Liverpool Complete Fantastic £18.5m Signing: Great Purchase!
by Steven Constable on June 16th, 2009 306 words | 38 commentsGreat news for the Merseysiders!
The Rumour
Rafa Benitez is on the verge of making Glen Johnson Liverpool’s first summer signing after Chelsea beat a tactical retreat in their chase for the England defender.
Portsmouth are understood to have agreed a fee with Liverpool following more talks yesterday that could eventually reach £18.5?million for one of the Premier League’s most daring full-backs.
Liverpool will offset the outlay by selling Alvaro Arbeloa to Real Madrid for around £8m.
They are also still owed £7m from Portsmouth as part of the deal that took Peter Crouch to Fratton Park last summer.
Johnson, 24, had been the subject of a similar bid from Chelsea, but sources at Stamford Bridge last night indicated that their interest in a player who only left the club two years ago had waned.
The Source: (The Express)
The Analysis
The word on the grapevine is that this is a done deal with only a medical standing in the way of the signing of the very impressive England right back. Alvaro Arbeloa’s move to Real Madrid will surely follow as Benitez looks to strengthen his side by signing the Portsmouth man.
It will please the money men at Anfield that a good chunk of the deal is made up of cash already owed to them for the sale of Peter Crouch to the Fratton Park outfit. Glen Johnson appears to have decided against a move back to Chelsea where he saw his career severely hampered by competition for his place from a string of new signings.
This would be a great capture for Liverpool and one who will send out a message to other Premier League contenders that Rafa does indeed intend on bringing in the requisite players needed to really challenge the usual suspects.
The Likelihood
Johnson to Liverpool: Apparently done and dusted!
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Liverpool Snatch £17m Star From Under Chelsea’s Noses
Xaero - June 16th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Hell yeah!
redfan - June 16th, 2009 at 10:31 am
great piece of business since they’re acquiring a great player, not losing the 7 million pounds which portsmouth can default, sell arbeola for 4x its cost, use degen as cover (if he’s healthy)
lewi - June 16th, 2009 at 10:32 am
reina
johnson, carragher, agger, insua
mascherano,alonso
lennon, gerrard, a.young.
torres.
Mighty reds - June 16th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Thank God! But must alberoa go?
vince - June 16th, 2009 at 10:53 am
great news, and arbleoa shuld be shown the door, he gets caught out too many times….
Igor / Serbia / - June 16th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Reina
Johnson,Carrager,Agger,F.Aurelio
Silva,Gerrard,Alonso,Yossi Benayon
Torres,Tevez
Best team in League ! ! !
lous - June 16th, 2009 at 11:38 am
great signing! and the next signing will be a winger? who should rafa go for. im afraid silva is to expesive, who other is there? lennon?
Ash T - June 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
i think arbeloa should go maybe for more like 10mill hes been good this season not set the world alight but no defender realy does and the spainish league is alot slower than the prem so he would be caught out of place over there hopfuly!
and i would keep degen for 1 more season thats if rafa can see him geting fit any time soon because rafa obviously saw some thing in him to even sign him when he was ingured
plus darby seems to be coming on nice and what other better way is there for him to get better than to learn under the best full back in the country JOHNSON!!!
kermit - June 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
18 and a half million is fucking expensive for a right back, but well he wants to be winning in a liverpool shirt so i ll get right behind him
TEDSUZUKI - June 16th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
At the moment as with lots of earlier rumours, Real Madrid’s reported interest on Aberloa is just that – rumours. Sagna is also rumoured to be their target and so is a host of others. We shall see what happens and I don’t think Aberloa would be sold readily. Perhaps Deggen might be the one eventually going for about 2-4 million. It looks like Rafa would want Johnson and Aberloa to fight for the RB position with Darby lining up as the 3rd possibility to the position. If Rafa is interested recouping of the outlay on Johnson, it won’t come from Aberloa. More likely to come from the sale of Dossena for 7 mill to Juventus.
kermit - June 16th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
not lennon the man is just like pennant all legs and dribbling and no brain
john - June 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
to the people sayin how its too expensive dont forget we are only really effectively paying 11 mil coz there was still 7 mil from the crouch deal which getting back over the course of another year wouldnt feel like were gainin any money. i think its a fairly good price for the best rb in the prem this season. now just natural wide players for the wings and we will be sorted
whoshotkennedy - June 16th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
I’m a bit afraid of this deal…hope he won’t be another epic flop
Ash T - June 16th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
plus john if we sell 8mill we r only paying 3mill but i think we would get more for arbeloa or we might do some stupid deal like arbeloa for saviola+4mill but either way we will be paying sell that 11mill if we sell arbeloa which i hope we will because we got darby johnson and degen(if fit) for the rb and the 8mill wouldnt go a miss
Chris - June 16th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Guys we held an ace for Johnson and we well and truly kicked Chelsea’s ass in securing him with style. The breakdown:
Transfer fee 18.5m
Arbeloa to Real – 8m
Pompey still owed outstanding balance for Crouch – 7m
Therefore we have an English international player for 3.5m
Good business.
