Liverpool sign ‘best left-back in Italy’ - who’s next on the list?
by stresster on June 6th, 2008
| 250 words |
Now they just need some decent wide men and they’ll be ready to launch a title assault which might be sustained until at least the end of January. Sky Sports report that Rafael Benitez has strengthened his defence by acquiring Andrea Dossena from Udinese for the princely sum of £7million - money well spent?
It appears the player is delighted to be signing for the Reds, especially as he’s the first Italian to be on the books at Anfield. According to the objective source that is his agent, Dossena was the best left-back in Serie A last season, so Pool should thank their lucky stars that they’ve managed to snare him.
“I understand he is the first Italian international to play for Liverpool - a great opportunity for him and he is really happy,” Pastorello revealed.
“He had his medical on Wednesday and we are just awaiting the formalities of that but we would think everything will be signed very shortly,” he continued.
“An agreement between the clubs was hard, but we all found it and everything is now ready.”
“There were many teams interested in him,” he confirmed.
“He was the best left-back in Italy last year, arguably along with the boy [Juan]Vargas at Catania.”
It now appears Benitez is trying to offload Alonso, Crouch and Carson so that he can bring Gareth Barry into the squad. It also appears that John Arne Riise’s days at Anfield are numbered, who else will be making way so that Liverpool can raise the cash for new blood?
We're giving you £10 FREE so show some bollocks and BET NOW!
Tagged Under: alonso, Andrea Dossena, benitez, crouch, Liverpool FC, udinese
justin - June 6th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
ahahahahhah DOSSENA AS GOOD AS VARGAS!! no chance…Vargas is the best LB in the WORLD by a long shot…and hes going to FIORENTINA!!!!
ALE LA VIOLA!
rouman - June 6th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
the players that should be sold are kuyt, voronin, pennant, carson, riise. and crouch if he wants to go. the wigers we need are quersma, and vincente. not bentley swp or lennon. and a top striker if torres gets injured.
pinezes69 - June 6th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
VERY RISKY SIGNING!!!!
Macca - June 6th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Another average signing…unfortunately we are not learning from past lessons…..we need top world class players if we want to compete. look at the names Chelsea and Manchester are after.
we signed two players until now, one for free and another 7 milion both unknown players.
I would prefer to pay 3 milion extra and sign Abidal (who is available) from Barcelona rather than pay 7 milion for 27 years old Dossena.
Time will tell.
anthony LFC - June 6th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Rafa will flop again next season. Then hopefully we can be rid of him
Anonymous - June 6th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
anthony LFC
are you a manager probably not so ssshhhhhh!
give it achance
lucas - June 6th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
He isnt acually the first Itialian to be on liverpools books. If i remember right we had a reserve goal keeper Daniele Paddelli who managed to get a game or two for the first team. Sorry!!!
As for getting rid of Rafa dont talk shhhhh. Who had heard of Hyppia before he signed or Riise or even agger. Just because you have never heard of a player doesnt mean he is a flop. Just wait and see, some of the biggest stars have flopped at clubs so just because they are a house hold name doesnt not mean they will suceed.
kuba - June 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
LES JUS WAIT AN SEE……….?
rafa knows what he is doin , anyway if we get rid of rafa who else can come with them yanks still lurkin in the back ground?
Ali - June 6th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
Dossena will prove to be a shrewd signing. In Rafa we trust!
Beckysaslag - June 6th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
Macca Abidal is total shit so over rated. Dossena is a class act. as is Deggen both will show this next season. A transfer fee doesnt always reflect a players class.
Rafa now needs to finish it off with Barry, Joaquin and Villa
no - June 6th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
good signing, abidal is the wors left back in the world
ktz1992 - June 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
people say liverpool only sign average players….i will tell u right now 4 signings who are more than world class…xabi alonso…first season at liverpool was simply stunning…masch…wat a def midfielder best in world atm….torres….need i say?….luis garcia….the big game player scored on his dabut no matter wat ref says so…scott carson ill add but n ot world clss..a full international and was less than 500k………most of these were b4 liverpool had money to spend…one season with money to spend benitez bourght 3 players….babel benyoun torres all scored 50 goals between them and babel and benyoun diden play most of the time
RSP - June 6th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
give him the money and he will get the players..
Anonymous - June 6th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
who had heard of skrtel, he seems to be shaping up. Not all the big names make it in the premiership
Anonymous - June 6th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
clearly the italy coach donadoni doesn’t think dossena is the best left back.
he has picked grosso,chiellini and zambrotta ahead of him in his squad.
is there a public outcry in italy? Thought not.
