Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has responded to rumours suggesting that the Reds are close to signing British attacking duo Daniel Sturridge and Thomas Ince.
In his pre-Fulham press conference at 3:15pm today, reporters asked Rodgers directly if there is any truth to the growing speculation that Liverpool plan to sign Sturridge and Ince during the January transfer window. He said:
"I can tell you that our scouting network have been looking high and low for players.
"The minute we do bring someone in, I’ll tell you about it. Right now, there’s nothing to speak about"
Pretty standard response, but when told that Blackpool had confirmed that a bid for Ince had come in from Liverpool, Rodgers seemed confused:
"Did Blackpool say which club made the bid? [Journo replies:'Liverpool'].
"I’m not sure to be honest. If we can get young British players in to the club will be fantastic, but it’s being dealt with by the people above me".
Let's hope Rodgers is just playing dumb, and that he's not really out of the loop when it comes to Liverpool transfers (!)
Earlier today, Blackpool manager Michael Appleton confirmed that the Reds had put in an offer for Ince, but insisted that it wasn't big enough. He told the BBC:
"There's been a conversation between [chairman] Karl Oyston and Liverpool about an offer, but as far as I'm aware, it's way below the type of money we'd expect for someone of Tom's talent".
It looks like Liverpool are once again trying to lowball a club, and as we saw with Clint Dempsey, this approach is doomed to failure.
Jaimie Kanwar
In his pre-Fulham press conference at 3:15pm today, reporters asked Rodgers directly if there is any truth to the growing speculation that Liverpool plan to sign Sturridge and Ince during the January transfer window. He said:
"I can tell you that our scouting network have been looking high and low for players.
"The minute we do bring someone in, I’ll tell you about it. Right now, there’s nothing to speak about"
Pretty standard response, but when told that Blackpool had confirmed that a bid for Ince had come in from Liverpool, Rodgers seemed confused:
"Did Blackpool say which club made the bid? [Journo replies:'Liverpool'].
"I’m not sure to be honest. If we can get young British players in to the club will be fantastic, but it’s being dealt with by the people above me".
Let's hope Rodgers is just playing dumb, and that he's not really out of the loop when it comes to Liverpool transfers (!)
Earlier today, Blackpool manager Michael Appleton confirmed that the Reds had put in an offer for Ince, but insisted that it wasn't big enough. He told the BBC:
"There's been a conversation between [chairman] Karl Oyston and Liverpool about an offer, but as far as I'm aware, it's way below the type of money we'd expect for someone of Tom's talent".
It looks like Liverpool are once again trying to lowball a club, and as we saw with Clint Dempsey, this approach is doomed to failure.
Jaimie Kanwar
Small edit for you, Jaimie. Blackpool not Blackburn in one paragraph. Glad to assist mate lol
ReplyDeleteIt`s a no win thing, we lowball, and people moan, we pay more and people say "we sold him for 250k why are we paying that" Right now we don`t know how much Blackpool want, but I`m guessing it is a lot more than what the papers are saying due to it being us, we made this bed, now we are tied to it. I think Ince is a good buy, but not for more than £6mil tops.
ReplyDeletemust grab duo,,even it can be great addition
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve :-)
ReplyDeleteTo me, it looks like BR was just trying to keep his dealings close to his chest, and Blackpool are trying to ramp up both interest and price by telling other clubs we have already bidded, so join in the bidding war now if you want Ince, and telling us that we will lose out unless we offer more. Personally I dislike this sort of public stuff, just like I disliked Whelan giving every update on Martinez back in the summer, but I guess that is there right. I always wonder why we don`t ask for a privacy clause when doing transfers.
ReplyDeleteLol the man is laughable sometimes, he usually can't shut up in front of a Microphone yet suddenly, that cats got his tongue.
ReplyDeleteI wish he had the same stoic attitude last week when talking about finishing second.
Then compounding it, by when we lost to Villa he was surprised!
The fact he was surprised we lost in the manner we did worried.
Don't get me wrong I still want him to do well, while I resent the fact he has admitted that he's learning on the job.
Allowing Ince to go in the way he did was down to Dalglish and Comolli.
