Liverpool football club news, Liverpool transfers, Premier League
Transfer Balls: the BBC says Liverpool have signed winger Roberto Firmino, 23, from Hoffenheim for £21m – but the fee could rise to £28m with add ons.
Firmino is Liveprool’s second most expensive signing ever – only Andy Carroll, a £35 million signing from Newcastle United four years ago, has cost Liverpool more.
The Brazilian knows where the net is, scoring 49 times in 153 appearances for Hoffenheim.
But which of the faces above is he?
.
.
.
Answer: B.
Transfer Balls: a look at rubbish football rpeoting in the mainstream media. Today the Daily Express says Manchester will pay £50m for Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling. Having had a £40m offer rejected, the Express is hardly alone in reasoning is that City will offer more for the talented young English player.
The Express says this is an “exclusive”. And it is one – in much the same way that the contents of you toilet are exclusive to that toilet.
John Richardson writes:
As Sunday Express Sport has revealed Liverpool are prepared to sell the 20-year-old but not for a penny under £50 million.
As all papers, blogs, radio stations and carrier pigeons have also revealed, Sterling wants to leave Liverpool and the Reds wants to get as much as they can for the player.
Sources close to the Merseyside club have indicated that City won’t drop their interest for the sake of another £10 million in a summer in which they are committed to bringing in top English talent.
These sources are unnamed. They are also on the Liverpool side of the deal. The Express‘ scoop about what Manchester City will do contains not a single word from anyone at Manchester City.
Posted: 21st, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Football agent of the day is Marco De Marchi. He represents Liverpool striker Fabio Borini. Since signing for Liverpool in July 2012, the £10m Italian has scored 10 Premier League goals – seven of which were for Sunderland when he went out on loan.
You could deduce from the stats that Borini has been less than great. But Marco De Marchi tells Corriere dello Sport
“Fabio wants a new experience. We expected more consideration from Liverpool. There are teams from all over Europe interested in him. Top clubs in Europe are keen on him, from the Premier League to the Bundesliga and there also clubs in Italy, but many clubs in Italy have had coaching changes and that has slowed things down. He has no preference, he just wants a team that gives him a clear chance to prove himself. Right now he feels like a lion in a cage.”
Ready to strike just as soon as he can find his teeth…
Is that Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling inhaling nitrous oxide – always billed in the newspapers as ‘hippy crack’ – on a boat in Ibiza? The Sun’s Chris Pollard says it is:
FOOTBALL star Raheem Sterling has been caught sucking from a balloon — just weeks after The Sun exposed him inhaling laughing gas… on Tuesday he was videoed with the stem of an inflated pink balloon between his lips.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 18th, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports | Comment
Manchester City’s £40m Raheem Sterling bid will not to be succesful. Liverpool are digging their heels in, demanding £50 million for the English tyro. QPR, Sterling’s old club watch with intersted – 20% of any fee goes to them.
City have offered £35 plus £5m in performance-related payments.
City are desperate for homefrown talent to ensure that they comply with Uefa regulation. And they are the only City to have made any official offer for him.
But Sterling wants to play in London. Which leaves Sterling hoping that Arsenal or Chelsea offer Liverpool that £50m. Good luck waiting for that, Raheem.
Posted: 18th, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
The less he plays for the Liverpool, the more his value rises. So it is for Raheem Sterling, who is now the subject of a £40m bid from desperate Manchester City.
Liverpool will, of course, reject the offer. City have upped their bid from £30m to £40m in a matter of days. Liverpool know that making City wait for prime, young English talent will only increase his price.
Liverpool want £50 million for Sterling. When that was announced, it looked high. But now it looks reasonable.
City will make the offer. And it looks very much like no-one else will.
Posted: 17th, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls: Is Juventus striker Alvaro Morata heading to Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United? The Daily Express’ Joe Short finds the fee staggering:
Back in March 2015, the news was not as staggering – which is odd because back then the Express valued Morata at £60m:
Is Morata heading to Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester United for a ‘Staggering’ £58m or a reasonable £60m? No. He’s not.
Of course, Morata already plays for Arsenal. We read that in the Daily Express and its sister organ, the Daily Star:
Such are the facts.
Posted: 15th, June 2015 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports | Comment
In an “EXCLUSIVE” the Daily Express says “Arsenal and Real Madrid join Man City in race for Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling”.
