2 Jun 2013

Transfer Coup: LFC to make €8m offer for 'fantastic' Prem star. Good news...?

With the recent departure of Doni, and the seemingly inevitable departure of Pepe Reina, Liverpool are in the market for a new goalkeeper, and Sunderland star Simon Mignolet is emerging as the number-one contender to become the Reds' new goalkeeper.

Over the last few months, Liverpool have been linked several times with a move for the the Belgian international.

According to The Mirror today, Brendan Rodgers 'has been given the go-ahead by club chiefs' to move for Mignolet', who Newcastle stopper Tim Krul recently described as 'fantastic' and 'one of the best in the Premier league':

"Liverpool [are] to launch a £6.5million (€8m) bid for Simon Mignolet.

"Brendan Rodgers is on the lookout for a new stopper to replace Pepe Reina, who is set to leave Anfield this summer.

"Rodgers has the green light to make a formal offer. Liverpool will now wait to hear back from Sunderland over their offer"


In April, Mignolet's representative, Guy Vandermissen, hinted that the 24-year old is thinking about a move away. He told ATV:

"Our ambition is for Simon to play somewhere that he can engage in competition with Thibaut Courtois for the place in goal for Belgium. Courtois is fortunate that he is playing for a team that has been doing well lately."

In a subsequent statement on Sunderland's official website, Mignolet moved to clarify Vandermissen's comments, claiming they'd be 'taken out of context. He noted:

"Things change quickly. All those clubs I am linked with, if I make a mistake on Saturday, I will be un-linked straight away. It will be the exact opposite and that’s why I don’t really get fussed about it"

In May, Mignolet was named North East Football Writers' Association's player of the year, and former Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill compared him with two of the British game's greatest every goalkeepers. He told Sky Sports:

"I've played with Pat Jennings and Peter Shilton and he's got a similar approach to both. He [Mignolet] is still very young and he's got a similar mentality to those two, if he ends up having half the career of those two I'll be ecstatic"

Like Luis Suarez, Pepe Reina has persistently fanned the flames of speculation regarding his future, and this week, he once again made a back-handed 'come and get me' plea to Barcelona. At the launch of his new personal website this week, Reina told reporters:

"It's difficult to say no to Barcelona. I am calm, but rumours are always there"

On a related note, Brendan Rodgers and LFC seriously need to get grip of the club's players. Why can't they keep their mouths shut in public? The club needs to institute a rule banning players from saying things like this in public. When asked, Reina et al should be instructed to say simply reiterate that they're under contract at LFC.



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52 comments:

  1. Personally i would rather Mignolet over Begovic.

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  2. Whether Mignolet or Begovic the problem the problem is that Valdes has said he is going to see out the final year of his contract at Barca so they currently have no need of Reina. You'd have to assume that LFC would need any transfer fee to fund his replacement so if Reina doesn't move now any fee would have to be diverted from other priorities.
    I'm not sure either Mignolet or Begovic would want to come as a No2, even for12mths in a WC year. And how would Reina react to having such direct competition - after all Valdes could change his mind which would mean no place for him at Barca.

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  3. Tina Mac Realti7:54 am, June 02, 2013

    Yes fair reasoning Raider.

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  4. i always prefered begovic, eventho i havent seen much of mignolet... what are his special qualities?

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  5. In an ideal world the Club shouldn't have to tell the players what they can and can not say tot he press, however even if the club were to make it a rule like you have said jamie, it will stop nothing as it will be leaked by somebody, most likely their agents.

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  6. I haven't paid much attention to either Mignolet or Begovic so can't really comment on either's quality.


    I can say that Reina has easily looked one of the worst goalkeepers in the league for the last couple of years though (a short good spell at the end of the season doesn't make up for the months of poor performances beforehand), so almost any transfer would be an upgrade over what we've been seeing recently.

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  7. It is pretty silly to assume that the club could really control the statement given by our players though, especially when they're responding to questions in interviews.


