Last summer, Liverpool missed out on several so-called 'marquee' signings, with Brazilian striker Diego Costa (arguably) being the Reds' biggest miss. With 37 goals/assists, Costa is having Suarez-like impact for Atletico Madrid, yet ongoing speculation suggests that he could leave Spain this summer. Liverpool were interested once, so it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Brendan Rodgers is still interested, but ex-Red Stan Collymore insists that - given the opportunity - the prolific striker will once again reject a move to Anfield.
Liverpool made a €25m bid for Costa in August, and after turning down a move to Anfield, he told Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo:
"I had options to leave, and I was very close to doing so. Liverpool is a great team, but after so much fighting and overcoming so many difficulties to win my place at Atletico, how could I go?"
Both the LFC and Chelsea will probably be in for Costa this summer, but in his column for The Mirror today, Collymore - part of an amazingly prolific striker partnership with Robbie Fowler from 1995-1997 - argued that Chelsea will be a 'bigger pull' for Costa because of their 'Euro credentials'. He explained:
"With Liverpool, Costa would have doubts about [their] dominance when they have European football to contend with, and the manager [Rodgers] will be viewed as an unknown quantity.
"With Chelsea, he would see that they always put up a fight on both trophy fronts. The manager will be viewed as the top dog in world football. The player [Costa] would choose Chelsea".
Collymore is probably right here, but not for the reasons he suggests. Call me cynical, butgreed money, and the London location, are probably bigger deciding factors for Europe's elite, and if Costa wants to play dull, boring football for one of Europe's most hated clubs, then he's welcome to the plastic emptiness of Stamford Bridge.
Jamie Redknapp is a fan of the Brazilian - who has a €32m buyout clause in his contract - and on Saturday Night Football last week, the ex-LFC midfielder argued that a move to the Premier League would 'make sense' for the striker:
“He [Costa] is, make no mistake, a brilliant striker. He’s got that pace and is almost Drogba-like with his ability to run beyond people. He has a left foot, he can drive and he can score his own goals".
Costa's situation mirrors that of Luis Suarez this season:
* Heavily linked with a big-money move away during the summer.
* Ended up staying at his club despite some massive offers coming in.
* Went on to have an absolutely amazing season.
* Propelled his team to the brink of a league title.
Signing a player like Costa will give Liverpool the best striking options in Europe, and triple-threat of Suarez-Sturridge-Costa is a formidable prospect. Given their talent, all three will want to play in most games (which is fair enough), and with that in mind, However, will Rodgers be able to keep them happy for an entire season?
A new striker is arguably a priority for LFC, and Costa fits the bill. Even if Suarez stays, there's no guarantee that he and Sturridge will replicate their stunning form next season. It's definitely possible, but can the Reds afford to rely on that prospect? What if one or both has a major barren spell and/or a lengthy spell on the sidelines?
Author: Jaimie K
Liverpool made a €25m bid for Costa in August, and after turning down a move to Anfield, he told Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo:
"I had options to leave, and I was very close to doing so. Liverpool is a great team, but after so much fighting and overcoming so many difficulties to win my place at Atletico, how could I go?"
Both the LFC and Chelsea will probably be in for Costa this summer, but in his column for The Mirror today, Collymore - part of an amazingly prolific striker partnership with Robbie Fowler from 1995-1997 - argued that Chelsea will be a 'bigger pull' for Costa because of their 'Euro credentials'. He explained:
"With Liverpool, Costa would have doubts about [their] dominance when they have European football to contend with, and the manager [Rodgers] will be viewed as an unknown quantity.
"With Chelsea, he would see that they always put up a fight on both trophy fronts. The manager will be viewed as the top dog in world football. The player [Costa] would choose Chelsea".
Collymore is probably right here, but not for the reasons he suggests. Call me cynical, but
Jamie Redknapp is a fan of the Brazilian - who has a €32m buyout clause in his contract - and on Saturday Night Football last week, the ex-LFC midfielder argued that a move to the Premier League would 'make sense' for the striker:
“He [Costa] is, make no mistake, a brilliant striker. He’s got that pace and is almost Drogba-like with his ability to run beyond people. He has a left foot, he can drive and he can score his own goals".
