11 Jun 2012

€15m LFC wing target confirms: 'I will leave' Italy this summer. Replace Downing?

Last summer, Dutch winger Eljero Elia confirmed that Liverpool wre interested in a potential deal, and he praised the Reds as the 'biggest club in England'. The deal fell through, and the talented winger went to Italy instead. Elia recently admitted that his Juventus transfer had been a 'failure', and that he was looking to relaunch his career elsewhere. Today, he's confirmed his intention to leave Serie A once again. Could Anfield be a possible destination this summer?

Liverpool have been linked with Elia several times since his move to Juventus, and after the 25-year old's comments today, it's clear that the opportunity is definitely there for the club to go back in for him. Speaking to Eredivisie Live, Elia said:

"Juventus have already told me that I'll be allowed to leave. I just want to enjoy playing football again. My agent is taking care of it, and he'll get in touch once an offer from a club is concrete."

There doesn't appear to be any way back for Elia at Juve, and this is not the first time he's made public comments about wanting to leave. A few weeks ago, he said:

"This season has been a failure. It's really hurt me, but I've become stronger mentally. I'm 25 now and I still have a long career ahead of me. I came from far, but I will have to start all over again."

With only 4 starts for Juventus last season, Elia's career has well and truly stalled in Italy. Liverpool need quality wingers, and Stewart Downing is most definitely not the answer. €15m-rated winger sounds like he wants to prove himself, which means he'll probably be highly motivated to do well. Worth a bid, or even a potential loan deal?



Jaimie Kanwar


33 comments:

  1. Elia is a talented player, but especially after the year he's just had, there is no way that he would cost anywhere near £15m.

    If Liverpool were smart, we'd take him on loan with a promise to buy him for £3m at the end of the year. And then renegotiate the deal next year.

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  2. And use the money saved to buy Sturridge & Johnson, while getting Joe Cole, Stewart Downing & Maxi Rodriguez off of the wage bill

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  3. i dont think we need another player who is low on confidence and who wasnt even used by juventus which suggests he lacks something *ahem*babel*ahem* maybe for free tho...

    i think liverpool need diame/keita/sissoko, maybe cissokco (lb) to get enrique back into gear, sigurdsson/ramirez and hoillet/johnson (if under 10mill)/ moses (below 5-6mill)/boudabouz/belhanda/herrara/munian and suarez/de joong/martinez (id pick de joong) 

    what do yo think? 

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  4. horrorfilmshirts.com10:20 pm, June 11, 2012

    This would be a good buy but the price is way off. He went to Juventus for 9 Million Euros so between £5M and £6M should secure him for Liverpool. He is lightning quick and very skilful but was clearly never suited to the Italian game - a big mistake in choosing Juventus. He is not going to be a world beater but would suit a fast paced league in an attack-minded team which if Rodgers wants to make us then for the price Elia would be a good option

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  5. Elia is absolute quality - v fast & skilful. Exactly what we need - sure we could get him for no more than 9m

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  6. your boring us kanwar, GO AWAY

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  7. Elia's style of play reminds me of Raheem Stirling but with more 1st team experience.

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  8. Jaimie kanwar , you believe everything you read. you big up every speculated player to liverpool. and you dumb down the players we have. your so fucking boring. i hate going to news now website and its full of your boring articals.

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  9. couldn't *even* be used by the unbeaten Serie A Champions? :-/

    Kelly couldn't even get a starting place in a mid-table Liverpool team. Aurelio couldn't get a game last season. Maxi couldn't stay off of the bench. Agger couldn't get a game at centre-back under Hodgson etc. Our fans were constantly arguing how deserving these players were of a starting place and they couldn't even break into an under-performing team with mediocre counterparts.

    Managers regularly have their favorites and it can inexplicably be almost impossible for certain players to break in to fit in to their plans, regardless of the player's quality.

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  10. Yet the same fans saying that Elia would be a waste, will argue that Sterling is "the missing link" without any sense of irony. 

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  11. yes, elia is the same type of player as stirling but completely different

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  12. I think you've forgotten that you can only have a few foreign players now unless they have come through the academy.

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  13. Yeh! 4games worth of experience in the last 12 months.

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  14. why do we want  a reject. He failed at Juventus. We should start demanding better for ourselves or it will be more of the same 

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  15. Elia is a skillful dribbler . but not suitable for BR's tiki taka style. Not a chance.

