8 May 2013

'Papa' to Anfield? - LFC chase record-breaking €22m Bundesliga star.

Over the next couple of months, Liverpool will probably be linked with every half-decent central defender under the sun, and the latest name to enter the fray is 21-year old Schalke star Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

According to TMW, and German newspaper Bild, and Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City are all chasing Papadopoulos, who has a €22.5m buy-out clause in his contract.

Papadopolous made his debut for Olympiakos at the age of 15 years and 283 days, and broke the record for the youngest ever player to feature in the Greek League.

Pretty impressive stuff, and last summer, Zenit St. Petersburg put in a €15m bid for the Greek international, but the Bundesliga club were unwilling to sell.

At the time, Schalke general manager Horst Heldt explained:

"They [Zenit] have made an offer and are being very persistent, but we do not want to lose the player"

Soon after that, Heldt accused AC Milan of making an illegal approach for Papadopolous. He told reporters:

“It would be nice if they [Milan] would warn us next time before they come to hold talks with the player. I can confirm that AC Milan held discussions with Papadopoulos’ advisors. Interest is there on the part of Milan – but there is no interest on the part of the player”

In September, Papadopolous - who at the age of 21 already has 16 appearances under his belt for the Greece national team - signed a contract extension until 2016, and pledged his long-term future to the club:

"I feel very good at Schalke and look forward to playing for the club for many years to come"

In a recent interview with FIFA.com, the youngster - nickname 'Papa' by his team-mates - spoke about his rapid rise to first team football with both Schalke and the Greece national team:

“I think a blend of talent and hard work has got me where I am today. My parents were very sporty and I guess I was born with talent. But you need a huge amount of work to make the most of it."

"It's a very special feeling to be one of the youngest players at Schalke. I'm just delighted at the chance to represent such a huge and successful club"

Papadopolous fits the infernal FSG transfer template, but with three years left on his contract, he won't come cheap, and if LFC are to spend €10-€15m on a defender, it should be an experienced, established player (IMO).





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19 comments:

  1. another non starter,has he played for rodgers before ,do not think so ,so straightaway thats 50%less chance of signing him

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  2. I don't ever recall Coutinho, Sturridge, Assaidi & Sahin (ex player) ever playing for B. Rodgers. Out of the list only Borini and Allen have played for B. Rodgers in his managerial career. Hang on out of 8 players Rodgers has signed only 25% of have actually been managed under Rodgers. JC your maths don't add up because clearly 75% of the players signed have never been managed by Rodgers apart from Sturride who was with Rodgers when he was coach at Chelsea.

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  3. not for me. I want the team to improve and there is only a handful of players in any position i think worth going for. I would rather see us go all out and sign game changers or players who are top draw than add ones who are a bit medicore. This guy is ok, but i dont think he is execptional

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  4. Very good defender but if I had my way I would prefer Howedes any day of the week over papadopolous. But it's all rumours regardless

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  5. When I saw 'Papa' to Anfield, I had hoped that Ernest Hemingway would be our new manager, but alas, it seems that will not be the case.
    At this point the transfer speculation is getting so dense that I can barely muster any interest in the media's machinations.

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  6. WaKe up people..... This liverpool football club is no longer a fairytale club We are a mid table club and will stay mid table club. For you fans that think peter pan is real hes not . Rodgers is not a good manager nor Did he get us foward in anyway. FSG have not done nothing but give us better storys then Walt disney . They are no diffrent then Hicks and gillet No diffrent . We are a nightmare. you are going to bed telling your self my dream is a good dream and rodgers and FSG will give us world class players money the best young talent on the market. I cant wait for transfer window .......At the end we will sell two players (skrtel coates) and sign williams in return (EG). Or a player who has something to do with rodgers. We are a club that lives of sponsors Dollars not FSG $$$$$$ the money from sponsors goes in and FSG take out to pay them selves first . The next sponsorship deal is change name of anfield for more dollars for liverpool ( bullshit) to the Yanks ? we will sell players to buy players ex rodgers players cheap players and only one or two

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  7. Ok mate if you're going to state facts let's get them right shall we? Two out of six is one third or 33% not 25% so stop attacking other people's maths. You state Rodgers worked with Sturridge when he was at Chelsea so that would be by your own reckoning three out of six in other words 50% if you had been right. Of course there is a slight problem in that Sturridge did not sign for Chelsea until July 2009 by which point Mr Rodgers had left Watford FC as manager to take over at Reading FC as manager. So instead of slating others as you did get your own facts right.