Anyway rant over
I prefer Gameiro from PSG over Sturridge. Gameiro has an eye for goal. Sturridge is just an overrated selfish player. Ince, in my opinion, has potential. We have not had a good winger since Steve McManaman. If FSG can spill some cash in a hope to get the return from Carroll's deal in the summer please splash on Sanchez. Also, we need to get rid of Downing and get a left back who can support Enrique and Wishdom. If we really want a British player why not go for Ashley Cole from Chelsea :)
ReplyDeleteI am sure that we wont add even some players like ince due to financial problems and fsg.I hope that brendan wont sign anyone because lack of activity is better than wasting money.
ReplyDeleteWhy should Rodgers say anything in public when we've learned that we might be accused (and sued) for tapping-up a player if he did.
ReplyDeleteDisagree with you about lowballing Blackpool. We've probably paid the first asking price for Downing, Carroll, Henderson and so on without negotiating. Ince has talent, but is unproven in the Prem. I wouldn't have a problem with paying a relatively low initial fee (say 6m minus sell-on clause) with add-ons should he prove his worth for us. Rather than paying 10-15m now and berating Rodgers for his poor transfer dealings in half a year.
Its not about lowballing, its about being sensible. What happened with Dempsey was just unprofessional, but I've got no issue with us starting low for someone who hasnt achieved much and we let go for pennies in the recent past. Same goes for Sturridge, I'd love to bring them both in to the club as they'll improve the squad but if we can't get them for decent money then we'll move on to other targets. Sturridge hasnt done enough yet to make the kind of wild requests he is reported to have (I personally dont believe them). Rory Smith said they were both done deals, I have to say he's the most reliable person to have commented so far.
ReplyDeleteHe actually said that our aim generally should be higher than fourth but also mentioned that 2nd isn't viable for us at least this season. Don't know what's wrong with that. Well, unlike you leave out half of what he's actually said, twist it, turn it and then misinterpret it just in order to make him look deluded.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I listened to an interview with Comolli. He stated that we had made Ince several contract extension offers which he declined in order to get first team football elsewhere. I do blame Kenny and Comolli for quite a few poor transfers, but they probably couldn't do much about Ince leaving.
I think that every LFC is sick of watching us getting fleeced time after time in the transfer market - we always seem to sell too cheap, buy too high and somehow pay agents a small fortune! It's about time we played hardball (not lowball) and if the other club won't go for it, so be it. Somehow Levy at Spurs manages to pick up players - usually the ones we were after - for no more and often less. Peopkle know he doesn't take any shit so deal with him accordingly and it's about time we were the same. As above, I'd rather soldier on as we are than chuck good money after bad.
ReplyDeletesturridge, Ince, walcott... please tell me this is a reoccurring nightmare where we pay too much for poor English players. we passed on Michu for £2m. Why not pull out all the stops for Athletico Madrid's striker scout. Torres, Aguero, Falcao, etc etc. would save us a few quid.
ReplyDeleteinces contract run out he wanted first team football every week we couldnt give him that no other prem team would of thats why he went he did get a new contract offered but said no
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you over Sturride. I have watched Sturridge and i am not impressed. I would be open to Walcott if we had to buy an English striker. Gameiro looks good but a video is not the proper way to judge a striker's quality but i have to say that i like the looks of him. If Tom Ince can come back and maintain the form which he had in Blackpool that would be a great for the player and the club. I just hope he gets more playing time on the first team.
ReplyDeleteDowning has picked up the equivalent of "Scarlett letter" and so his Liverpool career is the next to die. It is a foregone conclusion that he was the next of Kenny's signings to be cut loose. It was just a matter of time really. Love everything about the player except his football.
A left back is a definite need for the club but i think that Rodgers might just continue to play Johnson in that position till summer if he can't find a cheap solution for that position. I think a goal scoring forward remains top priority this January.
Sanchez is blessed with speed and good ball handling skills so why not? I just don't think it will happen due to the expensive nature of the deal. Liverpool is shopping these days in the bargain basement so we are allergic to spending big on top class talent.
SIX MONTHS AND WE ARE STILL LOOKING HIGH AND LOW, WERE THE HECK HAVE THEY BEE4N LOOKING FOR ALL THIS TIME.
