With Southampton playing hardball over star midfielder Adam Lallana, Liverpool are reportedly set to reignite interest in Benfica attacker Lazar Markovic, who is allegedly seen as a viable alternative.
According to the Daily Express:
"Brendan Rodgers [is set to] revive his interest in Benfica winger Markovic.
"Liverpool [tried] to sign Markovic last summer, [and] the Portuguese club have now dropped their valuation to £25m, which is more palatable to Liverpool".
Liverpool considered signing Markovic - nicknamed 'the Butterfly' - in 2012, but were reportedly 'scared off' by the excessive price tag. This year, the Reds have been linked with the Serbian attacker several times:
March 2014: The Mirror reported: "Liverpool are bidding to beat Chelsea in the £20million chase for Lazar Markovic. He has been on the Kop radar since he was a kid. Brendan Rodgers wants to land the Benfica wide man in a massive deal"
* March: Liverpool's Chief Scout watched 20-year-old Markovic during Serbia's 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
* April: Liverpool scouts watched Markovic in Benfica's Europa League game with AZ Alkmaar.
* April: Rodgers 'quoted' £30million by Benfica for Markovic after LFC 'officials' met with the player’s agents to talk about a deal.
Markovic is a massive Chelsea fan, and seemingly has his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge, as he revealed recently:
"Chelsea [is] my dream. I had all the pictures on my wall at home back to when they had Gianfranco Zola. And any time they are on TV I try to watch them. Chelsea are the best".
The presence at Stamford Bridge of fellow Serb Nemanja Matic could be a deciding factor in any move to the Premier League, and the midfield is a big fan Markovic. In February, he told O Jogo:
“He [Markovic] will mature and then he'll be unstoppable. It was great to have played with this fantastic kid for six months.”
I just don't understand all the hype. What has Markovic achieved in the game to warrant a £25m/£30m transfer fee? Take this season, for example: 6 goals/0 assists in 39 appearances. Is that what £30m buys these days? Coutinho grabbed 5 goals/7 assists, and he cost only £8m.
If Liverpool are going to spend that kind of money on an attacking player, he better offer a shedload of goals/assists, and that clearly is not the case with Markovic. Given the fact he's predominantly a winger, his lack of assists is especially concerning.
Massive fees should (IMO) be reserved for players who are the finished article, and will come into the team and make an immediate impact. There's absolutely no guarantee that Markovic will do that, and if he can't create a single goal in the Portuguese league, how is he going to fare in the (arguably) superior - and tougher - Premier League?
For £25m, Pedro is clearly a far superior option.
Author: Jaimie K
According to the Daily Express:
"Brendan Rodgers [is set to] revive his interest in Benfica winger Markovic.
"Liverpool [tried] to sign Markovic last summer, [and] the Portuguese club have now dropped their valuation to £25m, which is more palatable to Liverpool".
Liverpool considered signing Markovic - nicknamed 'the Butterfly' - in 2012, but were reportedly 'scared off' by the excessive price tag. This year, the Reds have been linked with the Serbian attacker several times:
March 2014: The Mirror reported: "Liverpool are bidding to beat Chelsea in the £20million chase for Lazar Markovic. He has been on the Kop radar since he was a kid. Brendan Rodgers wants to land the Benfica wide man in a massive deal"
* March: Liverpool's Chief Scout watched 20-year-old Markovic during Serbia's 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland.
* April: Liverpool scouts watched Markovic in Benfica's Europa League game with AZ Alkmaar.
* April: Rodgers 'quoted' £30million by Benfica for Markovic after LFC 'officials' met with the player’s agents to talk about a deal.
Markovic is a massive Chelsea fan, and seemingly has his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge, as he revealed recently:
"Chelsea [is] my dream. I had all the pictures on my wall at home back to when they had Gianfranco Zola. And any time they are on TV I try to watch them. Chelsea are the best".
The presence at Stamford Bridge of fellow Serb Nemanja Matic could be a deciding factor in any move to the Premier League, and the midfield is a big fan Markovic. In February, he told O Jogo:
“He [Markovic] will mature and then he'll be unstoppable. It was great to have played with this fantastic kid for six months.”
I just don't understand all the hype. What has Markovic achieved in the game to warrant a £25m/£30m transfer fee? Take this season, for example: 6 goals/0 assists in 39 appearances. Is that what £30m buys these days? Coutinho grabbed 5 goals/7 assists, and he cost only £8m.
If Liverpool are going to spend that kind of money on an attacking player, he better offer a shedload of goals/assists, and that clearly is not the case with Markovic. Given the fact he's predominantly a winger, his lack of assists is especially concerning.
Massive fees should (IMO) be reserved for players who are the finished article, and will come into the team and make an immediate impact. There's absolutely no guarantee that Markovic will do that, and if he can't create a single goal in the Portuguese league, how is he going to fare in the (arguably) superior - and tougher - Premier League?
For £25m, Pedro is clearly a far superior option.
Author: Jaimie K
I agree JK. Even his youtube videos aren't that impressive
ReplyDeleteLallana looks terrible for Engand....................£25m????
ReplyDeleteI think its time we got linked to a few midfielders who have defensive responsibilities as their primary aim because that way we would get more balance and we won't be overrun like we were a few times last which ultimately cost us the title in the end.
