28 May 2013

'LFC made an offer' - Bundesliga spit-scandal star confirms €9m Reds bid. Risk...?

In March, Eintracht Frankfurt sporting director Bruno Hubner confirmed Liverpool's interest in Peruvian defender Carlos Zambrano, and according to the the man himself, the Reds have now put in a formal offer for his services.

In an interview with Peruvian newspaper El Bocon , Hubner confirmed:

"Liverpool are interested in the player [Zambrano]. They have been in contact with us but there's no formal offer yet"

Well, it appears that club has now put in a formal offer. Speaking to Spanish newspaper, El Correo, Zambrano - who cost Frankfurt only £1.2m last summer - said:

"The club has informed me that Liverpool and Sevilla have made an offer, but to think of another team would be inappropriate because they [Frankfurt] supported me after a serious injury."

The offer - according to El Correo - is €9 million, which would represent a significant profit for Frankfurt, who finished sixth in the Bundesliga this season.

Zambrano's superb form this season is one of the reasons Frankfurt - who only got promoted to to Germany's top division last season - have performed so well this season.

Zambrano's former coach at St Pauli, Holger Stanislawsk, is a huge fan of the Peruvian, and believes his aggressive style of play is a big plus point. He told Kicker:

"Carlos is currently one of the best central defenders in the Bundesliga. He is having a superb season and is a key fixture in our team. I am also very pleased with his aggressive style of play. I would rather have a player who needs to be calmed down at times than one who needs a kick up the backside."

In September 2012, Frankfurt boss Armin Veh also praised Zambrano's passion on the field. He told Depor.pe:

"We were very aggressive and we take the ball to Hamburg. That's what I always want on my team: aggression. Zambrano was was fierce and reassured in defence, which is becoming increasingly better"

Speaking to MediaTempo in January, Veh once again highlighted the importance of Zambrano to Frankfurt:

"Carlos is the defensive leader. He has good physique and is absolutely essential to our defensive unit"

Zambrano does, however, have a dark side. In 2012, he spat at Fortuna midfielder Sascha Roesler during a Bundesliga match:



The incident caused an uproar in Germany, and after the game, Zambrano apologised for his behaviour:

"It was grossly unsportsmanlike conduct that is not in my nature. There can be many heated situations on the pitch, and in this case there were a lot of verbals building up to the incident. One thing led to another and I lost my cool – but this can be no excuse for my behaviour."

It's good to see a footballer make a genuine public apology for 'unsportsmanlike conduct'. It doesn't happen often enough, especially when it comes to shameless, unapologetic divers and cheats. As Zambrano said though, it doesn't
excuse the spitting incident, which is a terrible thing to do.

A good alternative to Kyriakos Papadopolous...?





NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


69 comments:

  1. Would rather have Papadopolous

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  2. Niall O'Reilly9:08 pm, May 28, 2013

    Yeah a good ALTERNATIVE....But getting Popa should be our no.1 target now that it seems Eriksen is going to Dortmond(Which Im really disappointed about)And although Id love us to get Benteke its not going to happen,and that said he still could be a one season wonder

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  3. I think we're going CB crazy right now.The deal for the Greek according to RAF HONIGSTEIN is close.TOURE has just made the move and didn't we make a 4m bid for LLORI too.
    Now this guy, it's nice to have a back up plan for depatures but If it continues like this we'll have 10 CB's come the start of the season!

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  4. J Macarthy could make up for erriksen and papadouplos should be main signing. toure was a cute move i think for liverpool

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  5. If Suarez spat at somebody and apologized, you would be having one of your silly little rants just because it's Suarez. Transparent as ever.

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  6. Only watched him a few times decent on the ball, but I would prefer Papa. What I do know is Frankfurt have conceded a reasonable amount of goals moreso than teams lower down the bundesliga table. I am glad we got Toure as it puts to bed the rumour we don't sign older players (he was signed with a large signing on fee and high wages, so it may be a "free" but it's one that FSG have paid a significant amount for) and we have a leader. So now with Agger and Toure probably our first choice defence I expect a young defender to come in to challenge both guys for a starting sport. It does mean that Kelly and Wisdom seem to both be used as competition for right back.

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  7. JAMES McCARTHY is nowhere near the quality of ERIKSEN.I don't even rate him above HENDERSON that would be a complete waste of money!

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  8. I think it's all just in case we don't get Papa, he is being chased by a lot of top european teams. It's been reported than Chelsea, City and Dortmund are after him. Quite the coup if we managed to buy him.