Costa's situation mirrors that of Luis Suarez this season:
* Heavily linked with a big-money move away during the summer.
* Ended up staying at his club despite some massive offers coming in.
* Went on to have an absolutely amazing season.
* Propelled his team to the brink of a league title.
Signing a player like Costa will give Liverpool the best striking options in Europe, and triple-threat of Suarez-Sturridge-Costa is a formidable prospect. Given their talent, all three will want to play in most games (which is fair enough), and with that in mind, However, will Rodgers be able to keep them happy for an entire season?
A new striker is arguably a priority for LFC, and Costa fits the bill. Even if Suarez stays, there's no guarantee that he and Sturridge will replicate their stunning form next season. It's definitely possible, but can the Reds afford to rely on that prospect? What if one or both has a major barren spell and/or a lengthy spell on the sidelines?
Author: Jaimie K
To Collymore the world is simple but that's because he is a simple mind. The reason why Costa would go to Chelsea is because there is no competition there and they can sweeten the deal with Torres.
ReplyDeleteOne way to incorporate all three of them would be to use the diamond we have now and convert Suarez into a deep lying forward or AM (kinda where raheem played a couple times). It would be super attack based and a bit unbalanced, but could work. We would still need a good CM though, to sit behind.
ReplyDeleteDiego Simeone has already hinted that Costa will be going to Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteits all about the green
ReplyDeleteI agree that we'd have more chance of finding a three-legged ballerina than signing Costa, but not quite for the reasons that Collymore states. Chelsea are the bigger fish in Europe at the moment, it's that simple. The rest of it will come down to cash; cold hard cash.
ReplyDeleteThat doesn't mean much, and certainly doesn't mean it's a done deal.
ReplyDeletei believe we have Suarez who is better than Costa so there is no need to sign Costa for Liverpool
ReplyDeleteChelsea adheres to the same Financial Fair Play rules as Liverpool. If Liverpool can't be bothered to pay top salaries for top players, that's nothing to do with other clubs. It's to do with Liverpool's owners.
ReplyDeleteAlso Atletico want to keep Courtois, if only for a season more.
ReplyDeleteWhat a signing he would be would take us to a different level. Although I am a huge Sturridge fan he picks up injuries quite a lot so big risk if we try depending on the SAS for a whole season. The 3 of them can easily be played together with DS & Costa more advanced roles with Suarez playing as a false 9 slightly behind them. That would give us one hell of an attack & if one gets injured or banned etc we still have 2 deadly strikers to pick from. All 3 can interchange too during a game would not like to defend against that trio constantly moving & running at you, most teams would be beat before the game had started just thinking about this haha
ReplyDeleteCosta seems to be very close to Drogba in most attributes, so is perfect for Jose, but is even more volatile than Suarez was.
ReplyDeleteCheck out his spitting videos with Sergio Ramos, and even his attempted elbowing of Terry last week, completely off the ball.
I would not like him at Liverpool, although I said this about Suarez also, my post is there somewhere on the site.........
Suarez will be gone this summer though, our squad is so thin it's ridiculous, an injury to Sturridge and suspension to Hendo possibly cost us against Chelsea.
I actually, once I settled down and watched the Chelsea defeat again, am beginning to respect Mourinho's brilliance all over again. His teams can usually blow lower level teams away, and he grinds out results against better teams.
Real did it to Bayern. Teams need more than one string to their bow, we could get found out as 3rd seeds if we are repeatedly, and unnecessarily, cavalier.
I feel a little hypocritical here as I often wished Rafa would just loosen up against Stoke etc, but their is a balance to be found. We didn't NEED to win. Hindsight is great though
I agree we need one more top striker we cant just rely on the brilliance of the sAS for every game. Cant wait to see who our new acquisitions are...
ReplyDeleteForget him, it's gonna be a little bit like auction for Diego Costa this summer. This is not our way, it's not our money depth after all. For me there is an outstanding solution for LFC out there and his name is Wilfried Bony. There is no need for adaptation in the Premier League, he has a terrific year with Swansea, he is very strong (I think that he is stronger than our strikers), quick, quite good with the ball and maybe he can be our "plan B" when we have to play against a "Mourinho bus". We have a good relationship with his club and we could use Iago Aspas (an older transfer target of Swansea) for exchange (with some money plus of course).