Maybe donadoni is wrong and the big italian clubs are queuing to sign him.
Er,no…Milan just bought the 31year old zambrotta, juve are linked to 31yearold grosso and i don’t see mourinho buying him for inter.
so rather then a coup this looks like a high price for a player of questionable quality. benitez’s fullback buys;
josemi, complete flop
fabio, a handful of good games, constantly injured
arbeloa, steady but in no way rock solid;if benitez was so happy with arbeloa he wouldn’t have bought degan
that dreadful dutch right back who they switched for josemi-complete flop
benitez’s fullback sales
warnock-success at blackburn.
traore- worst player to play regularly for liverpool.
so not filled with confidence here.
Deranged - June 7th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Who had heard of Skrtel b4, what did he go for £6 m, what about Veron for Man u £24 m, not all class players are an instant success, Crespo couldn’t wait to leave the EPL, some foreigners just dont like the rough and tumble, and our cold winters. Sometimes managers see what we dont. Even Fergie messes up with his signings, and some of the blame should surely rest on some of our scouts shoulders. Who do you replace Rafa with if you get shut? Good staff are hard to come by, and bloody expensive.
jason from australia - June 7th, 2008 at 1:53 am
gotta give him a chance, the epl is so different to the playing styles of the other leagues and you cant bag him before you have seen him play, there is people on this that ae bagging him and havent even seen him play, just cause his last name isnt puyol or ferdinand there writing him off from the start. I think he must be a pretty consistent player and has alot of skill if he was able to break into the italian national side this yr or whatever, look at the quality names in that side…. hope he plays well and has alot to contribute to us winning the title next season. But rafa DO NOT but fukin riera, we need world class wingers. Wouldnt mind bentley but i would prefer others. With Barry coming in is a great signing and he has proven himself in the premier league and him and gerrard know each other very well. Need a striker to back torres up though, fuk kuyt, as much as he plays with all his heart, i find him so shit and not a [player who can help us win the title, bring in arshavin, owen, milito or santa cruz.
come on liverpooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooollllllllll
Hitman - June 7th, 2008 at 2:21 am
Rafa is goin to become a stronger branch on our tree of fortune. Who ever thinks that at this stage, we should get rid of him is totally crazy. His records speaks for itself. This man needs reassured backing from the board. The players and fans love this man, so let’s trust in him, spend,spend,spend and watch RAFA deliver the goods. RAFALUTION ‘Doitmon!’
liverpoolfans09 - June 7th, 2008 at 2:56 am
give him the money..he can get better players..come on…rafa can bring us champs league with all-average player..i hope we can win smthing for next season
southscouser - June 7th, 2008 at 3:11 am
think about this, if we had beat Manure this (last) season, we would have taken the EPL by 1 point .WITH kuyt,benayoun,pennant etc . Imagine what we’ll do with Rafas new signings? in Rafa we trust.
AussieRed - June 7th, 2008 at 4:28 am
lucas
on June 6th, 2008 7:29 pm He isnt acually the first Itialian to be on liverpools books. If i remember right we had a reserve goal keeper Daniele Paddelli who managed to get a game or two for the first team. Sorry!!!
As for getting rid of Rafa dont talk shhhhh. Who had heard of Hyppia before he signed or Riise or even agger. Just because you have never heard of a player doesnt mean he is a flop. Just wait and see, some of the biggest stars have flopped at clubs so just because they are a house hold name doesnt not mean they will suceed.
Well, it was Houllier who signed Hyypia and Riise. But who had heard of Agger is right, Skrtel, Lucas Leiva is another one. Rafa is building a team capable of mounting a sustained challenge, but what people forget to remember is that up until we lost to Man Utd at Old Trafford, we were still in the title race, we were only 5 points behind. I trust in Rafa.
huntellar - June 7th, 2008 at 6:00 am
Get rid of kuyt , Arbeloa, finnan as well!!! I AM SURE rafa will get another young centre back this season maybe Berhami -but will do so after he buys one winger!!! Rafa will go for either bentley or Quresma!!! i prefer bentley bcoz if rafa does not get him now it will be too late after that!! 5 + 6 fifa rule!!