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  9. Niall O'Reilly9:25 pm, May 28, 2013

    Yeah Id agree with BEAST,James is and will become a good player but Eriksen is one to watch because Ive seen him play and hes quality,just the type of player BR would love,but being honest I was deluding myself thinking that we could sign him,as for Toure Im gonna hold my jusgement till I see him play because hes literally had next to no game time in the last 2 years,but If were getting the Toure of Arsenal Ill be delighted :)

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  10. More like a cheapskate move by LFC. Toure on a free rather than pay £9m for Ashley Williams. What happens if Toure gets injured? he's 32 - how many more years does he have at a decent level?

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  11. It's the usual LFC transfer mess up as per every season for past 15/20 years, where Eriksen is concerned. They wait, and wait, and someone steams in and takes the decent player we had the cance to sign. He even said he wanted to come to LFC. We have some clowns running the transfer side of things i swear. nice to see nothings changed.

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  12. Niall O'Reilly9:27 pm, May 28, 2013

    No actually it does prove FSG wont pay for older players...As in they wont pay a transfer fee,the signing on fee is irrelevant

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  13. I disagree, and Ferdinand and Terry have performed well and will most likely do so for a few more years. Ferdinand is closing on 35. Statistically Chico at Swansea has performed better than Williams, I personally am glad we didn't go for Williams. But to each his own.

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  14. Niall O'Reilly9:33 pm, May 28, 2013

    Haha some things never chance :( Pity this one wont

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  15. How is it irrelevant when it is money paid regardless of whether it's paid to the player or a different club? Toure's wage are likely to be around 100 grand a week or more. He will also likely end up costing more than a younger defender like the aforementioned Zambrano in the long run with little to no resale value. Toure has captained both Man City and Arsenal during their heyday and I believe that the sort of thing we need at the back a leader. Skrtel is the fine defender but doesn't organise a defence like Carra, which is why we dropped him. I think Rodgers has gone for experience and leadership.

    I understand people being disappointed but I expect at least another centre back to come in let's judge Toure once the season starts and the window is over.

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  16. Totally, I'm baffled by the hype that surrounded a potential move for Williams. The gut is a half decent player in an ok club whereas Toure has a proven track record in playing at the highest level. I think we've been smart in going out and getting a proven prem defender straight away. Worst case scenario if we don't get another defender we keep Skittles?

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  17. I meant to say guy and not gut btw...Just eaten lol

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  18. A lot of you seem to forget the Irish lad coming from Reading, Alex Pearce
    I Dont like Zambrano, would much prefer Douglas on a free, and Papa.
    This looks like Skyrtel, Coates, along with Carragher, have played their last game for LFC.

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  19. It's the only area where LFC have been consistent through the years, unfortunately though it's consistently bad. Hoped this slow plodding transfer target buying was behind us, but every owner we've had has done the same since Moores.

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  20. Niall O'Reilly9:39 pm, May 28, 2013

    Oh no dont get me wrong Im not going to judge until I see him but I still have my reservations (I suppose that would be judging him wouldnt it?) Either way Hes got good experience so even for that I suppose ya cant complain

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  21. no jaimie not at all. toure is a still a good player. just because he cant get into man city starting line up doesnt mean its a cheapskate move. BR surely knows what hes doing and im confident fans will talk about this in the future as a big snip

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  22. Alex Pearce arriving from Reading.FC.

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  23. Why is it cheapskate? If we sign 1 or 2 other CBs for reasonable/big transfer fees then it would just be a prudent deal. As LM points out this isn't by any means a free transfer. A hefty signing on fee (£2m) plus big wages (£40k per week) is my guess. I think Joe Cole got £5m signing on fee as part of his free transfer.
    Good to see if debunks the myth of not signing older players and that it shows we are trying to get business done early.
    Lets just see how the transfer window unfolds.

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  24. think the club need to focus on signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Keisuke Honda, Mohamed Diame, Tiago Ilori, Facundo Ferreyra, Mohamed Salah and Leandro Paredes. it may be as much as 7 players, but these players will have different roles to play. whether that be as impact substitute or star player

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  25. Pearce is not confirmed and only 4 days ago Reading were saying they are confident they can agree a new deal. I would be surprised if we picked him up. Douglas does look a good shout, Newcastle were supposedly bidding for him in January and will probably go for him again. I suspect if we were to go for Douglas there would be quite a lot of competition.

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  26. Just to try and put your mind at ease he has played around 900 minutes this season compared to Carra (around 1500) and has a greater ground duels success rate than Carra, made almost twice as many tackle per minute and at a greater success rate than him, he is slightly worse in the air percentage wise but wins more balls in the air per minute than Carra.

