3 Jul 2015

Anfield-bound? Liverpool made £16m offer for 'extraordinary' striker who wants LFC transfer

Over the last few months, Manchester City outcast Stevan Jovetic has emerged as an improbable transfer target for Liverpool, and new reports suggest that the Reds have already taken concrete steps to sign the Montenegrin striker.

Jovetic - once hailed by Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard as 'extraordinary' - is reportedly 'happy' to sign for Liverpool, and according to Thursday's edition of Italian newspaper Gazetta Dello Sport:

"Liverpool made a £16.5 million offer for Jovetic in May, but it was rejected by Manchester City"

I just can't understand Liverpool's ongoing interest in Jovetic. Like Daniel Sturridge, he is increasingly injury-prone, and it's negligence to even think about signing about striker who is regularly plagued by injury issues.

Since his arrival at City:

* 6 injuries in 2 seasons.

* 175 days on the sidelines (35 games missed).

Prior to City:

* 7 injuries in 4 seasons (including a dreaded cruciate ligament injury)

* 398 days on the sidelines (62 games missed).

When he is fit, Jovetic's record is creditable, but not impressive enough to justify Liverpool's interest:

* 11 goals/6 assists in 44 games (Goal every 3.8 games | Goal/assist every 2.6 games).

With such a concerning injury history, it's clearly a good thing that City rejected the offer, and that Liverpool failed to sign Jovetic during the Rafa Benitez era.

Given Liverpool's repeated attempts to sign Jovetic (past and present) there's always a chance the club will make another offer, but hopefully, this rejection signals the end of the Reds' interest.


There are plenty of other strikers out there without significant injury histories, though in Christian Benteke, Liverpool seem to be dead-set on signing another forward with recent injury issues.

Benteke will cost more than Jovetic, but in my view, even with his recent injury worries, the Belgian is an infinitely preferable option.

Author: Jaimie K


85 comments:

  1. Thanks but no thanks. Jovetic, when on form, is one of the deadliest strikers in the league. But with his constant injuries and inconsistent form he is a waste of money and i would rather see it spent on Benteke.

    I would ,preferabley, like Aubameyang or Alcacer to boost our striking options but FSG are hellbent on getting a proven Premier League striker and in that case Benteke does trump over Jovetic.

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  2. We already have that guy...Studge...complete with the glass legs.

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  3. no thanks injury prone striker maybe for 5 million

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  4. At the right price, I would still have him over benteke since he's not a 'pole' and actually make runs behind defenders

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  5. Indeed, he's Montenegrin.

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  6. Anyone think dzeko would be worth a punt?

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  7. Agree we need to find clinical strikers who show durability. I like jovetic because he can finish. At city he is a late game add so It makes sense his goals per game don't look great. I take him over Borini and Balo any day.

    That all said, We need a starting striker but BB is still busy signing kids in diapers. Don't get it. Instead of Italian genius's, sign friggin Lacazette!!!!!!

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  8. Matthew Metzgar1:01 am, July 04, 2015

    Great!!! Sturridge will have someone to hang out with!

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  9. in real terms...without injury Jovetic is 100% better than Sturridge and balotelli combined....

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  10. Sturridge is one of the best strikers in the league when he's fit!

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  11. At the rehab center.

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  12. Really?? He was truly 100% fit and smoking hot when Chelsea and Man city threw him out!! please 4get the hype ...sturridge's best ever spell was when he played alongside the current 3rd best player in the world....luis Suarez....

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  13. Studge was always a goal scorer.when fit he's a class act. What 'hype' are you on about? His record speaks for itself.

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  14. OK....just me then I guess....

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  15. Seriously? Over the period of his Liverpool career he has averaged a goal/ assist every single game. And before this injury ravaged season he had the fourth highest goals per minute rate in Europe! Behind only Hernandez, Ronaldo and Messi.

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  16. what record....???highest goal scorer in which league,most assists in which league?? the stats are there....

