The £30m Strike Pair Liverpool Boss Rafa Benitez Has To Choose Between
by Andy Morris on November 16th, 2009 791 words | 64 commentsTough decision, not really!
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Well, it’s getting to that time of year again when agents and journalists alike are trying to earn their money. Unsuprisingly, this sees our beloved Reds being linked to a host of players. Including one of about 1,000 youngsters being touted as the next Kaka. However, I, and I’m sure my fellow Kopites, am not concerned about players for the future, it’s now that’s at the forefront of our minds’.
Past couple of weeks, we have been linked with moves for both Carlton Cole and Arsenal’s Eduardo. Both very good players but Cole possibly lacks some experience for a player of his age. Let’s look at the two of them independently of each other.
Carlton Cole – There is no doubt that he is a very talented player but in the 86 games he’s played in for West Ham, He’s scored a total of 22 goals. Is this the kind of games to goals ratio that we need from our second striker?
Personally, I think people still think of Cole as a young player but he is, in fact 26 yeas oold and should be hitting his prime in the next two years. Last season he only scored 10 goals in 27 games. Again, this is just my opinion, but that’s not good enough for a striker. Yes, I do appreciate that he also does a lot of work off the ball but you have to remember that he is West Ham’s main goal outlet. Is he worth £20million that the Hammers are alledged to have quoted Liverpool and Manchester United? I really don’t think so. He’s not going to improve that much in the next couple of years to warrent a price that high.
Eduardo – There has been a lot of talk over the weekend of about Eduardo joining Liverpool in a £10 million deal. Granted, most of it has been by Gooners fans on various fan boards. Let’s just look at this for a second. Two and a half years ago, he broke his ankle and fibula in an horrific tackle and, despite making a full recovery, has failed to start a Premier League game so far this season. In fact, Thomas Vermaelen, a defender, has scored more goals than Eduardo this season and only two less than Eduardo in his entire career at Arsenal.
Given that Arsenal are yet to open contract talks with Eduardo, I suspect that Liverpool’s interest in Eduardo is a product of his agent’s imagination. Eduardo himself has stated that he wants to stay at Arsenal but that he also wants improved terms on his contract that is due to expire in 18 months time. What better way to get this than to release a story about a team who is in need of a striker, looking to make a cheeky January bid. I don’t think we’ll be seeing Eduardo at Anfield any time soon. That is, unless he plays against us on 12 December
I don’t know what fellow Reds fans think, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a different West Ham player joining us. Of whom do I speak? None other than…..Zavor Hines. The lad has got ability and potential by the bucket full and already looks like a better player than Voronin. Yes, he would be more of a player for the future (contradicting what I said at the start of the article) but I think he would be able to get the game now. Maybe even partnering Ngog on the odd occasion and boosting both of their goal tallies. The problem with this is that he isn’t the 15-20 goal a season striker that we’re crying out for but then neither is Cole or Eduardo. The difference, with the right guidance he could be.
Of course, in any multiple choice puzzle, there’s always a secret option and this is no different. Secret option D is….our very own Krisztian Nemeth. He has so far scored 3 goals in 7 games for AEK Athens (according to Wikipedia). Given that Nemeth has just been injured, would it be worthwhile to recall him from his loan bring him back to Liverpool for treatment and some first team football? Again, he’s not a 15-20 goal a season striker but again, with work, he could be. I also think Nemeth would play much better along side Torres or Ngog than Hines or Cole would.
What do you guys think?
I’ve been Andy Morris and you’ve been reading my musings. God help you.
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anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
we wont win the title with some Zavor Hines. I think Cole would be a great partner for torres.
JOHN LFC - November 16th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Tough choice! However, i would like to see neither. Cole is not that good as his Goal/Game ratio shows. Eduardo isn’t that good either he has the same lack of goals.
Adriano is a good option. He is free (in the summer) and a proven goal scorer.
Di Maria is a more expensive but younger. Suarez is a good option for the same reasons as Di Maria. Aguero likes Liverpool, he is extremely talented and is very young but has alot of experience for his age. Huntelaar will be a lot cheaper than the previous three but has a fantastic record in terms of goals. Podolski has shown a lot of promise, he will be cheap and desparate as he playes for Köln. A.Young gives some more creativity on the wings and he is young and English.