ReplyDeletebetter to low ball than high ball ...in all honestly i hope abiding war breaks out and he goes to some other club for a ridiculous fee...thats good business as we get a cut
ReplyDeleteme aint worth 6 million period
ReplyDeletelow fee 6m .....way to go rockafella.......about 3m to much when you consider jelcavic 7m demba bar 7m michu 2m etc etc...the problem is we have gotten so used to paying 3 times what the players are worth we just cant see the real value....
ReplyDeleteThat's why I wrote "relatively low fee".
ReplyDeleteThat's why we won't pay 6 million for you, gilstrap.
ReplyDeleteQuite a few clubs missed out on Michu for 2m, didn't they.
ReplyDeleteTorres came through Atlético's youth system, Agüero cost them € 23m and they paid € 40m for Falcao, which may yet rise to € 47m based on performance.
BR is so deluded sometimes that I think he still haven't got the grip of the fact that he is managing Liverpool Football Club.
ReplyDeleteProbably all over the place. Part of the problem is us being Liverpool and us being in the Prem. If we get interested in a player from another English, or British, club, his price doubles. Same goes for players from other European leagues. If a team from the Prem comes knocking prices soar. Obviously it is known the the rest of the world that there is a lot of money in the Prem. In the past I often wondered why Dutch clubs would sell their priced assets to German clubs for 5m while asking for 15-20m if a big English club came calling.
ReplyDeleteI was a fan of sturridge when he was at city but since hes been at chelsea hes got more big time and selfish and id rather not have him. Dont hes abvailable but shane long for me is the man to get - absolute quality.
ReplyDeleteDon't know about Premier clubs in general, but the price always seems to double when we get involved because we have always been such a soft touch!!
ReplyDeleteRight, let's say when one of the bigger Prem clubs come calling.
ReplyDeleteits 20m and not a penny less ..plus a 100g a week contact for 20 years....do we have a deal mr rogers...yes mr gilstrap
ReplyDeleteGood grafter ...big heart ...but if we have any aspirations of top 4 we need to aim higher
ReplyDeleteIf that's our standard now, we're f@%cked!
ReplyDeleteMr Rodgers just told me that he isn't interested at all in signing you and that you should stop taking those substances that make you dream about a 20m move :-)
ReplyDeleteComolli on the other hand would like to talk to you about a possible transfer to his next employer. He also claimed that at 20m you can't be any good so he would like to pay 35m or more if possible.
Agree totally panic buying sends out all the wrong signals to the players.fans and sponsors, why rush into buying a square peg for a round hole id like to think that as a pro outfit we research and do our homework on potential buys and don't buy on a whim ( i was going to name a few but there are to many )
ReplyDeleteperhaps suso and assadi could get the Scarlett letter then could get a game
ReplyDeleteA forward that is selfish? Did you see when Shelvey had the ball nicked off him thinking in the box? That's the difference between a real forward and a midfield player playing up front. 19 goals and 5 assists in 42 games in the league for Bolton 8 goals 12 games 10/11 and 11 goals and 5 assists in 30 from the right wing last season and Chelsea's joint leading goal scorer says he his better them some of our fans realise. Fans are more hung up on him being English then for real football reasons!
ReplyDeleteWe should low ball when necessary, but also not be stingy...makes me sick when we throw money at carrol, downing, henderson butd nt wana put in an extra mil or 2 for players lyk dempsey or sigurdson(contract) when they cood make all the difference
ReplyDeleteIf Blackpool are taking libs. And im not sure they are but lets assume for a minute, then they are biting the hand that feeds. They have done pretty well lately with loans from LFC. So if they should be carefull.
ReplyDeleteyou obliviously have no commercial acumen...we are a business not a charity the guardians of our club should be duty bound to get the beat deal possible any thing else is gross negligence...siggy just followed the money so it was a good call we dont need them types of players ...and we offered more than enough for dempsey...i for one want us to be stingy as possible in all financial dealings ensuring we get the best value
ReplyDeleteThis shows how little FSG know about football. Im sure he fits their criteria for age/nationality etc so they have sanctioned the move. Then in 6 months time they will see they've bought crap again and will hold it against Rodgers.
ReplyDeleteDANIEL STURRIDGE is a good player (nothing more) and can be very selfish.Can you imagine what the link up play with SUAREZ "the maverick" will be like.Better options are available but we have lazy scouts who can't be bothered to board planes and find us talented players.
