Rumour Mongering: Dueling Cissokhos, Ulikely Agueros, and Bogus Cattermoles

By: Noel | July 19th, 2011

With a handful of long-rumoured targets finally arriving and a bit of football to distract everybody, the mongering of rumours has taken a bit of a back seat in recent weeks—or at least the degree to which people have taken note of it has decreased. Still, with a few notable holes remaining on Liverpool’s squad as the weeks slip away and a new season draws near, it was inevitable that things would begin to pick up again if given the chance…

Sergio Aguero

When the summer started it seemed inevitable that as long as Aguero remained on the market, somebody somewhere would link him to Liverpool. Like David Villa before him, in recent years he has become the favoured signal of intent signing for those who deal in poorly sourced whispers.

With many supposed in the knows starting off the transfer window with talk of how Liverpool’s new owners intended to make at least one big, major, gargantuan, signal of intent signing before they got distracted by Charlie Adam’s thirty-seven medicals. And with Aguero still up for grabs and the club not yet having made that signing that signals to the football world that Liverpool is unquestionably gunning for the top. Well, with all that in mind it’s really no surprise that people have begun to whisper about the possibility of Aguero heading to Liverpool again.

Over the last few days, some have even claimed that Manchester City and Liverpool have had bids accepted by Atletico Madrid and subsequently offered terms to Aguero, leaving it up to the player to decide over the next few days where he wants to play football next season. While many would love it to be true—at least assuming he ended up picking Liverpool and not making the mercenary move to replace Tevez at City on eleventy-billion pounds a week—every half-way reliable source seems to suggest Aguero still has his heart set on an odious cross-city transfer to Real Madrid and that this is nothing but rumour mongers doing what rumour mongers do. Namely putting two and two together and getting bullshit. After all, if Tevez actually manages to force a move away from City this time around, they’re going to need a big name, big money replacement, and none come bigger this year than the want-away Aguero. Meanwhile Liverpool has been linked in the past and there was that one time the player said he liked the club, plus John Henry and FSG are throwing around buckets of money these days.

The story nearly writes itself, and you’re more likely to catch pigs ice dancing on a frozen-over hell by the time the season starts than you are to see Aguero in Liverpool red. But unless something new comes along to take its place—or until Aguero actually completes a move somewhere—this is likely the rumour that will become the new Mata to Liverpool in the coming weeks now that pretty much everybody has forgotten that at one point Juan Mata was a lock to head to Liverpool on July 1st.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Elsewhere in resurfacing links, the 17-year-old winger and attacking midfielder is back on the radar after spending six months all but signed for Arsenal before their interest fizzled and it began to appear as though he’d be staying with Southampton for the coming season. Now the player himself is agitating for a move, with anywhere in the Premier League seemingly the only prerequisite:

“Southampton, and especially the fans, have been brilliant to me ever since I broke into the first team. It has been fantastic helping them to get promoted. But now I feel I’m ready to play in the Premier League.”

It’s rumoured that he’ll cost £12M—a gargantuan fee given his age—and that Liverpool and Manchester City are again the two clubs in the running to sign him.

Aly Cissokho

With Gael Clichy publicly shunning Liverpool for City’s six-figure wages and interest in Jose Enrique cooling over the summer, 23-year-old Cissokho has been linked almost constantly with Liverpool in July. Depending on the source, the inconsistent but physically gifted left back could cost anywhere between £8M and £18M and is either about to sign or not even on Liverpool’s radar, while Lyon is either actively seeking to cash in on him, actively looking to sell him because they don’t think he’s good enough, or definitely not even dreaming of letting him go.

So something’s definitely happening. Unless it isn’t. And in this case the split in opinion seems to fall right along the English Channel, with media in France reporting the deal as being various stages of done for the past week or two as though he was their version of the Charlie Adam saga while the English media has consistently thrown cold water on the rumours.

Those with their hearts set on Cissokho will likely point to how little English outlets have known about Liverpool’s dealings and intentions under the current owners and management, but while it seems plausible that French sources might be better placed to receive information from Lyon it’s also harder for those on the outside to judge their reliability. And so everybody’s left just about where they began when it comes to Cissokho: He’s either about to sign or Liverpool haven’t even asked about him. Or something in between.

Lee Cattermole

Liverpool doesn’t have cover at the defensive midfield position. Liverpool has been linked to just about every English player with a pulse under the age of 27. Lee Cattermole is a defensive midfielder, he’s English, he may have a pulse, and all of a sudden he’s being linked to Liverpool. Said Sunderland manager Steve Bruce of the suddenly rampant rumours:

I don’t know where that has come from. It’s news to me. I have not even thought about this situation, to be honest. I have had bigger things on my plate to worry about.

