19 Dec 2014

Sign ASAP? Euro Giants to sell £10m star whose 'dream' is to 'play for LFC'. He's a 'big fan' of the club

Borussia Dortmund have reportedly decided to sell attacking midfielder Kevin Grosskreutz, who once admitted that he'd love to play for Liverpool.

According to German newspaper SportBild this week:

* Dortmund are planning to sell 26-year old Grosskreutz in January, or next summer at the latest.

* The club wants to sell ASAP to stop him leaving for free in 2016.

£10m-rated Grosskreutz has been linked with Liverpool many times:

JUL 2012: When asked about Liverpool's interest, Grosskreutz admitted told Sports Image: "I love Borussia, but I cannot rule anything out. It would be a dream to play for Liverpool at some point. England is a dream for any footballer".

NOV 2012: Reds scouts watched him in action during Dortmund's Champions League game with Ajax. Soon after that game, the winger admitted that he's not happy at Dortmund: "Of course I'm not happy. Whoever is happy if he doesn't play is in the wrong business. I'm totally unhappy. I want to play, that's all that counts for me"

NOV 2012: Grosskreutz namechecked the Reds again in an interview with Bild: "Everyone here is aware I am a big fan of clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, or Manchester United. It would be a great thing to play in the Premiership"

DEC 2012: Amid LFC speculation, Grosskreutz again hinted at a move to the Premier League: "Should I continue with my career in a foreign country at some point, the Premier League of England would be my top priority. I really like the way football is played over there"

JAN 2013: ESPN claimed that Grosskreutz 'may be moving to Liverpool'.

Some info about Grosskreutz:

* Versatile left-winger, but can play also left-back.
* Current contract expires: 2016
* 27 goals/37 assists in 233 apps for Dortmund.
* Goal every 8.6 games.
* Assist every 6.2 games.
* Goal/Assist every 3.6 games.
* 6 apps for Germany (No goals/assists)
* Rarely injured. Only 4 minor issues in the last 5 years.

Liverpool were interested once, so it's conceivable that Rodgers (if he's still a job) will take another look at Grozzkreutz. Given his apparent affection for the club, LFC should (in theory) have a big advantage when it comes to transfer negotiations, but is he a player who'll improve Liverpool?

To be honest, Grosskreutz's creative stats are not very impressive. One assist every 6.2 games is not going to improve the Reds. Plus, it won't be an improvement on the players already at the club. The likes of Hendo, Lallana, Sterling, and Markovic have similarly poor assist rates, and Liverpool needs attacking players who can offer much more on a consistent basis.

If LFC are to sign an attacking midfielder from the Bundesliga, Roberto Firmino is arguably a much better option.






Author:


25 comments:

  1. Our targets are likelier John Ruddy, Fabian Delph and Nathan Redmond, mid-level players with Premiership experience. The Scrappers.

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  2. I'd be surprised to see Dortmund sell Großkreutz. He's the kind of person every squad needs. Great work ethic, team ethic, versatile. I think if we could get him for under £10m, he'd be a great signing. He wouldn't be a world-beater, but he you need solid guys in your squad. He could offer the kind of contribution that Alberto or Aspas or Borini should. He wouldn't always be in the starting eleven, but he'd be the 12th man. The one you turn to. Like Park Ji-sung was for United.

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  3. Agree Sherief..what top `A grade`continental player would want to come to LFC with no Champions League on offer next season ??..Unfortunately,Jan transfer market will once again,be an underwhelming exercise for LFC...we had our chance as Jamie Carragher said,to get 2 or 3 top players with the Suarez money...but ended up doing a `Spurs` and `blowing it` !!

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  4. Yeah agreed Verm. He's a very handy player and one that I would be happy to see coming on late on and getting the occasional start. Anything under 10 would be a good buy methinks.

