Not much news out of Liverpool since Gerard Houllier was deposed, just a few players departing and rumors of new signings or at least player interest. With Jose Mourinho all set to take over at Chelsea, even though Ranieri is still on the payroll, the main rumor I hear is for Valencia’s Benitez to be the new manager; the Spanish and UEFA Cup champions, however, are not keen on losing him and appear to be negotiating a new deal so he’ll stay.
Other possibilities spoken of are Charlton’s Alan Curbishley and Celtic’s Martin O’Neill; the latter particularly has long been the subject of speculation and Curbishly would be making an interesting move considering his current club only finished three places and seven points back of the Reds.
Player Changes:
Emile Heskey, a starter for both LFC and England, apparently couldn’t quite meet the standards with his slower, more physical style, especially with Cisse coming to Anfield this Summer, so he was sold to Middlesboro 10 days ago for £3.5M (which could rise to £6.25M if conditions are met). One of my fellow SpoFites/Liverpool supporters, a rough character himself who goes by StarFucker, was more than a litle happy at this subtraction.
Djimi Traore, a defender who never really broke though to a starting spot on the squad in five seasons, is moving to West Brom for a £1M fee. He showed some speed and opportunism when given some playing time this past year (the time came due to Carragher’s and Finnan’s injuries, mostly) but I guess not enough. His new team needs to bulk up as they earned promotion from the First Dvision into the Premiership and I have to think Traore is a good buy for the Baggies.
Markus Babbel, a defender who lost his starting spot a couple of seasons ago when he was injured and then couldn’t play his way back in, has returned after a season’s loan at Blackburn Rovers. Whether there is space for Babbel is an open question and he may head home to a German side.
One tranfer that didn’t happen is goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek to PSV Eindhoven. The Polish National Team player knows he is likely second choice to Chris Kirkland and has had the bulk of playing time over the last two seasons only due to injuries, but apparently wants to wait and see who will take over before making a decision on a change of scenery.
Meanwhile, England and Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves has come out and essentially asked the Reds to buy his contract. Hargreaves is only 23 but has spent his career with the German giants and would probably figure better into the national squad if he made a move to the EPL. I think he would certainly be an improvement over Diouf and Cheyrou on the right side if a deal can be arranged.
Djibril Cisse will sign, for a £14M fee, on the first of July to move over from Auxerre and presumably battle Milan Baros to partner with Michael Owen. Cisse, by the way, lead the French league in scoring with 26 goals, ten more than Owen managed. One might wonder where this leaves the player who showed some flash last season, the not yet 20 year old Florent Sinama-Pongolle, but seasons are very long and injuries put shoes on the turf all the time.
All this will be settled soon, I suppose, since the Reds will regroup for training in mid-July after the European nations settle the trophy in Portugal. The team will head to America for two matches (July 28 and August 3) as part of the Champions World event but sadly both will be held on the East Coast and I will miss the first opportunity since I became an ‘active’ fan to see them play live.
BillSaysThis 