ReplyDeleteIt's very frustrating watching LFC throw more away.Why do we even have scouts when all we do is spend big on British players everyone knows.The last time we spent money on a player i didn't know and he turned out to be a top player was probably DANIEL AGGER.How many transfer windows ago was that?
It must be a crime for our scouts to be creative!
and he was a danish international....i would love to know the remit if they even have one of these scouts...there just doesn't seem to be any consistency apart from we overpay for rubbish..there surely must be some stars of the future in Africa or south America that would jump at liverpool
ReplyDeleteDidn't Rodgers say he was in complete control of transfers once?? and I really do hope that we sign neither of these 2, there are much better options out there for the fee's both are reportedly costing, Sturridge is selfish and moody and will be a nightmare eventually and Ince is just completely over-rated, still we are Liverpool and these are the type of deals we do nowadays, cant be much longer before our only truly class player realises its time to move on to achieve anything in his career
ReplyDeleteIts not that we pay 3 times over the odds its the fact for some reason we buy british even though the best of british is average and nothing more
ReplyDeletewe wont sign anyone in jan worth talking about trust me, will be the same old excuses etc.
ReplyDeletewill be summer when you yanks gamble there money again
Jamie thats of major concern that he didn't know about the bid. Does BR actually have control over transfers?
ReplyDeleteTorres sold for £23m Aguero £35m and who knows what Falcao is worth. I still say they are doing a good job!
ReplyDeleteMaking a "low ball" offer is not doomed to failure, that's a pretty nonsensical statement to make. We still don't really know what went on with the Dempsey transfer and there is absolutely nothing wrong with making an initially low cash offer for a transfer. You remind of people who willingly pay asking price for things because they don't want to "insult" the vendor. It's an over-personalisation of an issue that is purely business. Liverpool will have their price, Blackpool will have theirs. If we meet somewhere acceptable in the middle, so be it. If not then that's fine too. Our stance to not pay over the odds for transfers or wages is a sensible one and I'm 100% on board with the club on that regard.
ReplyDeleteRodger's comments are a little disconcerting. I would hope that he has a more direct view into the transfers. What I suspect (but I'm only guessing) is that he reviews the targets with the scouting team, identifies them to upper level management and then lets the actual negotiation and signing be taken care of. I'd say that having a football manager not take direct part in negotiations is a reasonable thing to do so as long as Rodgers has actually made clear the players he actually wants there should be no problem.
agree...i think v should offer not more than 5 or 6m, take it or leave it...there's so many talented wingers out there..like Jeffren (any chance?)YNWA
ReplyDeleteNext times LFC please do not loan or sell out any players to Blackpool with lowest price.Now they want to try bullied LFC back.Before this Charlie Adam case also they axed with not reasonable price.Don't trust Blackpool fc again.Daniel Sturridge will come with high cost fee and not very easy to get him.Until now i cannot confident that he will shining with LFC....High salary and easy get injured.What else we can expect from him.He is same type like fabio borini.Before too late please do not sign him.
ReplyDeleteThey surely do. My point was that it probably wouldn't have saved us a few quid to get these players. Well, then, thinking about Carroll...
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with opening with a low bid. It's called negotiating. But even if we don't sign Ince, which we will, there are plenty other players out there with his talent. He's good but he's no Messi either eh. As for Sturridge, if the scouting department has been searching high and low and the best they could come up with is Sturridge, they need to look harder. For Sturridge we don't need scouts, we can see that ourselves on telly. How graciously he warms the SB bench...
ReplyDeleteAlso the fact he can't get in ahead of Torres makes some LFC fans automatically dislike him! As for me I agree with you, people say he's selfish but that's what we need, I see it as more direct to goal and being instinctual, which if we had this season could've meant a few extra goals! 12m is a good price, he's young and HAS shown potential wherever he's played, played great at City youth, Bolton and Chelsea, although the chelsea statistics aren't quite a fair representation as they often only give him sub appearances and out wide...