But they don’t. They haven’t. The only bids for Sterling have some from Manchester United (an unofficial enquiry about buying the player for £25m) and Manchester City (£25m plus £5m if he turns out to be any good for them).
John Richardson’s exclusive hangs on not a single fact. All he writes is:
Liverpool are expecting the first official move from the Spanish giants in the next few days while Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is a confirmed admirer of the winger.
Bids from Madrid and Arsenal for Sterling: none.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 15th, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Raheem Sterling will not be leaving Liverpool to join Manchester City. Well, not yet. Liverpool have rejected City’s £30m offer for the England player.
The bid – 25 million, plus £5 million in potential future payments – falls well short of the £50m Liverpool wants for Sterling, whose contract ends in June 2017.
Should City offer more for Sterling, who favours a return to London?
Posted: 12th, June 2015 | In: Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
In a game so dull it made you understand why FIFA settled on playing the World Cup on red-hot sand in Qatar, Ireland and England’s draw was remarkable for one thing: a few fans jeered and booed Liverpool’s Raheem Sterling.
“I think he’s going through a bad time publicly,” said England manager Roy Hodgson said. “You can’t expect people just to shrug off the criticism he has been receiving, not least from the local media in Liverpool. That becomes national pretty quickly. He does ever so well and tries well to shrug it off, to let his football do the talking. He needed this game to realise that, if he is going to get it out of his system, he’s going to have to work harder still and get a thicker skin than he has at the moment.
We only took him off today to give others a game, to air the squad.”
If Sterling is letting his football do the talking for him, right now he’s in whisper mode. And we do like the bit about airing the squad, as you would a mattress, cellar or attic. Sterling made way for Andros Townsend, who could have enlivened the moribund affair had he appeared dressed as Miss Havisham or a dusty bottle of wine.
So. Is Sterling going to play for England in Slovenia on Sunday?
“I have no reservations about playing him in Slovenia,” says Hodgson. “I trust Sterling, but players are not robots. He’s done some fantastic things for us, but today he didn’t hit those heights. It’ll take a lot before I and the English national team sway from Raheem Sterling.”
In the meantime, enough with the jering and the booing. Can fans not think up a decent chant to hail Raheem?
Transfer Balls spots the rumours that Raheem Sterling is leaving Liverpool for Manchester United. The Daily Mirror says United will offer £25m for the England player. How it knows this is left unsaid. But, you know, “sources”.
ESPN says Liverpool would rather sell Sterling to Arsenal. The fee? Lots of money plus Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs.
The Star says Manchester City have £40m reserved for Sterling.
Not too long ago (‘hours’ – ed) Sterling was surely heading to Real Madrid, where he’d link up with former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez.
Newly sat in the Real Madrid ejector seat, Benitez was very quickly reading aloud from the Real Madrid Big Book Of Transfers:
“We admire [Raheem], that’s no secret – but he is not one of our players so I can’t really comment on him.”
A Real Madrid comment is in actual fact a huge comment that Real want to buy Sterling.
As it is the lad’s gone nowhere.
Liverpool fans will get at least one more season of Brendan Rodgers, a man whose ability to smug it out is unrivalled.
After a meeting with Liverpool chariman Tom Werner and owners’ representative Fenway Sports Group (FSG) President Michael Gordon, Liverpool have agreed on a “comprehensive plan for improvement”. The meeting was “positive and progressive”.
Details are thin.
What will change?
The talk is that James Milner, Danny Ings, Christian Benteke and Nathaniel Clyne could be arriving at Anfield in the near future. The Times says 29-year-old Milner has agreed terms with Liverpool after rejecting a more generous contract offer to remain on Manchester City’s bench. The paper adds that Liverpool are in the hunt for a new goalkeeper.
That would be five new players Rodgers would have to mould into the team in quick time. Given the £110million-worth of new signings bought last summer, the squad is not being short-changed in the club’s quest to move on from last season’s post-Luis Suarez mediocrity, when they were most notably out-thought by Aston Villa and Stoke City and the momentum of that 2013/14 season title-surge was lost.
Rodgers could once rely on Luis Suarez’s brilliance and flashes of inspiration to mask any lack of tactical nous. Last season, the plan seemed to be for Raheem Sterling or Philippe Coutinho to do the same. When they failed Liverpool looked tame, witless and disorganised.
