Liverpool are reportedly taking time-out from their ongoing (attempted) pillage of Southampton to make a play for ex-Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who (sensibly) rejected a move to Manchester United last summer.
As with the Saints, the Reds are constantly linked with Barcelona players, and according to the Daily Mail tonight:
"Liverpool are leading the chase to sign £30million-rated Cesc Fabregas who is determined to return to England after Barcelona made it clear they are willing to sell him"
Last Wednesday, Barcelona launched their new home kit, and Fabregas (and six others) was missing from the launch, which suggests he is definitely on his way out of the Nou Camp this summer.
Soon after, Spanish newspaper Marca claimed that the Catalan club has transfer-listed the following 7 players:
- Cristian Tello
- Alexis Sanchez
- Alex Song
- Pedro
- Dani Alves
- Cesc Fabregas
- Javier Mascherano
I conducted a poll on the site asking visitors which of the above players they'd like to see at Anfield, and only 12% of voters chose Fabregas, which suggests that LFC fans are not that enamoured with the prospect of signing the Spain star. (Sanchez and Pedro received the most votes).
Fabregas recently hailed Tata Martino for giving him increased confidence, and the appreciation appeared to be mutual, with the now-departed Argentine boss recently telling reporters:
"We have a lot of intelligent players and Cesc is one of the best at interpreting the game. He knows when he should help his teammates and he gives great passes, he always finds just the right space"
Sounds exactly like a Brendan Rodgers-type player, and if the Reds are really close to signing the Spaniard, that surely spells the end of any deal for Adam Lallana...?
Author: Jaimie K
As with the Saints, the Reds are constantly linked with Barcelona players, and according to the Daily Mail tonight:
"Liverpool are leading the chase to sign £30million-rated Cesc Fabregas who is determined to return to England after Barcelona made it clear they are willing to sell him"
Last Wednesday, Barcelona launched their new home kit, and Fabregas (and six others) was missing from the launch, which suggests he is definitely on his way out of the Nou Camp this summer.
Soon after, Spanish newspaper Marca claimed that the Catalan club has transfer-listed the following 7 players:
- Cristian Tello
- Alexis Sanchez
- Alex Song
- Pedro
- Dani Alves
- Cesc Fabregas
- Javier Mascherano
I conducted a poll on the site asking visitors which of the above players they'd like to see at Anfield, and only 12% of voters chose Fabregas, which suggests that LFC fans are not that enamoured with the prospect of signing the Spain star. (Sanchez and Pedro received the most votes).
Fabregas recently hailed Tata Martino for giving him increased confidence, and the appreciation appeared to be mutual, with the now-departed Argentine boss recently telling reporters:
"We have a lot of intelligent players and Cesc is one of the best at interpreting the game. He knows when he should help his teammates and he gives great passes, he always finds just the right space"
Sounds exactly like a Brendan Rodgers-type player, and if the Reds are really close to signing the Spaniard, that surely spells the end of any deal for Adam Lallana...?
Author: Jaimie K
Fabregas all the way, ahead of ANYONE else, but it is VERY unlikely.
ReplyDeleteAnd we are not favourites. 9-1 at best currently.
Southampton should accept £25 million for Lallana and move on. One innocuous tackle on Montolivo tonight for example and he has a broken leg, big risk not to sell to us.
Fabregas would be a dream signing.....
Come on, Jamie! Fabregas to Liverpool! Are you getting as desperate as all these journo's?!
ReplyDeletePersonally don't think he'd fit in that well. He's not particularly mobile, and is very slow, and with Gerrard in the team I don't think we could really accommodate two slow and immobile midfielders in the starting line up. Lallana would be a much better fit I think due to his superior pace, so would help with our counter attacking play, and he'd better fit into our pressing game as well
ReplyDeleteWant Mateo Kovacic, cheaper younger option that BR can mould into his type of player
ReplyDeleteYup lacks mobility. Dream signing would be Vidal, though we'd never show any interest in him and I doubt he'd ever come!
ReplyDeleteFabregas, only 5 mill more then lanalla and only a few months older. Yes please. And we can send suso on loan to barca to sweeten the deal.... The saints want 30 mill for lanalla, 5 mill less then our biggest ever transfer, get in the real world please.