Escobar Gallardo - June 16th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Does anyone know if phillip degen really exists? i was begining to think he was just a myth. If we flog Alvaro i worry that we could struggle in defence if we get an injury, yeah yeah i know carra can play right back and we got young ste darby coming through, but this season we NEED to win the league, Darby is about 5ft 9, pretty small, degen is made of porcelain and carra is without doubt at his best at centre back. Alvaro is solid if not stylish.
I know he’s been completley wank this season but Micah Richards could be a useful addition if we can get him cheap enough(£12m?), good at both cb and rb, fast and poweful enough to be a wing back if rafa has a change of style aswell. Get Carra training him and his game will improve no end.
Paddy - June 16th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Well done Rafa.Fantastic buy.
Paddy - June 16th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Reina
Johnson Carra Skrtel Aurelio
Alonso Mascherano
Lennon Gerrard Silva
Torres
Cavalieri,Agger,Insua,Benayoun,Kuyt,Riera,Negredo.
Coggin - June 16th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Guys my maths may be wrong here but regardless of what we are owed or what we sell technically it is still 18.5 million, the fact that we haven’t yet been paid the remaining 7m for crouch or we will sell another player for 8m is Illrelivent, the total value is 18.5m not 3.5m or 11m. Saying that I think he is great signing, lets hope there are more on the way.
fernando clarke - June 16th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
—————-Reina—————-
Johnson, Carra, Agger, Aurelio
———Alonso, Masch————
lavezzi—-Gerrard——-Silva
————-Torres—————–
Ash T - June 16th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
richards 12 mill abit much max 10mil i know its only 2 mill off but that 2 mill could go to silva would rather have ashley young but we would only get priced out and villa would want to deal with us after last year so silva on the left with adam johnson as back up sell riera i think and keep babel and try and play him with torres with kuyt on the right with johnson as back up because we all know he can play there but i wouldnt play him there much maybe 1 or 2 games the most and darby and degen and richards as his back up and buy mark noble for midfield cover and a cheap second striker and i think our team is just about complete though i would like to buy lennon johnson and lennon on the right it would be the fastest right side in england unstopable
Fearon - June 16th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
£17,000,000 is the accurate fee and as Pompey owe us £7,000,000 we are only paying £10,000,000 which will be offset by the sale of Andrea Dossena who will be replaced by Insua. Good skills Rafa
Daglish - June 16th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Coggin we may have paid 18.5m but Pompey pay us back the 7m they owe and if Arbeloa goes for 8m 8+7 is 15m which means it will cut 15m off the 18.5m sale.
Daglish - June 16th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Silva or Young and we will dominant. Plus if the DIC take over we will be sorted maybe Silva, Young and Aguero.
5 times... - June 16th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Sure Johnson is a good player but what is the point of getting rid of Arbeloa?
i thought the problem was that we needed cover at RB? use money from Dossena… Still have Aurelio and Insua? Silva is an AM/LM not a RM.
matty - June 16th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Happy days. Silva next then a decent striker will make for a very happy summer (providing no big departures).
Scott - June 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
its only that high because he signed a new contract in january so it’s not that high, comparing to real madrid bidding that’s nothink lol
rudeboy - June 16th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
eh i think degen died february last hes buried in vienna he got hit by a ball in training and was decapitated RIP philip…i think we should sign stephen hunt and ben arfa
danny - June 16th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
hahaha rudeboy u know whats funny in february degen racked his rib in the carling cup or f.a cup dnt know what 1 the 1 were agger scored a boss free kick anyway a good mate of mine his mum works in fazakerley hospital and checked him in since then hes never been seen
gaff82 - June 16th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
Rafa i dont no if you read any of these comments that us supporters put on,and i no your doing everythink in your power to better the squad but please take into consideration some of the players we would like to see at the club ,my personal appinion who i would like to see there is. glen johnson, david silva, and a top striker not a fringe player like robbie kean we need a out an out goal scorer like david villa, etto or tevez.Come on rafa make the supporters happy offload all the dead wood and bring in quality !!!!!!!!!!!
allahs boot - June 16th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
degen is just a name rafa made up to fill out our team sheets when we are low on reserves.
allahs boot - June 16th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
theyve renamed melwood physio room DEGEN. it used to be named KEWELL
dibbler - June 16th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
gaff82 i agree with most of what you said mate but tevez is not prolific i think we do need a top striker who scores lots of goals i.e. villa or eto o if we got villa we would not need any other players to win the league it would be a full gone conclusion but i cant see it.