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if we should give JM too much credit his plan was obvious from the start. I think anyone (BR included) who looked at their team before the start of play would realize that they came here for the draw. We dominated the possession, and If it wasn't for Gerrard's unfortunate incident, my money would have been on Liverpool finding the net in the second half, or a 0-0 draw. I am all for our style of playing, and would never want to play for a draw because it will most often than not come to bite you.
ReplyDeleteWhy would he leave Atletico to join any team? They could end the season with a La Liga and CL double. We may hypothesise that the player would then want to seek a new opportunity but why would that be the case? So often we're told that players are most interested in competing at the highest level and that's what Atletico already offer. Neither Chelsea nor Liverpool are a step up. Maybe money comes into it, I don't really know, but in purely football terms there is very little motivation for Costa to go anywhere. If his statements about fighting for his place are true then he'll want to just continue playing there.
ReplyDeleteTerms like "brilliance" and "tactical master class" are a bit too much for me too. Credit to Chelsea for their execution, but pretty much any Premier League manager could have executed that same plan given the players that Chelsea have. There was nothing particularly clever or special about it. They are a well disciplined team already drilled in defensive tactics. It was a simple plan, well executed, but certainly nothing special.
ReplyDeletethat lacazette guy, lallana mvilla or diame kanoplanka and a lb wil do for me esp lallana z a must
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely spot on.
ReplyDeleteWell done to them for getting even their attacking players to play well defensively, but there was no brilliance or tactical genius required, just buy in from the players and a bit of good fortune
For the biggest players in the world Chelsea probably are more likely to land them than us, certainly at this moment in time. Top young players however it would make far more sense to sign for us and develop rather than join Chelsea and stagnate with no chance if breaking into the first team. FFP will f**k them in a few years
ReplyDeleteWaiting, and hoping, for us to be linked with Ciro Immobile. He'd maybe cost half what Costa will go for, and would be twice the value. Costa's in great nick, but there's something about him that puts me off at the quoted prices, haven't decided what it is yet. Anyway, Immobile's like a young Alan Shearer style-wise, only 24, lots of energy and enthusiasm, scores lots of different kinds of goals. Top scorer in Italy at the moment, has scored 20 goals in 30 appearances this season. We should get him before BvB do.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes down to money then LFC will lose hands down.
ReplyDeletemoney money money
ReplyDeleteSigning him will definitely make Chelsea stronger but he won't sign to play like they did at Anfield so it will also force Chelsea to open up. And with Suarez and Sturridge at Anfield, we have a pairing that will easily outscore him. I totally understand why he would be afraid to sign for us considering who he'd have to displace. He knows he's not good but not SAS good.
ReplyDeleteBut we agree Chelsea hold all the right cards to make it happen right?
ReplyDeleteCan see how it would work unless you don't play Sterling who is one of brightest prospects, i for one don't want that. I think its more likely that a winger will be brought in to cover when one of the SAS is out and we will go to 4-3-3.
ReplyDeleteI expect a winger (konoplyanka most probably) , CM (maybe Lallana) , LB.
Costa not as good as? Hahaha your face!
ReplyDeleteNext season when sas play in Europe we'll see whose how good a player!
Juan Iturbe,Richards,
ReplyDeleteLazar
Markovic
Get Toni Kroos!
ReplyDeleteOur top priority must be a left back. Nothing against Flanno who has been brilliant this season but it was obvious against Chelsea how unbalanced we were when attacking. Flanno kept turning back onto his right-foot. I would love if we signed Shaw/Baines but I know that won't happen. I also think we need more strength in midfield. Diame and Nzonzi are both good players IMO. Also, if Cardiff get relegated maybe try get Steven Caulker and Jordon Mutch?
ReplyDeleteWell they've got a big squad full of good and great players and a whole heap more top youngsters out on loan. They can probably sustain themselves by selling players to buy new ones and bring home others from loan before they even need to start spending th emoney they earn from sponsorship, ticket sales and TV. Like them or not they have it sussed. Compare that to LFC ..........
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why you don't manage an EPL team and JM does. Dominated possession--so what, you lost the game 2-0.
ReplyDelete