Yesterday, a report in Spanish newspaper MARCA suggested that Liverpool had contacted Athletic Bilbao over the possibility of signing 6'4 defender Fernando Amorebieta. The club's interest has now been confirmed by the Venezuelan international's Agent.
Speaking to MARCA two hours ago, Ginés Carvaja - Amorebieta's Agent - said:
"There is a clear desire by the player to extend his relationship with Athletic and even finish his career in San Mamés.
"However, after the excellent season he had last year, several teams have shown interest in signing him, and one of them is Liverpool, which has shown the most interest so far"
Liverpool were linked with Amorebieta during Rafa Benitez's reign, and at the time Bilbao president Fernando Macua made it clear that the Venezuelan international was not for sale.
Amorebieta has a £26m release clause in his contract, but given the fact his current contract expires in June 2013, Bilbao will have to give him a new contract, or risk losing him for nothing in one year.
So there you have it - Liverpool's interest is real, which seems to suggest that club is resigned to losing Martin Skrtel.
I personally have no problem with Skrtel leaving, and if Liverpool can wangle £20m out of Man City for the Slovakian, then Rodgers may be able to get Amorebieta for about £12-£15m (or less), a distinct possibility given the player's advantageous contract situation.
One word of caution: In the last three season, Amorebieta has amassed 29 yellow cards and 5 reds (!)
Jaimie Kanwar
Speaking to MARCA two hours ago, Ginés Carvaja - Amorebieta's Agent - said:
"There is a clear desire by the player to extend his relationship with Athletic and even finish his career in San Mamés.
"However, after the excellent season he had last year, several teams have shown interest in signing him, and one of them is Liverpool, which has shown the most interest so far"
Liverpool were linked with Amorebieta during Rafa Benitez's reign, and at the time Bilbao president Fernando Macua made it clear that the Venezuelan international was not for sale.
Amorebieta has a £26m release clause in his contract, but given the fact his current contract expires in June 2013, Bilbao will have to give him a new contract, or risk losing him for nothing in one year.
So there you have it - Liverpool's interest is real, which seems to suggest that club is resigned to losing Martin Skrtel.
I personally have no problem with Skrtel leaving, and if Liverpool can wangle £20m out of Man City for the Slovakian, then Rodgers may be able to get Amorebieta for about £12-£15m (or less), a distinct possibility given the player's advantageous contract situation.
One word of caution: In the last three season, Amorebieta has amassed 29 yellow cards and 5 reds (!)
Jaimie Kanwar
That one word of caution means Coates will play lot more next season..:)
ReplyDeleteHe's good but with the current long term groin injury he is carrying,is not really a good option i think.
ReplyDeletetbh i dont know a great deal about this guy but what i've read he seems ok. Ha so it looks like he's got a bit ov a temper on him then! yeh i agree Jaimie its looking more and more like Skrtel could be on his way out of Liverpool. I'd prefer to keep hold of him but as i've said before it makes no odds how good a player is if he doesnt want to be there then he's useless to the club. Maybe he's perfectly happy at Liverpool and is just making us all think he's leaving? Reina does this quite often as well! could just be skrtel after the best deal possible from Liverpool with his contract. He's a great player but lets be fair there is better so at least he's replaceable
ReplyDeletePresumably this is cover in case Skrtel leaves?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen he's a solid defender, good in the air, but hyper aggressive and pretty slow.
ReplyDelete29 yellows and 5 Reds! WOW! And I thought Skrtel was Rash in the tackle!
ReplyDeletehe does sound a bit ov a handfull this bloke. be funny to watch Joey Barton losing his temper with him ha
ReplyDeleteIf Skrtel Leaves why don't we go and sign Simon Kjaer, he's available, as Felix Magath said he didn't want him at Wolfsburg. He's Agger's international partner, so they already know each other, he's half the price of Amorebieta and he had quite a good Euro2012.
ReplyDeletethis site is worse than transfer rumours .com
ReplyDeletecouldn't agree more with that comment. The guy is obviously used to playing with Agger and also with knowing Agger it all goes in Liverpool's favour if they bid for him. I'd sooner keep skrtel but if he does leave and Liverpool did sign Kjaer it could prove to be a very clever move. Not sure how much he would cost though?
ReplyDeleteIt was stated on another site that Wolfsburg were prepared to let him go for around £8m, also last season he played on loan at AS Roma so would also be known to Borini, which could also help him settle.
ReplyDeleteNo chance of this happenning - the guy is too slow and too dirty
ReplyDeleteThe best will be coming out of Coates
ReplyDeletejamie is a .......
ReplyDeletejk will delete this....... what a bleb come on Man UTD. Jamie is Scum Utd.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to react to this news , but if he leaves specially to our PL rival but you never know money talks and this maybe is just the chance for Coates to step up to the plate and show his mettle or we may use Kelly in that position if he were to leave, since i believe Kelly is a CB
ReplyDeleteYes that makes sense act..we cant give time for the new centre backs to click tghr now..since they each other edy it sounds better
ReplyDeletemartin kelly at center back yep. but coates is too slow for the epl . sorry a very poor buy. if city want ms then we take richards in pt ex plus cash . also sad to hear about jack taylor a great referee RIP
ReplyDeleteRubbish, Coates is quicker than Vidic who's one of the best the PL has seen. He'll be an excellent buy long term.
ReplyDeleteAs said on previous article covering the same topic, we're not interested. Just an agent talking rubbish and a terrible newspaper publishing it.
ReplyDeletewot !!! tommy smith is still quicker than vidic .most overated defender in the prem lge . when manure won the title in 2011 .there player of the season was van der sar . so much 4 ducklip and vidic. mark my words coates will not make the grade!
ReplyDeleteCoates will make the grade. His on ball skills for his size and heading ability is ideal. He can also play against imposing center forwards. He is very young, but he is not raw. He will not only get stronger, but he will get faster and will adapt to the rigors of the EPL. It would be nice to see Coates/Skrtl or Agger or Wilson/Agger or Skrtl every other cup game.
ReplyDelete"I personally have no problem with Skrtel leaving"
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't that surprise me.
One of our, well im not sure you can be part of thr 'our' category tbh. But anyways, one of our best defenders in the padt 10yrs and you're no problem with that. I'm not even shocked.