New players bought in by the club’s data and value-driven transfer committee failed to gel. Rodgers remained verbose, talking and talking a good game, continuing to make baffling selections and fussing over details.
One thing Liverpool can move on is to colour-in the grey areas between ownership and management. The club’s structure seems messy.
What is expected of Rodgers? Obviously, Champions’ League qualification and a cup are the targets, but if Rodgers’ Liverpool fails to deliver one or both will be be sacked?
It would be useful to know how Rodgers is being measured and what part FSG consider they’ve played in the club’s slide from the Premier League’s top four.
Transfer Balls hears the Daily Express say that Real Madrid are making a move for Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea target Raheem Sterling. The fee of £45m is mentioned.
The Express cites as its source another tabloid:
But according to The Sun, Real are keen to open talks over a potential £45m deal.
Over in the Sun we learn:
REAL MADRID will open talks over a £45million move for Raheem Sterling in the next fortnight. Liverpool’s top brass are expected to travel to Spain for a friendly between Real and Reds legends on June 14.
Read the rest of this entry »
Football Balls: the intersection of media football fact and fiction spots the Sun’s story that “JURGEN KLOPP has made himself available to be next Liverpool manager”.
Has he? Klopp has left Borussia Dortmund. He’s a free agent. He’s pretty much made himself available to be manager any club.
Ken Lawrence writes:
The German, 47, has scrapped plans to take six months off after his last game as Borussia Dortmund boss in tomorrow’s German Cup final. And he has made it known he would be interested in taking over from Kop boss Brendan Rodgers at Anfield.
How did he make that interest known? The only quote the story provides is this:
“I am not tired. I haven’t had any contact with any other clubs but I am not planning a sabbatical.”
Mentions of Liverpool: none.
Lawrence then ends his story by noting:
Carlo Ancelotti is also a possibility for Liverpool after leaving Real Madrid.
Yeah, of course he is. Other managers with Premier League experience looking for work and, therefore by the Sun’s reckoning possible Liverpool head coaches, include: Steve McClaren, Sam Allardyce, Ian Holloway, Malky Mackay, Paul Lampbert, Harry Redknapp, Stuart Pearce, John Gregory, Danny Wilson and Gus Poyet.
Looking at that lot, Liverpool sticking with their current manager Brendan Rodgers doesn’t look such a bad option.
Transfer Balls: Good news, Liverpoool fans. The Daily Star says you’re going to be watching another former Manchester City striker in Liverpool red. Calos Tevez will be keeping Mario Balotelli company at Anfield.
Well, so the trusty Daily Star’s Marc Williams tells us in a story dated May 27:
The former Manchester United, City and West Ham star is considering his future with Juventus and, according to the Daily Express, could leave if the Italian giants win the Champions League.
The Star is quoting its sister paper. So we head across the newsroom to the Express and learn via a May 14 story:
Liverpool eye SENSATIONAL move for former Man Utd and City ace Carlos Tevez…
According to the Metro, Liverpool have made enquiries about whether Tevez would be interested in a return to the Premier League at the end of the season.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Times’ story that Manchester United have asked Liverpool about their willingness to sell Raheem Sterling has been replayed throughout the mainstream media.
But the news is thin.
The Times‘ leads sports story begins and ends with United asking Liverpool “for an indication of how much it would cost to buy the unsettled 20-year-old”.
It was only yesterday we learned that Manchester City had valued Sterling at £40million and 150,000-a-week in wages – that offer following weeks of news that the player was worth anything up to £50million.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: 21st, May 2015 | In: Liverpool, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Laughing all the way to the bank
Last night the BBC reported that Raheem Sterling was arranging his Liverpool departure. Given that the talented, underpaid and pragmatic Sterling had chosen to tell the BBC of his desires for glittering success and admiration for Arsenal in a TV interview, the source is less speculative than most. The BBC had its scoop.
And one day on how does the The Sun cover the story of Raheem Sterling’s departure from Anfield? Like this:
It’s an ‘exclusive’ to every one of those Liverpool fans who get their football news only in the Sun – which is to say none of them.
You can read Raheem’s story here, and realise why his leaving Liverpool is no great shock.
Liverpool gerrard hair
There we were, busy painstakingly compiling a season-by-season photographic retrospective appraisal of Steven Gerrard’s 17-year hair portfolio only for the bloody BBC to go and steal our thunder by cobbling this little beauty together…
Steven Gerrard: 17 seasons, one sensible haircut. Immaculate.