ReplyDeleteI would be in agreement with scrapping any interest in Lallana as this is looking more and more like a repeat of the Allen incident. He is far from being impressive and I worry that buying him will prove to be a major mistake. 25 million is an awful lot of money.
ReplyDelete100% agree.nothing special in lallana. He just turns and pass the ball to the nearest player, then the whole process repeats.He keeps doing this all game. Iturbe on the other hand doesnt have the glorious stats but he has the X factor..
ReplyDeleteCorrect.
ReplyDeleteShaqiri looks twice the player Lallana will ever be.
ReplyDeleteI have done some research and what I found is that Chelsea have first option to buy him back. Markovic also has a part ownership which will make this transfer a nightmare like that of Mkhitaryan.
ReplyDeleteI highly doubt we will be willing to get ourselves involved to try and sign this player.
If we are able to get Lallana at a reasonable price or what the club feel he is worth then I would not say no to Lallana joining.
ReplyDeleteIf we made what has been reported a £25m offer for Lallana which in return was rejected then I will be gobsmacked if we go any higher than that.
The transfer window has not even opened yet so who knows what might happen.
After WC lallana $ will drop ! No worries.....
ReplyDeleteJavier Mascherano has ended speculation over his future by signing a new deal at Barcelona until 2018.
ReplyDeleteAt least this rules out any further rumours of him coming back to Anfield.
We will sign Lallana. We just need to be patient and he needs to submit a transfer request. Lazar is a threat to Southampton, there is no credible rival to Lallana's signature
ReplyDeleteLiverpool fans have to be careful to not be too hypocritical when it comes to this, and other transfers. Southampton do not want to sell their best players. Simple
Another increasingly common theme is that everyone now thinks they can wholly judge a player on his stats alone.
One wonders why clubs utilise scouts at all........
spend 30m , why not if carroll 35m , downing 20m ?,
ReplyDeletepedro and lallana are different lallana is a number 10 and we need that more then a winger
ReplyDeletepedro will only be signed as a replacement to luis suarze if he were to join resal madrid
Stats never tell the true story.
ReplyDeleteI do not think Lallana handing in a transfer request will change anything. He might lose his loyalty bonus but Southampton will still want what they have valued him at.
Lets say Southampton want to clear £30m then LFC would need to make an offer of £37.5 million due to Bournemouth wanting their 25% payout. FSG would be utterly daft if they had to go ahead should my example be the case.
Pedro is not going to leave. His comments about Fabregas potentially doing so leave me to think that Pedro still sees himself at Barca.
ReplyDeletei'd spend around 40M on Alexis Sanchez and Xhaqiri any day over spending 30M on adam lallana..We shouldn't pay more than 25m even though currently i value him 20m at the most but good world could change every thing..
ReplyDeleteI agree have not seen this guy and stats are crap. Arda Turan is a fan of Liverpool and is proven at top level the experience and a real fighter i think we should go all out for him.
ReplyDeleteWhen talking about transfer fees of £8m/£25m/£30m i think it is important to remember those numbers are newspaper numbers not real numbers. Even if they manage to guess the transfer fee right, those numbers doesn't tak into account tax due on the tranfer fee and how much of it is reclaimable?... What about agent fees, signing on fees, loyality bonuses and what about tax due for all that? The Premier League will be payed a percentage for every tranfer - yes that is true. If the players is under 24 there should also be paid a percentage to all his previous clubs - what agreement is there about that? Will the selling club or the buying club handle that? The most important and most interesting is the overall cost over say a five year contract, included wages, bonusses, various fees and taxes etc. The press may report that Pedro is available for the price you quote, i highly doubt it and have no doubt that over a four or five year contract he, together with Alexis Sanchez and Fabregas, would be extremely expensive compared to a Lallana or Markovic. We are talking big money. They are certainly out of our reach as of right now. It might change, but i do not see it. The costs would be far far to big. Buy Lallana, go over the top, pay more than we already offered and he'd still be far cheaper all included over a five year period. So i am not scared of his pricetag. Is it him we need i do not know, but he is cheap compared to Pedro.
ReplyDeleteBut any deal for Markovic will be complicated and far to expensive. There is something dodgy about his contract and his ownership. He is young and have loads of potential - but he is not for us, not this year anyway. We need players ready to go.
It is quite naive to think that £20-30m will buy many finished articles. This guy has been exciting pundits and fellow players for a while and the fact is that starts on goals and assists never tell the story. Completed dribbles, key passes, passes completed etc etc are a true measure. He's a creative player who can break down defences and has already sampled European and international football. As for not creating a single goal.....that depends on being the person with the final touch pre goal. I'm more interested in his role in build ups....and that needs more than a couple of simple stats and you tube!
ReplyDeleteAndy carroll valuation.....silly. Send on riven quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMarkovic for me. Great player with limitless potential to get even better
ReplyDeleteCos they were huge mistakes our club is trying not to repeat
ReplyDeleteAs well as Pedro, for £20/25M could get you Alexis Sanchez who has contributed a lot more to the first team and mostly from the bench.
ReplyDeleteIf Suarez leaves theres your money one thing is for sure at 25 million theres going to be stuff all value in Lallana.
ReplyDeleteHe is not cheap dont tell me his credentials make him a 35 to 40 million pound player.
In actuality you would have been the first to back Carrolls transfer and yes its real money dont fool yourself.