Downing and Michael Jonhson buit not Milner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There will be some pretty surprises! just wait and see
kev j - June 7th, 2008 at 8:06 am
if dossena is the best LB in italy why is it only us that wanted him?
kev j - June 7th, 2008 at 8:07 am
if dossena is the best LB in italy why is it only us that wanted him? noone else was fighting us 4 his services.
rick - June 7th, 2008 at 8:36 am
kev actually read the article before you comment! still can’t work it out? no? they are a thick peice of shit aren’t ya?!
lucas - June 7th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Aussie red i never Said Rafa signed those players. lol i was just using them as examples of players who have come to this club unknown and done a marvellous Job. but thanks for picking up on it lol
calm down, calm down - June 7th, 2008 at 9:16 am
Dossena was well known in his own living room, that’s all. He’s a solid fullback, he might be a good signing if the fee is £2m or so. But he’s no Daniel Alves or Patrice Evra. not worth getting excited over.
DAN (EL NINO)CULLETON - June 7th, 2008 at 9:26 am
PERSONALY I DONT KNOW HIM THT WELL BUT THE ONLY GOOD FULL BACK BENITEZ HAS SIGHNED IS ARBELOA LETS HOPE THESE 2 R GOOD:D
ed - June 7th, 2008 at 9:26 am
good playes go to clubs all the time and fail. even the great ones. we will have to wait and sea with this one but rafer is one of the best managers and he has got it right in the past. half the players i see go to man u are flops and they have the best manager in the world over the last 20 years. you can never tell.
Varun - June 7th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Benitez is doing everything right. Liverpool will suceed next season and will become the Premier League winners.
The PLAYERS that must go out :
1. Xabi Alonso 16m
2. John Arne Riise 5m
3. Jermaine Pennant 7m
4. Voronin 7m
5. Scott Carson 10m
This will solve the financial problem..Liverpool get 45m…
The PLAYERS that must be signed:
1.Gareth Barry 8m+Crouch
2.David Bentley 12m
3.David Villa 20m
4.Aaron Ramsey 6m
This will make LIVERPOOL FC Champions of England and Europe
NEW FORMATION
REINA
P.DEGEN CARRAGHER AGGER DOSSENA
BABEL GERRARD MASCHERANO BARRY
TORRES VILLA
Absolutely cracking line up with Kuyt, Ramsey, Benayoun, Skrtel, Bentley all on the bench.
If any of the strikers are injures then the formation should be like this:
REINA
P.DEGEN CARRAGHER AGGER DOSSENA
BENTLEY GERRARD MASCHERANO BARRY BABEL
TORRES / VILLA
Super Line up which will crush any side….
ad - June 7th, 2008 at 9:44 am
yet again rafa is signing cheap average players. yet again the mancs and chelski are spending big. another season of dissappointment. houllier was closer to winning the premiership than rafa ever has been, and he had a rep for making rubbish signings.
rafa will not learn from past mistakes, there is a reason bently only got 1 game for arsenal in 5 years, there is a reason degan is a free transfer, its the same reason zenden, voronin, gonzalez, nunez, intanji and kromkamp were all cheap/free. they are average players who nonoe else wants!! the only reason we had one of the best defensive records in the prem last year is because we were playing with 4 defenders, 2 defensive midfielders and gerrard and kuyt spent most of there time defending!! hense not letting in many goals but not scoring many either!!!
you have to spend big for creative players rafa, can’t you understand this!!! solid centre backs for £7m are one thing, but cheap wingers/strikers are not worth having! get some balls and make some big signings, learn from torres and masch and make some big bids!!!! ribery will go to the mancs if ronaldo goes and he will tear everyone apart next season and we will be saying (like we say with ronaldo) ‘we were close to signing him, imagine if we had him now!’ but we’l be stuck with wasteful players that wouldn’t get into any of the other top 4.
allahs boot - June 7th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Atleast we know he can handle the cold weather.
allahs boot - June 7th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Rafa has more brains in his right testical than half the crew have on here in their shit-for-brains.Maybe money has altered his plans but not his passion.Who would do a better job than rafa,considering the amount of money being spent at man u and chelsea etc?Dossena will be a gun.Forza pelos+trieste
Dan T - June 7th, 2008 at 10:29 am
It does my head ?n w?th all the rafa bashers on here. Im sure ?f he had an unl?m?ted cheque book ala mancs/chelsk? then yes ?m sure he wouldnt be look?ng for the l?kes of degen. But he hasnt so he has to do the best w?th what hes got and thats why he wheel?ng and deal?ng and try?ng to squeeze every extra m?ll?on from sales such as he ?s do?ng w?th crouch and alonso. I know noth?ng of dossena but I hope he w?ll be a success ?n the same way as Skrtel. You talk about fa?l?ures ?n the past but every club has them ?e djemeba djemba, kleberson for mancs, countless for chelsea. Players could do w?thout armcha?r fans bash?ng them before they have k?cked a ball for the club. L?verpool have ?mproved every year under Rafa and th?s one w?ll be no d?fferent.