We have been dealing with Liverpool for the past five weeks over the Jordan Henderson deal and there was never a mention that they wanted Lee.

Right, so that’s that settled: Cattermole’s staying put. Everybody can breathe a sigh of relief.

Peter Gulacsi & Chris Mavinga

Wrapping things up with some actual news in the outgoings department, the club confirmed today that keeper prospect Gulacsi is heading to Hull City on a season-long loan. It is expected that he will be Hull’s starting keeper for their coming season in the Championship, and there is a good chance he will be in action for them on Satruday against Liverpool when the two clubs meet in preseason action. For those who earlier argued that a preseason friendly against Valencia meant a move for Mata because clubs only play friendlies against those they’ve done or are preparing to do deals with (yeah, not really), this may be enough to stoke those dying embers of the Juan Mata rumours.

And in more permanent outgoings, left back prospect Chris Mavinga appears set to move to Rennes for £1M after a year of first team football on loan at Genk last season failed to convince Liverpool he had a future with the club. With Gerardo Bruno confirmed gone yesterday, it means that three of Liverpool’s youngsters have been shipped out either on loan or more permanently in recent days. With only Paul Konchesky amongst the senior players confirmed departed so far—while Milan Jovanovic exists in a strange limbo where he may or may not have been released but is definitely not practicing with the club—to date it’s hardly been a summer filled with the outgoings that many expected.

That about does it for this week in Liverpool rumours, and it looks as though things are ready to blow up once again with excitement and player swoops and buying and selling and etcetera and so forth. Or nothing at all is going to happen and Liverpool’s just about done its dealings in the transfer market. It’s a good thing all these people in the media and with inside sources who know what’s going on are keeping us informed, otherwise we’d just have to pick player names out of a hat to figure out what the club is doing.

Right. So while I try to track down a proper names-picked-out-of-a-hat hat to see if I can manage a better record over the rest of the window than CaughtOffside, have an Aly Cissokho every-touch compilation to help pass the time…

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

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Mike

Jeffren Suarez to Bolton? are you kidding me?
Zach

how bout Suarez scoring for Uruguay? THAT'S MY BOY!!!
Zach

and as soon as I posted this he got his second!!! "I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough!"
Russell

I was really hoping Uruguay was knocked out early. Surely this means he won't be in action against Arsenal or at most a substitution.

I know I should support him even though it's Uruguay, but I don't care. He's Liverpool's and Liverpool's only. HANDS OFF URUGUAY!!!
Khaine

And apparently we have Marco Bueno coming over for a trial. This is worthy of some exclamation points. Kid looked outstanding at the WC. The Hernandez comparisons are off the mark to me, as he was second and third last on more moves than he finished and seemed to be more of an all-round creative force than a pure predator. Either way, I like it.

http://www.cleansheetsallround...
Russell

I hate those comparisons. He's Mexican and he's a striker, so obviously he's the next Hernandez, right?
Cheekyfellow

I can't wait for this campaign to get underway, I'm beaming with positivity.

Last year around this time things were dismal. We got a midfield full of depth now - especially if we can keep Aquilani in the squad. Who knows, he could be one of the more successful Italians that the premier league has had with his style of play adapted to Kenny's plans. There's only a handful of previous stars - Zola, Di Canio, and a few others from the 90s. Sure that's something he may be considering.

I still feel Henderson will/can be used at RM at times. He's young, so any position is up for grabs for him. His pure athleticism alone will make it easy for him to be moved around. This would allow Kuyt to play up front or come off the bench as a super sub (or Henderson).

I've mentioned in a previous post, perhaps Liverpool will have a team for this year, at least, that can put a formidable team on the field to challenge for the domestic cups. These rumors are nice, but I'm pretty happy with what we got so far.
Red2death

Same here. I think we can make deep runs in all 3 domestic competitions this season. We've got depth (except for in defence - 2 injuries would still rock us), and no European ties to take care of.

Also, we don't have many stars, but when I look around the premiership, I just don't see any team out there that's going to run away with it either. Perhaps Chelsea will be the team to beat. They have a squad that's got a lot of experience and still just enough legs to keep going physically. Going to do a lot of attacking under Villas Boas. Plus of course if Torres starts playing again - I think it's just a matter of time before he does - they'll be a force. Utd not so much. They have several class players like Chicharito, Valencia and Giggs, the rest are decidedly average. If De Gea doesn't hit the ground running they might be in trouble. Arsenal without Cesc, City without Tevez, Spurs without Modric - I think they'll just be tricky ties on their day but not real competitors.

