28 Aug 2012

'I want to leave' - £17m LFC target reveals Prem dream. Replace Lucas...?

Toulouse star Moussa Sissoko admitted last month that he wanted to leave France this summer, and with only a week of the transfer window remaining, there's still time to secure a transfer to the Premier League, which is the France International's preferred destination. After the recent arrival of Real Madrid's Nuri Sahin, Liverpool are well-stocked in midfield at the moment, but with Lucas Leiva's injury problems - the latest of which could possibly see the Brazilian face another lengthy lay-off - perhaps Sissoko could be a viable option right now?

Liverpool have been persistently linked with the energetic midfielder over the last two years, and in an interview with Bein Sport yesterday, the 21-year old said:

"As a player I want to grow, and the English Premier league attracts me first. My profile might interest some clubs, but if I want to leave Téfécé I know I still have to work for it. There have been discussions this summer, but no concrete offer"

In July, Sissoko revealed that he has gentleman's agreement with Toulouse President Olivier Sadran:

"The President (Olivier Sadran) is a man of his word - We met at the end of the league season [in May], and we came to an agreement: He said that I could leave if an offer came in that satisfied all parties. It's no secret that I have a desire to test myself in other leagues, especially the Premier League, which I think suits my style of play".

£17m-rated Sissoko confirmed Liverpool interest in May when he told Reporters:

"I've had contact with English clubs, notably Liverpool"

More recently, Sissoko's representative, Bakary Sanogo revealed that he'd received 'interesting offers' for the player from 'Spain, Germany and England'.

Liverpool arguably still need a top quality, strong, athletic central midfielder and Sissoko seems to fit the bill:

* At the age of 22, he fits the club's 'buy 'em young' transfer policy.

* He plays for a club that's not in the Champions League, which should make him a realistic target.

* Liverpool lack real height, strength and athleticism in midfield.

* The currently-injured Lucas will need time to bed into the team again, and another season with the likes of Spearing, Henderson and Adam as back-up doesn't sound appealing.

Liverpool have a lot of central midefielders but that doesn't necessarily equal strength in depth. I would classify the club's current CMs as follows:

* First choices*: Lucas | Allen | Sahin
* Quality back-up: Shelvey
* Expendable: Spearing | Adam | Henderson

None of the above Sissoko's athleticism, height or speed over short-distances, and in that respect, the Frenchman would bring something different to the midfield dynamic.

In an ideal world, Liverpool would sell Spearing and Adam, and bring in a player like Sissoko, but I doubt that this is likely to happen.

Sissoko's contract expires in June 2013, so there's definitely potential to snap him up for much less than £17m.

* I haven't included Gerrard as I don't see him as a central mid this season; he's an attacking mid. Obviously though, he'd be a first choice for CM if there were lots of injuries (!)



Jaimie Kanwar


61 comments:

  1. Would be a good buy but I think given that we don't have huge spending power there are more pressing concerns than Midfield at the moment, we have Gerrard, Lucas, Allen, Sahin, Spearing, Adam, Henderson, Shelvey.

    I think competition at Left back/Wings and a striker are more important at the moment.

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  2. i wouldnt go as far as to replace Lucas but as a quality alternative/competition id defo agree 

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  3. jamie were are we going to get 17 mil from? we dont have money. we have to sell to buy. Carol has to go to buy Sturrige, Adams has to go to buy dempsey. Sorry I feel your just being unrealistic. Even if you sell spearing, and henderson (who I want to stay) how much would you get. joe cole would only go on a free transfer if we are lucky. Manager said he is looking for loan deals to. Come on mate be realistic with your articles.

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  4. Patouz - Please read the final line of the article.

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  5. You don't think if the had 17 mill to blow it would be on a striker ?

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  6. The rumour is that LFC has accepted a £3m offer from Bolton for Spearing! Adam hopefully next then Downing.

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  7. With the greatest respect, please the article properly!  I have not advocated spending 17m on Sissoko; I've included that figure because that is what his club believe he is worth.  In the last line of the article, I state: 

    'Sissoko's contract expires in 2013, so there's potential to snap him up for much less than 17m'.

    That is my view on the issue.  Given the current market, and taking everything into consideration, Liverpool could probably get him for less than 10m, and if you look at the other players players offloaded by Toulouse recently, that price range is a definite possibility.