ad - June 7th, 2008 at 10:44 am
for a start i like rafa, he seems like a strong coach and i think given a few more years he will do well (look how long it took fergason), but they have not improved every year, the first year he won a european trophy, the 2nd a domestic, and nothing since! last season he had no ambition to win the premiership, hence all these draws to rubbish teams and that farce at reading). why does he try to match the team hes playing by resting the good players? therefore he needs a good team, and an average team, so he buys twice the amount of players for half the price per player he could have done. if we were that broke we wouldn’t be spending £12m on average moody diving wingers, and iv heard up to £20m package for a good but not outstanding centre mid? (i like barry, but for an extra couple of mil we could bid for ribery or villa) take a look at degan or dossena and tell me he’d get into man u, or chelsea or arsenal. if he wants £10m signings, go for deco or henry. (would anyone rather see bentley on the pitch than henry? i think not!!)
b connolly - June 7th, 2008 at 10:48 am
are you rafa haters or so called fans really that stupid? he’s scrimping on buying dossena so that he has more to play with in the most required areas in the team!! he only has a small budget ffs..
ad - June 7th, 2008 at 10:58 am
he doesn’t have a small budget, he’l make:
£12m on crouch
£14m on alonso
£2m on finnan
£2m on voronin
£4m on riise
£5m on pennant
+ say £3m on others
Thats £40m. even if he gets nothing from the yanks. (an ive heard he’l get £20m ish from them)
That is not a small budget if he doesn’t waste most of it on rubbish players.
Dan T - June 7th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
? see what people mean about the trophies but the true measure is the league and we are stronger now that what we were, can people honestly say they would keep baros instead of torres, smicer instead of babel, biscan and diao ahead of barry and mascherano and traore instead of skrtel. I really think we will push this year, and ?m not one of those reds thats said that every summer since 89. ?m sure Rafa would rather be bidding for Alves rather than Deggen but circumstances dictate and he may have to keep the bulk of his kitty for the wide areas. ? hope to god Im right and we dont end up w?th a pile of shite like riera or milner. Does anybody know whats happening with owners - am abroad and out of touch w?th where things are up to, surely 90 days are over.
Troncrunch - June 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
‘ the only reason we had one of the best defensive records in the prem last year is because we were playing with 4 defenders, 2 defensive midfielders and gerrard and kuyt spent most of there time defending!! hense not letting in many goals but not scoring many either!!! ‘
Ad - how can you say that? We were the top scoring team in England last year.
dogmanstar - June 7th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
6-0 against Derby still only gets you the same number of points as 1-0 !!
Troncrunch - June 7th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
My point is that you cannot accuse Liverpool of being a defensive team if they are the highest scoring team in England! The two things do not add up.
anthony LFC - June 7th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Totally agree with ad
Well said mate
We should be adding world class attacking players like Ribery and Aguero.
We will never bridge the gap with mediocrity
dogmanstar - June 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
You still can’t get away from the fact that Liverpool play negative defensive minded football, due to Benitez.
Troncrunch - June 7th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Negative, defensive teams do not break Champions League records for the highest ever victory. Or, as I’ve already said, do they score the most goals in England.
I’ts a myth, thats all.
Look at the number of shots and corners Liverpool get per game. Both are indicators of a team that gets forward and attacks, not of a team that sits back and defends a 1-0 lead.
ad - June 7th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
milner???? is rafa serious?? why bother? we were only the highest scoring because we hammered a couple of teams. why did we struggle so much against barnsley? havant and waterlooville? wigan? birmingham? these are the teams we need to beat. if we had beaten the top 3 at home this season, we would have won the premiership. but 3 points aganist reading, wigan, birmingham etc are worth the same as the 3 points we can’t get off the top sides. i for one do not want to be happy with 4th spot again, or be happy to only achieve 2 points from 6 games against the top 4! to break this trend we need class players, who even on an off day can score against the barnsleys of the world, and can be relied upon to turn it up a notch when the big boys come to town.
we have only scored so many because of nando, if he gets injured we are screwed!!! thats why we need villa, we should be playing with one striker when we are forced to, not as the norm!
anthony LFC - June 7th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
ad
I agree with you mate
Do you ever post on the Liverpoolfc.tv forum?