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  16. "Replace Downing?" is the headline of almost 150 articles. Downing is an obsession for You. I understand He had a poor season, but it's not the first player in LFC's history WHo rose after one bad season. It seems You have a personal affaire against the player. I think it's clearly a personal agenda Who drives your articles. Downing is your "24 hrs a day" obsession. Now, We should replace Downing with a Player Who got 4 caps, 4 caps, in the italian top flight football..... MY God..... Can You pick at least a Player with more than 10 caps to replace Downing?

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  17. Reject to replace another reject. Radio 5 last night Chris Waddle says I cannot believe Downing has got 23 caps what on earth has he ever done that you remember. Why ay lad

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  18. Elia is worth 3 million pounds we have to hound Juve like they hounded us with Aquilani- SHow them no mercy.

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  19. If you're just going to pick out specific time-frames as if that is totally indicative of a players ability, Lucas has less experience than Spearing in the last 6 months. 
    It doesn't really say anything about the levels of either player though does it?

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  20. Nathan Dyer and Scott Sinclair were dribblers in Rodger's team last year. At the end of the day, you need players that can beat a man if you don't want a boring, predictable team that can't get behind a packed defence. 
    Elia has that ability (as do Sturridge and Johnson who I'd also love to see brought in as replacements for Downing/Kuyt/Maxi etc)

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  21. My personal opinion is that Rodgers should difinately look at him,see what they can do about the price tag maybe get it down but he is a very good footballer, with great pace and skill and this is something we have been missing for a long time.
    We can still keep Downing (not something i would do) and they could swap and change, could be good for us.

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  22. Jamie could you please tell me who are the reliable sources in the UK
    because i live in Australia and really would not know?

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  23. personaly i think downing shld be replaced but wt a guy whom we r atleast knw hd a gud last season nt sm1 who never made it in anotha why would he make it 4 liverpool.bt it seems evry1 is puttin last season poor perfomance on downin wc is nt fair cuz most of the guys did not also cumto the part

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  24. what are you talking about . . is he the same  . .or is he complately different. IMO, sterling all the way, we don't need another babel 

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  25. Maybe swap for Aquillani with some money involved. The best deal for both sides, Pirlo will not last forever.

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  26. None of the sources are reliable - it's just a numbers game. Pretty much all transfer rumours are just guesses, with the knowledge that eventually one of the many touted rumours will come through. 

    They may have changed in the last year or so, but from memory, sites like Goal or CaughtOffside don't even apply logic when publishing their rumours though...

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  27. I'd rather look at somebody that has had several good seasons and one bad one, rather than somebody that has had several bad seasons and one good one. that is how we ended up with Downing!

    And it is fair to put a hefty portion of blame on Downing's shoulders for last season. He was a £20m, 27y/o player brought in to be one of few match-winners in the team. And he didn't win matches for us. Everybody else has some sort of justification for their form, but there are no valid excuses for Downing at all.

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  28. Agreed, but I only ever publish transfer rumours that have quotes from players/managers/agents or owners. Take this article, for example: Elia states that he is allowed to leave Italy - that is a valid transfer rumour. We might not know where he's going to move, but he's available, and that's a fact worth reporting (IMO)

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  29. You are right there. good point. it is all about being versatile and adapting to different tactics.

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  30. I believe he is worth taking on a year's loan, we pay 60% of his current Juve wages, with an option to purchase him for 4,000,000 at the end of the year. That way it give BR a chance to evaluate him in the PL before buying him. That way if it doesn't turn out we just send him packing at the end of the year!!

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  31. It's not a knock on you personally, or anybody else just suggesting potential transfers that could or should happen. 

    My point was that most articles publishing statements of fact, e.g. such and such club is "leading the race" for a certain player, or "planning a bid" for another player, are usually just figments of the authors imagination as they try to make themselves sound important with talk of insider information. As evidenced by the ease with which the same authors will forget said statements when the timeline for their initial suggestions pass/link the same players or managers elsewhere/definitively state that the club is lining up transfers for another couple of players in the same position just a week or two later.

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  32. Believe me, I agree with everything you've said, which is why I don't use thise ridiculous stock phrases like 'leading the race' etc. It bugs the hell out of me. I would only ever use ohrases like that if it was an actual quote from an agent/CEO etc.

    Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note

    -------- Original message --------
    Subject: [liverpoolkop] Re: €15m LFC wing target confirms: 'I will leave' Italy this summer. Replace Downing? | Liverpool-Kop.com

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