Liverpool boss PLAN £55m Spending SPREE: Plus loads of contract renewals!
by Mr Comfort on March 20th, 2009 23 commentsIt’s looks like Rafa will be a busy man this summer!
Rafael Benítez will be given at least £30 million to spend on new players this summer as he embarks on his mission to restore Liverpool to pre-eminence in English football after signing a new five-year contract.
His scouts are compiling reports on several wingers, including Aaron Lennon, of Tottenham Hotspur, and Antonio Valencia, of Wigan Athletic, as well as looking for a centre forward who can fill the void left by Robbie Keane’s brief, ill-fated spell at Anfield.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the club’s American owners, have also allowed Benítez to reinvest any money raised by selling players such as Andrea Dossena and Philipp Degen, and offloading Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin, who are on loan at Portsmouth and Hertha Berlin respectively.
Another priority is to secure the long-term futures of several of his squad and, while the immediate priorities are Daniel Agger, Dirk Kuyt, Álvaro Arbeloa and Fábio Aurélio, whose deals expire in 15 months, Benítez has already pledged to give Fernando Torres a pay rise.
Benítez inquired about Lennon, 21, during negotiations in the deal that took Keane to Tottenham and his interest has increased with the youngster’s impressive form in recent weeks, but other candidates, such as Valencia and David Silva, the Valencia midfield player, are under consideration. (Times Online)
So it appears that Rafa has big plans this summer and now that he has a lot more control in the purchasing of players he clearly wants to spend spend spend. Perhaps more importantly, as this source points out, the Spaniard also wants to get his top performers to sign new contracts so as to secure their futures. Obviously giving El Nino a new deal should go a long way to stopping the likes of Real Madrid from sniffing around their goal machine. Of the players linked with a move to the club David Silva would be a fantastic signing as would Lennon. Who do Liverpool fans think the club needs to bring in when the transfer window re-opens?
Get a free £10 bet on Liverpool by joining William Hill now.
Related Posts:
Liverpool Star Set for Shock £11m Barcelona Move!?
know anything? - March 20th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
fuck me. if liverpool just get silva this summer, im happy. and an striker. a good one, a young one. not like keane, more like aguero
DOWNUNDER - March 21st, 2009 at 4:26 am
Agree with ‘Know Anything?’
BTW, it’s not 55 million. There are lots of speculations out there. Some say it’s 30 million. Others say it’s 40 million. I am baffled as to why Liverpool would want to announce their budget. Again, I think it’s just paper bullshit talk.
mark - March 21st, 2009 at 4:41 am
count lennon out as he’s just signed a new deal with spurs, hopefully we’ll get silva- fingers crossed. ferguson has come out and said that he expects liverpool to spend heaps this summer, does he know something we don’t or is he just stirring the pot so if rafa doesn’t get the money he wants then fergie will come out and say how the owners really should be giving rafa more cash? and then all hell will break loose again.
TEDSUZUKI - March 21st, 2009 at 6:54 am
Thing is that none of us know for sure. Time will tell. Sit tight and see what happens.
I am glad Lennon signed cause I think he won’t cut it. He’s just another version of Penant but only slightly better. It appears he is fairly injury prone too. So was never too sure about him.
I agree with you Mark that Silva would I think give Liverpool something entirely different. So it’s my hope that we launch an all out pursuit for him. I don’t mind Lucas go though and Barry comes in at a minimal price given it’s his final year of contract with Villa. For 18 mill, I think Barry is not worth that price. For 6-8 mill, that’s not too bad.
Yeah…i think we need another experienced striker too. Heskey is out. Villa would be out of Liverpool’s budget, I suspect. Personally I suspect Rafa prefers someone who is like Torres, tall, big, strong, fast and powerful. So Villa would probably be not his type of strikers. Who knows? We could see Rafa make a bid for Blackburn’s Santa Cruz.
TEDSUZUKI - March 21st, 2009 at 6:56 am
Oh yes…I would love to see Henri end his career at Liverpool. So who knows? Perhaps next season, he might sign for us.
