10 Jun 2015

Transfer Update: Liverpool confirm news on 4 players including 'outstanding' £120k-a-week stalwart

It's official: After six year at Anfield, Liverpool FC have official confirmed that Glen Johnson is no longer a Liverpool player.

According to the official Liverpool FC website today:

"Liverpool FC have confirmed the departures of Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Brad Jones - while midfielders Jordan Lussey and Marc Pelosi have also left the club".

Re Johnson - it's about time. I was against the signing back in 2009, and nothing over the last six years has convinced me that Johnson was anything but an avoidable transfer mistake.

He had his moments, but Johnson - reportedly on £120k-a-week - remained error prone to the end, with regular lapses of concentration costing Liverpool goals.

Liverpool fans certainly won't shed any tears over Johnson's departure. I recently conducted a site poll asking fans whether the Reds should keep or sell Johnson, and a whopping 84% of participants voted for LFC to dump Johnson.

Unfortunately, despite spending tens of millions over the last three years, Rodgers still doesn't have a decent right-back in the squad to replace Johnson, which is another indictment of the manager's questionable performance in the transfer market.

Flanagan is injury prone; Manquillo is solid, but offers nothing as an attacking force, and Emre Can was badly exposed at right back in the latter stages of the recent train-wreck of a season.

Despite this, I have no doubt that Rodgers will continue with his stubborn insistence on playing square pegs in round holes, and I fully expect to see the manager persist with Can at right back next season.

As for Johnson - recently hailed as 'outstanding' by Rodgers - he's one of the last remaining relics of the Benitez era. Lucas Leiva and Martin Skrtel are the only players left from the Spaniard's reign, and both could conceivably leave this summer.


Benitez is a polarising figure amongst the Liverpool fanbase, but many of his signings endured, and it's a testament to the man that five years after leaving Anfield, his signings (Raheem Sterling among them) are still playing an integral role at at the club.

Will any of Rodgers' signings still be around five years after he's left? Doubtful.

Author: Jaimie K


38 comments:

  1. Borini could be at Anfield till he drops dead if his agent has his way.

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  2. happy we got his big wage of the bill. not that with a incompetent manager like Brendan Rodgers were gonna use the wage money wisely anyway. well probably sign Sylvain Distin for free knowing Rodgers and offer him 100k a week to rot on our bench.


    next year well play


    --------------------------------------Mingolet
    Manquillo-------------Skrtel--------------------Sakho-------------Moreno
    --------------------------------------Can
    ---------------------Milner-------------------Henderson
    ------------------------------------Coutinho
    ---------------------Ings--------------------------Origi


    subs Lallana, Ibe, Markovic, Lucas, Ilori, Wisdom, Sturridge(if fit)


    appauling really considering we spent 210m in BR 3 year reign alot of players who without the transfer commitee rodgers begged to sign i.e Lovren, Lallana, Borini, Lambert, Allen and Moses. i dont know about Markovic and Balotelli but Rodgers wanted all those players. especially Allen, Borini, Lallana and Lovren who cost £73m. what a joke.


    i like ings and milner, but lets be honest there not world class and neither is any of the signings, plus were losing our greatest icon, our lionel messi, in steven gerrard. we already lost a king in Suarez and a champion in carragher because of a incompetent manager who threw a title away in 3 games and also loses to Villa in massive cup games and loses to stoke 6-1 which is a all time low. he doesnt give a toss about LFC and he just got famous of our club and will go elsewhere. anyone who truly knows and loves our club will never let steven gerrard go, they will buy 3 world class players if they have to help stevie out. Stevie, 2 time european champion, deserved more to be honest.


    Shame on you Brendan rodgers for making us so mediocre. next it will be Clyne and well have the whole england squad, who win zilch.

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  3. gerrard has scored goals you couldnt even imagine. NONE of our current players will ever even be able to match his midfield dominance or his goals/assist tally. NONE. no matter how good hendo, milner, can and who ever we buy are (kovacic etc, seems brendan rodgers wants all the midfielders in the world) they will never be on par with Steven Gerrard. so how can we get rid of our top scorer? but yet BR is begging for experience? for me that is disrespect at the highest level and i dont like him.....getting rid of Pascoe and Marsh? get rid of them all! i would rather have Steven Gerrard as player-manager like Kenny got for his greatness for LFC, rather than BR. Gerrard would do better managing the current LFC than Brendan Rodgers. Steven gerrard player-manager, jamie carragher assistant, luis garcia and harry kewell coaches. our CL winning team plus Gerrard who knows the current state of the team.


    Gerrard leads the team more on the pitch than Rodgers himself, who took him offf against Chelsea for a ovation. pathetic

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  4. Trippier would make a good cheap replacement who's value would go up extremely quickly IMO.
    Personally I'm not sorry to see Glen leave now and feel it's perhaps slightly overdue but wish him all the best YNWA.

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  5. I know this isn't something people really want to hear about our buying English players, but in Jones, Gerrard, and Johnson we are losing 3 of our Homegrown players. Sterling can't be counted on for next season either... Does anyone know where we stand on these? I suppose Flanno and Wisdom could be counted in, but still....