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  8. still going to be over 10 million which is more than we have got rodgers has to sell to buy unlike you stated in a previous post if carrol goes we need a striker before anymore midfielders shelvy can do a job for us so lets look at the forward line maybe huntailar at decent price

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  9. jamie we dont even have 10 mil and would be out bidded anyway

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  10. £3m from Bolton for Spearing seems to be the buzz today!!!!

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  11. Well I would have thought Stevie G, would have been first on the list, for " first" choice.  

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  12. That leaves Cole , Adam , Downing , Henderson , Carrol .

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  13. serious question here. How much of Sissoko have you watched? Or have you ever watched Sissoko? And no I don't mean a 4 min youtube vid.

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  14. Are you suppose to watch every goddamn player on earth? Youtube is sometimes closes you can get, who watches neymar everyweek??

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  15. Spearing is going to Bolton for £3M, Adam has also been told he can go.

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  16. According to reports Spearing has signed for Bolton for £3M.

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  17. Serious answer: don't patronise me. This may come as a shock but I love football, and watch several leagues regularly, not just the Premier League, and have done for years.




    Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note

    -------- Original message --------
    Subject: [liverpoolkop] Re: 'I want to leave' - £17m LFC target reveals Prem dream. Replace Lucas...? | Liverpool-Kop.com

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  18. joan carlos teixeira - where did he go??

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  19. Theres rumours that Everton could be intrested in taking Charlie Adam? But in my opinion, S, Downing should be sold Asap, Downing had more games last season than Adam, who I think with a bit of extra training, in fitness and a bit of speed work? He would be a better alround player, So Imo Downing, Spearing and Henderson, should be offloaded, and if big Andy heads back up to NUFC? we should bring in Huntlaar, Dempsey, and maybe a left back, who i think we need more so, than any more midfielders.

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  20. Jamie, I know hes getting older, but to leave Stevie out as at least a decent back up seems odd. I think many would still put him as first choice, but even if you think hes getting on a bit hes still a decent back up, and so is henderson. 

    I think Allen will play in Lucas`s role when hes out and then sahin and Stevie as other two spots. 

    What we have now is players who can play in a few positions if needed

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  21. JK i totally agree with you and i would go a step futher and say that we should get him, sell Carroll, Spearing, Henderson (definately), Cole, Downing and Adam, i know that people will say that we just got them but i think that BR has done a good job on who he has brought in, now he just needs to put the finishing touches to it, maybe another striker, Dempsy or Rhodes, i would have liked Berbatov.
                       Reina
    Kelly, Coates/Skrytel, Agger, Johnson/Enrique
    Gerrard, Sissoko/Lucas, Sahin
                   Allen
        Suarez      Borini/Assaidi
     
    Sterling
    Shelvy
    Morgan
    and one more striker plus three others from the top and thats the bench.
    Thats just my opinion but i would like to see this line up because i think that adding Sissoko would bring much physical strenghth to the side in midfield.

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  22. Gerrard not a first choice really? really?

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  23. good points but i wouldnt sell henderson, i rate the guy, spearing yes. downing  only if i get 14 mil. english players and help our quota system and squad depth. dont mind adams going because he wont be getting plenty games.

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  24. I didn't include Gerrard only because I don't consider him a central mid this season, more of an attacking mid.
    I would.never leave Gerrard out!



    Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note

    -------- Original message --------
    Subject: [liverpoolkop] Re: 'I want to leave' - £17m LFC target reveals Prem dream. Replace Lucas...? | Liverpool-Kop.com

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  25. I would say yes! Probably out of our price range if they want £17 million, but who knows. Also Spearing and Adam could be gone soon, so we would need at least 1 player as replacement. I feel sad for Spearing if he is leaving as he clearly loves Liverpool, and you cant knock his spirit and passion, but he just isnt quite good enough.

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  26. Lucas will have a tricky time for a while now.

    Any lengthy layoff like the one he had leads to all kinds of imbalances developing in the body, no matter how good the physio is.

    We are fairly well stocked in midfield, hopefully Adam, Downing, Carroll and the other players linked with departures head off in time to allow us to sign Dempsey, Sturridge and Huntelaar - wishful thinking?

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  27. So what. I love the club. I will play with spirit and passion. Should I get a game ? No. Because I'm sh*t. Exactly my point.

