt7:27 pm, June 16, 2015

    we're going for the George Graham school of building a squad. I think he had 11 senior center backs on the books at one point.

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  4. Is he on a free????.................. :-)

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  5. Ahh come on Jaimie, surely your not that pessimistic. You have to agree that things have progressed coaching wise.

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  6. Madness of the highest order if we sign him, im hugely against fsg and there policy of signing young players non stop but even i would be against them spending 18 mill on a player who's almost 34, whos wages would probably be upwards of 275 k a week and whose style simply doesn't suit how we play as seen with the likes of Carroll Balo Lambert etc, im obviously not comparing Zlatan to those fools in terms of ability, hes on another planet to them, but big target men just don't seem to work for us..i its all a moot point anyway because Rodgers couldn't attract a player of Zlatans stature if his life depended on it.. im embarrassed even thinking about Ayre and Bodgers sitting around a table with him.. probably get him to sign an autograph and pose for a photo before riding off on Ayres moterbike, Rodgers in the side car punching the air

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  7. Oh, that's that sorted then.

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  8. As much as you might like that Jamie I actually believe England are capable. Their under 21 squad is doing a great.


    Give them a few more years experience together as a squad and a good manager and I do believe they will have a chance.

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  9. I'm sure there is some twisted version of logic that we Liverpool supporters can use to convince ourselves that Danny Ings and Charlie Austin are better striking options for our team than Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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  10. "As male, 90s comedians, we have to pretend to like football. Think of the money!"

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV47hWehB0Y

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  11. Okay; let's get this straight: Milner does NOT replace Gerrard's experience. Gerrard, for all his recent shades of mortality, captained us in two Champions' League finals. MIlner is a decent player who has decent experience. He was a fringe player in a title-winning team. Let's not oversell this to ourselves.

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  12. £18m, so I guess FSG won't sanction the move

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  13. Doff of the cap to both of you, I'm still mulling Schrodinger's experiment over, it reminds of the fact of space being infinite - you can kind of see and accept that its a true and undeniable fact but your brain cannot possibly comprehend how that is so.
    ...Cheers - Pic was at end of a spring's day fishing, nice but not the best sunset, was testing a new camera and as with most things fishing - all the magic usually happens when you've stopped faffing with cameras and stuff and just melted away into the scenery :)

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  14. Liverpool Echo reporting Joe Gomez will sign for Liverpool, deal done, player decided on Liverpool???.

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  15. I'll be honest if we get 8 or 9 English players. I'd like us to go the whole hog and field a full English team regardless of quality but purely for freak show factor

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  16. Hahahah they get tactical experience from FIFA is like saying we can repelled an alien invasion because you have played halo.....

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  17. Jules Winnfield8:48 pm, June 16, 2015

    Liverpool should be looking for a top goalkeeper. over 100 goals in 2 seasons let in by Mignolet, there has to be something wrong, you can't blame the defenders alone for that many goals. Reina never let that many in in any season he played for us. Mignolet needs real competition and Bogdan is not going to provide that. Plenty of good goalkeepers out there that could replace Mignolet. Wake up Brendan Rodgers! We have Andre Wisdom and Jon Flannaghan that can play at right back, if we're going for Clyne then let move Wisdom on.

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  18. Not a hope = forget it I hope Markovic etc are training as from Monday - they desperately need to - He said he would be brilliant and he was at talkiing only = Lets see B R BACK NEXT WEEK TOO - He spends too much time mollycuddling his girlfriend - if you want to be LFC boss get your priorities right or go

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  19. Nobody else on earth remotely interested in Gomez - and we all know it

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  20. Nothing to add to this. Massive smiley face to you too! Really generous stuff.



    Tackling is one part of the game I really don't understand these days. BR coaches his players to nick the ball away instead of tackling and to combine to win the ball, but maddeningly that seems to end up with a foul just as often as if the players had steamed in. Someone like Mascherano who understands the dark arts, knows how and when to foul or to take a booking, all that stuff -- we could sure as hell use a bit of that in the team...


    ...anyway, best stop before I go off on one again!

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  21. Hehe, true :)

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  22. Hey gm23, don't think I've seen the posts Robo refers to or I'm afraid he would be getting my vote on the matter.
    In fairness I do acknowledge you have a point regarding Suarez and his value and appeal pre-Liverpool having taken a hit from his past actions. I do still think we can find another gem and I do still think there are gems out there that want to play for us, actually, I'm going to go a bit mad and yes, state my opinion as fact - there ARE players out there, good ones, great ones, who would love to play for our *great* Club.
    Other than that, our views are so far removed that there's probably no chance of us finding any common ground so it's an agree to disagree from me.

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  23. With moreno out of favour, can guarenteed a midfield spot, ings gotta play, and rodgers buying all midfielders next year well look like this

    ..........................mingolet
    ..........clyne.........skrtel.........sakho
    .............................can
    ..........milner.....................kovacic
    ..hendo..............lallana...........coutinho
    ............................ings

    No point spending 25m on lallana and not playing him in his role. Coutinho will play left as he scores all his goals from there anyway.

    Kovacic, ings, clyne and milner were the starters rodgers has been talking about.

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  24. He's actually not that bad ray its just he's about. Two years off. Potential wise and we need the finished article

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  25. I'd probably swap milner and hendo

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  26. I give up. Why are we linked to so many players and take an absolute age in signing them? Kovacic comes to mind. I wont read another post until a player is signed. (probably will) FSG waken up and give us fans what we want. We dont want a 34 year old either.

