Anfield Banter: Gabriel Heinze? Ugh, And another…, & Five kids earn promotion

By: Brian | June 30th, 2007

* Rafa must be losing his mind or someone is playing a cruel joke, because there is just no way in hell we’re interested in Gabriel Heinze. Being the end of the third year in his contract with Man U, under FIFA rules, he has an option to buy his way out of the club, or have another club do it for him. It would cost Liverpool £6m if they should choose to do so. First and foremost, it doesn’t make much sense, we already have Riise and Aurelio to fill the left back spot. Sure, we could be looking at this as an option to move Riise up to left middle, but did Rafa watch Heinze play last season? His form was shocking at times. When he wasn’t caught out of position, he was easily beaten, and at other times looked as if he had no clue what his role was on the pitch. The other thing Benitez could be looking at is using Heinze as a centre back, backing up Carra and Agger, if needs be. I would hope this is the more likely scenario as it would lessen the chances of him playing, but ultimately, I’m hoping someone is just having a laugh.

* We have now signed our fourth Galactico Jovene in as many days by adding 16-year-old Barca forward, Dani Pacheco. The 16-year-old forward snubbed his former club to sign on for three years at Anfield. His coach, Garcia Pimienta, had nothing but praise for the Spanish whiz kid, saying, “It is a great loss for the club because he is a forward with a lot of quality.” His nickname is ‘the Killer’.

* Five of the key players of last seasons FA Youth Cup winning squad have earned contracts with the Senior squad through 2010. Jay Spearing, Robbie Threlfall, Craig Lindfield, Ryan Flynn, and Stephen Darby will be trying to compete for a regular squad spot over the next three years. The only one I think who has a good chance of becoming a first team regular is Jay Spearing and the least likely to finish out his contract is probably Craig Lindfield.