ReplyDeleteit ought to tell you scousers that Saints dont really want to sell him but whats the use, as foghorn leghorn would say you lot are about as sharp as a pound of wet leathers...
ReplyDeleteFab all the way for me. Proven PL player for many a year. Hell of alot better player than lallana and only five mill more. Gerrard hendo and fab can't beat that mid in PL. Just my thoughts.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest I don't really want him. Not at 30 mill. He's worth 10-15 mill. I wasn't having a dig at your club, just saying how crazy the market is for uk players. I have lots of respect for the saints and would ask for as much money as you can get. It's just insane money
ReplyDeleteVidal would be amazing or javi martinez his presence in the midfield would help battle the matic/yaya type Cdm out there now
ReplyDeletetricky question lol ,but we really need experience on our side.that's y we lost the trophy .
ReplyDeleteMartinez lacks mobility too IMO. Vidal's a beast. A real box-to-box midfielder with a real penchant for goals. A less technical, but more energetic and tenacious version of Gerrard in his prime.
ReplyDeletePogba is a better player IMO
ReplyDeleteDo like Paul, great potential, but questions over his attitude. On the other hand, Vidal is a work horse, a great finisher and is in the prime of his career. I prefer Vidal purely because he presses well, is a great tackler and is a clinical finisher. You'd think he's a striker with the types of goals he scores.
ReplyDeleteI think we have players in that platoon like coutino and sterling who will benifit from the season they had and 25 mil should be spent on someone beside gerrard like pogba or Martinez (never going to happen) but someone in that elk. I agree Vidal is brilliant but pogba has that streak in him like suarez
ReplyDeletewould rather have febragas,pedro,sanchez and mascherano to cover gerrard for the DM position.
ReplyDeleteWe will be a much stronger team with all those 7 added to the team, be it starters or the bench for cover or game changing subs. Guys might be mad at me but i would trade all the 7 against, regrettably, our best player. I doubt BR can
ReplyDeleteDrop all other negotiations and get Fabregas now. Build around him. Coutinho and Sterling will be better because of him. Lallana will be better because of him. Get Fabregas ASAP.
ReplyDeleteFarout, getting Fabregas would make so much more sense than Lallana. EPL proven and a f**king star, only for 5 million more than Lallana. Since when are we favourites!?
ReplyDeleteI don't usually like to be this definitive in my refutation of people's opinions, but trust me, Vidal is a better player.
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled to your opinion, and it is hardly a mad one, Pogba is very talented and may eventually prove to be the better player, but Vidal is an incredible player at the moment.
He isn't the most mobile and seems to lack it even more due to accumulation of injuries, but between Lallana for £25m and Fabregas for £30m, the Spaniard wins hand down.
ReplyDeleteStill think having a punt on Vidal is worthwhile, but it seems unlikely he'd be available.
Look on the brightside: when is a World Cup, European Cup winning midfielder in the prime of his career going to be available for £30m again?
Would we afford his wages?
ReplyDeleteFabregas can play more roles centrally but in total, Lallana can cover more areas of the pitch. They are also both English home grown, which is why City have been linked to Fabregas as they are struggling in that department. IMO, Fabregas wouldn't be interested in Liverpool, it would be Arsenal, megabucks City, or stay in Spain. But I refer back to the roles, we just don't need anyone in those central positions right now.
ReplyDeleteSo for 30M, I'd have to say no, and I wouldn't go beyond 20M for Lallana either.
If you want a goal scoring and assist making no 10 then Fabregas is your man but does Fabregas have it in him to track back like Hendo and Allen or even Coutinho for 90 minutes?
ReplyDeleteI would have to say no at £30m and the way I see it, at £25m for Lallana makes the deal is dead in the water. Southampton would have accepted the bid by now. We should not waste anymore time and move on to our other targets.
It is unlikely that we will see any Barcelona players arriving at Anfield but the player I would be most happy to see out of the list is Alexis Sanchez. The guy is a powerhouse.