You just can’t buy consistency like that. What a legacy.
Spotter: Pies
Who said that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was a genius? Says Rodgers…
“Three months ago I was a tactical genius, performing to a good level.”
Former Liverpool great Steve Nicol tells the Daily Mail:
“I’d love to know who was calling him a ‘tactical genius’, Brendan. When was he a tactical genius? When was he a tactical genius against Ludogorets, against Real Madrid, against Basel? When was he a tactical genius against Aston Villa in the FA Cup? I mean, come on.”
What kind of wally would have called Rodgers a genius? Well, Nichol might not be a Daily Mail reader because it was that paper’s Adrian Durham who opined:
“Rodgers did the legwork, learned his trade, soaked up knowledge and look where he is now. Tactical genius. That’s what Brendan Rodgers is.”
He wasn’t the only one:
Peter Fraser on Sky: “Liverpool’s Brendan Rodgers should be considered a managerial genius whatever happens”
Of course, Rodgers has mentioned his genius before. This is from 2014:
“I know how it goes. Six or seven months ago I was the manager of the year and I was going to be this and that, tactically this and tactically that, and now, because we have lost two world-class players, I am useless. But I accept that. I must have just dreamt that about Liverpool playing 3-4-3 in the last game [the Capital One Cup victory at Bournemouth]. What do people think that was, a bit of luck? A British coach playing 3-4-3? A foreign coach doing that would be a tactical genius. I imagine people think I fell into that system through a stroke of luck or something.”
So. Who called Rodgers a tactical genius? Well, Rodgers did…
Jordan Henderson has penned a new five-year deal to play for Liverpool. Good news for Liverpool fans. And at £100,0o0-a-week, it’s good news for Henderson, who will just be able to afford a season ticket at top-flight boxing. (Tickets for the Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao’s fight are yours for £100,000 each. It makes £60 to watch your team play Arsenal at the Emirates look like a steal.)
Writing in the Times, Giles Smith wonders if Henderson is going to re-sign for another of his clients: Nivea.
…a deal that has already yielded comedy gold. Indeed, if there was a Bafta for Best Look To Camera By A Footballer In A Narrative-Based Commercial (and now there should be), Henderson would have swept it away for a lifetime.
It is a cracker:
But what does it all mean for men? It’s the decline of man: the steady emasculation of our role models.
Posted: 25th, April 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports, The Consumer | Comment
Transfer Balls: Liverpool have made an offer for Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi. So declares the Daily Telegraph. And who are the papers sources for this Liverpool scoop?
According to The Metro, Illarramendi is expected to quit Madrid this summer after struggling to hold down a regular place in the Real side
The Metro. Yeah. Stick with it. After all, waaaay back on April 22, The Metro reported:
Arsenal handed transfer blow as Asier Illarramendi confirms desire to stay at Real Madrid
Today’s Metro scoop arrives via Jamie Sanderson:
Liverpool ‘make offer to finally seal Asier Illarramendi transfer’.
Sanderson then delivers the facts:
Liverpool have made an offer to sign Real Madrid’s Asier Illarramendi ahead of Arsenal, according to reports. Illarramendi is expected to quit Madrid this summer after struggling to hold down a regular place in the Real side.
Which reports?
Arsenal have been linked with a move, with Arsene Wenger said to be a fan, but Marca claims Liverpool…
So. It’s Marca, then. And we do find a story on Illarramendi and Liverpool. It’s dated April 11 2015. It contains not single word on any offer. But we do learn that Arsenal and Liverpool both like Illarramendi. But mentions of a bid are there none.
Posted: 24th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Sports | Comment
Transfer Balls spots the Daily Star’s news that Sami Khedira has delived a “blow to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United”.
Jonathan Green reports:
The 28-year-old has become one of the most sought after players in European football with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Schalke all looking to secure the German’s signature.
This is the Daily Star that told readers that Khedira had agreede to join Arsenla and Bayern Munich:
Such are the facts in the Daily Star…
The World Cup winner is out of contract in the summer and has confirmed he will leave the Bernabeu after five years.
The 28-year-old has become one of the most sought after players in European football with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Dortmund and Schalke all looking to secure the German’s signature.
And reports in Spain claim Dortmund are in the process of drawing up an offer for Khedira as they look to move ahead of their rivals.