Even Babel could be considered for that Striking role as that is his natural position.
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
None of the two. We should rather get in Podolski. The guy is as good as Rooney. Pacy, powerful, athletic and aggresive! Or else we should get someone to hold the ball up for Nando. Pavlyuchenko would be a decent loan signing! Or else I would recommend a forgotten man – Aleksandr Kerzhakov from Dynamo Moscow. The guy’s got real talent and less injury prone unlike Eduardo. I always felt Cole/Bent/Ashton/Johnson are all one season wonders.
Ryan Babel - November 16th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Agree with John LFC i would like Suarez and Di maria but if we have money then definitely Aguero.
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
How long ago was Eduardo injured?
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Holy crap you do not want Pavlyuchenko.
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
i bet we dont even sign anyone were always linked with loads of players and never get them
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
who wants a hug
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
i LOVE watching guys play with themselves
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
what about robbie keane coming back!!
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
If we sign a striker in January, I’ll be STUNNED!!!!!
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Elia sounds promising but so did babel when he came. Shame we sold crouch in my opinion, eduardo has class but the gooners would not sell to another top 4side. Villa would be the dream signing but I bet ngog is given a run until torres is back.
dave - November 16th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
zavon hines is available on a free in the summer,check out the football blog at gamebetting .co .uk for a list of players available free in the summer,there is some quality in there.
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
Why not buy Robbie Keane from Tottenham for 20 mil
Im sure if it doesnt work out they will buy him back again, for a discount…
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Danko lazovic perhaps????
Babel was born on the position so that’s also an option
Anyway 4 players I always feel are a great adition to any squad are Raul Tamudo Javier Saviola Diego forlan and Juan roman Riquelme
But they aren’t long term solutions
I suppose with some luck they might get their hands on both Podolski and Huntelaar (seeing as Aguero is being touted these 2 should together be about his price)
Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 8:34 pm
Whatever level nemeth has played so far he has scored a goal every 2 games or better. This season he has also been at the under 20 world cup scoring 3 in 6 and stepped up to the under 21s scoring 2 in 2 total from under 17’s to under 21’s is 35 games 30 goals. Scored 25 goals for our reserves in a season. Given a chance he would easily score 20 in a season and torres would score even more with nemeths link play and assists. Get him back get rid of dossena and aurelio. Spend £20m on Cissokho have the best 2 attacking young full backs in the world then that way we are spending our money on someone who is improving the first team not £15m on cover when we have torres, nemeth, ngog, pacheco, ecclestone, babel, kuyt
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Retryboy
You make some very good comments of which i agree i cant agree with you about Aurelio he is a good player not a great player. I would also bring nemeth back. But one player we need to cnsider replacing is Mash as he is off in the summer who do you fancy there? (i dont want him to go)
Regards
Pete
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
get Javier Saviola and aaron lennon!
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
work on nemeth, he has the ability
babel to play striker, worth a shout he might actually play well
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
wat about the young guy from cska moscow Dzagoyev. he is only 19 yo and wud only cost around 10-15mill. plus wen everyone is fit he cud fill the left wing spot. or we cud try and buy van der vaart who shud have been bought in the summer
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
sell voronin there’s always some idiot desperate for a striker
Retryboy - November 16th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Evening pete i think aurelio is a good player too but he averages less than 20 games a season with injuries that doesn’t look to be getting any better and he is also 30 now. His contract is up soon and rafa wants to give him a 2 year deal just don’t think he warrants it and whilst better than insua at the moment they aren’t light years apart and if everyone were fit think it would be the weakest area of the team which is debatable but i rate babel on the right and benayoun on the left. If we did lose mascherano would have to be yaya toure, flamini or tom huddlestone for me. Who do you rate if he were to go?