Tim - March 21st, 2009 at 9:07 am
Has everybody here forgotten that Rafa still has very little if no control over the transfers. I suspect that this summer will be the same as the last one unless those Americans leave. I would be excited about winning the league though if Liverpool do sign Silva and Co.
shakitre - March 21st, 2009 at 11:46 am
forget lennon he is a waste of money like all tottenham players that come to liverpool sinse keanes gone and we raised 12 millon
buy maybe gorcuff siva definetley and ramos
kermit - March 21st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
okay 55 million then sign ribery for 35 from bayern , lennon like the guy above said is a nother pennant headless chicken just slightly better , not good enough for lfc , we need top drawer players and ribery fits the bill , personally i think silva is a little lightweight for the premiership and we have pachecho coming through who is supposed to be similarly talented, a strong attacking right back should also be a priority and someone like freddie kanoute as a back up to torres
right backs in mind everyone says glen johnson but i m not so sure, i d be scouring france for an african right back in the sagna mould, outside of that i dont think we need too much kuyt is playing well right side, we have masch and alonso in central midfield, torres and gerrard in attack skrtel agger an carragher at central defense
left back dossena finally starts to come good and with aurelio and inusa as an understudy we are looking good there, i back dossena to make the spot his own in the coming year, so i dont think we need that much
ribery would be fantastic, he would be another match winner , and i d rather see us buy two quality 20 million plus players who can win matches that a handful of 7 million pound players , and a cheeky bid for michael owen who always gets goals, he may be injury prone but that might work in our favour, he gets goals no matter where he playsso ribery 35 million dani alves maybe for 25 and owen on a free would be good
qaiyumLIVERPOOL - March 21st, 2009 at 12:44 pm
i think rafa should get 60m plus the selling…..emmm…they should buy david silva rather than lennon bid for him 2o or 22m , and glen johnson for 9m , wheather for 7m, barry if alonso leave big him for 13m n a striker not a centre forward but a striker who always play as a 2nd striker probably tevez not aguero ar villa, should buy MICHEAL OWEN as a back up striker..we will win the league , fa cup , caring cup n champion league if a player like this is coming..likerpool forever…PEACE:D
IRONSTOMACH - March 21st, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Why Owen? He would be sitting in the treatment room for 90% of the season. I like Riberry but I don’t think he will cost 35 million. More like in the region of 45 and above. Glen Johnson? Nah!!!! He can’t cut it at Chelsea. Why would he make it at Liverpool? I don’t see how he is any better than Aberloa. We need someone who is clearly going to give Aberloa serious competition not just there to make up the numbers.
Sell Deggen. Yeah….give Dosenna some further opportunities. Nothing to lose as we will have Aurelio and Insua on the left. Tie up Agger to a new contract and sign a new CB as replacement for Hyppia. I am still dreaming of getting Henri!
bigrafa - March 21st, 2009 at 5:37 pm
Fulham 2-1 manu + Spurs 1-0 Chelsea= Very good week for Liverpool. (so long as we beat villa)
bigrafa - March 21st, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Should be fulham 2-0 Manu (for the comment above)
apple dave - March 21st, 2009 at 8:57 pm
we should buy:
schweinsteiger from bayern munich
modric from tottenham
adler from leverkusen
podolski from bayern munich OR jovetic from fiorentina
chivu from inter
keep lucas, insua and voronin though as they’ve got potential
lfc eire - March 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm
big rafa it’s even better because danny murphy scored against the scum and crouch got two against everton.
the big i am - March 21st, 2009 at 11:46 pm
No body realy knows how much rafa will have to spend, but an educated guess says . . .
hes spent 190 mill so far, average of 38 mill a season
and assuming the owners are feeling generous and optamistic after this seasons title effort (or i dare say VICTORY !!! its possible with todays results) i think he could get something like 40-45?
IN
so we clearly need two wingers left n right nd a striker nd a right back
SILVA – take advantage of Valencias debt please ! ! ! ! ! !
LENNON – need english tallent with the rule changes as a posibility, it dosnet matter that he jus signed a contract ither since when did they mean anything ? they just keep fans happy! !
AGUERO – one of the best young tallents around already played with Torres so higher chances of the pair hitting it off and who wouldent want him at LFC ? ? would come aswel, was gona before athletico swooped in after rafa bottled it! !
OWEN – wouldent mind seeing him back if he was free, good bac up if thers even a penny involved then he can fuck of!!
RICHARDS – yes hes hada crap season but still one for the future just needs to be at a quality club with top players and hes english always good to get sum1 english no ? ?
you cant realy sign more than 5 first teamers without upsetting the ballance so. .. that would be it
OUT
the obvious
dossena – dump just because he was in the right place at the right time twice dosent make him good!!!
