Liverpool Snatch £17m Star From Under Chelsea’s Noses
by Steven Constable on June 19th, 2009 314 words | 26 commentsDone and dusted?
The Rumour
Portsmouth right-back Glen Johnson has received offers from two clubs, it was confirmed today.
It is understood that the race to sign the 24-year-old England international is between Liverpool and his former club Chelsea, with transfer fees of around £17million being reported.
Porstmouth chief-executive, Peter Storrie, confirmed that the club have given Johnson permission to speak to two clubs.
“Glen has got permission to speak to two clubs and I think that is what he is going to do,” he said.
“The matter will come to a conclusion next week. I do not have a preference over the move, it is up to Glen and his agent. The deals are almost identical so it is really down to him and what club he prefers.”
But Johnson is expected to snub a return to Stamford Bridge in favour of Anfield.
It is understood that he will return early from holiday this weekend to have a medical on Merseyside and put pen to paper on a four year deal.
The Source: (This Is Anfield)
The Analysis
It appears that Glen Johnson’s will he won’t he move to Anfield is pretty much a done deal. He was at Anfield late last night for a medical and seems set to sign a lucrative four year deal.
It would be a great signing by Rafa Benitez although some might baulk at the price for the right back it is worth remembering that a big chunk of the fee is covered by monies still owed to the club from Peter Crouch’s move to Fratton Park a year ago.
The move will add fuel to speculation that current first choice right back Alvaro Arbeloa may well be on his way to Real Madrid, therefore giving the Liverpool boss more money to invest into potential additional transfers.
The Likelihood
Johnson to Liverpool: The deal looks done and dusted!
Get a free £10 bet on Liverpool by joining William Hill now.
Related Posts:
Liverpool Complete Fantastic £18.5m Signing: Great Purchase!
Coggin - June 19th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
I would hardly say we snatched him from under their noses; in fact they tried to snatch him from under ours. That said hope he proves to be a good signing.
kermit - June 19th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
okay get the deal done and on to the next target
lvslfc - June 19th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
v good signing now we need to sign silva before man u
Paddy - June 19th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Right now he’s signed let’s get Silva quick before United or Real!
Honest John - June 19th, 2009 at 7:53 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 (not £17million as mentioned) 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.
Do any of you agree or do you think I am otherwise talking out of my arse?
Dom - June 19th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
He’s as good defensively as arbeloa, but better going forward.
Bosingwa ay not even be at your club next season
Honest John - June 19th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Dom,
You are absolutely correct. Boswinga may be part of a deal for Ribery for all I know? It would be a shame to lose Boswinga that’s for sure but hopefully Chelsea will keep him now that the ‘other option’ of Johnson looks like he’ll sign for you.
I think you won’t be singing Johnson’s praises for too long as he is easily turned and has been known to give away the odd penalty or two! Good at attacking though.
kermit - June 19th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
i dont think he is worth 17 million i d buy anyukov from cska for 8 million ( but rafa seems to want him so if its gonna be done then do it and so we can get on to more exciting transfers)
and id rather have arda turan than david silva ( just personally dont like him)
or robben and hleb and van der vaart, and micah richard who would be useful to us, none of these should cost much more than 12 million
Donavan Ried - June 19th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Eight F1 Grand Prix teams a threating to break away from the F1 unbrella and from there own Championship…….. WTF as this to do with Football I hear you ask?….. Simple, Real Have just splash out £139m on Kaka and Ronaldo, and is plan a £60m raid for Ribery, Look at who plays for Arsenal,Chelsea’ Man Utd even Portsmouth, have a look around most of the big teams in Europe, have a look at thier make up……. Now many season ago there was talk of the top clubs in Europe breaking away and forming thier own league….. Now ask yourself this… Will the top European clubs take this laying down?….. Answer, NO!…… This 6-5 rule is a pipe dream, it will never see the light of day. Football is now, more than ever “BIG BUISNESS”…….. and clubs like Inter,AC,Juva,Real,Barca Man utd,Arsenal and Chelsea simply won’t stand for it. …… So lets all stop this 6-5 rule nosense please….. Thank you
Mighty reds - June 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Spot on donovan. The 6-5 rule will never come true.
Honest john- lets wait and see. But i tell you what: you are only regretting losing him to us and we are gonna sing his praises forever.
So go ahead and mourn your loss and more losses including ribery.
Honest John - June 20th, 2009 at 3:56 am
Dear Mighty Reds,
If Liverpool have got him I am truly pleased because, and this is being dead honest, I was worried Chelsea would actually buy him! Maybe he won’t be quite the dead duck he was for us with you but I am just RELIEVED! I certainly won’t mind Chelsea coming 2nd in this race believe me! Chelsea have splashed the cash on too many dead weights in the past and I just see this as being another example.
I think you’re right where Ribery is concerned. He’ll be off to warmer climates such as Spain or Italy as his missus has already told him that England is out (and we all know what powers of persuasion those girls have don’t we?)
Good Luck to you guys, I really wanted Liverpool to win the Premiership when it was obvious Chelsea could not; anybody but bloody Man Utd again (so as not to have to put up with their crowing fans). I expect the usual suspects will be slugging it out for the title again next season regardless of who goes and who comes in.
Mighty reds - June 20th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Honest john- the only problem we have about johnson is just the high price. of which chelsea contributed to that. Remember this is not the johnson you used to know.