So, future looks bright. Top four minimum. Preferably top two. Champions possible - I wouldn't rule it out but I wouldn't bet on it either. FA Cup semis or final. Carling, we might as well go all out and win it with our U21s and reserves. There's no other competition to blood them in anyway.
Ravenilli

I like your optimism. If only I could agree with you about Man U not being a force still think they could do well this year. Chelsea depending on how they start the season will either run away with the league or faultier due to Abromivich interference again. Spurs I would agree with you there even with Modric I can't see them getting into the top 4. If Mancinni decides to play attaching football this year I believe City could even finish higher than Utd this year that's if they keep Tevez which it's looking like will happen after Corintians pulling out of the deal. I think Liverpool should finish easily in the top 4 this year but pushing for the title maybe a bit out of reach just yet.
Red2death

I guess I do fall victim to underestimating Utd quite often. On paper (and even on the pitch) they'll look very average, and then all of a sudden a Ronaldo or RVN comes up with a last-minute goal to carry the entire average team to 3 points. And of course occasionally they depend on dubious ref decisions too.

But the fact remains, season after season (with the exception of a few, for example when Keane, Giggs and Scholes were at their prime), the Utd team have looked pretty average. When pitted head to head against Chelsea or Liverpool or Arsenal, the lack in class would show and they'd often come off second best. But they'll beat the 12 or so even more pedestrian teams very consistently through one or two players that are just on fire for that season (try Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, or Ronaldo all by himself), and they end up winning the league.

It still won't stop me from looking at their team sheet and thinking they are very average, because when I see Carrick and Evra and Wes Brown and Fabio, it really doesn't inspire much fear. They could well play for Villa or Everton. But you're right, this season I might be underestimating them again. They might find a hero to carry the rest of the team to 3 points. My pick would be Chicharito accounting for 30 goals, 21 points (the difference between the title and anonymity), and luckily for them somehow staying injury-free all season.

That said, the Liverpool team on paper looks quite average too. I'm sure names like Lucas and Adam and Henderson don't exactly inspire fear in others. Definitely not as much as Alonso-Mascherano-Gerrard-Torres. But hey, Kenny knows how to make stars out of players with potential. Let's hope he does that with this team too.
Ravenilli

Let's hope you are correct and that you're not underestimating Man U as I would love to see them getting beat week in week out.

KK will bring the best out of the players you have mentioned above and between him and Steve Clark they should get the best training possible also they are players that wanted to play for Liverpool and heart is more than 90% of what is needed to play football. Skill comes second in my opinion.
Khaine

Cissokho is the Ryan Babel of left backs; all athleticism, no brain. Best served not at all. Also, history of squabbling with managers and team mates makes it highly unlikely he'll pass the Comolli psych review.

Are there ay left backs out there we would actually want? To me, if it ain't Baines, just leave it for now.
Ismael Jawad

Have to agree with you there. His end product lacks quality on more than a few occasions. The lad surely cuts an intimidating figure though. With the way our transfer dealings have unfolded thus far, it's highly likely that we'll end up signing Newcastle's Enrique even though rumors about his arrival have cooled down. Can't see Baines crossing Stanley Park any time soon to be honest.

Oh and the Peru - Uruguay game just finished. Looking at transfer prices these days, Suarez seems to be the bargain of the century.
Suarez from the car park...

well written as ever - have you thought of phone hacking to find out some FACTS? I hear it's quite effective and it'll be years before you'll be found out. and then, only if you get a job in Downing Street as Communications Director (that's now a malicous rumour in the Aguero type!). Don't worry, we'll get a dodgy corporation to pay your legal expenses and you'll get 3 years max.
Just beware the crazy red-heads, as always.We did go for both Clichy and Phil Jones, or John Smith, or whatever his obscure foreign sounding name was - foreign because english names are just that in top teams these days. So we can reasonably assume that we will look to do something on those fronts before the summer's out, infact probably quite soon given the season start is close. I'm sure some FACTS will emerge once rumour has wasted a bit more of our lives.

On the overall transfer front, the one concern is that buying not top players will result in a determined but ultimately fruitless campaign. OK, Suarez isn't in this category, nor is Stevie G and on the crucial management side, neither are Kenny or Steve Clarke.
So this one is down to faith and recognising the transformation of the team under them since January, and we wait with baited breath to see how the Hull, xxx of Norway, and Valencia games go.
L8tr dudes.
Amotikw

he looks like an average player. He would suffer in the PL.
Red2death

It's refreshing to be linked to decently good players, even if the rumours are still all a joke. I mean, the Aguero link still provokes laughs at its improbability, but at least not because everyone knows we'd have to sell half our team to afford him.

Now we have money. Now Liverpool and rich-club links go together. We get to have a net spend matching Utd. Even surpassing them. How's that for evening up the playing field. (Still have a ways to go on the stadium receipts, but that's another long story).

Best of all, we didn't buy Carlton Cole.