10 Oct 2012

'He has huge potential!' - Boss admits exciting £10m LFC target could leave. Bid?

Despite the summer signing of Oussama Assaidi and the emerge of Spanish starlet Suso, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is still on the lookout for more wingers, the latest player to be linked with a move to the club is Crystal Palace star Wilfred Zaha.

Liverpool were linked with a move for Zaha in the January 2012 transfer window, and in a recent interview, Palace Manager Dougie Freedman raved about Zaha's 'huge potential' and 'wonderful technique', but also admitted that it will be hard to hold onto the youngster. He said:

"Wilfried can play at the top level, and when he's ready and when I think he's ready to let him go to the right club, I will tap Wilfried on the shoulder and tell him I can't help him no longer"

According to Goal.com, Liverpool are leading the chase to sign the youngster in the January transfer window:

"Brendan Rodgers is desperate for more wide options after selling Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez last summer, and will attempt to sign a first-team forward in the January window.

"Liverpool and Manchester City have both made enquiries for the 19-year-old and are weighing up whether to follow up their interest with bids".


£10m-rated Zaha has been as regular fixture in the Palace first-team since the age of 17, and last season, the youngster was named Young player of the year for 2011-12. He is tied also into his current contract until 2017, which means that Liverpool will definitely have to pay a significant transfer fee to land the player.

In July, Crystal Palace co-owner Steve Parish conceded that Palace could be forced to sell Zaha if a big enough offer came in. He admitted:

"I guess for a club like Palace, everyone's got a price. It's a horrible thing to say in a way because we'd love to see a team succeed with the youth of the area at the heart of the team. Fingers crossed, we don't get a big offer for Wilfried or Jonny [Williams] that we're forced to consider"



Jaimie Kanwar


20 comments:

  1. A bit late with this lazy copy and paste, Freedman has now said he wont be going anywhere: http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/football-league/championship/121010/exclusive-freedman-times-not-right-zaha-leave-palace-182781

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  2. He looks like a good prospect, but do we really need to be spending significant amounts of dosh we dont really have on yet another "one for the future"? Personally, I would rather see us spend big on sorting out someone who knows where the net is, since that is our biggest single problem at the moment.

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  3. Jaimie what are your thoughts on rumours about David Villa on Loan and BR given 40mn transfer budget for January?

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  4. i would suggest that is only true in realms of internet fantasy

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  5. no its true honest and were going to win the league this year

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  6. A striker needs to be a first priority signing for liverpool!!

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  7. I really hate the way these headlines are framed. Always a single word question at the end. Like a school child in charge of a tabloid. Idiotic?

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  8. He has potential but not overly impressed. His goal return is poor.

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  9. but his just too good for you!

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  10. Guess I failed in sarcasm. I was just contributing to this article which is based on Goal.com.

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  11. I feel Sterling is better/similar potential.

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  12. Mesut Ozil and Christian Erikson will be much better candidates.They have a lot of experiance and more creative to generate foward players. Zaha is good but unsure he can fit into high level games.

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  13. In an interview broadcast last night on Radio City Talk with John Keith, Ian Ayre stated that Liverpool will not spend beyond their budget in January. This could mean desperately needed quality players upfront may not be brought in.
    A quality striker is needed even if it is just one player who takes up the whole budget. This time last season Everton couldnt score a goal until they signed Jelavic and never looked back. Liverpool must be looking for a similar player to do the same thing in January.
    Ayres made no mention of what the budget is. I would think if anyone left in January the budget would be increased by the amount got for the player leaving.
    Henderson, Downing and Enrique immediately spring to mind.
    However if you sell too many players even your flops without bringing in extra bodies you will struggle as the season goes on as injuries pileup
    I recently had a heated discussion with an Evertonian van driver who told me Everton now have a good team, I said yes but they do not have a good squad, what happens when your big players get injured. Darren Gibson has been out 3 weeks and now Fellaini out 3 weeks. They have not got anyone to cover for them.
    Liverpool are in the same boat, you can bring in an odd youngster but you will be lucky if they succeed in the manner Sterling has. It is also important to bring in some experienced players also that dont cost an arm and a leg.

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  14. They really ballsed up over the Carroll-Dempsey debacle and I don't know how much of that is down to their frugality or down to them genuinely thinking he isn't worth that much. They finally manage to offload Carroll's wages, assuming to make room for another striker. Yet they couldn't even rustle up a million or two for an experienced PL player Dempsey. We are in a another season without CL money, so it would be hardly surprising if they are looking to cost cut or at least keep costs down for this season and that is understandable. But there has to be a point where they have to take a gamble and if we continue to not get a better spread of goals, than they have to make a move. Got to be a balance between the frugality in times without CL money and the need for the team to have another option to contribute to goalscoring. I also agree that we have a small squad, so its all well criticising Downing, etc, and asking for them to be sold but we need to be able to replace those numbers AND more, which is no easy feat at this moment of austerity at LFC. FSG and Rodgers have got a quite a balancing act they need to perform at this club, in relation to what I said before about frugality and the needs of the team. Agree with a lot of what you have said. Some need to look at the bigger picture.

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  15. He does not fit the FSG player profile, he would cost more than £4million.

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  16. Rodgers has already spent £10 million on a young striker, Borini.
    We don't need to be spending more millions on more young talent, we have an academy full of talent.
    We need a proven goal scorer or stick Downing up front, he must be good at something, he's one of the most experienced players in the squad.

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  17. I think there's more chance of human beings colonising Jupiter than that happening. Plus, Villa is too old now (IMO)




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  18. sticking Downing up front is like trying to plug a leak in a dam with your thumb.
    Borini was a bad buy lets face up to that and waste of 10m.

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  19. Hi Jaimie,

    Im not a big fan of a fan disclosing a potential signing. Everytime that happens, the price increases due to other clubs taking notice. IMO it's better to break the news rather than predicting it. But if it's not true then it's okay because it's only entertainment.

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