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  5. Why not wait till the end of the season before saying 'No Champions League next season'. I know it's wishful thinking but there are still a couple of avenues available to us to qualify, if not for the CL then for Europa. You follow with 'Unfortunately Jan transfer market will once again be an underwhelming exercise for LFC' How do you know this? Fans seem to have this extraordinary ESP that is only available to themselves, and is kept from managers and players...
    To Sherief, I'd be very happy picking up Delph, provided it's for a good price, he's a great midfielder, full international and has a real desire when he plays. Wicked long shot too. Redmond looks like he'll be half decent a la Aaron Lennon, but he'll probably be overpriced. Ruddy....nah

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  6. Who's. It's the possessive

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  7. Thats actually a good point. People seem to be against this transfer because Großkreutz isn't the person who can dig us out of this mess, but he could really take the place of every attacking player we have loaned out. If we weren't in need of a higher class attacking player, I'd say Großkreutz is a no brainer. Altogether, all 3 (Aspas, Alberto, Assaidi) are worth at least the cost of Großkreutz, and he would do the job 10x better.

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  8. Don't sound so surprised that it's a good point. I'm full of 'em.

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  9. Without delving into the grammar (as I'm no expert) I'll disagree. as far as I know the apostrophe would only be used when shortening the phrases 'who is' and 'who has'. This is neither, and looks right. My second point is: Who cares? Your comment has contributed nothing to the article. Please refer to the above comments for ways to contribute meaningfully. Peace, YNWA

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  10. Full of something... Wubbalubbadubdub!

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  11. I just thought I'd quickly check for curiosity's sake, but here you go: http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/whos_whose.htm

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  12. No, it's not. You are wrong. 'Whose' is correct. If it was 'who's', the sentence would be 'Euro Giants to sell £10m star who is dream is to play for LFC'.

    That makes zero grammatical sense.

    P.S. You're banned for sniping.

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  13. Delph is hardly a scrapper. There's a lot of class in that left boot.

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  14. would prefer a certain Roberto Firmino or Everton Ribeiro

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  15. 'Who cares' would definitely not be right. :-P

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  16. I don't really know much about him, but surely a striker is more important right now than another midfield player?

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  17. Jaimie, you may be understating a bit the versatility of this fellow. Although, predominantly he is a left winger, he played majority of last season as a right back. Half of his German national team appearances are also as RB. Over the year he has also operated as RW, LB, CM, and AM; so we are talking about extremely versatile player.


    Would he be covering a position from the attacking line-up if we were to acquire him? I doubt it. Probably we are looking at Henderson Mk II, with an inclination to play in the sides. Is he worth £10m? IMO not with our current line-up. He could be an excellent cover with his versatility if we are to lose Johnson and Enrique by the next summer, but I'm still doubtful about the price tag. Though, with £5m I would take the deal in a heart beat.

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  18. Wow were do these unknown names all pop up from its madness.this lad at dortmund, the lad at palermo,who next? Somebody from the Russian league??? Our club is huge worldwide so let's talk about world class players..cech from chelski, montoya from barca,vertongan from spuds,shaquri from Munich and offer johnson and mario with cash to Rafa for a world class cf in higuin.borini to Sunderland., lambert to Southampton loan deal and bring in origi now..flanno and sturridge return in new year and watch us go...easy

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  19. what does Wubbalubbadubdub mean?

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  20. When you're playing for the 13th best team in the Premiership and aren't scrapping, that's a worry. For his stats he'll be vastly overpriced.

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  21. I assume it means wisdom in whatever culture Benj hails from.

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  22. I googled it and it seems that it is related to some cartoon.

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  23. no where near good enough for LFC if you throw enough shit at the wall some of it will stick

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  24. By "hardly a scrapper" I meant he has excellent technique, unlike the likes of Cattermole, who I consider scrappers. He does get stuck in, though.


    He'd probably be overpriced, yes. My hope is that because his contract expires in six months we can pick him up for a relative bargain in January or arrange a pre-contract for a free transfer for the summer. Would be a good addition to our midfield, I'm sure - rate him technically better than Henderson by some distance.


    Anyway: scrappers. Good name for a board game. Scrappers.

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  25. It does, I was watching whilst posting. This called Rick and Monty. Check it out, very funny stuff. But yeah Verm, it could be an Australian slang for wisdom I suppose...

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