ReplyDeleteI just don't see him going past Arsenal. Wenger will want him back, they've got CL football, he has a history there and he's always spoken positively about the club. Unless things got a bit difficult with him always considering a move away to Barcelona and maybe he has a bitter taste from his last couple of years there when they simply refused to sell him. I'd love to see him at Liverpool, he'd be a brilliant addition and a far better option that Lallana for the money we're spending. I don't see it happening though.
ReplyDeleteI'm closely checking his Sister's twitter account.
ReplyDeleteSanchez yes, Fabergas NO. Slow and a gunner at heart....we don't need him.........
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love fabregas but can he play our high tempo pressing game for 90minutes? Sure he is class. No doubt about it. Scores and assists. Would really like us to try and get Vidal or pogba. They have a balance of all attributes, tracking, scoring and assisting.
ReplyDeleteSounds highly unlikely, particularly if it's another Daily Fail exclusive. As others have stated Fabregas is a very good player technically, but he's slow and won't fit readily into our style. He's not a Rodger's type of player. If we can't prise Lallana from Southampton's grasp I fully expect us to go for Shaqiri instead.
ReplyDeleteLallana is joining spurs
ReplyDeletei think we should go for bernard now
fabregas is not good enough for barcaloena how can he be good enough for liverpool?
jamie what do you think about signing bernard rather then lallana?
ReplyDeleteand what about henrik mkhitaryan ?
ReplyDeleteand a cheeky bid for salah? mourinho is very critical of him
Lallana transfer request would have resolved everything but then hewould presumably lost a loyalty payment and face with Southampton fans eventhough he seems to be openly angling for a move anyway .
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would worry about mental health of anyone who would seriously choose Lallana over Cesc
B Rodgers needs to stop wasting time on A Lallana(26) and offer 25-30M for I Rakitic(26) OF Seville he should be the priority player this summer.
ReplyDeleteReal Madrid and Barcelona have both lodged bids, but will he go there to be second fiddle to Alonso, Modric and Isco or Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta?
B Rodgers should pull out all the stops to bring I Rakitic(26) to club that will be a real statement of intent, If B Rodgers can not get I Rakitic(26) he should bring in A Herrera(24) Of A Bilbao instead for 20-30M instead of C Fabregas(27).
C Fabregas(27) is class quality player but is he going adapt to B Rodgers pressing game, does he have energy, motivation to do that?
A Herrera(24) is three years younger and mobile, He should be brought to club if we cannot get I Rakitic(26)
Forget Lallana and Fabregas - BOTH VASLY OVERATED Walk away now - Saints want to play games - WALK AWAY -he is good but not special - CAN might be special
ReplyDeleteDon't even think about this one. He will not go Liverpool. We will not pay him the wages he would demand. And this is only paper talk.
ReplyDeleteSong - we need a strong (and tall) combative midfielder. Then Sanchez as we need further options upfront particularly when Suarez goes to Madrid.. Forget Lallana, £25m is too much.
ReplyDeleteIts very doubtful were get any Barca stars.I would take Sanchez any day of the week out of that bunch but some of the media are suggesting bids for him have been rejected and i tend to believe it.some other parts of the media say hes a bit part player behind Neymar and co but i know thats a lie because ive looked into it and it turns out Sanchez was the catalans second top goal scorer behind Messi with about 20 goals last season and he made more appearances than Neymar.Can you see Barca letting 20 goal Sanchez gio ??? doubt it very much unless a team like PSG were to come in with a huge 40 mill plus bid me thinks which cancels us out so i wish the media would stop wasting time linking us with him because he wont be coming to anfield and thats that.I would say the only players out of that bunch above that i could see coming to us would be Tello or Mascherano and im certainly not a fan of bringing back talent thats played for us in the past for some reason
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about me I'm fine.
ReplyDeleteForget about fabregas, messi and neymar are the two names to go for
ReplyDeleteNice shades Dave. i think we all miss Woolworths.
ReplyDeleteI wold love it but this story is nonsense.
ReplyDeleteI like Suso but why would Barca want him ahead of Fabregas?
ReplyDeleteShock horror. Team doesn't want to sell one of it's best players.
ReplyDeleteDon't want him. Truth is I lost all respect for Fabregas the day he started spouting all that "all opposition players are deliberately trying to break Arsenal players' legs" bullshit.