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  28. Read the last line of the article


    Sent from Samsung Galaxy Note

    -------- Original message --------
    Subject: [liverpoolkop] Re: 'I want to leave' - £17m LFC target reveals Prem dream. Replace Lucas...? | Liverpool-Kop.com

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  29. I've long been saying that the prices quoted for Sissoko were well out of whack with what he'd likely command in the transfer market,and with M'vila's value supposedly dropping well below what I'd even expected (-£15m from the +£25m that was being bandied about last year!?). I wouldn't be surprised if Sissoko (and/or Capoue) was available for even less than £10m in the transfer market now!

    France has long been known for selling bargain priced players that are well suited to Premiership football. If I was in charge at a Premier League club, I'd continuously be scouting the French and German leagues, as they have quality, pacey & powerful players that usually are available for pretty cheap.

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  30. I reckon this is a good call, too good in fact... so it probably won't happen :) but seriously, we could do with some back up in this area of the pitch, it looks like BR intends to put together the strongest squad possible with the players and funds available and it also looks like he has the full backing of the board to do whatever is needed to make us competitive again...

    Might seem a bit ruthless but unfortunately that is the only solution to us getting back to where we should be....with certain fringe players looking like they could be off i think it would be very wise to get someone like Sissoko to shore up our midfield and provide proper cover for our at times shaky defence....

    Doesn't seem like we will be able to rely on Lucas, so i'd say we we should definitely be on the look out for any potential replacement.

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  31. Terrible post, you think we should sell 6 of our squad members and then you will no doubt complain about having no squad depth. Having players that are average as squad members are better than having no players at all, keep the players and then slowly but surely get rid, not all in one go. 

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  32. I say this because we like Liverpool. And Sissoko is nothing close to the best her in France. He's not even considered great by Ligue 1 standards. If you're looking out for quality, they always do come in with M'bia, M'vila even Mautidi is better than him. He's a bit of a hit or miss player. You guys can certainly do better.

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  33. You would sell Henderson who is younger, was played out of position for the majority of last season, won the best young player at Sunderland and has more room for potential, than Adam who is slow, holds onto the ball too much and is a terrible tackler? I'm sorry, but that makes no sense at all.

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  34. 3m from Bolton for Spearing?

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  35. True, but if you are going to make the call to sign a player that a club values at 17m, then at least make sure you have seen them play and I'm sure that people in England have plenty of chances to watch the French league.

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  36. am sure LFC scouts do that...!!

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  37. He was injured last season and is with the youth side.

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  38. My point was more about the fact that he will have to leave and he clearly wont want to because he loves Liverpool and has been there since he was a young teenager.

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  39. An attacking mid is still a central mid, as is defensive and holding mid. Attacking, central and defensive mids are all primarily employed in the centre channel, not out wide, because of this, they are all considered central mids that have differing roles.

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  40. but im sure gerrard would play that role better than the buy in that position if need be hence we dont really need anyone till lucas is back.in my opinion. lets cut down our wage bill

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  41. You do realise you are having a go at Will for no reason. He states that mentally he is the type of player we want playing for our club, which is true, but technically doesn't have it, which is also true

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  42. If this guy is really highly rated, Wenger would have already been the first in line. You know what I mean.

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  43. why do people go on about this barcelona football, it is actually derived from ajax due to johan cruyff.not related to topic but ajax should be given more credit with their previous total foot applied

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  44. ....total football applied lol

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  45.  and adam , ac , hendo , cole

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  46. i think the point was jamie that its another player that could play in that role instead of spending  8-17 mil. wink wink

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  47. Well Gaz I agree with you on a couple of points, yes he was played out of position, he his younger than Adam, but If Adam was to have specialist training, ie speed training his vision is better than Hendersons, his reading of the game is better, his positional play looks superior too. Although both have pluses and minuses, i think with a bit of work, Adam could be quite a decent squad player imo.

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  48. roles or positions gaz wink wink

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  49. I see your point Jamie, but then that would mean theres only two spots to fill. As your saying Stevie takes the third attacking mid spot, as it seems we are only playing three mids this year. 

    So it would be 

    First - Lucas - Allen
    Back up - Sahin - Jonjo

    With Sahin and Allen swapping places for some game, and Allen swapping into Lucas`s role too etc. To me we have cover.

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  50. Yeah replace Lucas because he has a thigh strain. Absolutely ridiculous!!! Let's not hit the panic button!! This is your most ludicrous story yet.