theres only one way to beat them get round the back, catch me if you can as i am a liverpool man... - June 17th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
lewi you are a genius great squad mate
theres only one way to beat them get round the back, catch me if you can as i am a liverpool man... - June 17th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
johnson is a great signing but to be honest i thought Arboloa was actually getting better, if he wanted to go then fair enough, i’m sure we could have got Srna / Rafinha for 10mill. I just think that the 18mill could have been used somewhere else such as on the wings. If the deal was made more easier as Portsmouth owed us money then i prob would have gone for Krankier. for approx 10mill.
I just don’t really see how paying that sort of money for a RB will help the overall team, again let me say that i do think Johnson is a cracking signing but if we are as skint as people say i just think that could have been used somewhere else….
kermit - June 17th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
bacary sagna is the best right back in the premiership by a mile
TEDSUZUKI - June 18th, 2009 at 1:40 am
@ dibbler – June 16th, 2009 at 9:59 pm: gaff82 i agree with most of what you said mate but tevez is not prolific i think we do need a top striker who scores lots of goals i.e. villa or eto o if we got villa we would not need any other players to win the league it would be a full gone conclusion but i cant see it.
I see where you are coming from dribbler. You are right that Tevez may not be as prolific compared to players like Eto’o but his kind of players scores important goals that bags the 3 points. If you look at Manure’s stats, Berbatov actually did quite well in terms of goals return but most of his goals were scored in games where Manure already won 3-0;4-0 or of that sort. Of course those goals are helpful as they add to the goal difference on the table but I think in some ways we already have those players in Gerrard and Torres. Tevez is of different prototype all together. He scored dare I say at least 65% of Man U’s 1-0 wins. That means those goals he scored on one level of course adds to their goal differences but more importantly on another level, it bagged them the 3 points. People only took noticed because of I think the greater publicity he got in doing that towards the end of the season. If you look back further, he has been doing that almost when he arrived 2 seasons ago! 2 seasons ago Liverpool was at the receiving end too! I think that might be what Liverpool needs when the games are tight and you need a player who is hungry, fights til the end and keeps looking for gaps to try a shot. He does it with great confidence too. Tevez is that type of player and his finishing frankly isn’t too bad for someone who is regarded as not prolific.
If you get Villa, Eto’o, I think you would have to sacrifice Torres to play deeper. Most partnerships in the attack need to do that. One has to sacrificed or they might just be in each others way. That applies to most effective partnerships: Dalglish – Rush; Beardsley – Aldrige; Heskey – Fowler/ Owen; Rooney – Nisterooy; Berkamp – Anelka/Henri, just to name a few. The only out and out striking partnership that bangs in goals together that i could think of is Cole – Yorke. That’s probably one reason why years back Liverpool had to sacrificed Aldrige when Rush came back from Juventus. Why not sell Beardsley or Barnes? I am sure there were other reasons but one of them was probably because they are very similar. If you had sacrificed Rush to play deeper, that would be almost criminal waste of what he’s best at! I suspect the same can be argued for Torres. Of course i am mindful they will get injured. Does that mean Villa or Eto’o be happy to play back up? Or the other way round? I am not so sure. All that said, I would be very happy if Villa does end up in Liverpool and I will wish the Liverpool coaching staff every success in making everybody work together.
Honest John - June 19th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Well, if this is true it is a blinking relief from my ‘Blue Nose’ point of view!
If Glen Johnson is worth £18.5 million my old granny should be worth a few bob as a player too.
Glenn Johnson was not up to scratch when he was last at the Bridge and that’s why he was offloaded at just £4 million. Ok, he had a good year last year but he can’t defend for toffee and is only good at getting forward to support an attack. To give another club almost £15 million profit on the player inside 2 years suggests to me that the hierarchy at Chelsea do not know what thy are doing!
I hope Liverpool do sign him because Boswinga is a much better player in my opinion, although he is of course not English and therein lies the real reason as to what may be behind this move. The two Anti-Brits of Blatter and Platini have made it clear that they want more indiginous players being fielded in each respective country and I believe that they have already started moves to restrict the number of foreign players being fielded at any one time. Fighting over Johnson might be a reaction to UEFA’s plans? It’s only a guess but I reckon I’m spot on with this assumption because he is not that good a player in my opnion.
Anyway, when Johnson starts to let you down in defending (no problems with his attack play) and getting turned inside out by just about every winger/ forward there is in the Premier League just remember that you read it here first. £18.5 million? No way- it’s like paying five grand for a thrill ride in something. Exciting at the time but way too much money upon reflection.