ReplyDeleteDoes it matter the price if we can afford it?
ReplyDeleteI've been calling out for Fabregas for a while now. Really don't understand the negativity from some of the posters on here.
ReplyDeleteNext year, 6 strong sides will be completing for 4 champions league places. Man U wont have a European distraction and you can assume City and Chelsea will be strong contenders. Hence 1 spot will be fought for between LFC, Arsenal and Spurs.
Then there is the Champions League. We will be in a tough group, and to even qualify for the next stage will require beating two top sides, with lots of previous experience of negotiating the CL group stages (which we have not done for 5 years, and it is all new for BR).
So what you get from Fabs is the following:
- CL experience at the highest level
- PL experience at the highest level
- the one guy who can truly cover Gerrard, should he get injured
- a guy who easily adapt to BR's style of play, linking defence to attack
In addition to Fabs, you then need to go out and buy pace (Pedro/Shakiri). But I would also be keen to further develop Sterling and Ibe.
Finally, if a decision has to be made of whether to spend £25-£30m on Lallana or £30m on Fabregas, the answer is spend it on Fabregas.
I think the price does matter. 1/ it effects certain players as they can never live up to the pressure. 2/ he simply might not be worth it 3/that will eat 50% of BR transfer budget
ReplyDeleteI was only pulling your willy, suso would never go to barca on loan
ReplyDeleteDon't pull my willy. Not without at least a box of chocolates.
ReplyDeleteMascherano and Alves, are exactly the type of experienced defensive players we need. The rest, would be desirables ..
ReplyDeleteHerrera would cost around 35-40.Also i heard something about 80% tax rate in Spain on transfers....
ReplyDeleteOnly thing being Pete i dont see Arsenal needing him there, they are very well stocked in his department.
ReplyDeleteFabregas would be a 'real' dream signing. Sanchez should follow suit.
ReplyDeleteHow would Herrera(24) cost 35-40M when is unproven in apart from La Liga? A Bilbao may want 35-40M but they will not get it.
ReplyDeleteFabregas(27) , Modric(28), I Rakitic(26) are 25-35M playing centre midfielders.
A Herrera(24) is class, quality player but not on the level of the three above yet to be in their wage bracket.
but when Man-Yoo went for them, they asked around 40m. Crazy i kno
ReplyDeleteLallana is the more versatile player and would proper be easier to mesh into our squad and he'd certainly be more interested in us than Fabregas, I just think that this kind of deal doesn't come around often.
ReplyDeleteI dare say they don't want to lose him. The saints are ramping the price for him up because they know, other clubs are looking at him, and if/when he goes, there going to lose a 25%....so you're a manc! and have produced a smart arse jibe at us scousers, Just because he wants champions league, and he would probably refuse a move your, mid table team... Jealous much????
ReplyDeleteWhat about a cheaper player who has plenty of talent Saul Niguez, can cover plenty of ground and is versatile and young.
ReplyDeleteI am a Juve fan and rate both Vidal and Pogba very highly. Wouldn't like to have to choose between them.
ReplyDeleteIll swap the dog for the shades if you like...
ReplyDeleterubbish Suarez is coming to Saints in straight swap for Lallana and well throw our delightfully endowed tea lady mrs Wilson in the deal but she could be high maintenance though, likes her tipple...
ReplyDeleteWell I'm making you!!!
ReplyDeleteQuestion: do you support Juve and Liverpool? That's got to be tough.
Trust me if you knew him you wouldn't say that!
ReplyDeleteAll we need is Cheillini, thiago Silva . Carvalho and Sanchez lol
ReplyDeleteI won't I promise. Chocolates first.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most insightful post yet. My friend, you know one or two things about the football being played at Anfield.
ReplyDeleteThe only way Fabregas fits into the equation is if Liverpool are seriously considering selling Coutinho, which doesn't make sense. Gerrard-Fabregas-Coutinho midfield means a lack of pressing energy that Henderson offers. A Fabregas-Henderson-Coutinho combo means limited passing range/accurate dead ball delivery without Gerrard. A Gerrard-Henderson-Fabregas combo means, the absence of incisiveness in the final third that Coutinho offers.....Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!
