Back in 2010, Liverpool were heavily linked with a £13m move for Swedish attacker Ola Toivonen, and Kenny Dalglish - an LFC 'Ambassador' at the time, scouted the giant forward on behalf of Roy Hodgson. Four years later, and Toivonen - now at Rennes - has confirmed the speculation, and revealed how his proposed move to LFC fell through.
At the time, the Telegraph reported:
"Liverpool are closing in on a deal to sign PSV Eindhoven's Ola Toivonen. PSV are holding out for £13m, with Liverpool currently only prepared to pay £10m"
Speculation arose again prior to the January 2014 transfer window, with The Mirror claiming:
"Liverpool are exploring the prospect of landing Swedish star Ola Toivonen on loan until the end of the season"
When asked today about Liverpool's past interest, Toivonen told Sky Sports:
"The only thing I regret from my PSV time is that I did not fight enough to get the club to let me join Liverpool. They made two offers whilst Roy Hodgson was the coach".
Toivonen - who plays as an attacking midfielder or a striker - grabbed 110 goals/assists in 199 appearances for PSV, which is pretty impressive, and he would've been a much better option than Andy Carroll (and a hell of a lot cheaper, too).
If LFC made offers during Hodgson's tenure, then it's probable that Toivonen (recently rated in the £15m bracket) was a preferred choice over Carroll, who signed very soon after the LFC speculation.
All I can say is, damn you, PSV! If you'd allowed Toivonen to leave, Liverpool would've been spared the Andy Carroll debacle.
Author: Jaimie K
At the time, the Telegraph reported:
"Liverpool are closing in on a deal to sign PSV Eindhoven's Ola Toivonen. PSV are holding out for £13m, with Liverpool currently only prepared to pay £10m"
Speculation arose again prior to the January 2014 transfer window, with The Mirror claiming:
"Liverpool are exploring the prospect of landing Swedish star Ola Toivonen on loan until the end of the season"
When asked today about Liverpool's past interest, Toivonen told Sky Sports:
"The only thing I regret from my PSV time is that I did not fight enough to get the club to let me join Liverpool. They made two offers whilst Roy Hodgson was the coach".
Toivonen - who plays as an attacking midfielder or a striker - grabbed 110 goals/assists in 199 appearances for PSV, which is pretty impressive, and he would've been a much better option than Andy Carroll (and a hell of a lot cheaper, too).
If LFC made offers during Hodgson's tenure, then it's probable that Toivonen (recently rated in the £15m bracket) was a preferred choice over Carroll, who signed very soon after the LFC speculation.
All I can say is, damn you, PSV! If you'd allowed Toivonen to leave, Liverpool would've been spared the Andy Carroll debacle.
Author: Jaimie K
Not sure if he was preferred over Andy Carroll. KD signed Carroll at the closing hours due to the loss of Torres. Even if Roy had signed this guy, KD would have still gone for Carroll because he just wanted to replace Torres with someone. No one realized that Suarez was a capable replacement.
ReplyDeleteJust another tale of poor player selection , history is repeating itself to this day.not long before penny drops with fsg
ReplyDeleteTalking about the signings we could have been making in the past and the ones we actually made can be very frustrating...
ReplyDeletehowever we shouldn't spend to much time thinking about the mistakes of the past, as were on the right path at the moment.
Even though there will always be fans moaning about our current transfer activities, we weren't ever in such a good position in the past 5 years!
we currently have an awful lot of young promising stars in the squad, who are still developing and learning under BR system.
Let's forget all these Carrolls, Downings and Voronins we had in the past and focus on the future which is clearly bright
Couldn't agree more
ReplyDeleteI choose to not acknowledge the fact that we paid £35M for Carroll.
ReplyDeleteYes it's a real regret especially when you see how Toivonen has gone on to dominate world football:-)
ReplyDeleteI know mate, you could drive yourself nuts thinking about it
ReplyDeleteTBH he has done well. His transfer to Rennes seems successful, 10 goals in 20 games and he was signed for 2.5mn Euro. Bargain I would say.
