21 May 2015

70% Price Crash: Liverpool can sign 'special' €34m superstar for incredible discount transfer fee

Over the last couple of years, Liverpool have been constantly linked with a move for Barcelona star Pedro, and new reports this week suggest that the experienced Spaniard is now available for a knock-down transfer free.

In March, The Mirror claimed that Barcelona offered Pedro to Liverpool, and according to The Telegraph today:

* 27-year old Pedro 'is ready to quit the Nou Camp' after falling down the attacking pecking order.

* Barcelona are allegedly willing to let Pedro go for €10m (£7m).

€10m for a player with 20+ major trophies, including 5 league titles, 2 Champions League titles, and a World Cup winner's medal? Sounds highly improbable to me, especially since Pedro's reported value has hovered around the €34m (£24m) mark for the last few years.

Pedro seems - described last month by Luis Enrique as a player with 'special' qualities - resigned to leaving, though, and in March, he told reporters:

"For the whole season I have had very few chances. I am going through a difficult moment, and I will decide on my future at the end of the season"

Despite the ridiculous competition at Barca for attacking places, Pedro's has excellent stats over the last six season:

* 98 goals/43 assists (141) in 300 apps (1 Goal/assist every 2 games)

Liverpool fans certainly hold Pedro in high regard. Last summer, I asked fans who they'd rather see LFC sign: Pedro or Lallana.

* 17100 visitors (approx) participated in the poll.
* A gigantic 80% of voters chose Pedro over Lallana.

That's a quite staggering vote of confidence in Pedro, but it's hardly surprising given the Spaniard's experience and pedigree. I also voted in favour of Pedro, for the following reasons:

* Consistent experience at the highest levels of the game, including copious European/international experience.

* Played alongside some of the world's best players for years, including Messi, Xavi, Neymar, and Iniesta.

* A winner, who's won every trophy in the game, and that kind of experience could be invaluable for Liverpool.

* A player who'll come in and give the entire club a lift. He's a marquee signing with an aura about him.

This rumour seems like it's been around forever, yet Pedro is still at Barcelona, and if he decides to leave in the summer, I can't see him ending up at Liverpool, especially with the club failing to qualify for the Champions League.

With Steven Gerrard leaving, there will also be a distinct lack of world-renowned players at Anfield, and that will make it harder than it is already to attract Europe's elite.

That said, if Liverpool prioritise the signing, and pull out all the stops to make Pedro feel wanted at Anfield, then there a possibility of sealing the deal.

Earlier this week, Petr Cech's agent confirmed that Chelsea have granted the giant 'stopper permission to speak with interested clubs', and now Pedro is allegedly available for comparative peanuts. What an amazing opportunity for Liverpool to grab two experienced, top-class winners.

The Reds should make Cech and Pedro the absolute top priority this summer, and that means ensuring Brendan Rodgers (or whoever is in charge this summer) personally meets with these players in a bid to convince them to sign.

Liverpool should also get Steven Gerrard and/or Jamie Carragher involved in the persuasion process. Top clubs around Europe have their legends actively involved in recruitment, and this is something I've advocated for years.

Ian Ayre just isn't going to cut it anymore.

Granted, even without Ayre's influence, I have little faith in Liverpool getting anywhere close to signing either of these players, but you never know. LFC's transfer record under Rodgers is a train-wreck, but things have to change sometime...right?

But wait - what am I saying? I forgot about James Friggin' Milner! With Galacticos like Milner in the team, who needs Pedro?

Author: Jaimie K


33 comments:

  1. Jules Winnfield11:44 pm, May 21, 2015

    Never gonna happen

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  2. Dream transfer. Would love it. 1st thing we need to do is sack dillusional rodgers. As in your guest post about rodgers, theres too much reasons to sack him. Were European giants. Benitez won CL in 1st season because were European giants. But were not going to get players like pedro or sanchez with BR. He likes championship players like lallana, lambert, borini and allen

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  3. Looks like this summer could turn into a Complete Friggin' Disaster.


    I know you like Cech and he has been quality but his age is against him and I know a goalie goes on forever but unlike a fine wine they don't tend to improve with age. Mourinho dumped him for a younger model and I'm afraid, for me, if he ain't good enough for Chelski he ain't good enough for LFC.

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  4. lolz.. everyday always the same.. " getting close to signing " .. but where all close signing palyer gone?..

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  5. I dont get why fsg dont get benitez. Having won the CL with liverpool, I repeat CL, and in his 1st season(what a legend), not to mention 2 la liga titles and trophys in italy...yet they want a manager who cant motivate his side to beat villa. Yet benitez can motivate his side to comeback from 3 goals down against the greatest team in history in a CL final. CL Final. Not no mickey mouse fa cup semi-final against mickey mouse villa.

