Roma reject Mancini bid
By: Brian | June 21st, 2007And quite frankly, I’m happy about it. Why, you may ask? Well, why, if this story is to believed, would we spend £13m on guy who can’t get a regular spot on his country’s national squad and is basically riding the hype of a CL goal? Also, his numbers aren’t that impressive, even for the superior Serie A (or maybe he wasn’t tipping his ref enough?). Anyhow, we’re not talking about potential here, he’s 27-years-old. It’s just too much money and we’re not Man U or Chelsea. Smaller clubs should appreciate us for not overpaying or driving the price up for players. I’d rather just keep Kewell, have Hammill waiting in the wings (no pun intended), and use that money to get a striker.
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Comments
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psst..he can’t get a regular national team spot because he’s BRAZILIAN. Aside from that you’re right, 13 mill is absurd when you figure we spent just a little more than that for the 20 year old Nani.
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You can’t compare Mancini to Nani and Ronaldo (when he appeared in the prem). Mancini’s price is high because he’s an established player whose talents are not waiting to be exploited but is ready to go from day 1. If clubs want bargain priced wonder kids, they shouldn’t be looking to buy stars of well known clubs like Roma, Lyon, and Benfica.
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Being Brazilian is just an excuse. Is he not better than Elano, Fernando, Anderson, or Baptista, who all play in ‘inferior’ leagues? If he doesn’t have the desire or talent to play for Brazil, he has other options. Deco is Brazilian. Kevin Kurányi is Brazilian. Alessandro dos Santos is Brazilian.
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That’s sort of my point, Inara, how exactly ‘established’ is Mancini? I’ve seen him play a few times and wasn’t exactly blown away.
Actually if he was two years younger with similar stats, I’d be more prone to pay that price.
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Mancini was capped a while ago when he played right back mostly (before Cicinho and Alves came through), and doesn’t have the ancestry of a Kuranyi or Deco which would allow him to play for another nation. He has 12 caps in total, and there’s been a bit of a debate in Brazil as to why he hasn’t been called up by Dunga during this period of change in the national squad. Also, this has been the first season he’s seen extended time on the left flank for Roma as far as I know.
£13m isn’t really silly money, especially in this day and age, but I’d hate to see Liverpool pay much more. Admittedly, it’s a very big fee for someone who’s got a good chance to not adapt, but his versatility on either flank, like Simao, is quite appealing.
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I don’t mean to be a downer or anything (and I have nothing against Liverpool - I’m not a fan of any particular EPL club except maybe Reading), but obviously Kewell and Hammil aren’t good enough to help take Liverpool to the next level, or else Rafa wouldn’t be bidding for the most talented LWs on the market (Simao, Mancini, Malouda). Kewell is always injured and can’t seem to play for an entire ninety minutes. People have been waiting for him to “break out,” but if Liverpool want to make a serious push for the title next year and not just a CL place again, waiting for Kewell to fulfill his expectations would be dumb.
About Mancini - To be honest, I’m not his biggest fan, but I feel compelled to defend him here. You can’t hold not being on the Seleccao against him. Dunga has some weird selections, many of which don’t make any sense (have you seen his list for Copa America?). Brazil’s squad has never been about assembling the most talented but about who the coach really likes. It’s true, he could have tried to play for another NT, but why should he have to? It doesn’t devalue him as a player if he doesn’t feel anything but Brazilian.
When I said he was an established player, I meant one with a lot of experience under his belt. A coach doesn’t have to spend another two years training him, like Wenger is constantly doing with his daycare, and SAF doing with his own group of kids. Having a bunch of young talents is a luxury that Liverpool can’t afford at the moment, and Rafa knows that. Mancini is 27 years old, but he’s in his prime, not over the hill. He’s been playing in Serie A week in and week out and has shown that he’s not cowed by playing on a bigger stage. Sure, he’s not always consistent, but then neither is Quaresma, Ronaldo, Ribery, or any fanboy’s wet dream. If you want consistent, then you would be after Malouda (which you are, actually).
As fans of a particular club, it’s hard to see a player’s true value when they play in another league you don’t always follow. He might not have impressed you, but he’s clearly impressed Rafa enough to offer 20 million euros - and Rafa isn’t a free spender.