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
i dont think we should sell aurelio he was one of our better players last season, and he’s been quite good in the few games he has played this season and plus he’s great from set pieces
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
i would like scott parker if mascherano left he can tackle and he can play creative football unlike mascherano
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
what do you think about the jose mourinho liverpool rumour, apparently he said he’d think about taking over if a takeover was to happen which is imminent soooooo……
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
y do that wen u can buy either villa or silva
u cud probs buy villa with that as he is bout27 or 28 but still he is the best for torres i mean wot a partnership
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
villa is way to much money they’ve valued him at at least 40 mil
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
we dont have that thats why we’re selling mascherano
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
and scott parker is english which is a bonus
Donavan Ried - November 16th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
If the choice is between Cole and Eduardo then Eduardo, but i would sooner go for Podolski
anonymous - November 16th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
Scott Parker is not good enough for Liverpool. Replacing Mascherano with Parker would be replacing Torres with Clive Mendonca. I honestly don’t know who I would want to replace Masch, should he leave. I can’t think of anyone that we could afford who could break up play like Masch does. Possibly Yaya Toure or Di Rossi but whether we could afford them or not is another story.
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:26 am
I’d like us to sign tuco benidito specifico juan marie romerez, known as the rat.
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:46 am
why cant rafa just produce some good talents like everybody else, apart from Insua,rafa has been quiet poor in producing anything else. I take my hat off to Wenger cause he has prong to every manager that he doesnt have to spend big to find talent?
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:47 am
why cant rafa just produce some good talents like everybody else, apart from Insua,rafa has been quiet poor in producing anything else. I take my hat off to Wenger cause he has proven to every manager that he doesnt have to spend big to find talent.
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:47 am
does anybody disagree……?
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:52 am
In rafa time in charge, can anyone name some good wingers that we have bought, and please dont say luis garcia because we sold him. if he was that good would we sell a player….would we sell gerrard?
and good old dirk kuyt, just cause his a work horse cant excuse that his not good enough for liverpool, you can get any idiot to run up and down for liverpool. Why didnt we at least give ryan babel that much time on the playing field as we did with Kuyt, we might have actually seen the player we never saw out of ryan…..
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 1:18 am
all this talk i would be even surprised if we get a striker on loan u know what we need is new owners that have money to take he club forward before torres & gerrard realize they are wasting there time with liverpool they wont win anything all we need is the special one to leave inter to go to man city with the money they have we would be in serious trouble then forget about the top 4 nevermind a strikerfuture is very grim im sorry to say that liverpool fans i am a die hard liverpool if we fail to qualify for champions leauge next year and fail to go to the knockout stages i fan we would be into a real mess i hope fortune change forget about all these namess just tell he yanks to get out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Let’s sell mascherano and buy David Silva!!!
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 3:22 am
Hi Matt here!!!
The best striker at this moment for us would be Pandev as he will cost only 4mp.He can also play as a LWM & as a SS.
Aurelio has been offered a contract extension so Aurelio remains.
Aiden Mcgeady could be signed to solve our LM problems and his contract will be over by 2010 summer.Only 1 year left.
I do watch the reserve matches & I can say that we hae our very own Cissokho being developed in Melwood and the person is Mavinga.He has been brilliant.He is just 18 and will have a few appearances in the 1st team from next year.I believe that he has the potential to snatch the LWB position from Insua in 3 yrs.
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 6:08 am
Lasana diarra fr0m real madrid shud b gud to replace masc
Retryboy - November 17th, 2009 at 8:13 am
Morning matt yeah mavinga has been one of the big successes this season and with Buchtmann behind him we have real talent but the likes of insua, kelly, ayala and eccleston have been at the club for years before getting their chance can’t see him being introduced for another season and then very slowly judging by the way rafa has previously brought young players in. Nemeth, pacheco, ngog, darby, ayala, kelly, spearing, martin, eccleston and el zhar are the crop that i feel are ready now to take the likes of degen, kyrgiakos, dossena, voronin, itandje’s places in the squad. Mavinga in the next batch along with amoo, kacanilic, irwin, gulacsi no less exciting and only about a year till they start getting introduced. Sure someone said where is the young talent its there in abundance rafa just needs to show faith in talent over experience
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Podolski -cheap and underrated
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Babel, Nemeth, Torres and Ngog we have four terrific strikers, bring Nemeth Back and give Babel a pat on his back, build his confidence we won’t need to buy another striker plenty of goals there….
As for Mr Macherano i say no player is that big if he doesn’t want to play for our beloved liverpool then we don’t need him, we have senior Gerrad and Aqilliani for the central roles with Benayun on the right wing we need a world class winger for the left and perhaps mr sniejder and VDV fromreal with the funds from Macherano sale….we will have one hell of a team, it will be an attacking flowing, and a true liverpool style of footy…??????