ReplyDeleteAndy Carroll still remains Liverpool's most expensive transfer.That signing is a reminder of how much money we've wasted in the transfer market on average players.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we break that record with a world class player soon.
What you all think about the proposed "playing one PL game abroad" discussion currently going on?
ReplyDeleteI for one don't particularly mind 1 game abroad to the fans can enjoy but it seems this will be done solely from a financial perspective.
There will be a new type of moaning when a club's home fixture will be played in a neutral abroad venue.
ReplyDeleteGreat way to mitigate the transfer wastage. Spend even more!
ReplyDeleteWhy should fans not moan about current transfer activities? Not sure if moaning is even the right word here. Its okay to get behind the team but its stupid not to criticize when its due.
ReplyDeleteSpend more on the right player.Hence the words 'world class' which if you do a risk assessment have a better chance of succeeding, compared to the average players Liverpool have wasted money on.
ReplyDeleteThere's a balance to be struck though. Some of the criticism has been over board just as some of the praise is. Knee-jerk reactions are very rarely successful in football. I agree that some of our transfers have been dubious to say the least over the years but most football fans would say the same about their respective clubs.
ReplyDeleteNot that I'm an advocate of spending crazy money on players, but it pains me every time I realise that he's our record transfer so I agree, the sooner someone else holds the record for us the better
ReplyDeleteMoney talks ultimately so I suspect sooner or later it will happen.
ReplyDeleteTake the pre-season tours, I bet Rodgers would far rather have a full pre season at Melwood and playing friendlies in Europe against teams relevant to our coming campaign, than travelling all over the world, just as I'm sure all club managers would. The fact is they're just worth too much money and in the world of FFP clubs are always looking out for new ways of bringing in revenue so it's probably inevitable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci_H1tJVHNo
ReplyDeletewhat do people think of this
ReplyDelete-----------------------Mingolet/Valdes
---------------------------Skrtel
----Johnson-----Can--------Allen-------Moreno
-------------------------Hendo
------Sterling--------Lallana---------Balotelli
-----------------------Sturridge
the germany under 21s succesfully use this sweeper formation, with Can working with the defensive mid as creative centre backs, with the sweeper to provide cover. in our case Can will working allen in a back four with Johnson and Moreno. Skrtel will play on his own, its already clear our defensive partnerships are tarnished and Lovren and Sakho are both liabilitys. we've seen on the right side Johnson and Sterling have solid combination and good partnership, so that side will be covered perfectly, johnson knowing the right weight of passes which sterling needs after working for a whole down the right with him. we've also seen that Moreno and Balotelli have a growing partnership with Balotelli always seeming to find Moreno and Moreno always trying to pick out Balotelli. i think Balotelli should play Left wing in a Cristiano Ronaldo mould. then he can show his skill and either choose to shoot or make a pass. at least then our up front movement wont be destroyed and we may be able to see the benefits of Super Mario. also i think him and Moreno down the left will be very exciting especially as Moreno will overlap on Balotelli giving him the option to pass, or cut in on his favoured foot and shoot. Also with Sturridge applying the pressure upfront, Mario will get plenty of oppurtunities.
JockInTheKop i don't want us to spend big for the sole purpose of erasing Andy Carroll from being our most costly transfer.
ReplyDeleteI want us to fish for world class players in the transfer market.If we catch a Superstar who first and foremost fits the needs of our team and that sets a new club transfer record in the process, it kills two birds (or one and a donkey) with one stone.
I'm not disagreeing with you dude. I wasn't suggesting we make a big signing for the sole purpose of our record signing not being Carroll. Just that I'll be glad on the day when inevitably someone else will hold that record because every time I hear "Liverpool's record signing, Andy Carroll" it makes me cringe
ReplyDeleterogers is carrying on the great tradition of overpaying for average players so props to him
ReplyDeleteNo argument there. But they are 12th in the French league :-/
ReplyDelete