18 Oct 2013

'LFC are interested': Reds favourites to sign 'incredible' €20m La Liga star. Needed?

Earlier this year, the Agent of Spanish defender Martin Montoya confirmed that Liverpool are keeping tabs on the 22-year old Barcelona star, and new reports suggest that the Reds are leading the race to sign the defender.

In May, Spanish newspaper Spanish newspaper Sport alleged that Liverpool had 'enquired about the status of the player' and claimed that Brendan Rogers is a big fan of the Barca player'.

Then, in September, Montoya's agent, Jose Maria Orobitg, told FCInterNews:

"The renewal [of Montoya's contract] has not yet arrived. Inter Milan, Napoli, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool are interested"

Now, according to ESPN, the Reds are in pole-position to sign Montoya:

"Liverpool are ready to offer Martin Montoya a pre-contract [agreement]. LFC are ahead in the chase, with Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen also showing interest. Rodgers is keen to sign Montoya next summer but could offer him a deal in January and allow Barcelona to retain [him] for the rest of the season".

Due to injury, Montoya got a golden chance to impress in last season's Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao, Pepe Guardiola's last game managing the club. After the game, Guardiola enthused:

“Montoya had a fantastic game, he has many great years in the club ahead of him”.

Another former boss, Tito Villanova, also rates Montoya, and after the 2-2 draw with Real Madrid in October, he told reporters:

“Martín had Cristiano Ronaldo against him on his flank. But with the match he played, he showed us that he is an incredible player who can jump straight in, adapt and play great”.

Judging by his recent comments, Montoya seems to be happy at Barca and doesn't want to leave. He told Marca:

"It makes me feel proud. I have played here for 12 years now, and I have never wanted to leave. Barca are the team of my dreams. Training with the first team means working at a high rhythm, and always giving everything. You learn a lot in a short period of time."

With Dani Alves and Jordi Alba firmly entrenched in Barcelona's full-back positions, it's unlikely that Montoya is going to break into the team any time soon.

Montoya's contract - which has a €20m buyout clause expires next summer, and if Barca are not going to offer him a new deal, it seems likely that they'll sell in January to avoid losing him for free.

Competition for Glen Johnson at right back can only be a good thing, but with Andre Wisdom and Martin Kelly in the squad, is it a priority position to strengthen next summer, or even in January...?



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19 comments:

  1. Yes, Glen Johnson is going to leave as his contract expires, and Montoya can play both lb and rb. And is good going forward as a wing back.

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  2. I'd love to have him at LFC. He's a dedicated RB rather than being turned into like Kelly and Wisdom. Even though we have he has a long time to nurture into a first teamer McLaughlin here. That guy has something to prove in him and we should watch out for buy back clauses from Barca and also if we get him for free in May or even in Jan for a knocked down price of 8m then it'd be a bargain.

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  3. Martin Montoya is only needed if someone like Kelly leaves the club which we can't foresee happening. We have plenty of cover at RB after G.Johnson. One may argue it is inexperienced cover in the likes of Kelly, Flannagan, and other that can do a job at RB, not forgetting up coming talents from our youth set up players like Kolo Toure, Wisdom, and Mclaughlin. What we can do with is a LB that is only Rogers does not fancy Robinson or Cissokho.


    We have other priorities at the moment, which the absence of Coutinho have highlighted, we require a creative, hard working CM. We keep hearing cover for Lucas, but the likes of Henderson can do a job for us against the "lesser" teams, but against the "bigger" teams their defensive frailties may be exposed; which may call for cover for Lucas but it is not a signing that will take us to the next step up (but rather stabilize our position), which is exactly what a creative CM will do.

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  4. I think they'll give him a contract depending on how he fares when it comes to the end of the contract and then they might give him an extension or not.

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  5. LMFAO at Kolo Toure from youth setup. RB is a priority for the club and you don't get players like Montoya like this for a knocked down price that we'll get come January. I think DM will not be bought this window but might be in summer.

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  6. We need competition for RB. Glen Johnson has no competition. Wisdom is average playing there and Kelly has glass legs unfortunately.


    We should go for him in Jan def!

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  7. Kolo Toure from the youth set up? Loool!!!!


    Like I said in my previous comment GJ needs competition as Wisdom and Kelly (injury prone) don't provide that.


    We were forced to play Toure at right back because of this.


    Mclaughlin does look good though.

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  8. JAIMIE, I can not believe you wrote an article about Suarez disobeying LFC orders regarding taking kids to the pitch when there is a much bigger issue there, more basic- he disobeyed laws of nature. Few days old baby should not be exposed to that amount of stress-psychical and emotional. He wanted to suck up our a77es, or he just thinks this will be a great memory for his son- irrelevant, his wife should slap him in the face for that, and social worker should have payed him a visit.
    Sorry if you did mention this side of the problem, but I dont think you did...

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  9. yes
    johnson is the only rightback suitable for rwb
    plus wisdom is a cb
    and kelly should just quit football
    he is so unreliable

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  10. Would def. be a good addition, if he is as good as reported to be.
    Johnson needs proper competition / replacement. Wisdom and Kelly are not propper competition. RB is a priority.

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  11. Wisdom is not really a right back and it could be argued that neither is Kelly when he is fit. Many have said he is a CB rather than FB but he is certainly not as attacking as Johnson. Johnson is also not getting younger and reportedly one of the highest payed players. I personally think it is a priority position in the summer. How good this lad is I don't know. Never seen him play.

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  12. In the modern game all the top full backs give you a lot going forward, we have NO cover for Johnson that does that. Kelly , Wisdom nice young talents however don't offer much going forward. Even the experienced Toure who has had time at this position in his career doesn't show much enthusiasm to get forward.

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  13. Think you're better off removing the whole sentence containing "last year's copa del rey" due to being old:-)

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  14. Question - what if Suarez had said what ENGLANDS MANAGER SAID ??????????????????????????????????? Funny rules F A abide to - I don't think Roy meant anything BUT different set of rules for the ENGLAND MANAGER

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  15. 20 game ban for apist abuse?

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  16. I think Johnson's injury has shown that Rodgers doesn't seem to think Wisdom is the right player to be his understudy, let alone push him for his position. So another right back makes sense all of a sudden. Sterling and Downing aren't full backs nor wing backs.

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  17. Yh because then wisdom can be loaned for experience competition for Johnson then succeed him with Kelly to progress as a centre back which he could be great at

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  18. Agree totally about mcglaughlin but there's loads of promise in youths ... Harry Wilson is our biggest talent hopefully

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  19. No, I think there are even better players than Harry Wilson. Just because he was called for senior squad doesn't mean he's great, yes it testifies that he has potential but I wouldn't say the best. IMO it was because Wales had an injury hit squad and they didn't want to risk losing Wilson to England in future like they did with Lloyd Jones and one more Welsh player who have opted for England who I think have more potential than Wilson.

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