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  51. Adams can shoot  and pass long distant ball more accurately.Henderson is more instinctive, more creative, more mobile, definately reads the game more than adams.Is a better tackler than Adams and stays on his feet.

    My opinion

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  52. Oh and I get the feeling Agger might go. Heard city  are offering  next time 25 mil. So If we sell him we can buy a few of Jamies buys afterall  .

    A season  later do it all again ,,,,,wink wink

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  53. To Jason and Patouz, please re-read the article. He says "I an ideal world, Liverpool would sell Spearing and Adam..." and then goes on to say that LFC is unlikely to do so. He's already making the financial point you are on him about.

    I agree here. In a perfect world where you could unload the players at will and pick up anyone, Sissoko would look good coming off the bench. I'd love to see Spearing, Henderson, & Stewart (Beef Stew) Downing go, and part of me wouldn't mind seeing Adam go. Although for some reason I don't think he's hit is potential yet. Sissoko wouldn't be a bad choice, but I still think if you're going to ditch CM's, Shelvey needs to go too. He's barely an acceptable replacement. Sissoko would be good off the bench, but you've got to get that kid from Mexico who LFC has been linked to. Lucas, as much as I hate to say it, he's done. I'd love to see him come back and be great, but he's showing that he's too injury prone for the league.

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  54. when was that 

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  55. I seriously struggle with people wanting Henderson out. As Gaz said, last season he was played out right or in the centre of a midfield lacking Lucas or a genuine destroyer covering. It's kind of like putting Agger up front and complaining he didn't bang in 15 to 20 for the season. Well not quite, but you know what I mean. Lol

    Henderson will do a lot better in a midfield three as long he has a destroyer type like Lucas covering. I don't think we had such a bad team last year, but it was very rarely balanced after we lost Lucas.

    Whatever we got with Sahin and Allen, they aren't quite the Lucas, Mascerano type that just wins the ball and shields the back 4. If there was one thing missing on Sunday after Lucas went off, it was this shielding destroyer of the play whenever Allen bombed on. Stevie G and Shelvy just won't fill that role.

    I've never seen Sissoko, but my understanding is that he can cover that Lucas role better than anyone else we have, so it does make sense if the price is right.

    We probably do at least have the group games in Europe and the Cups. That said, Spearing and Adam are the best to make way. Get 8 million for them and if Toulouse are a bit more realistic, we might not be far away.

    Agree with others that left back and a finisher are the other possible  missing links. This is one of the more astute summers in a long time if we can get two or three of these three positions covered.

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  56. I think something we forget is what the manager actually says. Rodgers is on the record as saying he rates Adam, Henderson and Downing and thinks they have a role to play. The only player he has explicitly said COULD leave is Carroll and not even right now because he doesn't have enough strikers to go without him.

    I understand wanting new and better players, but coming out with various pronouncements on who the manager should be signing and who he should be selling only sets us up for disappointment later, when nothing happens. Then we get the interminable "He should have signed soandso, but now he is at suchaclub", when the reality is likely far from it. The manager was never interested and the club didnt even look.

    For what it's worth I am of the opinion we have enough midfielders and what, if anything, we should be aiming at is strikers, wide attackers and full backs (although it looks like Downing will be doing that job).  

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  57. Lucas is only 25, people were saying the same thing about Agger and he had a very strong season after an injury prone one. God forbid I'm not jinxing him i think Lucas isn't as injury prone as other players on our roster.

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  58. Thats still 5 centre mids that we have compared to one senior left back. Sterling, Assaidi, Downing, Borini and Suarez on the wings (and either Suarez and Borini have to be used upfront so really it's 1 winger and a back up for both L & R wing)

    And Carroll as a back up striker unless we off load him and sign someone else. Spending £17 million on a midfield player who will probably be used as back up or competition when Lucas is fit. If we had the money and didn't have such a lack of depth then I'd say go for it but at the moment Centre mid is probably our deepest position and Adam and Spearing haven't gone just yet.

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  59. OK mybe i was getting ahead of myself, i just thought that we were just wishing and as for squad players, well lets just say that it's no point in having players earn what they do just by being a part time footballlers, i mean shit BR is doing a pretty good job so why not help him keep making his team, i mean funds are limited and if we can get something from these pretty average players who's wage bill is over the top then so be it.
    I personally would let BR choose his own squad players, i just ran out of ideas as to who else to get, i mean i really don't know whats left in the bank do you?
     

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