18 Jun 2012

Confirmed: 30-goal LFC striker target is available for £29m. Affordable?

Last week, coveted Athletic Bilbao striker Fernando Llorente revealed that he sought advice from former Liverpool stars Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres over a potential move to the Premier League. It's no secret that Liverpool are long-term admirers of the Spanish striker, and Llorente himself confirmed recently that representatives from Anfield 'came to Bilbao' negotiate a possible transfer. Llorente would be a dream signing for the Reds, but Bilbao President Josu Urrutia has made it clear that he won't come cheap.

Llorente's current deal has a €36million (£29million) buy-out clause, and speaking to reporters yesterday, Urrutia was asked if the Spaniard was for sale, and if Bilbao would accept a transfer fee that was lower than the buyout fee. He said:

"He [Llorente] is a key player and we would not accept less [than €36m] because the supporters would not accept this"

Llorente - who grabbed 33 goals and assists for Bilbao last season - is definitely open to a move to the Premier League this summer, and he reiterated this last week in an interview at Spain's Euro 2012 training base:

"I might end up playing in England. I am currently in Bilbao, but who knows what happens. Xabi Alonso and Fernando Torres has told me about the great respect that the fans have for the players there"."

£29m seems like a prohibitive fee for Liverpool, but I doubt Bilbao would get that much for Llorente if he was to leave. As a comparison, take Montpelier's Oliver Giroud, who has a similar goalscoring record. The French club's owner, Louis Nicollin, slapped a €50m price tag on the prolific striker a few months ago, but now he's set to join Arsenal for a vastly reduced fee of £12m.

In April 2012, Liverpool Chairman Tom Werner suggested that transfer funds would not be a problem for the right player:

"I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football"

Signing Llorente may appear to be a pipe dream for LFC fans at the moment, but if Brendan Rodgers were really interested, I'm sure FSG would put up the money to sign him, or a striker of comparable quality.



Jaimie Kanwar


33 comments:

  1. We may have the resources but spending them is another matter!

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  2. Dont be so stupid kanwar

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  3. he is the GREAT player ,there is no need waiting let him play in front of SUAREZ for better next season.Rodgers + henry take him he will help in bringing back our joy for 19th epl tittle and 6 uefa tittleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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  4. Goals are mostly headers. Looking forward to him playing with Andy Caroll and the exhibition of crosses and Suarez sits on the bench moaning about our ticklish-ticklish football instead of tiki-taka (you need to tickle yourself to be entertained in this kind of football or else you will fall asleep)

    29 Million for him. Not bad. At least he has 6 million pounds off his shoulder when he compared himself with Andy Caroll. Should take the pressure off him when he's jumping for the ball.

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  5. We have always had resources but most of the time we waste it on the wrong players. Scouting problem or just silly valuations that we are sill enough to pay. As much as this would be kwality, I doubt it. Never say never. He is awesome- strong, good in the air, but with the technical skills to play to feet. Would be a beast on the prem.

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  6. Too similar to Carroll. We need more speed and skill, someone like Lavezzi, Lucas from São Paulo, Wellington Nem from Fluminense to take some of the load off Suarez.

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  7. Yes! Way out of our spending league is that price. We can only afford new-scouted , unknown talent now and in the future under FSG.

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  8. lots of goals with his head who's going to supply the crosses?

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  9. Duh...of course Stewart Downing. (I am tickling myself now to laugh).

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  10. By the way, the chances of Stewart Downing missing 1 player is great. With 2 players to cross the ball to, all Fernando needs to do is to be off position and stand further behind Andy Caroll. All the misses will fly in for Fernando to knock it in. LOL

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  11. Price aside, we also have to question whether the higher calibre players want to join our club in its current state.

    Unfortunately we might have to be content with second tier players until the club can prove its worth. Living off a successful history fades over time.

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  12. NOT A CAT IN HELLS CHANCE MATE - NO MONEY

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  13. you people are being deceived by the statistics being thrown around. i personally watched downing create chance after chance that weren't put away. swansea for carroll, manchester for kuyt? remember that, several other chances ,several. its unfair the criticism he receives. With a better strike force next season you'll see the real downing. as for the goals he should really have done better but he hit the post against sunderland,fulham,Qpr, twice against chelsea. I'll admit he needs to attempt to beat his man more often and be more involved in games . I would also like to see more flair players bought but all i' saying is cut him some slack.

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  14. if some how we can sign luuk de jong(15m) keep aqua man, sign tello (7)and kalou on a free as well as sigurdsson(8), bring in diame on a free. we would have done some brilliant transfer business. add the sale of adam, maxi, j.cole and the return of lucas and we would actually have a decent squad. 