ReplyDelete12m is maybe slightly inflated but not as much, Borini cost 15m and he performed similarly to Sturridge, loads of goals on loan played as the main striker then a decent spell at a larger team, whilst limited to subs and out wide. Like you said, he's English and recently English players we've bought have all come back to sting us :/
Gameiro is a great player wasted in PSG and he would relish a chance for first team football to re ignite his international career. Walcott would be very nice too, I would like to sign a good striker now to help us push for a top 4 place this season and for now agree a deal with Walcott to bring him in free if we do get top 4! And if we get close and show true intent perhaps he'll think he can help the next season and be part of a new LFC making better history than that of recent!
Jelavic has been off it this season, but I don't doubt his ability... However he was playing at a financially stricken rangers desperate to sell and how many English teams would take a punt at an SPL player?
ReplyDeleteDB has been plagued with injuries and he went terrible towards the end of last season but now has picked up again, he would score for fun if played as our striker, again, his low fee is due to a horrendous injury record.
Michu? We were interested in him, most other teams didn't even show any interest, and he's played as a striker at Swansea, he was bought as a AM but has flourished in a different position, how could anyone expect that? If Gerrard was on form then we wouldn't need him.
As for Ince he has youth on his side, all the others mentioned are 25+ I think? So that's why his cost is higher! He's constantly getting more plaudits than Zaha, and have you seen his quoted price? If we were to sign Zaha for 6m I don't think anyone would be batting an eyelid!
I'm fairly sure Kenny and Clown-molli could have done more to stop Ince leaving. It would have started by recognising his ability in the first place, he was doing reasonably well in the youth set-up but was overshadowed, media-wise, by Sterling's performances (if I remember rightly he did have an injury for a bit admitedly). I mean, how many players really go from being judged not good enough to then being immense at another club? Only the ones that the former employers were silly enough not to recognise in the first place.
ReplyDeleteThat's not the only factor though, as he was offered several contracts. Lets assume that we had only paid £8m to £10m for Downing and the same for Henderson, and this is only my supposition, but I think Kenny wouldn't have felt pressured to play clearly under-performing players in the same position Ince plays. I think it's then very conceivable Ince would have got more game time and possibly proved himself. I'd say Sterling's cameos at the end of that season lends weight to that as it only appeared that he got game time due to fan pressure (admitedly I argued he wasn't ready for full 1st team that season).
Anyway, there's about as much chance of me being right as there is of me being wrong on this, but IMO Clown-molli being sh!te at his job and costing us bags loads of money put pressure on Kenny to play those 2, how often did Henderson, on the right, keep Kuyt out of the team? I seem to remember it being quite a lot and how about Downing keeping Maxi out too when he seemed to have a great understanding with Suarez.
I truly believe that they tried to tie down Ince to a new contract. What Kenny could have done is play him. That may have changed his mind.
ReplyDeleteHe wasn't judged as not good enough for us. He was judged as not yet ready for the first team in the Prem. He subsequently moved a division down and got first team action.
You may have a point about the signing of Downing, and persistent playing of him, blocking the way for Ince. Players like Ince and Sterling probably wondered how he would start ahead of them.
Kenny picked the team. I won't blame Comolli for that.
To Blackpool he's worth way more than £6m if he's one of the major contributing players that get them back to the premiership. It doesn't matter that his value to us is only £3m, he could be the difference between premiership tv money or championship tv money to Blackpool.
ReplyDeleteDear Father Christmas,
ReplyDeletePlease don't bring me Daniel Sturridge this year as:
a) I don't see him being better than Suarez in the centre.
b) I don't see BR changing his system to accomodate them both centrally, one playing off the other.
c) Isn't Sturridge a bit moody because he doesn't get played centrally and mostly plays out wide
d) Wouldn't he still be moody at LFC if he isn't getting played as the main striker.
Instead I'd like a bike and maybe a Plan B for when 4-3-3 tiki-taki isn't working.
P.S Don't eat the mince pie on the mantle piece, Comolli made it out of solid gold thinking it was well worth the price!!
Very fair points, but I think Kenny may not have had to pick the team as he did if he wasn't in the position where a lot of money had been spent on "his" signings. He must of been wishing and praying they would come good with regular game time so the fees didn't look too bad. Everything else I agree with you, but Comolli contributed to the pressure to play them I think.
ReplyDeleteWell, it is probably impossible to find out whether your view is more correct or mine, unless we manage to look into the heads of these two men.
ReplyDeleteNow there's a scary thought :)
ReplyDeleteI meant that rather metaphorical than literally.
ReplyDelete