    Has been dribbled past only once compared to Carra's 9 (probably due to his lack of pace at this age something Toure hasn't lost yet). Jamie does gain possession back slightly more and perhaps that's something that will be worked on. and neither man has made any defensive errors this season

    I know stats don't tell the entire story as Jamie organised the defence exceptionally wel but they are cold hard facts and non opinion based (people can manipulate them but I am not trying to do that just stating the numbers). But Toure has been part of the best defence this season and while I will certainly miss seeing Jamie at the back I am confident Toure will prove to be a shrewd acquisition, can't help being the optimist :)

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  27. How does the Eriksen situation point to us being slow and plodding? For a start we don't know that we didn't put in an offer for the player or that he was even a target. Or it could just be that Eriksen would rather go to Germany and to a team that's just been in a CL final.

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  28. Great, then we could field a team of CB's.The football we play would be on the same level as STOKE but nobody could moan about us being lightweight!

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  29. liverpool4life5659:57 pm, May 28, 2013

    Papadopoulous all day for me! Toure is a good signing too, he a winner! Also has loads of experience. And a free. Good move from Rodgers.

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  30. Just a quick note redraider Toure was on £120,000 a week at city. I doubt he would drop to 40k a week, when Middle eastern, Russian clubs seem to be paying huge wages for aging players.

    It's just my opinion but I think Toure isn't going to work out as cheap as many expect which you can take either way. I think FSG and Rodgers understand the need to replace experience like for like and are willing to pay high wages for that. And to answer Jaimie's earlier query Kolo was signed on a two year deal. I suspect Toure can perform at a high level for atleast two more years. Defenders tend to mature better than attacking players.

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  31. liverpool4life5659:58 pm, May 28, 2013

    No, our focus is defence at the moment, then midfield then strikers....

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  32. liverpool4life5659:59 pm, May 28, 2013

    Erm no thanks, and Rather have clement grenier from Lyon.

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  33. Niall O'Reilly9:59 pm, May 28, 2013

    But the problem with us talking about this is we have no idea what goes on behind the closed doors which could be a factor we dont know about,Perhaps its a log shot but you'd never know

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  34. Well for everyones sake I hope he makes me look like a clueless Idiot (Although that could be argued already :P),I am interested to see who else we sign and who,if anyone leaves.

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  35. people need to stop getting onto the defence so much. our defence is actually quite solid. we dont concede that much goals and when we win we keep clean sheets. its our weak midfield which exposes our defence. once we get Mohamed Diame that will be sorted out, believe me

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  36. Another obscure newspaper links liverpool with random player, liverpool-kop is on it, circumlocutious as ever, totally irrelevant information inevitably follows, idiocy...?

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  37. As I said before we go for damaged goods now as there price is lower than there worth. I would prefer Papa tho.


    As long as another player comes in then Toure was a smart move imo. I believe he will be a back up player therefore a really great option to have. Saves money for the main man who I hope they sign next. If Toure is the only defender signed tho then it would be aweful, although I can`t see that happening.

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  38. He couldn't get in the City side 'cos he got banned for taking cocaine, didn't he?
    What's next? Lee Hughes?????

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  39. Expereinced back up player on a free. So if he does get injured its not the end of the world, any player can get injured so better a free signing than a 30mil one. He brings a lot of expereince with him and will ideally not kick up such a fuss if he only gets say 18 games where as Williams prob would, thus making there no point in signing another CB. Only two can play most league games, so the other signing will have to be back up and cup games. I think theres better players out there than Williams for the first team, and as stated cant see Williams being happy on the bench.

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  40. the transfer window aint even opened yet and we have signed one player (agreed). Thats not plodding thats fast.

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  41. I also think the DM role is our weak point. Although I also think the defense has let to many easy goals in, but not cause there bad players but cause our system isnt suited to defensive play.

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  42. Yep, plus sometimes we over rate our own defense. Toure is a good player still and I think will improve the squad.

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  43. Rumours are his wages are a lot lower than 100k a week. I read its around 40-50k.

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  44. He'd fit in well. . . . . . . Diving, cheating, stamping, racism, biting and now add spitting to your list !!

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  45. What happens if anyone gets injured? It might seem counter-intuitive but sports science will show that younger bodies are actually more injury prone, the data on young fast bowlers in cricket is particularly telling. Was JC injury prone in his last season? Didn't Gerrard just have one of his most injury free seasons in some time? The guys we lost to major injury were Borini and Allen. I don't think age has anything to do with it.

    I'd also say how many years Toure has left is somewhat beside the point. The only question you ask is: will he give us good service next season? Why does it need to be more than that?



    Personally I'm starting to get tired of this childish attitude from fans who think FSG should be some kind of sugar daddy. When they don't spend millions of pounds on players we cry and complain, as if it's just monopoly money. I don't want this club to mount up debt and be run at a loss. We don't have CL money and we're still hurting from a poorly managed wage structure. Fans need to grow up and realise that owners pulling money out of their personal bank accounts isn't the way life actually works. If you want your owners to act like that then go support Man City or Chelsea.