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  6. Theycallmemrburt4:26 pm, June 10, 2015

    I'm stunned that none of the managers GJ played under at Liverpool didn't at least attempt to play him as a right sided midfielder. They all believed they were the anomaly, the chosen one who would teach him how to defend. Well defending like goal scoring is an art form that can't be coached. A player can be drilled to be in a certain place at a certain point in the game, but you can't teach a player how not to get roasted on the outside time and time again if they have poor reflexes and poor responses. Don't get me started on GJ's ball watching.

    That said GJ's stats show him to be more productive going forward than Cafu. I believe he scored more and assisted more than the legend. For me he was a joy to watch going forward when he was on form and as Roy keane says about carlos Edwards in his autobiography " carried the ball up the pitch" He was very good at getting us into the last third of the itch with his running and dribbling power......... on form that is.

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  7. Jones is an Aussie

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  8. Yes, but he was trained in England. Considered homegrown by the rules.

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  9. Theycallmemrburt4:32 pm, June 10, 2015

    Rossiter should be in there if his leg heals

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  10. He could be included, but he's also U21 and thus doesn't need to be registered. He would take up a squad place that could be given to someone else.

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  11. Theycallmemrburt4:35 pm, June 10, 2015

    Hold on a sec......... we've just signed two English guys :) case solved :)

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  12. Theycallmemrburt4:36 pm, June 10, 2015

    oh i just read your post again...... not solved

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  13. I stand corrected good sir

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  14. Rumors that we're cleared to sign Montoya now... Decent transfer I guess. Serviceable at the very least. Not many RBs on the market,

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  15. Very good at getting the ball into the final third but I think more and more so the last few seasons - he would then come over a bit Sterling-esque and quickly run out of ideas, pitch and possession.
    That is very fair though to say that someone should of seen his obvious defensive deficiencies and looked to explore more of his natural talent and he used to carry, IMO, a good amount of the 'fear factor' going forward, a shame for him because he was always committed to the cause and perhaps his perceived lack of effort towards the end was born from frustration.

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  16. I personally think that for £3.5m we should sign Tripper and a more senior right-back.

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  17. I cant see Rodgers getting to end of September - Dead Man Walking

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  18. I only mention Trippier as a low cost and what is likely a viable option for us, I don't watch too much foreign football but did watch Burnley a bit the season just gone. I can just see Trippier reaching the 'silly English player' value in a few seasons and then us being linked with him for 25million and for me he is a good solid and consistent player, whether he would handle the whole 'big Club' pressure cooker, who knows though, but for a reasonable price seems worthy of consideration.
    For sure though if we can get a more proven player who is already a level or two above I'd be happy with that too, is Montoya that player do you think.

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  19. Seems the ideal scenario, tricky thing this transfer business - like a kind of super expensive jigsaw puzzle.
    I would of been happy with say Trippier and Alves as a combo but not so much with either in isolation, I guess a lot of the time we only end up with some of the pieces we want and maybe then it's difficult finish the picture, or for us fans to even work out what the picture is meant to be.

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  20. As I've always said, it's the right time for Steve to leave. He cannot afford to be a bit part and it's not Rodgers fault by any means.

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  21. Thankfully he (Johnson ) is leaving. When he did not play we are twice a team.... Johnson should never have been allowed anywhere close to this football club. PEACE BE WITH U GLEN

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  22. "Wonderful" Gerrard will be missed

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  23. Montoya is a victim of playing under Dani Alves at Barca. He once was labelled as his successor, but Dani's career just kept going on, and on, and on... Montoya never really got the chances in the first team to properly develop. If LFC can rekindle that, Montoya can be a great player.

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  24. Sounds like exactly the player we need then, his balance would add overall balance to the team and give the manager a bit of choice when Flanno (hopefully) recovers well and returns.

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  25. Couldn't you argue that shows the lack of quality in Benitez signings? It means they haven't made a big enough impact to get some to come steal them especially considering we have lacked CL football all except 1yr since his departure.

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  26. I remember Carra tweeting about Ilkay Gundogan recently, describing him as a "crock who can't get a game for Dortmund". Is this the same Ilkay Gundogan who is pulling the strings in the German midfield tonight?

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  27. And what about Ayew? Young, skillfull, international experience and it's his dream to play for us. Oh no, we let him go to Swansea...on a free...

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  28. Sadly, I'm afraid you're wrong

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  29. We lacked CL football last season too

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  30. I think Carra wants the assistant to Rodgers job and to get that you have to be a great judge of the quality of a player

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  31. I tremble at the thought...

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  32. Spot on Jamie!!! The best football Liverpool played in recent times was during the Benitez era...


    As for Rodgers...????? 80% of his signings are lame and misfits...Period!!

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  33. That's a pretty ridiculous claim.

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  34. Ayew is inferior to Swansea's Jefferson Montero tbh

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  35. Dalglish and Rodgers both used Johnson as a right sided midfielder when they tinkered with 3 at the back

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  36. When Gerrard didn't play this season Liverpool's win record went up so...

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  37. So are you saying we should get Montero on a free?

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