Anfield Banter: Finney inks new deal, A new kid in the scope, Babel defies Van Basten, & Apparently Rafa really wants that guy
By: Brian | July 23rd, 2007* Steve Finnan, arguably the best right back in the Premiership last season, has been rewarded for his efforts with a three year contract. I’m sort of surprised that we signed him for three years considering his age, but I’m sure he’ll be splitting time with Arbeloa, Stephen Darby, or some new signing, possibly as early as January. Hopefully he’ll retire from International play soon as well.
* We’re eyeing another Spanish youngster. This time it’s Luis Garcia’s cousin, Javi Garcia, who is lost in the ranks over at Real Madrid. Apparently the defensive midfielder has earned a first team squad spot from new boss, Bernd Schuster, for the upcoming season. Whether or not he ever gets to see the pitch is a whole other question. A possible replacement for Javier Mascherano?
* Allegedly Marco Van Basten, the head man for the Netherlands, advised Ryan Babel to stay in his homeland if he wanted to earn more time with the international squad. That makes absolutely no sense since the Premiership is on a higher level than Eredivisie and the competition should allow Babel to develop into a better player, but honestly, I don’t care if Babel represents his country or not. For an international manager, Van Basten sure likes the limelight.
* Finally, Rafa seems to really want to bring ‘he who I refuse to acknowledge’ to our squad. So much so that he’s willing to bring in the lawyers and take it to the court. This is getting ridiculous. Can’t we just try and sign Leighton Baines or something?
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Tags: Alvaro Arbeloa, Bernd Schuster, EPL, Eredivisie, Gabriel Heinze, Ireland, Javi Garcia, Javier Mascherano, Leighton Baines, Liverpool, Luis Garcia, Man U, Manchester United, Marco Van Basten, Netherlands, Player News, Premiership, Rafa Benitez, Real Madrid, Ryan Babel, Spain, Stephen Darby, Steve Finnan, Team News, Transfers and Player Moves, Wigan AthleticSubscribe
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Comments
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if im not wrong i think i remember van basten saying the same thing when, dirk kuyt joined us, maybe its personal against liverpool?
Posted from
United States
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Van Basten’s ego is bigger than his brain which is a shame because it’ll probably prevent the Netherlands from being as good as the talent they have would allow them. His record for rifts with Netherlands players including Van Nistelrooy, Roy Makaay, Edgar Davids, Mark Von Bommel and Patrick Kluivert, speaks for itself. I understand his desire and thinking to build Holland football within itself, but that’s just not reality. Plus it’s sort of hypocritical considering he left Ajax for AC Milan during his prime.
Posted from
United States -
Brian there’s still hope on Heinze Fergie wants him badly now due to his agent!
Basten is stupid period.How can a player not be capped if he is not playing for his country.In that case France would have never been world & european champs!Posted from
France -
kes, the only hoping I’m doing in Heinze’s case is hoping we buy someone else.
Posted from
United States -
The Van Basten thing has been distorted. What happened is before the U21 World Championships, he told the youth players that it would be in their best interests to stay in Holland, and that it would improve their chances of getting into the Euro 08 squad, which is understandable. He didn’t advise Babel not to go to Liverpool, he was trying to get his young talents to stay in Holland and gain experience, exposure and playtime, as opposed to sacrificing all 3 to play for, say, Portsmouth, for a bit more money. Since the situation is different at a higher-profile club, where he’ll be playing at a higher level against and alongside top-class players, we shouldn’t take statements he made a month ago to be a bias against Liverpool.
I think people are just jumping to conclusions because of the Domenech-Faubert comments last week.
Posted from
Singapore -
I agree with you Parmesh and I think that Van Basten’s record with players certainly didn’t help. Babel himself said that Van Basten probably wouldn’t mind him going to a club like Liverpool as opposed to say Birmingham. I wonder how Van Basten feels about De Ridder going there?
Posted from
United States -
i think van basten, as one of the best strikers to have ever played and scorer of some the truly great goals of the last 30 years, has every right to give the kid some career advice - and, to some extent, to hog the limlight.
babel is young and could probably do with another season or two in holland before his big money move - a la van basten to AC Milan after a period of domestic success.
Posted from
Canada -
The ambiguity of what MVB told the U21 team is going to go against him for all his past player relationship issues. Knowing that, they could have easily interpreted it as more of a threat than advice.
MVB wants Holland to be his team when it’s not, it’s Holland’s. He is no longer a star, he’s a coach.
Posted from
United States -
absolutely right brian, too many interntional coaches put personal issues before the good of the team, however you feel about a player for example robbie savage, ok not a brilliamt player, but at the same time he is the best central midfielder wales have, and because he spoke about about tosh, he dropped him an not picked him, an wales certainly miss him.
Posted from
United States
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