Like, for example, I don’t rate Torres at all. I’ve seen him a few times for Atletico, and I think I’ve seen him score one goal. But since I don’t watch him often, I’m not aware of what he has to offer to be worth the 40m that Rafa may shell out for him.
Though I can’t blame you for thinking these prices are inflated. I’m sure it must seem so, but that’s the burden of being a Premiership club (it sucks for you guys). Your clubs are the richest, have the lowest taxes, pay the best salaries, so of course no club is going to sell their best players to you at bargain prices.
It’s easy to say, “We won’t give into the temptation of overpaying for players,” but when your main competitors are doing it, Liverpool will eventually be obliged to do the same if they want a domestic title. In a money drenched league like the EPL, where even relegation clubs can buy top players, success doesn’t come cheaply.
Whether Mancini is worth as much as Roma’s asking price is up for debate, but you can hardly complain given the way the transfer market is inflated. Roma would be stupid to let him leave for less when there are clubs paying a similar amount of money for the likes of Darren Bent. It’s just business, and a professional player like Mancini won’t sign a deal unless it’s beneficial to him and to Roma.
At the end of the day, it’s up to a selling club to value their players. If Roma think Mancini is worth that much, a club who wants him has to pay for it. Or else Rafa shouldn’t bother and go for cheaper targets.
A non-Mancini related question: are you guys still after Renato Augusto?
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PS. Sorry for the long comment. Tiago just left Lyon for Juventus, so I’m a bit depressed at the moment.
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^^^^
What she said.
I’m not sure you’ve ever seen Mancini play, or more than a couple times. He is a game-changer. Simple as that. Roma would be a vastly different team without him.
And Rafa isnt bidding against Roma here, he’s bidding against Inter, Juventus, Lyon and a couple others who are interested. €20m is still low for him. He’s just entering his prime. €25m might make Roma listen. Bout it.
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Rafa never has and probably never will overpay for a player. People laughed when he paid £6.7m for Jermaine Pennant, but if they watched his progress, which is sort of misleading because he won Man of the Match in his first start against Maccabi Haifa in 3rd round Champions’ League qualifying, to his play in the Champions’ League Final against AC Milan, where he was arguably the best player on the pitch, they aren’t laughing anymore, or are too stupid to rate anyone. LFC is not a rich club, all perceptions of that are highly misleading. Houllier threw around too much money and put us too much in debt, for us to make that mistake again. The only player Rafa has paid more than £10m for is Xabi Alonso, who is probably the most efficient passer in the world, scores the occassional spectacular goal, and is quite effective defensively.
I’ve seen Mancini play about ten times in the past year or so, mostly at left wing, and other than the Man Utd CL matches, predominantly against lesser sides in Serie A. Like I said, he didn’t stand out. I’d take a player like Morten Gamst Pedersen over Mancini or Malouda anyday, not on ability, even though he’s obviously got plenty, but because he’s used to playing in the Premiership and understands the English game better.
As for Kewell, we don’t necessarily need a star at left mid, what we need is someone who’s reliable, competent, and knows how to play with the other players on our squad. Not that King Harry doesn’t come up with the occasional great play/goal, but I’d rather have less show and more consistency (read: less injuries).
As for Adam Hammill, if he continues to progress the way he has in the last year, the kid will be a star. Very few have his kind of ability at 19. It may have only been the SPL, but he became the man to bring the ball down field and was consistently marked for Dunfermline last year. Including against Celtic. That’s just ridiculous. Unfortunately, I have a feeling he’s going to be sent out on loan soon to someone like Derby County.
So basically, we don’t need Mancini or Malouda to win the Premiership or the Champion’s League next season. Hell, if we knew we could have used our arms in the CL Final, we would have probably won.
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Inara,
I don’t think we’re pursuing Renato Augusto as much as other teams now that we’ve got Lucas and Sebastien Leto coming.
Nate,
I’m pretty sure Mancini hasn’t played for Brazil in like 3 years. I wonder if there’s any rule at FIFA where he could play for another country if you don’t get a call up over certain period of time. They probably have ‘Puskas’ rule to prevent that though. Though I doubt it matters because the only country he could probably play for is Italy and there’s just no way. Anyhow.
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Mancini apparently had a major fall out with the powers within Brazilian football!
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