Its so biased its beyond belief
Anyone who criticizes Rafa gets crucified by multitudes of thick numpties lol
jarrod howarth - June 7th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
we need a £20million stirker david villa.torres with villa unstoppable
LFC IS HOT AS HELL - June 7th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
basically we need New manager and americans OUT!!
joe - June 8th, 2008 at 3:43 am
no…no…no…no one speak about joaqin sanchez…u know him…GET HIM…before another club take him..he is the most dangerous winger in europe and the world as well…ONLY HIM the winger can bring the title next season…
lOOK AT HIM…HOW HE PLAY..HE PLAY LIKE GERRRARD..BUT HE MANAGED THE RIGHT HAND SIDE..THAT RECIPE WE NEED..
NO QUARESMA
NO BENTLY
NO DOWNING
BUT 200% JOAQIN SANCHEZ of Valencia
marty - June 8th, 2008 at 4:16 am
italian are always good defenders. think give benitez another signing then judge him
matty bray - June 8th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
has any 1 else herd a rumour that Liverpool have agreed fee for Valencia is there any truth in this
matty bray - June 8th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
for david villa
matty bray - June 8th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
we should sign quersma
reina
degan carra agger / strkel dossena /aurlio
barry mascherano
quersma gerrard babel
el nino
matty bray - June 8th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
but it will end up being this
reina
degan carra agger aurelio
kuyt barry mascherano babel
torres gerrad
i think kuyt is a loads of horse shit he has got a good worker rate but every footballer should ave a good work rate what else has he got he has not got a good cross for a winger and he could hit a barn dooor
paul and katie - June 8th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Liverpool premier league winning team for next year.
reina
degan skrtle agger dossena
mascherano
joaquin gerrard barry babbel
TORRES! / Villa maybe
allahs boot - June 9th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
matty bray. correct me if i am wrong,but Kuyt was bought for 10mil as a striker,and at a time when our funds were obviously low.Rafa played him out of position and yet he was our top scorer in last seasons champs lge run.Without kuyt it is a given that we wouldnt have got as far as we did in the champs lge.I agree that he is not the most talented player around,but i doubt anyone has the passion and effort that kuyt has.Ask any lfc player if they would rather have kuyt in the team or not.Torres mentioned the other day that it is kuyt who does have of his work as well as his own,and the reason that torres gets into quality positions and recieves quality ball.Every team needs a shit kicker.ynwa
Willy P - June 10th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
we need John Villa and Torres up front..that would be pure class…..after watching Villa run over to torres after his hatrick against Russia tonight they obviously good mates….Torres have a word will ya and sort it out!!!!
Shauno - June 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
i agree about villa and torres partnership i reckon it would thrive but it wont happen. I believe rafa to be an excellent tactician but a poor player of the transfer market some of the players i have herd of rumoured to be on the way to anfield are a joke, milner, reira, downing are all average players at the most and why gareth barry y waste funds on another centre midfielder the one area we are at our strongest. Benitez moans at not gettin money but if he didnt waste it on cheap players who he ships out after a season or two we could save up to bid for just a couple of world class players the ones that make the difference have sum balls rafa spend your money on big players god help it if Torres or Gerrard get injured this season thats all i can say.
HOPEFUL OUTS
Voronin
Pennant
Carson
Finnan
Arbeloa
HOPEFUL INS
Villa
Santa Cruz
Lahm
Quaresma/ Young/ Silva
HOWEVER NONE WILL HAPPEN AND WE WILL BE NO WHERE NEAR THE TITLE AGAIN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Adam. - June 13th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
He looks ok i guess, but some of the players liverpool are linked with are awfull, riera was a mess at man city so why on earth is rafa even looking at him?, even if its just a rumour its still just as bad. Barry, well we is ok for villa and he is a good player, good at crossing and passing, but the amount of money going around, 15 million or 20 million, thats a stupid price, he is near 28 i think now and he aint worth 15 or 20, more like 9 mill atleast. milner is crap to, i think a good signing would be santi cazorla from villareal, he is a good goalscoring good passing winger, and he should be cheap.