    Everybody knows that in modern football, top flight players hold all of the power, and until the powers that be get some control over the ridiculous "contract" situation currently in place, this will not be changing

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  8. Mr. Point Of View8:37 am, June 02, 2013

    i wonder is pepe wan out or lfc try to push him? if is tactical reason we need to change then i vote go ahead but if is $wage problem then we lose another leader

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  9. talk about downgrading i bet they pushed carragher out whats happening with gerrard cannot fsg cash in on him ,i have no problem getting rid of top stars but the players we are looking at to replace them are cheap and no better than we have ,the damage done this season could take years to repair ,fsg out

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  10. Once again its on my opinion but He's a very well rounded keeper, Good lateral dives, always parries to sidelines rather than back into the box.

    Also he tends to get his entire body behind the ball when they are shot low or body height, so ive personal not seen him concede a goal like the one Walcott scored on us.

    On current form he is probably better than the Reina of the last 2-3 years but if we did end up wit Mignolet instead of Reina we would have to permanently adopt the short passes out tothe CB's from GK as hes not as accurate and lacks the vision Reina has with hi kicking.

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  11. Mr. Point Of View9:00 am, June 02, 2013

    I bet carra choose walkout. He cant take a role as a vice cpt sit on bench warmer or a leader at sideline. Cant argue with those name we linked cast some doubt

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  12. would be a good replacement for reina imo, would personally rather have begovic though

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  13. Do you really think £6.5 mil will get you one of if not the best keeper in the league. Double it and you might be taking serious.

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  14. for 6.5 i´d take him anyday

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  15. Good keeper, for sure. Not so sure whether 8m Euros would get him. Doubt it, to be honest.


    As for Reina, well, Valdes will stay another year, it has been reported. So Reina to Barcelona is off.

    Courtois is also a very good keeper, though Chelsea probably won't let him go.


    How do you want to stop players from talking in public? They are human beings, often not the brightest ones, and if someone asks them, whether they would be interested in moving to a bigger club, they say the truth. It happens all over the place. Jaimie, you have quoted so many players we were linked with who said that it would be a dream to play in the Prem and how they liked to play for us (or another English club). It happens.

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  16. btw, if Stekelenburg remains as good as he was, Fulham could be repeating the trick of their purchase of Van der Sar - picking up a CM legend for cheap, with little to no opposition from other teams for some weird reason...

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  17. Or is it all just media speculation combined with translated, twisted words taken out of context?

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  18. Reina is the join 2nd best keeper in the league and unfortunately he is going for peanuts.

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  19. He's a 20m GBP goalkeeper. Can't see him going for much less than that. LFC were slly with Henderson but this lad is real class and a gent to boot. Saying this I don't think he'll go anywhere unless a big club ( ie Champions league ) comes in with a sizable offer.

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  20. on another note i wonder how much our stupid errors in the cup are going to haunt us no european football at all ,could have influenced the likes of suarez , about wether to give it another season and we will also lose out on the revenue at least rodgers saw the light ,after his stupid statement about us being better of without european football next season and quickly backtracked,if we sell suarez and pepe and do not buy at least one big name ,the writings on the wall for the future under fsg,

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  21. I see red people10:32 am, June 02, 2013

    It was Carra's decision to retire.

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  22. JC you're right (as usual) let's get rid of FSG now. I mean what have the ever done for LFC. Surely spending £300M to buy the club , removing the debt and giving £100M+ to managers to spend on playing staff - well anyone could do that.
    We should immediately run down to Billionaires R Us and get us some really wealthy owners - there's bound to be loads of them.

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  23. I see red people10:40 am, June 02, 2013

    And you think the Europa League will change Suarez's mind? He wants Champions League football not some 2nd rate European competition that was won by a team that got knocked out of the Champions League.


    Maybe UEFA should revert back to the UEFA Cup of old to make it a attractive competition for teams which means only 2nd, 3rd and 4th are allowed to enter the competition and also no teams that get knocked out of the CL.

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  24. I like him. He has done well in a struggling Sunderland side, although his distribution with the ball is dodgy to say the least, which maybe important for Rodgers. Me thinks it would take £10m at least to prise him away.

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  25. yes! personally id rather we had no owners and the club went bust and reformed in non league. Then we couldnt even boast about that annoyingly successful history we have had

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  26. liverpool4life56510:45 am, June 02, 2013

    He a good keeper.jheeze your hate for FSG is strange because you have no reasons haha

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  27. Courtois is not fortunate, he's just a much better keeper. If Chelsea would consider selling him I'd prefer we spend what it takes to sign him. One of the best, if not the best goalkeeper in the world today.