Is it me or has he really improved and looks a decent player as a cover, i really hated the football he was playing last season but is showing decent performances this season, now you are asking yourself who am i talking about, i am actually talkig about Lucas, yes him. Granted he is not yet good enough to be in the first eleven but he is actually getting better and has been a decent cover…..or is it just my imagination??
rassell feroze
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Kop King
Buchman is miles better than Mavinga, it is becomming all too easy to spout out these up and comming names but unfortunately the facts are only a select few are good enough to play for liverpool.
Mavinga is good but please you can see he ain’t in the same class as buchmana and you can all see that spearing and plessis are championship standard at best. As for ecclestone he is showing signs of a good player but to turn around and say we don’t need this player becouse of our youth system is plain stupid.
Retryboy - November 17th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
What happened at united when they gave their youth a chance? Beckham, Giggs, scholes and those 2 ugly fucker sons of a whore whose name escapes me. Nemeth, pacheco, kelly, ayala and darby i am certain will be massive for us. Ngog, ecclestone and all the rest have every chance of being top players too. Spearing will be a good squad player at worst. We aren’t saying throw them straight in the first team(well i would with nemeth) but let them be the squad players along with a few quality older and ship out the rubbish older players. If money is to be spent should be on improving the first team not on the bench. I have massive faith in our youngsters have seen what they can do for years insua was never the cream of the crop and he is doing well so those that outshone him week in week out will be amazing as we say with kelly and as nemeth shows in all his international and club performances.
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
bring back KRIZTIAN NEMETH wat a talent we’ve got…strt giving him premierleague experience say hull city…and hes goin to be the new torres
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
All these comments and nobody has really considered that Rafa will not play two strikers as that is not his style. If he is fit then Rafa will always play Gerard behind Torres (Which he should as they work well teogether).
The problem with the team at the moment is the Central Midfield and defence.
If it was up to me I would sell Lucas, Mascherano and put the profits towards finding a player who could do a similar role that Alonso did for us.
The question of do we require a second striker?
We have as suggested above:
Kuyt
Babbel
Ngog
Nemeth
pacheco
ecclestone
If we have spent all this money on the Future then why aren’t we giving them the chance to shine as we seem to only give certian players a chance in the cups games. when we should like other big clubs use one of the cups to show case the future of the club by playing these younger players.
If it had been me I would have put players like Babbel, Lucs at the start in the reserves and then allow him to develop more and get a good grasp of the English game before put them in the first team.
I am of the opinion that for Liverpool to have a maintaining team which can conquer the Premiership and europe as well as the cup competitons then we need to sort out the defence and midfield and start bringing players through out reserves and youth team that are good enough to play for Liverpool.
Mr Liverman
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
has evryone gone crazy??? ther is only 1 man we shud buy to partner torres and evry1 seems to hav forgotten all about him!!
DAVID VILLA!!!!!
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
mascherano is gonna leave whether you like it or not and benitez wont replace him he’ll probably buy a winger or summin
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
i hope mascherano does go he’s a waste of space he can only tackle he cant pass for shit
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
i think we should sell voronin he’ll end up goin back to germany he’s just not good enough for us
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
benitez doesn’t know what he’s doing we knew alonso would go in 2008 it was just a matter of time we were lucky how much we got for him god knows what he was thinking when he didnt go for barry at only 12 million
anonymous - November 17th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Retry
Its pete
In response to who could fill the void when mash leaves I would have poss gone for cattormole but i do agree with your choice even better would be Essien but that aint going to happen as a gamble i would give kuyt a chance but he lacks pace. Its a tough one because mash is in his prime. if he was nearing thirty Rafa would take the money.
Check out that young Kid della valle (not sure if i have got his name right) now he is something special
I
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 12:24 am
It really would not be hard at all for Rafa to turn h this side into a gun side ive said this same thing before and i will say it again- Standard charted sponsor money-20m
Carlsberg sponsor money- Roughly 12m
=32m
Player sales-
Mascherano- As good as he is and as much as I like him, he and his wife aren’t happy there, so he could be sold for about 35m.