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  17. and...became the highest goal scorer...when he was fully fit at Chelsea and man city??

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  18. Second highest goal scorer in the 2013/14 league season and was fourth in EUROPE for goals per minute ratio. That shows true class.

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  19. He never had the chance there because they were buying better players from abroad. Obviously a young and immature Sturridge wouldn't be able to oust Aguero and a prime Drogba from the first team.

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  20. it was the suarez magic....

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  21. but if he was that good, is anything bad about being a support striker?? suarez was not our top 9..sturridge was, but we all know who out-performed who...GLARINGLY....So u feel if sturridge was that good the bigger teams wont come?? please!!

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  22. time will tell...just watch as events unfold...

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  23. Sturridge created a hell of a lot of Suarez' goals too, Studge also scored some of the best chipped goals I've ever seen, he broke loads of records, he failed at MC and CFC because he tried to create everything in his occasional 20 mins he got to prove his worth, they saw it as greedy we saw talent, when hes fit he is lethal

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  24. On another note I wonder if any of you have ever seen Benteke play, hes a lot better on the ball than everyone is making out

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  25. PLSSSSSS SIGN.... he's the one way ticket for Rodger to get out lol 😁

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  26. Suarez was not our top 9? What world was this?

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  27. If I remember rightly studge was actually more prolific than suarez as his goals/assist won us more points than suarez did... So that's pure class.

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  28. Absolutely no way - NO NO NO NO NO -Suarez never got injured = neither did Rush Aldridge etc ENOUGH SAID

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  29. We watched him in the FA final !

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  30. Javier Hernandez is available for 8m

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  31. I know all the negative sides of signing him(maybe even better than you guys), but I just can't not be thrilled about Montenegrian in Liverpool..

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  32. I know all the ne ga tive sides of signing him(maybe even better than you guys), but I just can't not be thrilled about Montenegrian in Liverpool.
    ah the mod...

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  33. This blinkered view that Benteke does not make runs behind defence puzzles me. He has a skill set that I believe would match Sturridge given the right service. This 'Benteke won't fit' is a myth perpetuated by poor knowledge of the player!

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  34. If Thaksin Shinawatra is, I'll accept Benteke too..

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  35. That's what I'm saying

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  36. That line sounds veery persuasive. But in real terms- it has no foundations in facts, at least you provided none. You tried (and failed) to put Daniel down, but offered no evidence you know Jovetic's strengths and advantages over Studge. I am Montenegrin and I just love the guy because of his passion and skill but with all my bias I can't say he is better than DS, maybe mostly because Stevan is a different type of a player.
    Furthermore saying Suarez was our entire game that season is simply lazy or ignorant and dissing Daniel is incredibly.. I can't even find the word for it...

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  37. You my friend are a bullsh1tter

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  38. Yes the stats are there so go and look at them and get back to me..

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  39. NonEventHorizon8:55 am, July 04, 2015

    Injured at the moment, but I think it's his shoulder so not too concerning.
    I'd take him in a heartbeat as I feel he'd fit our system well. The problem is he's not the "ultra" prolific striker that everyone wants and we already have our "back-up" strikers in place in Ings and Origi.

    I'd have been happy to have him instead of Ings (but I'm also happy enough to have Ings)

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  40. NonEventHorizon8:56 am, July 04, 2015

    Did you watch him play or have you just looked his stats up?

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  41. Does he watch football at all is the question..

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  42. When at shitty and chelski studge was not given a decent chance, the guy is a top striker imo, can you recall him being given a chance to play the #9 role at either cfc or mcfc because I can't, what I can recall is JM being quite upset at the fact that cfc only got £12m for him him, when he's fit and firing again he'll make you all eat your words, and one last thing, who scored all Lfc's goals when Luis missed the first 8 games of the season season????

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  43. I agree as can be seen from posts, maybe you intended that reply to ichiban?