    With benitez, CL football or not, we can attract the best. Hes a stamp of lfc, he represents us, like wenger with arsenal, and he can tell the best players ive won CL here with liverpool and that they can be winners. They will believe.

    Rodgers now, kmt, dont even get me started. How can my maths teacher who has won zero attract sanchez?

    In 20 years BR still wont win anything or attract a top player whos hungry. Brendan too soft, not hungry enough and dont share the hunger of the top players. Only soft players like allen or markovic who will rather pass in front of goal instead of taking responsibility.

    The amount of mistakes BR has made is uncountable but how he didnt drop sterling is just soft managing. Hes a friend to these players not the manager. I would have rather lost against united, arsenal, villa, hull and palacee with Canos, Ojo or Ryan kent than lose with sterling. At least with them we would get desire and commitment and delight at being given a debut.

    I dislike rodgers managing skills, win or lose, I want this guy gone. He shouldnt be allowed a single penny.

    Benitez attracts worldies like torres, alonso and mascherano. Between them 4 CL titles alonso has won 2, torres 1 and mascherano 1, 1 world cup torres and alonso, 1 world cup final for mascherano, 2 euros for torres and alonso.... Bring back benitez

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  6. That's what I said when there were rumours that lfc bid 35 million pounds for Andy Carroll.

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  7. DanielMillerLFC12:52 am, May 22, 2015

    I disagree completely. He was dropped because it made sense to play courtouis now. He's first team quality and has many more years in him to risk losing him. Unfortunately Cech had to make room and he knows he's too good to be sat on a bench, as do Chelsea. Sign him up.

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  8. How he got the job is still beyond me.

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  9. I wish you would just shut the F*#$ up!!!
    You slam every b******* transfer speculation story out there. And then you make it worse by chiming in with your own brand of C*** just for good measure!

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  10. Utter rubbish! Cech has not been good enough for years!!!
    Ever since fracturing his skull and coming back wearing his ridiculous swimming cap he's been a completely different player. His head has totally gone. Doesn't want to come and claim crosses, wont dive at players feet, and bulks at any challenge made on him. And if you haven't (or can't) see that, then your not watching the game properly.
    NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

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  11. He'll probably end up at PSG

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  12. Edwin Smeulders1:19 am, May 22, 2015

    2nd place in EPL last season,5th,or on current form,maybe even 7th this year....next season.....don`t even want to think about it.!!! I think a lot will hinge on this `big showdown `this Fri between FSG and Brendan Rodgers...and sadly,it will be along the lines of LFC `continuing to operate within it`s current budget and player recruitment constraints, with a vote of confidence in Rodgers continuing to mentor up and coming young players with potential profit resale vale for FSG........FFS,forget about ANY big signings....mid table mediocrity ... here we come !!!! PS...ANY LFC LOVING BILLIONAIRE`S OUT THERE INTERESTED IN TAKING OVER OUR CLUB SO WE CAN COMPETE AGAIN WITH THE TOP 4....PLEASSSSEEEEEE !!!!!!!!!!

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  13. Pedro would be a no brainer if the chance is there to take. People go on about the club not being in the Champions League but LIverpool FC are still a world renowned club regardless. The real issue is Rodgers isn't a big a enough name to lure them to the club regardless of the clubs stature and FSG's restritcive policies in signing players and heal dragging and haggling leaves us open to being blind sided by teams with the financial clout and ambition. If we signed a proven quality manager and the board allowed the manager the freedom I have no doubt things would change on players wanting to come to the club. If Mourinho took over players heads would be turned as he is a proven winner, If players see big things happening then quality players will follow 'it's a simple phycology' and it has a knock on effect on other players as great players want to play with great player and for great managers who win second is the club itself. So in short if we got a proven manager like Klopp in and the board gave him the funds without restrictions things would change greatly.

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  14. Everyone stop saying frig. It's doing my fucking head in.

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  15. BR just can't convince the big players as he has won nothing

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  16. In the past, I've come on here and said that I cant jump on the Pedro bandwagon, having watched him very closely since he broke into the Barca first team, because I didnt think (and still dont think) he is worth the E25m or whatever was bandied around when we were first linked with him.

    For £7m though, I'm all over that! He'd be a great addition to the squad, and I feel like he'd play with alot more freedom than at Barca, where he has essentially had to be an alternating wingback with Alves.

    For those who havent watched this season's Barca (do yourself a favour and get some match videos), The favoured starting XI features Alves as RB, Rakitic as the right sided CM (Busquets defending, Iniesta attacking) and Messi on the right wing. Like this, Rakitic is used to cover Dani as he roams up and down the touchline, getting caught in attack every now and then, but as Rakitic is so good at covering, it isn’t noticed as much.