Riera- 7m
Voronin
Degen-1m
=75m
So the buying begins,
Bastian Schweinstieger- 10m
Miroslav Klose- 7m
Lukas Podolski- 11m + Voronin
Lorik Cana- 16m
Rafael Van Der Vaart- 7m
this would work and it would leave roughly 24m left. these players can play in various positions and just think of how much say Nemeth or N’gog would learn of klose and torres. silva and elia arnt needed podolski has more pace, power, aggression better cross/shot, klose scoes goal where ever he goes, bastien can play anywhere in the final third(take over from kuyt and yossi) plus he has a great set piece, canagood holding mid and we all no about VDV.
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 6:29 am
wtf is up with ppl wanting to buy David Villa..we do not play 2 strikers up front. soo if you do not understand the game then shut the fuk up and dont post shit comments like this wanting Villa in Liverpool. it ll just be a waste of money and nooo i dont wanna see Masch leave bcoz he is one of the best defensive midfield when he steps up his game. For a striker solution i reckon bring Nemeth back and also Ryan babel can play in that position when Torres is out or injured and i believe Ryan will play better as a striker
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Did everyone forgt bout our old striker Hesky….I think he’l be able to do the job!! Hesky is strong and experience and play good at international level… playing just behind Torres..and move Gerrard in his old positon..cm..With our new future promising Hot Shot ”Aquilani” !!..
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 9:58 am
Aquilani..will shine….He proved it at Roma.. im sure he’l prove it at anfield also…
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Torres and villa are NOT a dream partnership. everybody in spain complains about how he doesnt play well for the national team compared to his Anfield performances.. thats because he and villa both want to be no1 striker and one of them ends up being held back. keep torres as only striker, have the youngsters as backup.
keep mach, he cleans up well, have gerrard and aquilani swap around lots mid-game (between gerrard and alonso’s old roles) to stop ppl like essien sticking to gerrard. keep benayoun as a supersub as he makes an impact but also doesnt seem to be affected by that role (unlike babel).
all we really need to buy is a world class left wing. i say silva – benitez himself said we could buy one expensive player each window, and one is all we need.
Donavan Ried - November 18th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
anonymous – November 18th, 2009 at 12:49 pm ……… “Torres and villa are NOT a dream partnership.” …….
I have been saying this here since the Euro’s …..
If you watch Torres’s face during the games that he played with Villa, he ain’t Happy, no sir he ain’t Happy ……
anonymous – November 18th, 2009 at 12:24 am …….. Why buy both Klose and Podolski? …..
Some papers are reporting that Liverpool will have to sell some player in a attempt to cut the wage bill at the club …… A few of us here have been say that the club should do this for over two years now …… But hey why should anyone listen to us. After all we don’t know nothing, we’re not “Professional Managers”
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
the reason we dont play 2 up top is because we dont hav any1 gd enuf to play alongside torres. we need to buy an awesum striker with the money we sell masch for (£30-35m), and put stevie g back in midfield alongside aquilani.
klose = too old
podolski = okay, but not world class
heskey = donkey
silva = overrated
go for villa, would definately come to us as we hav alot of spanish. knows how to play alongside torres. hes got pace, power, and proven goalscorer. im sure he would hit the ground running and score goals immediately (if not he’ll set loads up).
anonymous - November 18th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
who wrote this bullish??? its a load of crap nd im a scouser through and through!!! we got no money!!! u got that???so to all them people sayin that we gnna getvilla and silva nd all the other big names it aint gnna happen!!! one owner one good manager 22 great players and the title!!! thats allwe asking for… the great one to become next lfc manager arabs to take over gerrard will never go down fighting!!! we wont win anythingthis season but our YEARS will come again!!! KENNY!!!! scouse proud!!!
anonymous - November 19th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
villa silva, end of problems!
anonymous - November 20th, 2009 at 1:22 am
I have been screaming for Nemeth of Pacheco to play!
They have an abundance of talent that the 1st team needs!
Their 1st team debut is well overdue!
anonymous - November 22nd, 2009 at 7:39 pm
just a dream to buy a player this january.liv dont have money to buy player.owner really suck.how about if liv sell torres for 80mil.then we buy silva for 25mil, fuller for 10mil, and maybe german forward for 15mil.