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  46. I think some fans get a bit upset when we don't "splash the cash". They think unless a signing has a high price they're no good. There is some logic in there, somewhere, but it's pretty simplistic.

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  47. Yeah, it's exactly the same story. There are rumours in the press, the whole story gets beaten up, the fans get over-excited by some name and then those same fans are disappointed when we don't sign him, even though the club probably were not that keen on him. The fans then think it's all just been a big cock-up when in truth the club just weren't convinced by the player and the cost involved in getting him. Usually this all happens because the fans haven't the first clue what's happening behind the scenes and have to make wild assumptions about "what went wrong" when nothing actually went wrong at all. The only problem there is the unrealistic expectations of the fans that we were going to sign every single player we're ever linked with in the papers. Get real.

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  48. Mccarthy will have a very solid PL career and im sure someone will pry him from wigan but i dont think he is going to be blazing into a team with CL ambitons

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  49. I personally prefer the Toure story about how he dated a woman and claimed he was a car salesman named Francois.

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  50. i have no problem with the Toure signing as it was free and he did drop his wages.
    Aslong as he isnt coming here to be our new starting CB, im fine with him as a squad player to add experience.
    especially if Skrtel is leaving

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  51. i thought it was diet pills?

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  52. He is a bit chubby, looks like he needed his wife's diet pill ;)

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  53. Do you even watch Liverpool play. Our defence sucks against physical opponents. Against on-the-ground passing teams the midfield shields them to great effect. Agger requires a solid guy to partner him. Carragher was both experienced and brilliant, so he was able to compensate with it for his lack of physicality. Go back and watch our matches against, Stoke, Villa, Southhampton and West Brom.

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  54. I disagree, We are getting the targets we are primarily after atleast for the past two windows; unless of-course the player is looking to get into some other team (like young and jones to man utd).

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  55. What if Williams gets injured? (Being injury free for years he might be due) Hypothetically anything can go wrong. Of the two players Toure is much more of a beast in defence than Williams. Vidic and Ferdinand are 31 and 32, but without atleast one of them MU defence looks in shambles.

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  56. and what a player hes really going to help us improve lol,

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  57. now theres a transfer a can believe lets forgot about the young potential policy and focus on the cheap

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  58. ive been saying fsg are cheapskates for months and mark my words i will be proven right

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  59. it dose not debunk any myths the 1sy player we have signed over 24 since fsg changed there policy and hes a freebie who would not get anywhere near a top 4 side

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  60. allen ,borini and rodgers himself

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  61. That is actually the best argument for replacing Lucas rather than defence. A team's defence is the last line before they get to goal, you need to catch them as early as possible.

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  62. People in Germany seem to think that is a done deal. Rumours today have Arsenal linked with Skrtel as well but the way I see it we should sell Coates and keep Skrtel. With Skrtel, Agger, Touré and Papa our defensive problems will be a thing of the past. Add a decent left back and I can't see us conceding too many next year.

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  63. Lucas is statistically the best player in his position in the Premiership with the highest number of tackles per game. Replacing him would be ludicrous. Back-up yes but Lucas is amazing and should always be one of the first names on the team sheet.

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  64. Sorry to use this example again but Kevin Phillips was once the best striker in the premiership based on goals scored. You can have your stats and I'll just stick with what I've seen, which is Momo Diame walking all over him twice last season.

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  65. on another side it seems iago aspas is a done deal ? one mr.gullieum bagualle claims 9m deal done and dusted ?

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  66. Because unless you've played something like (I can't remember the exact number between 30-50%) of your national sides games in the last two years you don't qualify for a work permit. Just the way it is, there is a panel you can appeal to on the grounds of an exceptional player which is how we got Coutinho - the argument is that at that price Coutinho was better than a domestically employed player and therefore should be granted a work permit.


    Do you not wonder why a lot of clubs don't sign these south american players when they are young instead of when they are top class players? It's not because their scouting network is bad it's it because it is almost impossible to get them a work permit at a young age. Remember Sebastian Leto? Rafa signed him, at 20 from Argentina and he couldn't get a work permit over and over so we loaned him out, still couldn't get a permit and we just moved him on to a Greek team where their laws are more relaxed. It because of this rule, Italy, Spain etc have more lax rules and hence they can sign a lot more south american, african etc almost unknown and young players.

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  67. He's played regularly for two top 4 teams so another pointless argument.
    And it looks like we're signing Aspas who's 26 - so that's 2 'overage' players in 2 days.

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  68. and if reports are to be believed suarez and pepe are off no which players i would rather have at anfield next season

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  69. Yeah thats why he might sign for Liverpool !!!!

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