5 Nov 2013

Watch out, Hendo: LFC chase 'terrific' £20m midfield maestro. Replace Allen...?

The January transfer window is fast approaching, and the if the first quarter of the Premier League season has shown anything it's that Liverpool's preferred midfield three is not functioning in a consistently effective manner. As such, the Reds are bound to be linked with every available midfielder under the sun over the next couple of months, and the latest name to enter the fray is Newcastle's Yohann Cabaye.

According to the Northern Echo today:

"Liverpool are monitoring [Cabaye's] situation, but the Magpies’ stance hasn’t changed.

"They remain reluctant to let the influential midfielder leave unless their valuation - thought to be in the region of £18-20m - is met"


Cabaye - nicknamed 'Dreamboat' - by Newcastle fans - scored a superb goal against Liverpool in the club's recent 2-2 draw, and he was again instrumental in the Magpie's excellent 2-0 victory over Chelsea. The France midfielder almost left Newcastle over the summer, but he decided to stay, and his form so far this season is delighting manager Alan Pardew, who told reporters recently:

"Yohan has just got on with his work and settled down. He's getting on with the job in hand. He's been terrific and he's just got his head down to get on with life."

Cabaye is an excellent player, but is he a solution to LFC's goal-drought in midfield? 14 goals in 83 games for Newcastle is a pretty meagre return, and his assist rate is not much better. Is that worth £20m? Not a chance, IMO. If LFC spend £18m-£20m on a midfield playmaker, he better be a prolific goalscorer/creator, or there's no real point.

One other thing to consider: if the Reds spend big money on a central-midfielder in January then surely that would be tantamount to a vote of no-confidence in Joe Allen? If Rodgers sees Allen as a long-term solution, he'd surely utilise his talents instead of looking to spend big on another player?

Cabaye would at least provide some formidable competition for Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard, and that can only be a good thing.



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21 comments:

  1. Break the bank and go for Vidal or someone of that ilk. Not gonna happen but hey we can dream right.

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  2. I would happily pay good money to see us bring him in to the club in January.. Even if he was our only signing. Arsenal have proven that there's no such thing as having too many quality central midfielders, with 7 (plus Diaby) regularly playing for them.

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  3. I think it will the best for the manager to think who is to be replaced by this supposedly established player when he comes in. Supposedly established is referred to the fees involved and not reputation or ability. Any 18-20 mil pounds player should be expected to impact the team instantly and no way is he going to warm the bench. Anyway, talking about Yohann Cabaye, I seriously don't think he's worth anything close to the 18-20 mil pounds mentioned and even if he comes in, I don't think he will be the instant replacement for any of the trio of SG, JH and Lucas. Not forgetting if BR is to stick to his 352/532 formation, 1 of the mentioned 3 will have to make way for Coutinho. So where does this place the newly recruited player? Given our rich heritage of wastefulness, more likely he will make the bench his backyard and be sold for a fraction of what we pay for him after a couple of seasons.

    For every successful Coutinho and DS, there are many others that turn out to be nothing for the club and be sold to some lesser clubs for much less of the price LFC paid for initially. Every piece of investment has it's risk but LFC has a very poor ROI for the longest time I can remember. I hope BR can end this rather sickening 'tradition' of the club but it seems like he is not very much better than the previous managers in terms of business astuteness, an article earlier here can verify this. What kind of positive impact can Joe Allen and Borini contribute to the team remains an unknown, but signs are they will end up in some mid-to-lower tier clubs after another season or two. With LA and Aspas following closely after that. Not to mention that completely impact-less player left behind by KD in Sebastián Coates.

    Watching the match against Arsenal again reminds me of how far LFC is away from the top of English football. I highly suspect their second unit of midfielders in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Serge Gnabry and Jack Wilshere can outrun ours. How can they achieve so much more with much less resources remains a constant question for me over the past 10 years. How could Arsene Wenger 'splurged' 4.5 mil pounds on the then 18-yrs-old Aaron Ramsey and make him one of the top midfielder in the league now whereas our modest 15 mil pounds Joe Allen seemingly waiting for his queue quietly, though not sure is it towards the exit or first team. Just for a reference, AR and JA are both same age.

    If we are to regain a respectable position in the league and Europe with the same owner, we have to be very much more prudent and much less reckless with our limited funds. It doesn't mean we have to spend every single cent we have after receiving income from commercial and sponsorship deals or worse, after enduring some flesh-cutting losses in selling players. These are genuine concerns since we are already falling behind Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal in terms of turnover but outspending all the rest except rich owner-backed Man City and Chelsea in the transfer market. To make things worse, our big spending is truly not justifiable by our position in the league in the few years.