Borussia Dortmund want Sami Khedira
INTEREST: Borussia Dortmund want Sami Khedira [GETTY]
They say Dortmund officials are prepared to offer Khedira a deal worth €11m (£8m) a year to bring him to the Westfalenstadion.
The Bundesliga club are set for a major overhaul this summer following Jurgen Klopp’s announcement that he will step down as manager at the end of the season.
Mats Hummels looks set to follow Klopp out of the exit door while doubts remain over the futures of Ilkay Gundogan, Marco Reus, Ciro Immobile and Neven Subotic.
Posted: 21st, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, manchester united, Sports | Comment
Aston Villa beat Liverpool 2-1 in an entertaining FA Cup semi-final. But what were the important scores, the ones newspapers award players?
Martin Samuel says Liverpool’s one goal was lucky. The Daily Mail writer says Philippe Coutinho’s shot went in via a “fortuitous deflection”.
But one page on, the Mail’s Laurie Whitwell says of Coutinho:
“Super run and finish.”
From lucky to super in a page.
The Mail awards Coutinho a score of 7 our of 10. That makes him better than 8 Aston Villa players. But the Daily Mirror says every Villa player was better than every Liverpool player.
Such are the facts…
By Klopp Watch
Jurgen Klopp is heading out of Borussia Dortmund. But where to next for the affable German?
The Daily Express says Manchester City is Klopp’s most likely destination. Why City, who have moved towards the Spanish model in recent seasons with the appointment of former Barcelona executives Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain (secured in the hope of luring Pep Guardiola to the Etihad), would opt for the man who made Dortmund masters of high-octane gegenpressing is not explained.
Any move for Klopp would necessitate a wholesale change in style and massive investment. Would Financial Fair Play allow it?
The Mirror also links Klopp to City. Apparently, odds on Klopp heading to the Etihad have been slashed. Of course odds on Klopp heading anywhere have been slashed following the announcement that this season will be his last at Dortmund.
The Mirror says City’s main rivals for the German are Napoli. Can anyone really see an Italian team embracing Klopp’s madly energetic, hard-pressing style? Klopp has said that he loves “serenity football… What we call in German – English football: rainy days, heavy pitch, everybody is dirty in the face…” So. Sunny Napoli it is then.
The Sun leads with news that Klopp has “told Premier League clubs: Come and get me.” The paper suggests the clubs that could go for Klopp: Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham, West Ham and Newcastle.
The Mail produces its list of possible Klopp destinations. City, Liverpool and Arsenal are the only Premier League clubs to feature. No word on West Ham, who would offer Klopp an intriguing challenge. Liverpool would be Klopp’s natural fit, but Brendan Rodgers is doing a decent job at Anfield. Arsenal could do with Klopp when Arsene Wenger leaves in a year or two. But after years of relative austerity when they sold their best players to balance the books and fund a new stadium, Wenger’s sudden departure would be like a man walking away from a loaded fruit machine.
The Mail says the clubs most likely to go for Klopp are Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
Could Klopp, the outsider, end up at one of the ultimate insider clubs? Rory Smith (Times) compares such a move to “the gertrification of Williamsburg, the adoption of the beard by the Ben Sherman boys, the ultimate defeat for hipsters”.
So. Not all bad, then.
But while a move to Real Madrid seems possible, Klopp to Bayern would surely be a bitter blow to the Dortmund fans who love him. The Mail says “sources in Germany have not ruled out a move to rivals Bayern Munich if Pep Guardiola fails to win the Champions’ League this season”.
That might be because Klopp has not ruled out a move to anywhere.
Posted: 16th, April 2015 | In: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Sports | Comment
Paul Sorene
Not Raheem Sterling. 3 May 1998: Paul Gascoigne and Paul Merson of Middlesbrough celebrate a return to top flight football after a Nationwide Division One match against Oxford United at the Riverside Stadium in Middlesbrough, England.
LIVERPOOL’S Raheem Sterling is part of a trend. The shisha smokin’, laughin’ gas inhalin’ star is just the latest footballer to be “involved in off the field controversy”. Well, so says the Daily Mail, which delivers five players who erred.
Here, Sportsmail details five other misbehaving stars involved in similar incidents away from the field.
According to the Daily Mail not breaking the law in the privacy of your own home is controversial. Raheem Sterling is now apparently in a ‘bad boys’ group with these bright young things:
Jack Wilshere: smoking tobacco.
Read the rest of this entry »