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  15.     reina
    johnson agger skrtl enrique
          lucas
                     gerrad
          sigurdsson
    suarez              tello/kalou
                luuk de jong

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  16. You are a funny man. You the jokes from Russell Peters, dont you? Unless millions of fans are blind or else we cant see how Stewart Downing's performances last season deserve anything. Even LFC legend like Didi came out to give him a stick. Hello. Jokes aside. Wake up! And in your total fantasy football team below, you somehow exclude him. THat says alot about him. He wasnt a bad player before. He just needs to show it now that he is worth wearing the red shirt or get out.

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  17. A combined pair of Yohan Mollo (French winger) and Wilfried Bony (Ivorian striker) probably wouldn't exceed 19m. They're not branded yet, but potentially world class.

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  18. Perhaps you need to read my comment again. I never said he pulled up trees, some are going as far as saying that he 's championship material and i don't think thats fair for someone who was our best chance creator barring suarez.

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  19. 29 million ? i rather choose gomez for that amount

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  20. Carroll has to be given a season under new management to show what level he's capable of. no one can deny that he can be lethal when on form and full of confidence. 
    llorente was one of the players we bid for on the fateful day nando left(prior to bidding for carroll, who was 3/4th choice that day), and not someone we need to blow 30m on now.
    We need to buy young, and less well known players to compete in the forward positions. 
    realistically the alleged 30m BR has is going to be spent on 3/4 players. 9m or less on sigurdsson, a right winger(10m one would think) and 10m on a forward. if we make any sales we need another CM in case lucas doesn't come back as strong/quickly and perhaps another centre back, the young tottenham player BR had on loan.

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  21. I think with Carroll here, even if Llorente can offer other things as well as the same strengths as Carroll, the management will persevere with Carroll and look for a different type of forward to add something different in terms of dynamic. Me thinks he could go to City, if they offload Dzeko and co. If Dzeko left, Llorente would give them something different to the likes of Balo and Kun.

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  22. The truth is that finishing 8th last season and being out of the Champions League for a few years means that we can forget about Llorente, Huntelaar and other players of this calibre.

    We'll have to set our sights much lower for the next couple of years I'm afraid.

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  23. This again.

    Ahem Jamie make an article relating Doumbia who is the best possible striker we can buy

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  24. Downing is not a quality player, he is a waste of money.

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  25. Doumbia is a good player, I agree, and as soon as he or his agent makes a statement about his future, I'll post something about it.

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  26. why sell maxi and sign kalou

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  27. yeah we can negotiate around 25 million pounds & he is worth it not like andy who started firing late he is made for premier league

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  28. I don't think Brendon Rodgers is really interested in Llorente . At least he has not openely expressed in the Athletico Bilboa man. I listened to Rodgers when he made comments on possible targets he has not said anything about Llorente or any possilbe targets that are Strikers. The only player we know for sure that he is interested in is Siggurdson. I know managers like to be tight lipped about their transfer targets till after the after they have made their move. I want to believe that he is seceretly making moves for this player or a host of other strikers that has been linked with the club this summer. These include the likes of Jackson Martinez , and Luke De Jong. I don't even believe that we will get Gaston Ramirez who was heavily linked to us before Rodger's appointment. I think no champions league no top class players. Hope i am wrong.

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  29. cheikhabdou gaye7:22 pm, June 18, 2012

    llorente has all the potentiel to help livpool and to win the epl ynwa

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  30. You are the idiot here..  read the other stupid comments you have posted. 
    Monso made valid points as Downing put in more crosses than anyone else in the league and also hit the woodwork several times.
    tickle tickle (cock)

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  31.  sounding like a kenny fan there.... for a group that saved LFC from legislation u guys give FSG unneeded stick support them

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  32. Mr. Point Of View9:40 am, June 19, 2012

    yes same type of player AC n Llorente...need cross ball feeding...wat d point we take him...i suggest we rather take half tat money fight for GIROUD with gunners...(btw be realistic we dun had bargain chip for now....player choose liv not liv choose player)

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  33. i say we go for Wilfried Bony, the #9 from Vitesse. I'd rather take that risk as Rodgers than pay ten times the amoount. im sure we can get the Ivorian for less than 10mill pounds. anyone who wonders who im talking about can check this video out. admittedly, we may not know for sure how he'll perform under the (intense) pressures of the EPL, but the strength he has is unbelievable.
    http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1225679-liverpool-transfers-top-5-realistic-transfer-targets-for-brendan-rodgers/page/2 

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