Liverpool ready for £12m Midfield MAESTRO bid: What should Rafa do?
by Mr Comfort on October 11th, 2008This Anfield midfielder was constantly linked with a move to Juventus or Arsenal but managed to keep his place at the club and impressed as Rafa’s men have got off to a flyer. However now it appears that this La Liga club is interested in bidding for the Spaniard.
Don’t forget to check out Online Football Manager!
In what can be considered a bit of a turnaround in fortunes, Valencia who at one time were on the verge of a fire sale of their best stars will be in the transfer market come January not as sellers but as buyers and Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso is their number one target.
An acquaintance of Footylatest in Spain reported to us that a club official refused to deny or confirm in a radio talk show in Spain that Alonso was a target for Valencia but did venture to say that he is a good player that would fit in with Valencias style of play.
Liverpool initially demanded at least 16 million for Alonso when Juventus wanted him in summer but this was deemed to be too high by the Turin club and Liverpool with their own financial constraints may be forced in to accepting a more reasonable offer. (footylatest.com)
At times in the mid season break it seemed inevitable that Xabi would be sold off to aid the purchase of Gareth Barry, of course neither deal materialised and the 26 year old has now started nine of the club’s eleven fixtures and reasserted his place in the first team. There were rumours a while back that the player was homesick so if Valencia do move in for the Spanish international it would be interesting to see what happens. Unai Emery’s side sit top of the La Liga table after a near faultless start. The player has achieved something of a cult status with the Anfield crowd but does Rafa hold him in such high regard? Do Liverpool fans think that Rafa would consider cashing in on the former Sociedad man?
Discuss the latest transfer gossip at the Brand New COS forum!


Adam - October 11th, 2008 at 6:06 pm
For some reason Rafa doesn’t rate Xabi that highly, as a Liverpool fan i think he is a class act and we should not even think about selling him
Meowington - October 11th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
12m?!?!! Ha! Don’t make me laugh! We paid that for him, and if we were to sell him it would leave a huge void in our midfield. Xavi is awesome- our best player this year alongside Kuyt, Pepe and Riera. He aint going nowhere. Dossena should consider a diet, mind.
Tom - October 11th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Why would we sell him halfway through our season, particularly at that price. Sure, we have Mascherano, but we’d be left with Lucas and Benny Onion in the middle if something happened to either Stevie or Masch unless we’re somehow able to get Gareth Barry in January.
AussieRed - October 11th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Xavi is our best player? That’s funny, I thought Xavi played for Barcelona. Do you mean Xabi? In the form that Xabi has been in, in part because of all the transfer speculation in the summer, then Rafa won’t sell him. But maybe there should be more transfer speculation so Xabi can play even better
mark - October 12th, 2008 at 4:13 am
alonso has been crap most of this season, the only game i can really remember him playing well in was against sunderland, apart from that i’ve never seen him tracking back, making a tackle or even running, all he does is wait for the ball to come to him, hit a pass or take a shot from the half way line and he thinks his job is done, i’d prefer a player who gives their all, alonso doesn’t seem to be doing that anymore like he used to.
xa - October 12th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Mark: “apart from that i’ve never seen him tracking back, making a tackle or even running”
If you`d bother to rad some stats mate, you`d see it was xabi who ran the most in the last match, somwhere around 8-9 miles. which was more than kuyt and arbeloa ,who normally you see run a lot. he is doing an invisible job covering spaces, closing peopleon etc down that you dont normally notice, much like didi hamann did.
get yer coat..
Jammo - October 12th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
Leave barry keep xabi !
Fernando - October 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
12 mil, two words fuck off no way wed sell him 4 tht. mostly because we dont need to. hes also been regular this season and with such a good start to the season do you really think rafa is going to sell any first teamers in the squad? no i dont think so either
daz - October 12th, 2008 at 6:03 pm
just to clear sumthn up its xabi alonso not xavi, i take it your an armchair fan as usual s many on these pages
dibbler - October 12th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Mark i suggest you actually go to the match mate and have a look at what goes on in a match and not watch it on sky in the pub with armchair fans who only see who is on the ball. maybe then you will see how important alonso is within the team i use the word team because we look like a team more than ever, come on red men!!!!!!
ynwa
Ciaran Mc - October 12th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Alonso has been great this season, his pasing and movement have improved no end and would be very surprised if Rafa is still thinking of selling him… If Xabi were to leave we would have to buy one hell of a world class centre mid mind, especialy with Rafa’s rotation, which seems to be a less frequent thing these days…
abelish - October 13th, 2008 at 4:43 am
SORRY MARK I’m not with u , XABI ALONSO IS MY FAVOURITE REDS PLAYER, HE ‘S THE key for Liverpool successful, playmaker and controlling evrything , at midfield like tempo , rhythm and opputurnity.
stay calm xabi …. million reds with U.
farouk - October 13th, 2008 at 6:45 am
let xabi stay
9torres - October 13th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Rafa doesn’t rate hime that highly? i’ve seen numerous interviews where he describes him as the best passer of the ball in the world! pretty big plaudit for the boss to drop on a player he doesn’t rate…
The joke that is Shite Hart Lane - October 13th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
i recon rafa shud suck off alonso n then give masherano a hand-job….. then maybe they will be up for a title challenge
CL0uD YNWA @14 - October 14th, 2008 at 4:34 am
I don’t care if he is too slow (Ranieri Sucks) or not running on the pitch or what so ever..
In fact he is still the best player in the Liverpool Squad. The most important thing is he has great stamina, technique, vision, passing ability, teamwork, tackle too (even not aggresive like gerrard or mascherano did)..He can read the opponents game, as well as his style suits to the EPL even in the European.
A Legend in The Making