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  8. listen its very simple and straight forward. were on a slim budget this summer, so wasting money on players who wont improve our squad is not an option. FSG will give us only £20M. we get £12M from carrol, £10M for skrtel, £6M for coates and £7M for allen. that gives us £35M and £55M in total to use in the summer.

    now we've already got experienced talented midfielder in stevie g, world class striker in suarez, electic pace striker in sturridge(although his fitness and the way he dies out in a match is a issue) skillful versatile left-winger in coutinho who can play various positions, decent full-backs and cover and a good keeper. now to make our team fully dynamic and 100% like FC Bayern we need a right winger similar to robben, powerful box-to-box defensive midfielder who is better than allen and contributes more to the team, 2 centre backs - one young but good centre back to replace coates and 1 top-class quality centre back, 2 creative attacking midfielders and one tall fast beast type striker like drogba. then we will have a completely dynamic squad which should go on to dominate for the next coming years.

    Thomas Ince - 21 RW - lots of potential, can be as good as robben. scores alot of goals and gets lots of assists. wonderful left foot. eletric pace, never wasteful on the counter. £6M

    Victor Wanyama 21 DM - massive talent. very composed, good technique and very strong. great competition for lucas, eventually he will make the spot his own because hes going to some player. definate CL quality. £8M
    Alternate: fail to land wanyama, Diame is 2nd choice. £3.5M

    Toby Alderwerield - 24 CB - alot like vertoghen but alot better and a very good leader. known for his pace, long passing ability and physical strength. perfect for BR style. CL quality. £9M

    Stefan De Vrij - 21 CB - composed, quick and very good with the ball, says alot when Barcelona want to sign you on. excellent long passing and no-nonsense defending. replace coates. £7M

    Christian Eriksen 21 AM - everyone is aware were in need of creativity, we've all seen the impacts of coutinho, eriksen would bring a similar type of impace. something special, you all know about him and he will only get better. CL quality. £14M

    Keisuke Honda 26 AM - mix between mata and ronaldo. were in need of a mata type player. world-class player up for free in the summer, got alot of midfielders but we cant miss out on this one. plus the experience he can pass onto fellow youth players can be crucial. getting the right mix of both young quality and experienced quality is the key. Set-piece specialist. CL Quality. £ FREE AGENT

    Christian Benteke 22 ST - if we get benteke on board, i honestly think we could get the league. this boy is a beast and if only he had 24/7 good service he will score goals for funs. can score all types of a goals for a striker. many say hes the next drogba, but i dont see too many differences between benteke now and drogba on top form. he'll only get better as well. we really need to make sure we get this transfer sorted because i think it will change our fortunes completely. suarez, sturridge and benteke will be the most feared strike force in world football. £15M



    thats 7 quality signings that will give our squad a massive boost and a big chance for silverware, also with 4 players leaving.


    that works out £59M with wanyama and £54.5M with diame. 59M is 4M over the 55M budget meaning we could have to result to diame but i would urge the board to push through for the wanyama deal. these players will all grow together and become world class act amongst the football world.

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  9. Oops appologies I accidently wrote 8 transfers initially but realised Rodgers made 6 so had to edit it but didn't change the presentage abit ditzy of me. Yeah I was totally wrong about Sturridge he didn't work with him whilst at Chelsea. The point I was trying to make was looking at Rodgers tansfers majority of the players he has signed have been based on scouting something JC has fails to realise. Yes two transfers have been of players he has worked with but that's only a small percentage. Again this could change this summer considering Swansea did not allow players to leave with Rodergs with only the exception of Allen but they got paid really well for him.

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  10. NonEventHorizon12:28 am, May 09, 2013

    :) hahaha

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  11. This is a defender I would like to see at anfield .

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  12. Ah! I see what you mean. We need a completely different team then?

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  13. this guy is good but we should have bought him when before he went to germany. kenny chose coates instead apparently.

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  14. Mr. Point Of View8:59 am, May 09, 2013

    i realize majority of speculation whom linked to LFC his value will instantly increase. agent trick?

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  15. The real reason we wont sign this one is that he can't past, he is a great stopper and tackler, but he is more of a Skrtel than an Agger.

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  16. cheikhabdou gaye1:57 pm, May 09, 2013

    very good defender that wud be a great duo with agger

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  17. He's well worth it according to his football manager stats! 19's and 20s for tackling marking and heading! We should defo sign him!!

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  18. Hahahahahaha .....well played.

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  19. what a rant:s

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