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  28. true but mig is only 24 and has alot of good years ahead. If you do manage to sign him you will realise just how good he is, it certainly wasn't our defence that managed to keep as many clean sheets.

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  29. Rosedivine Phiri11:48 am, June 02, 2013

    I thought LFC will get Begovic from stoke because reports said that he will be training with the liverpool players in july though Mignolet seems to be a pretty decent option,Reina should leave who cares after costing us so many points last season but only for 10
    to 15m and also Suarez should pack his bags cause its looks certain that his forcing a move to Madrid,and that 50m buy Dzeko for 15 to 20m or Luis Muriel,Bent,Gomes because his not wanted at bayern or Villa any of these two would fill his void especially Gomes and Muriel,and the 15m from Carrol sale buy Eriksen and the other monies buy a CDM like wanyama,a CB in the mould of papadoulis,Vjril,Alderweirled and a winger in the mould of Mihiktarayan from shaktar or Ada Turan

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  30. Stefan Thorgrimsson11:53 am, June 02, 2013

    Is Valdes not staying with Barcelone until summer 2014.

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  31. Steve - how much did Pepe Reina cost originally? £6m. As such, I'm not quite sure I see your point. When he came to LFC, he wasn't one of the best in the league; he grew into that. Same applies to Mignolet.

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  32. Reina hasn't been among the leagues top goal-keepers for a long time now...

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  33. did they have to buy the club did someone hold a gun to there head no they bought the club to make profit BIG PROFIT and they will

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  34. he would have wanted the europa league instead of no european football

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  35. Random Fact, but on FIFA 13, Luis Suarez has the best Goalkeeping stats of any outfield player. Must have been EA's little joke because of the Wolrd Cup incident. lol just found that really funny

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  36. What about ter stegen?

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  37. MIGNOLET or BEGOVIC I like both.Quality wise I find it difficult to say one is better than the other.I think their the same age.Whoever's cheapest would do for me!

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  38. I see red people2:04 pm, June 02, 2013

    Europa League means nothing to the big clubs. Why do you think UEFA have changed the rules to let the winner qualify for the Champions League. That is the only way they can make it the Eurpopa League beneficial. The prize money and the quality of teams make this a really morbid competition.

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  39. VICTOR VALDES is considered by many as a weak link in the BARCELONA side.He came out said he finds it hard to handle the pressure.I wouldn't be surprised if REINA goes there and relegates VALDES to the bench.If STEGEN makes that move though as is mooted, it could get crowded.We have options whatever happens that's all I'm concerned about.

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  40. £8M deluded or what?
    Might get Mig if LFC add another £20M to the offer

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  41. Okay....Wait did you say LFC deluded? £28m???? Did I read your post correctly?

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  42. liverpool4life5653:42 pm, June 02, 2013

    If they didn't we would of gone under.

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  43. but we are not a big club anymore

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  44. they were other people interested in the club do not kid yourself that fsg are our saviours

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  45. Yes, Liverpool are still a big club. In fact, it's a massive club, one of the world's best, and a few bad years doesn't change that.

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  46. liverpool4life5654:56 pm, June 02, 2013

    They got to own there club because they were the best fit. Now stop moaning.

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  47. WE ARE DOOMED!!!

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  48. WE ARE DOOMED!!!!

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  49. been bangin that drum for a while now courtois is for sale and chealsea want 17 million for him id pay that tomoro and that would leave the door open for reina to go to athletico

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  50. I wholeheartedly agree with the comment you've made at the end of this article JK.
    Once Suarez goes, hopefully Rodgers will stop being beholden to all his players. I still have my doubts.
    This is why I would have gone for Van Gaal. No way this shite is happening under him (he'd definitely fall out with a few players though...).
    He'll be available again next Summer, so Brendan really has to progress this term.

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  51. If that's true than we should pay that in a heartbeat. If Reina goes for anything between 10 and 15 million that would hardly be an investment considering Courtois has 10 years on Reina. And if that's true Chelsea are utter idiots.

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  52. The money on offer from the pool is an an insult, you are no longer giants, and our owner has a few more bob than yours, hence no need to sell, we are NOW a building club, not the Steve Bruce club. For the money rodgers is offering,,,,,,,,, Buy a BEACHBALL.

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