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  44. He would score goals but doubt he'd come

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  45. We need to sell up first just so we can see where we're at. There's a good chance we won't be able to offload Ballotelli. But if we do manage to get rid of him and Borini and Lambert then we should be able to raise 30m from that. That 30m would nearly be enough to bring in Volland and El Sharaawy who I'd love to see us sign as they fit our high pressing game are mobile and very technical.
    The 32m that villa want for Benteke Is ridiculous.... It's 45m euro! To put this in to context I wouldn't see these clubs turning €45m down for their star striker
    Napoli, Higuain
    Dortmund, Reus
    Athletico, greizmann
    Lyon, lacazzete
    Inter, Icardi
    Not saying those strikers would come to us but I'm just saying if we have €45m to spend why not try bid on one of them atleast? Or put it towards the two I've already mentioned.

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  46. I agree completely and I have always admired your dress sense too ;-)

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  47. Looks like JK is on nights again. I don't why he can't just borrow Homer's nodding bird to post articles at regular intervals whilst he has a nap.......;-)

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  48. Yes, sorry I replied to the wrong person

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  49. Nothing ventured nothing gained..he would get more playing time!

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  50. That word is not hard to find if you are a LFC fan...

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  51. give studg a break...he is a class act

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  52. Plese no breaks and Sturridge in the same sentence.

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  53. FSG need to realise that we need maturity within our team, stop focusing on youth and so called potential players and bring in some older and wiser players, what`s wrong with Lavezzi, we could have a established goalscorer who would suit our style of play, and why did we not try bringing in Alex song he also would be a good signing in my opinion, that`s where we always go wrong with our signings, Brenda will yet again buy his young pretenders and it`s us the supporters who will yet again suffer the humiliation by other teams supporters, i`m fed up with being the brunt with rival supporters because of a egotistical stubborn second rate manager, until he goes we will continue to waste good money and will remain a second rate team. Bring in Klopp because he would stand up to the owners and be heard and we would see better and more talented players coming to play for a team, and club that should have never waited this long to become premier league winners,end of rant.

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  54. Could you point me in the direction of some games, or a game when he's done so in the past - genuine enquiry, not trying to catch you out but wouldn't mind watching a bit and trying to expand my Benteke knowledge.
    Obviously he does it a bit for Vila, but I'm trying to gauge how he would make the jump to doing it on a weekly basis.

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  55. Hope so, because he's 99% ours me thinks...

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  56. Good player, particularly good I thought at edge of the area finishes. Would have him for the right money but overall don't think he really fits our 'style' any better than Benteke really.

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  57. Looks like Skrtel is or has now re-signed, so that's a bit of good news IMO :)

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  58. Studge kept us at the top of the table while Suarez was in the biter box.

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  59. I know he's good in the air but he can play too..better with the ball at his feet than benteke I reckon..

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  60. Wouldn't disagree with that, maybe a bit slower though? and perhaps a bit too slow for us and also not sure if he would harass the opposition as much as BR would want him to.

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  61. Sorry case no can do, however if you look on utube and see highlights of Benteke's goals 14/15 it shows a snapshop of his skill set and passing. I know highlights can be misleading but they do show his goals which are not up for debate.

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  62. Yep your probably right I suppose. Really not convinced about benteke tho..There's slim pickings out there ..

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  63. sturridge was the top 9....

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  64. you'll say i told you so...and if he performs ....i will eat my words...

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  65. and when he came out of the biter box...what happened?

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  66. Can somebody explain me what is our style in reality? Last season we lacked any organisation. The season before the style was give the ball to Suarez.

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  67. Maybe we can manage they are not injured in the same time. So we have 2in1. One can play, the other is on rehab. Seriously, i think part of he's injuries in first season was not real, just made up for explanation why he is not in the team with Aguero, Negredo and Dzeko.