Daegan – dump been injured yes but we cant keep wating for him to recover. not at LFC
Lucas – loan i still think he can come good, hes average right now but hes only 21
yer that would be sweet ! ! !
redfan - March 22nd, 2009 at 4:01 am
Whatever u gave to rafa for spending he’ll never goes for best option….in summer we need right mid and defence of right side…he buys left back dossena by seelin rise and he sell finnan buy reira … he goes for barry and try to sell alonso who is one of best player this season…lastly he buys keane who he cann’t fit into his ’system’ and sell back in just 6 month… and there is degan ,ngog who i don’t see much…..among his buy only reira add something in team…not only in this seaseon all five season he had make such decision and buy player who caan’t play…so if he gets 100 million also or even more he can’t make liverpool better … his selection of player were beyond my under standing in transfer market and pitch as well…in market he sud go for right back like right back of inter,sergio ramos, rafina and right mid like walcot, ashley young but rafa with great footballing mind will go for gareth barry and sell alonso … good luck rafa for villa game we need to win it play carra at right back please… come on liverpool win all games…
AussieRed - March 22nd, 2009 at 11:02 am
Redfan doesn’t sound much like a Liverpool fan. Rafa is the best manager Liverpool have had since our glory days and I fully believe he will take us back to our glory days. Have you ever heard of the saying a superstar team is much better than a team of superstars? Rafa buys players who he feels work for him in his team. He has constantly bought top quality players, Torres, Mascherano, Skrtel, Reina, Agger, Kuyt, Alonso, Riera, Lucas, Arbeloa, Insua, Aurelio, Babel, all players he has signed who are still at the club and although some of those players get slagged by fickle fans, they are all top quality players.
liverpool fan - March 22nd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
this is all lies, it says on the daily mirror that benitez has 100 million to spend on david villa, david silva, diogo luis santos, gareth barry, aaron lennon and someone else whos quite good. This is getting out of hand
Anonymous - March 22nd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
an exciting left winger of pace will guarantee future success .
I know silva is good but I would break the bank to get ROBBEN of real madrid he is the best left midfielder in the world
Alex - March 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Well if money were no object i’d like to see us bring in David Silva, Ashley Young and Karim Benzema. However I genuinely believe that Silva is realistic.
If we signed Silva anyone else would be a bonus, but i think Henry would be a huge signing for us, i think he’d turn Babel into a big, big player for us as when Henry was younger he was almost identical to how Babel is now.
Benzema would be a dream, 20 years old, strong, fast, good in the air, can play lone striker or out wide, good with both feet, but i just can’t see us affording him, or him wanting to come to us over barcelona.
So Henry and Silva would be fantastic, and i think after that we should look at bringing in 2 young english players to boost our english ranks. Not Lennon though, i’m thinking more along the lines of micah richards, theo walcott, if we have the money Ashley young would be a dream.
Young, Silva and Henry would transform liverpool, i honestly believe then we’d be unstoppable.
Matty - March 23rd, 2009 at 1:00 am
The mancs r feelin the heat! We r comin gd at jus the rite time.Signings 4 the summer…….micah richards young strong plus can play RB or centre half he could mature in2 a quality def under rafas coaching.David silva valencia have 2 sell the guy is a match winner in the final 3rd……a RB rafinha mayb or irola at bilbao? Striker wise we need a link man who can play in the hole an open up tight defenses aguero or villa would b awesome but very unlikely the young brazilian boy at olimpiakos looks a real prospect tho
barry yes but not 4 18m lennon really needs 2 improve the final ball.RAFA is our special 1 we’ve won it 5 times we won 5 times in instanbul we won it 5 times!!!!!
reds - March 23rd, 2009 at 9:00 am
David silva wants to stay in la liga, reports says he wants to win la liga first before moving abroad. Villa is out of our price range, 100 million if man city bid. Keirrison wants to play for barca only. RIbery only just signed a contracted with Bayern and unlikely to move.
We need a RM/RF and LF, RB and possibly CM if gerrard plays in the hole. Henry / Eto would make a great addition for forwards who can play alone or partnered, right wing should be Rakitic type player (young, less well known) and RB – English? Glen Johnson type. CM if we need one is Gareth Barry. This is all for the EU quota system, we need a min of 3 english players in team for next season. As the 6+5 rule looks likely to go through.
alex - March 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I think we’re likely to buy 3 players this summer: RM/F, RB and CF
RM is severely lacking, so someone like ribery,diego or silva would make a huge difference.
If we sell, Dossena, Degen, Voronin, Babel, Lucas. We might be able to get a couple of world class players.
Team:
Reina
Rafinha/ Arbeloa Agger/ Skrtel Carragher/Hyppia Insua/Aurelio
Ribery/ Benayoun Gerrard/Alonso Masch/Lucas Silva/ Riera
Torres/Ngog Santa cruz /Kuyt