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  4. Joel Matt Murdock Hwa2:50 am, November 06, 2013

    Just like this article said. We need a tempo dictator! Sell Lucas! http://squawka.com/news/2013/11/05/yann-mvila-lfc-target/2013110532406

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  5. I would send Allen in the opposite direction of the deal and pay 10m for Cabaye any day.

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  6. I am encouraged at this moment, given the spanking Arsenal gave us. Why? Because, the game made plain to others what many of us at this site already knew; our midfield is awful. SG is a legend and rightfully so but is sadly past able to play at the pace needed. probably a 30-40 minute guy.
    We need real pace and skills at mid; not a bunch of guys who are too slow, not offensively skilled or out of position. Cissoko may be a LB but a winger? No chance. He had no idea what to do when he crossed midfield. I like the idea to move Agger to DM and use Glen Johnson as an attacking mid, for even 30 minutes. He makes plays! Ilori should get a shot at mid even though he is a defender if he really has the pace linked to him. Either him or Alberto should get a shot. Both Cazorla and Ramsey scored because our mids were left in the dust to watch instead of contesting their every move. It was constant and truthfully they could have scored 4-5. January = MIDS, MIDS, MIDS, MIDS and not KIDS, KIDS, KIDS.......

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  7. This player is not so easy to get sign and will not become bargain price fee

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  8. And yet we could be wasting £15m on Will Hughes. He is not worth more than £8m.

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  9. Diego at Wolfsberg, please! His goals/assists are awesome in the Bundesliga and he's in a very average team. He's at his peak at 28 and also very adaptable, clearly a Rodgers must, and I read the other day his contract expires next summer! This brazilian ticks every box!

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  10. How many goalscoring midfielders are out there? Apart from Ramsay, no one in centre midfield is dominating the goalscoring charts.
    Cabaye would be a good signing but he isnt what we need. We need a box to box midfielder like Sissokho / Diame (not those players, but players like them).

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  11. Kevin Francisco Mambela Mbela12:34 pm, November 06, 2013

    I am not a football expert but one thing i can say is that Cabaye does not bring steel to our midfield. I am still shocked the way BR hasn't learned from games last season when we were overrun in the midfield by opposition players. Sissocko from Newcastle went there for a fee lower than 3m Euros how on earth did we let that slip under our noses he would have been a very DMF he has pace power and stamina. Then Wayama i really thought BR as going at least bid for him. But he decides to get Three defenders . I am hoping that we get a DMF with strength Look at Barca they have Busquets, City Yaya. Bayern Martinez. BVB Bender they Chelsea Ramires. Please BR get a physical DMF else our defence will keep leaking goals.

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  12. Mata, Cabaye, Javi Martinez, Deulofeu all would be good and all would be interested. Mata is probably less worried about CL football and more worried about first team football right now. Cabaye wants a better horizon than he sees at Tyneside right now, Martinez is not on Guardiola's play list, and Deulofeu is low on the Everton pecking order as well.

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  13. Kevin Francisco Mambela Mbela2:03 pm, November 06, 2013

    Mata is the only one i would pick. Cabaye not the player we need . Javi Martinez will be too expensive it would either Mata or Him and we could even get Sissokho from New Castle to add steel inn Midfield

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  14. He is a pain in the backside for a manager, in terms of tactics. Diego-related tactics were part of the reason why Ferrara at Juve failed. Only really suits playing in the hole behind, ideally, two strikers but one can suffice. Anywhere else he isn't anywhere near effective. We don't need a player of his type and not worth it. We got Coutinho (and Suarez), in terms of players in the hole. I reckon Diego will be off to Atleti again, he did well there and probably the only time since Werder days that he looked consistently good.

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  15. this guy is a shoot monster!

    at least he's more than capable of replacing Gerrard's shooting excellence

    not to mention how passionate he is about the game and that will provide a motivation within the dressing room

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  16. Vidal is at least 50 millions
    last player juve resigned to lose...

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  17. I like Cabaye, think he's a class act and definately could challenge Gerrard for his position which is very much needed. True his stats are pretty avg, but he's been playing in a pretty avg newcadtle team IMO. One set up to play to Cisse/Cissohko (a lot of balls from wide)
    Think he could be more prolific in a red shirt.

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  18. No to Cabaye, yes to Yusuf Mulumbu, can score & do the box to box work!

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  19. Mata on the bench today's CL game.

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  20. Love Cabaye's control of the field. Believe would score more with better Pool players around him.

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  21. I get the feeling that Cabaye likes to take long shots often.

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