10 Apr 2013

Mistake? LFC prepare £12m bid for attacker Del Bosque hailed as 'unique'

Liverpool are once again being linked with a summer move for Sporting Lisbon winger Diego Capel.

According to a reports today Spanish newspaper Mundo Deortivo and Portuguese Daily Jornal Record

"Liverpool are interested in signing Diego Capel, and the English club is prepared to offer up to £12 million for his signature"

This follows reports in March, when the Liverpool Echo and TMW, claimed that Lisbon - currently afflicted by financial problems - are ready to 'enter into negotiations' with Liverpool over a potential summer move for the Spaniard.

25-year Capel cost Sporting €3.5m in 2011, and although he has a ridiculously excessive €30m release clause in his contract, there's no way he'd go for anywhere approaching that amount. Capel is not really a prolific goalscorer or provider, and his stats over the last few years show this:

- This season: 3 goals/1 assist in 21 apps.
- 2011-12: 5 goals/5 assists in 37 apps.
- 2010-11: 1 goals/2 assists in 34 apps.
- 2009-10: 3 goals/3 assists in 44 apps.
- 2008-09: 3 goals/1 assist in 43 apps

That's a pretty uninspiring contribution, and there are plenty of other transfer prospects out there with better goals/assists ratios. Despite his poor creative return, Vicente Del Bosque seems to really rate Capel, and after the winger signed for Sporting in 2011, the Spain boss raved:

"He [Capel] is a unique player. There are hardly any players like him. He is very fast, with and without the ball and has good control to overcome any opponent. He is a very complete and very useful player for any team"

Hmmm. If Capel is so 'unique' and 'useful for any team', why has Del Bosque never picked him for Spain? At the age of 25, Capel has only two senior caps so far, which is low for a player who's supposedly 'complete'.

Sporting are beset with problems at the moment, and in February, the entire board resigned after just two years at helm of the struggling Portuguese club. The club's financial problems mean that there could be a fire-sale at the end of the season, with the likes of Capel sacrificed to bring in much-needed cash.

Indeed, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel - a former LFC target - has already agreed a move to Norwich City next season, so Capel is probably one of the more realistic targets linked to the club over the last year.

The Spaniard would fit into Brendan Rodgers' preferred 433 formation, but is he good enough for LFC...?





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22 comments:

  1. Hopefully not...

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  2. For that amount of money there are better solutions ... Mertens is a much better winger for example - he would cost pretty much the same.
    There are many players that should be prefered...
    don't forget there are a lot of our players in our squad that can play on the wing - Suarez sturridge downing coutinho borini sterling suso + ibe comming through ... If we really get eriksen its anotherone that can play on the wing!!

    I'm glad I just can't see that deal going to happen..

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  3. Del Bosque nearly lays the praise on as thick as Rodgers does!
    Looking at Del Bosque's record, maybe Rodgers should keep it up...

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  4. A smoke screen unless he's super cheap. The new transfer committee and board are 'playing the game' after years of LFC getting rinsed, its high time we followed current TM procedures instead of being seen as a soft touch.

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  5. id sooner have the man from del monte

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  6. I just hope most of the players we are linked with are a smoke screen!
    Eriksen, Jovetic, Diame, Ince and Sakho are players I really would like to see in our squad next season! With 20m to soend and by selling players like Spearing, Carrol, Shelvey, Downing, Borini, Skyrtel, Coates and Assaidi we would raise the funds for the above players who would be far better in the team! I'm sure there would even be money left over for a better keeper than Jones too!

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  7. I can't fault Rodgers or Del Bosque. They call near perfect games and I can't question their efforts. They are outstanding.




    :)

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  8. Hopefully LFC will not sign this player.....Please investing for only high quality of payers.LFC should focus on their top target players......only Christian Eriksen and Edison Cavani or Gonzalo Higuin can giving biggest answer for burden goal scoring.

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  9. So we know he falls over a lot and has the clumsiest looking stepovers in the world of football...imo, all Spanish players who can't cut it in Spain go to Portugal. And a few South Americans too. I love Sporting as a club but right now the only player I would want from them is Eric Dier.

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  10. He is on the ground more, then on his feet !

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  11. His poor strike rate and assists sums up that a big club wil never pay staks for him 17 m thats just way beyond his value even Downing this season has better stats than him 5 goals and 5 assists to his name i would rather get Ince from blackpool for 8 - 10 m though his dad is overating his son were on Earth would a championship player cost 25 m just after winning the championship player of the year he thinks his worth 25 m so if countinho was in the championship how much would he have cost Liverpool 40m hun?

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  12. *sighs* if only my missus would go down from a tap on the shoulder...

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  13. No thanks - we've got assaidi and his YouTube clips are way better lol!

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  14. Agree with all but keep Jones! He's done ok - it would be nice but very hard to have 2 quality gks and kepp both happy and plus he's no disruption in fact the opposite -a good man woth a positive effect on the community

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  15. Thank you for that, it had been a while since I heard the word "smokescreen"

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  16. He should just remain at Lisbon we dont need such poor stats at Liverpool i agree with you that Jones has done a pretty decent job but its very hard for BR to please both keepers but Jones should just hope Reina goes to Barca so that he becomes the first choice and use that money to buy Butland as a second choice since his very young he will have to accept,change of topic i have noticed that Rafa is envious about Rodgers cause he thinks his gat unfinished business at Anfield he will never get back to Anfield only until FSG sell the club,thats undermining BR as a manager and trying to instill divided opinions from the Anfield faithful towards BR,he just wants to see BR fail and get sacked i loved one of his comments were he said"all the managers want to manage liverpool at one point in their managerial career because of its rich history,its faithful fans" and now lets be patient with him cause his laying the foundations for the future.why being envious for a 40yr old promising upcoming and good tactician coach.Rafa should find another job in Spain or France

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  17. Can't see us paying that amount for a guy with such a mediocre return. I give this rumour 3/10!

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  18. Kopitethroughandthrough4:38 pm, April 12, 2013

    As if we are gonna sign him. What a waste of time this article is. Total Pie in the sky!!!

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