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  27. Vote for Hendo, FIFA 16 cover!


    https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/cover-vote

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  28. Well, considering the window isn't open yet, free agents are really all we can sign, and we have gotten 3 already...

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  29. Sign him and offer him captain. He may also help Balotelli.m

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  30. As a 'bitter Scotsman' (as I've been called on the site recently), this is most definitely optimism, i.e. the fervent hope that England fail to win a single trophy in my lifetime; or 10 lifetimes ;-)

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  31. rotchie the red9:37 pm, June 16, 2015

    well if Jamie is right about BR's blind quest to populate the team with British players well then I cant wait for him to sign rooney, hart and cahill....

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  32. Exactly the same thing I was told by some Spaniards 10 years ago when they talked about their national team :)

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  33. Are you on something?
    Ings guaranteed to play? I assume you have some basis for that statement?
    Go take your meds

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  34. Stranger things have happened Jamie, so don't abandon all hope - Arnie was just about to come back too, why have you abandoned him just weeks before! Admittedly all that CGI looks like it might be a bit OTT.

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  35. From what I read in Italian press and his other statements- I am sure he is going. Wouldn't like him here though. As much he is good at playing football his character is... He makes Suarez look good.. disregard that- Materazzi is a baby compared to him..

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  36. From what I read in Italian press and his other statements- I am sure he is going. Wouldn't like him here though. As much he is good at playing football his character is... Materazzi is a baby compared to him..

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  37. From what I read in Italian press and his other statements- I am sure he is going. Wouldn't li ke him here though. As much he is good at playing football his char acter is... He makes Suarez look good.. disregard that- Materazzi is a baby compared to him..

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  38. Not one word worth moderation in my post.. Unbelievable..

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  39. Not gonna happen, don't even go there.

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  40. Express reporting we're going to trump Utd in the Firmino chase with a 5M higher bid... now THAT would feel good right about now. Can't say I'm optimistic though...

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  41. except for arsenal and city acording to the daily star

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  42. There's no doubt about his genius as a manager. My point was he did it with an English core several times

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  43. Sorry, my bad, misread something on my phone, it was a European Championship
    Edited

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  44. Done.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CCaUyWzPnc

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  45. OK, OK it was a European Championship

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  46. Both from the Republic of Ireland.
    Not technically British, but still part of the same group of islands geographically

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  47. I'm not twisting anything. I've offered facts to support an opposing view. Hence my use of the word 'squad', not 1st team.

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  48. I want this for the New Year


    ...............................Mignolet
    Flannagan-------Skrtel-------Sakho----Moreno
    ------------------Can--------------Milner
    Henderson-------- --Lallana
    ----Coutinho--
    ----------------Stturidge

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  49. and relegation by may?

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  50. Yokohama Liverpool Fan1:02 am, June 17, 2015

    We are more likely to play Flanaghan at LB once fit and it seems we might be in for Charlie Austin which will make our fwd lineup look like this: Sturridge, Ings, Austin and Origi

    This is assuming we flog Borini, Balotelli and Lambert next season. Aspas is finally off our books as well.
    Sterling may not stay but we have Ibe.

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  51. Yokohama Liverpool Fan1:08 am, June 17, 2015

    We weren't half bad in Euro 96 either. 98 would have been interesting had we managed to get past Argentina.

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  52. Yokohama Liverpool Fan1:15 am, June 17, 2015

    Replace Kovacic with Kondogbia or Nainggolan then we will be going places. Really hope Moreno comes goos and Flanaghan's injury problems are sorted as well.

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  53. Don't play coy Mike- I've outed you as a bounder.


    You'll have to try a lot harder than that to slip one past ol' VermHat.

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  54. Yokohama Liverpool Fan1:19 am, June 17, 2015

    Dani Alves is getting on a bit so he might hang around another year for the CL winners.

    Also Barca have that transfer ban so won't be selling if they can't buymost likely.

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  55. Yokohama Liverpool Fan1:39 am, June 17, 2015

    It's probably a matter of time before we go in for Konoplyanka on a free.

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  56. So, we're aiming for 6th then?

    Assuming he would be fit, Sturridge over Ings any day of the week.

    Ings isn't fit to lead the line at any team looking to break into the top 4.

    No place for Ibe or Sterling?

    Clyne as part of a back three?

    If this is Bodgers masterplan, I can only assume he's holding out for the sack.

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  57. The same Daily Star that ran with the Hillsborough lies before retracting them?

    Quality source that.

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  58. Yeah but how does that help Bodgers selling him as a good signing to the Liverpool fans?

    Got to keep up the pretence that a kid who hasn't had a full season in the Championship is better than an established Uruguayan international with PL experience.

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  59. They're the same source saying we're interested. So of the 4-5 clubs listed over the past couple days, our interest is the only one that's true?

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  60. Most likely.

    Possibly his agent talking him up.

    Interest without a bid / action is meaningless anyway.

    Is there a club in the world not 'interested' in Messi?

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  61. Love the new pick and the you can live on it bit nice one.

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  62. don't as`k anything.. just sign him

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  63. But of all the clubs, why only us? Why not say arsenal is legit and not us? It's the same source for both.

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  64. No way Jose...Ibrahim ain't coming to a low rent oriented outfit. He would never come here and be surrounded by the skill level we have and if he did we would have no money to fill the need for two strikers who can fill up the net.....

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  65. Firmino would at leat show we "finally get it"

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  66. and he still is a cancer...

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