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  68. Thanks Timp, I do need to spend a little more time on the tube, have looked at a few bits and pieces already but expect there's more to be found, will take a gander :)

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  69. Well the way I see it and trying to keep things simple, I feel the vast majority of our goal threat comes from fast build up play, culminating in either a through ball, some wide play - cutting inside and a quick interchange ending in a short pass played in behind the defence, or sometimes just an early ball played directly from midfield, all done at a rate of knots and for most all of those, I think the striker has to be tirelessly making suitable runs and movement to provide an outlet.
    To do this IMO, is quite a particular skill and not an easy one to learn and certainly, not one that we need to be waiting for a player to develop - i.e. Balo mk2.
    I know that isn't really the best or most detailed analogy but in regards Benteke vs. say Lacazette, I think it covers the main difference - Lacazette appears to thrive of exactly that type of play where as from *what I've seen* of Benteke he is used to playing in a system that utilises a much slower build up of play and culminates with more players around him, whereby the ball is knocked around the opponents area a bit before it may fall to him in a suitable position to finish, which to be fair he does very well.
    Having said all of that, I am starting to wonder if Brendan does perhaps have a different idea of how'd he'd like to play than what is generally assumed - that being that he wishes to return to the fast attacking play from 2013/14 and as you say last season only muddied the waters.

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  70. Jamie you make me laugh you jump on the bandwagon of every rumour, he's no good he's to good why are we going for him blah blah, we are not a top four club at the moment and cannot get top strikers like higuain or benzema so we are bound to be linked with the likes of benteke etc

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  71. Fair enough. I hope you're hungry:)

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  72. Immaterial to your argument that only Suarez made Studge look good. The point is we won games while Studge was the striker. However Studge ended second place in the league scoring title even with a few Knicks.

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  73. I rate Jovetic but his injury record is just horrendous

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  74. When the entire team failed to support him?

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  75. Totally correct.
    It's obvious from the comments on him that a lot of people don't know what they are talking about and simply follow the common train of thought.

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  76. You're a bloody wind up merchant mate. Go back to supporting Everton or Utd.

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  77. Sorry, but your first paragraph describes maybe how Arsenal played last season but not Liverpool.
    All of us wish something like that but do you remember how Sterling or sometimes even Coutinho was last between 3-4 defenders and no one to pass the ball. Even when Sturridge was on field. Because there was no the striker with tireless, endless moving, creating space for himself ans others. Namely El Pistolero.

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  78. No no no, no Jovetic. Our squad already has enough injury worries. What's the point of signing a player if we know he won't play most games?

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  79. I was swing by watching his interesting performance for Belgium vs USA recently, personal highlights on Youtube. Have a look, it's interesting stuff.

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  80. Sorry Andor I should of made it clear I was really trying to have a crack at describing how we play when at our best such as 2013/14 and how I assume/hope BR is trying to return us to.
    Agree with you 100% - last season we completely lost our way and we're unidentifiable, but my views on suitable Strikers are based on how I think BR wants us to play going forward.

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  81. Cheers Robo, just had a watch - think I've got the right game (4-2 Belgium)
    Have to say, obviously Benteke is by no means a bad player, in fact he's quite good BUT, that game just looked so slow paced and lackadaisical and honestly, I could see Balo (when at his best) putting in really quite similar performance - some good footwork, neat turns, few nice passes (few that weren't so good too) and a particularly nice controlled finish for his second goal. Albeit brought about by some useless defending.
    No way do many P/league games look like that though and still think Laca looks like a level or two above :)

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  82. Oh I absolutely agree. But still, there it is.

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  83. Sorry, didn't mean to phrase it like you had an opposite stance and did think your 'interesting' was a diplomatic way of not being too impressed but didn't like to assume and wondered if I was missing some aspect of his game that was awe inspiring.
    Am wondering now if BR has us all foxed and really wants a two striker set up with one (Benteke) winning/collecting the ball and the other (Studge/Ings/Origi) making the movement around him for the final ball and subsequent goal.
    Maybe this coming week will give us some more hints. Interesting, exciting, worrying and hopefully winning times ahead :)

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