All these things depend on the pattern of play which the managers want adopt. Take for instance chelsea have two perfect attacking minded full backs. We have none and we need at least one. With johnson, attack from the right flanks will be easier for us. As far as i am concerned, this is the signing of the decade!!! Lol
MarkindublinIRE - June 20th, 2009 at 9:18 am
bottom line is….if johnson wants to be suceesful at Liverpool and be an England regular ,well he will have to work hard and preform regularly for Liverpool…if he does that ,then i think, jus like any player,he will be a good signing…anyways who else can we sign for the RB position..who is good enough…and cheaper plus willing to sign…we dont have many options….we wont pay big bucks for the players and we cant match the wages that chelsea,man u..madrid and barca are willing to pay so we just have to accept this and get on with it…
-lfc- - June 20th, 2009 at 9:55 am
next carragher?
jo - June 20th, 2009 at 10:58 am
the next sergio ramos
big willy - June 20th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
well lads i personally disagree with all your crap that he is a bad player
firstly if he was bad why would he be playing for england and all the top four be after him
Also we should not sidn Arda Turd we should spend big on one player with the ability of silva, villa or martinez
Paddy - June 21st, 2009 at 12:26 am
I agree with big willy.
Honest John - June 21st, 2009 at 2:04 am
Big Willy,
I never said he was a crap player, how can he be if the ‘Pool and the Chels are prepared to splash that amount of cash on him? I am just saying that in my opinion he is not worth £18.5 million because he is rather suspect as an out and out defender There are plenty of left wingers who will turn him and you wait and see how the rest of your defence will have to cover for him. Definately capable of helping any attack though. For your sake you’ll have to hope he has more ‘assists’ than he does howlers!
Time will tell whether he is the deal of the decade or an expensive bucket of spanners?
julius kampala munyonyo - June 21st, 2009 at 10:09 am
we need to snatch that Glen deal fast otherwise,itis ever weakness of liverpool to sign players in time.
the reds have weakness in substition of players in apitch since Raf admin. we love him ,we adjust ourselves
Dom - June 21st, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Right… bcos this site is lazy on weekends, ill have a run down on todays stories
Chelsea are going to try and land torres by testing the americans resolve with a 50m/60m bid. However, torres has stated he wants to stay at the club and reach the status of robbie fowler and king kenny
Torres has told chelsea to forget about signing david villa as his prefered destination is real madrid or barcelona
Chelsea are also willing to battle it out with real madrid for 18m rated Alonso
Finally… real madrid have now joined the race to sign mascherano, with barcelona also interested. If barca do land masch, manchester united will be yaya toure prefered destination. Real are willing to offer a joint fee of 38mil for masch and arbeloa, which would make masch a record fee signing for a holding midfielder at 30mil
My analysis
I feel it will be a worrying few weeks ahead as the richer clubs courting our best players. Its obvious that the owners of liverpool would consider a bid of 60mil for torres to ease their debt. Are they really willing to lose face with the fans now, after things have just settled down? I think not
The rumours are picking up pace about mascherano and I feel its only a matter of time before he leaves for a spanish side. Especially with his family issues and his daughter refusing to want to return to england
As for alonso, I think he will be playing in a red shirt for another season at least.
Although the transfer of alonso and masch would bring in much needed fund to sign world class players, its foolish to think we can sell both players
Keep alonso, sell masch and buy a great striker to partner for torres I say
Paddy - June 21st, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I agree!If we sell Mascherano we will concede more goals but we will have 30 million to spend on a world class striker to make up for conceding them goals but if we sell Alonso it won’t be as easy to unlock defences and we might struggle to score cuz he was a big part of the team last season!
Rishi S - June 21st, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Gents,
Johnson will be a good signing for lfc, but Benitez should not mess up his current midfielders. It was the strength of our midfield that neutralised the attacks of Man U and Chelsea last year. You need such qualities if you wanna snatch points from the big four. Just bring in Silva & close the recruitment process to focus in getting the team focused again.
Dom - June 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Just buy sissoko back from juve, amazing tackler of the ball, and works harder than kuyt
Donavan Ried - June 21st, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Dom – June 21st, 2009 at 6:20 pm …… Lol, you almost had me there Dom, nice one……
Now the thing that gets me iwth this site is that nearly everyone here thorws the word “World Class” around about nearly every player. |Then using this word people consider two things (1) If picking a Team of 11 players and 11 sub (Two in each postion would you put that player in there (2) Just because a player plays for his country it does no mean that he is “World Class” in fact weshould call them either
(1) World Class ( Would walk in to a World 22 side)
(2) Continental Class (Regular, or plays for thier country, or in a top Club in Europe’s Champions League)
(3) League Class ( Spl,Epl,Dutch,Italian, French,Spanish etc, above average players)
(4) Squad player (speaks for it’s self)
(5) Lower lueage player
If anyone can come up with a better way to describe them please feel free…
Ash T - June 21st, 2009 at 7:57 pm
i think we should sell mascherano and get yay toure as his replacement if barca buy him, try lassana diarra if mardrid buy him or we could sell for as much as posible and get velso from sporting as his replacement costing around 15mill max! for veloso, but keep alonso for another season atleast.
i would buy: silva villa= 40mil plus players or 35mill if mata not silva(if valencia do not want to sell) johnson(almost done so we know) also get richards cb/rb cover adam johnson(joe cole maybe if can prove fitness and we can not get silva about 10mill if chelsea want to sell) lm cover (sell reira keep babel and try him as a upfront more or if a bid cums in 10+ sell him) all so get a new cm for cover(martinez,noble,michael johnson if can prove fitness) and gives them a year to settle in for whe/if alonso leaves next year.
5 times - June 22nd, 2009 at 6:54 am
Looks like that is our last signing for the summer 17 million i said numerous time too much for a right back.Looking at the stories in the papers that we need to sell our top players to ease our debt.Two questions is our debt so bad? and was it so bad before these yanks came in?Getting tired of hearing that our debt is so bad .Lets sell Macherano and use that to get a Striker and David Silva.The suspense is killing us Rafa ehat are you up to and please do not make another Robbie Keane Mistake again.