ReplyDeleteSanchez any minute of any day! But too good to be true. We're only lowly Liverpool. (According to lots of "fans") so Man U, Chelsea or City will gey him.
ReplyDeleteWord is that he's doing everything except putting in the transfer request. The Southampton board are really putting up a block and either want him to stay or they get stupid money. That's probably fair enough except that they can never realistically offer him CL football. Lallana is making direct requests to the board asking them to sanction the move but I can't see him putting in a written request. He shouldn't really have to, so long as his intentions are clear. They just have to make a decision. In the meantime if we don't get it sorted before the world cup then I think it's not going to happen. Liverpool will move on, we don't have time to waste for this kind of nonsense, not after what happened last summer. That will have been made 100% clear to the Saints and to Lallana's agent.
ReplyDeleteThat is comical because he is not proven. B Rodgers should spend 50M on three centre midfielders this summer:
ReplyDeleteI Rakitic(26) Of Seville for 25-32M CM
Y M'Vila(23) Of Rubin Kazan for 7-10M
M Sissoko(22) Of Newcastle for 5-8M
Then B Rodgers should ship out these 3 midfielders for 25M
L Leiva(27) for 7-10M DM
J Allen(24) for 8-11M CM
L Alberto(21) for 4-6M AM
And then we could have strong quality midfield competition for places:
DM: S Gerrard Competing with Y M'Vila
CM: J Henderson competing with M Sissoko
AM: P Coutinho competing with I Rakitic
It's not tough, no. I would support Liverpool against any team except Juve. Should they ever meet, I would have to pull for the Old Lady. Vidal or Pogba? Well as you insist I suppose I'd say Vidal at present - very marginal, though. By the by, saw my first game at Anfield in November '66 - a 5 - 0 thrashing of Leeds. Have followed Liverpool since then and it amuses me when some of the young kids on these sites - teens who have probably never played in their lives because they spend all their time on their mobiles - sound off about who's a top man or who's useless. doubtless we'' hear plenty from them during the
ReplyDeleteI wasn't questioning whether you are a 'proper' fan or having a go, so there is no need to be defensive.
ReplyDeleteI just thought it must be difficult to support Liverpool AND Juve when Juve hate Liverpool (which is fair enough, considering what happened) with a tremendous passion.
I'm never defensive! I always played up front - defenders were my enemies! I don't think it is true to say Juve hate Liverpool. When I go to Turin - I love that city - I never have any trouble. It was a long time ago and football fans have very short memories. For sure some of the ones who remember the tragedy don't rate LFC as their favourite club, but the younger ones...I don't think there's much animosity. Juve fans certainly detest some of the clubs in Italy a lot more than LFC.
ReplyDeleteWell I can't say I've ever been fortunate enough go to Turin, so I'll have to bow to your better judgement on that one.
ReplyDeleteThere was certainly a decent amount of vitriol (or just, understandable, bitterness) on the anniversary last week, but I suppose the internet tends to skew in favour of those filled with passionate intensity.
I was always fond of Juve whilst growing up and only later found out about the tragic events of Heysel and some of the redolent antipathy that exists. It is to the eternal shame of the club, its fans and the city the way Heysel isn't commemorated as it should be and sometimes explained away without any true
admission of guilt.
Here's to hoping they don't resent us quite as much as I thought and hopefully we can have a cathartic meeting in Europe with them. I'm afraid that, for my part, I still fear that the enmity lingers and we'd be best off avoiding them, for everyone's sake.
Thanks for the reply.
Don't forget Liverpool played Juve in 2005 and nothing terrible happened. Hopefully if they should be paired again, nothing terrible will happen then either. It is true that people who write on internet are not representative of anyone in particular ( except basketcases, many of them ).
ReplyDeleteOn a quite different point: it amuses me to collect old match photos of games I went to with my father. I have never been able to get a single photo of the Sprake own goal incident - we were on the Kop - in the Liverpool V Leeds match in '67.Nor, for that matter, of Hunt's goal in the same game. Any idea where I might strike it lucky?
There was certainly tension in 2005, but it didn't really boil over thankfully.
ReplyDeleteAs for the photos- you're talking to the least connected, least practical gent on the internet I'm afraid!