    When they need to close up a game or change things up, Off comes Suarez or Neymar, with Pedro taking the RW spot and Messi moving over (he never gets subbed) and Xavi goes into the mid, taking Rak’s spot. Xavi can’t cover for Alves as well as Rak can, so Pedro often has to be the defensive winger, making sure the right side doesn’t get exposed.

    If he were to operate on the right (or left) of our attacking 3 in either of our formations, he wouldn’t have the same shackles on him as he does at Barca and may be able to perform like he did during his breakout
    seasons.

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  17. oh my friend
    don't u think that fsg needs yes men!!!!
    they'll never care about anything except to make money on everyone's head
    that's called BUSINESS
    football is finish now
    it's only money mate
    like u see contract don't mean anything now
    money talks!!!!!!

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  18. Until FFP is changed - soon?- FSG must work within the confines of the system. Most likely they wouldn't have purchased the team without FFP as was mentioned, I believe, by Henry. FSG has put the team in a much better position financially. Everyone needs to calm their pits. Liverpool missed the boat years ago when the sugar daddies came in and FFP didn't exist. That and the antiquated stadium - undersized and lacking boxes - set the team for decline. Add Hicks/Gillette, poor recruiting and...there you go. Now LFC has to purchase potential and hope a player pans out. Established players want CL, preferably at a glamour club. Today's elite players don't give a fig about "history" - they want big salaries and perennial CL clubs preferably near fashionable locales. That's the realty and FSG can't do much than what they are doing. Buy young and hope it works.

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  19. Give me pedro over ANY of our attacking players!

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  20. But we had a plane banner "In Rodgers We Trust" !

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  21. Milner will be an asset. I'd make him captain over Henderson any day of the week. Pedro and Cech would be immense but I share your pessimism.

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  22. Sterlin to Utd Pedro to Liverpool for 7m what next Guardiola as Manager

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  23. To be honest I'd advocate for signing Pedro even if Barca wanted £40 million for him.

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  24. Hey thanks guy! Nice Reply.

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  25. We can dream about getting players like this to take our midfield to another level but my worry is Arsenal will step in and nick friggin' from under our noses

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  26. Seriously, I hate the idea of mentioning nationality. But to convince our English manager, chief negotiator and maybe majority of the ever mysterious transfer committee that this Pedro guy is a good enough player for us is way tougher than convincing the entire group that Saido Berahino and Charlie Austin is worth a combined of more than 40 mil pounds.
    Though LFC will never walk alone, despite any outcome.

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  27. Love Pedro at the club I can't see it though unfortunately. Vidal also not coming. Even Milners been offered a great new contract which I'm not bothered about either way.

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  28. Maybe we can swap Luis Alberto for him. He is apparently worth the same amount of money.

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  29. Signing Cech and Pedro would be great. However, I'd say Ings and Trippier are much more likely; I wouldn't be against them either.
    We need to get Sterling out a.s.a.p. and put it all down for Lacazette.
    With Ryan and Illaramendi that would still be a good summer !

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  30. I don't think we need another winger for next season. We have Origi, Ibe, Coutinho, Lallana, and Markovic, who can all play a number of wide roles, as well as slotting inside in different roles. Henderson and Moreno could also legitimately play wide if needed -- Henderson is probably the best crosser at the club. Can and Allen have some experience there now too.



    This excellent situation is partly the outcome of developing and signing players to be able to fulfill a number of outfield roles which the club has pursued over the last three seasons, an intelligent decision which enables us to make the best use of our resources.



    Like everyone else, I'd prefer us to focus on bringing in an honest-to-goodness striker -- and to throw all the necessary money at that situation. For the first time in three years we now have sufficient depth and structure in the squad to focus on bringing in outstanding individuals. I'd bring in one striker, one defensive midfielder and one all-out defender, and one goalkeeper, of first-team quality. My preferences would be Lacazette, Granit Xhaka, Daryl Janmaat, and me, Robo Lazars, as the goalie.

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  31. This might be living in the past. Benitez had his weaknesses. He fell apart under pressure, and was quite a petty disciplinarian who alienated players and colleagues. He was a very good in-game coach, but his team stagnated and became predictable over-all.

    He was able to make the most of English football's relative economic advantage over the rest of Europe in the period 2000-2008 to sign players from the context he knew best. But he showed no aptitude in terms of developing players and had little knowledge of the transfer market beyond his contacts in Spain.

    When I look at Rodgers' calm, consistent, and organised work, the quality of football his teams have produced, the intelligent development of players under his management, the quality of the man as a coach seems obviously of very high level. I don't think he needs replacing. I think he needs to be given better players and better support. People like this don't come along very often.

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