Rumour Mongering: Lining Up Replacements as Kyrgiakos Heads to Wolfsburg

By: Noel | August 22nd, 2011

One more player leaves Liverpool while rumours swirl about potential replacements. Plus Aquilani’s agent doing what he does best, papers rehashing year old stories, and all the rest of the week’s fun as the rumour mills hit top gear again with the window heading to its close…

Sotirios Kyrgiakos

The big Greek defender left for Wolfsburg on a free transfer late on Monday, the player eager to get more playing time than seemed likely at Liverpool and the club happy to get his wages off the books. In all he made 49 appearances and scored 3 goals after he joined the club from from AEK Athens in the summer of 2009 for £1.5M. At the time Liverpool was desperate to fill the void left by a departing Sami Hyypia but had next to no money to spend on bringing somebody in, and so once again Rafa Benitez went bargain hunting.

And in the end, then, given what he came in on and that nobody ever expected him to lead the team to trophies, it would be hard to say that he wasn’t at least a mild success. He was the sort of player who always put in the effort when called upon, and at least against more aerially inclined opponents his presence was often to the club’s benefit. Never the fleetest of foot, though, as his second season with the club wore on he became a regular liability against any side willing to play it along the ground, at times seeming as though his inclusion guaranteed at least penalty against.

For many fans, those penalties given up in the second half of last season will be hard to completely overlook, but there will still be room for some fond remembrances of the tough, professional defender who took out Marouane Fellaini in his first local derby. Hopefully he’ll find himself able to make a similar impact for Wolfsburg now that he’s moving on.

Dirk Kuyt

While Kyrgiakos is definitely gone, one name that’s definitely sticking around is Dirk Kuyt, though for a couple of hours stories that he could be heading to Inter Milan took off. Heck, there were even quotes from his agent saying that an offer had been made and that Kuyt would have to consider it.

Only then it turned out that those quotes were from last summer and had somehow been rehashed. Many will even remember the story first making the rounds shortly after Rafa Benitez took on the Inter job and came back looking to bring Kuyt along with him. So in the end, the less said about this particular foolishness the better.

Alberto Aquilani

If Dirk Kuyt’s agent once brought up a legitimate offer from Inter Milan, Aquilani’s agent has brought up questionable links to just about every side in Italy on a near daily basis this summer. His latest story involves Aquilani heading to AC Milan by mid-week, and it has been picked up and passed along as fact by half the Liverpool-centric sites on the internet, who appear to have forgotten that they’re trading in quotes from Alberto Aquilani’s agent, a man quickly becoming less reliable than the Twitter in the knows who had Charlie Adam on his way to a medical thirty-seven times before he finally did sign with Liverpool.

The story, though, for what it’s worth, is that it’s set to be a permanent move this time. But that said permanent move will only see between £4-7M head to Liverpool for the player they paid £16-18 for two seasons ago. And also it’s rumoured that Aquilani is refusing to give up on the nearly £1M loyalty bonus that comes to him if he doesn’t officially file for a transfer, even though the move is being almost wholly driven by the player and his agent.

So, good times. Or something. Maybe good riddance, if this is indeed the truth that the whole Aquilani farce is winding its way towards as a final chapter.

Craig Bellamy

The fiery 32-year-old (right) doesn’t seem like an obvious target for FSG’s Liverpool, and moreover he would need to take a fairly major paycut to return to the club he rode out of on a golf club, but that hasn’t stopped links from popping up as a move to Bolton for David Ngog grows increasingly likely. If he did arrive from the well-paid purgatory that is Manchester City, he would seem pegged for the role of emergency backup behind Suarez, Carroll, and Kuyt—a definite need for the club given the different formations likely to be employed over the season and that Kuyt and Suarez will both get plenty of time at positions other than striker. Nonetheless, a starring role would hardly seem likely for the Welsh striker who has in the past been unafraid to voice his displeasure at a lack of playing time at City.

Sebastian Coates

Following official news of Kygiakos’ departure, first Rory Smith of the Telegraph said that a bid had been lodged for the Uruguayan centre back and Club Nacional star. And while for many it was an intriguing name to add to the mix alongside Scott Dann and Gary Cahill, it was difficult not to be at least a little skeptical given Smith’s earlier proclamations that Raul Meireles wasn’t heading to China with the rest of the Liverpool squad and was about to be sold. But then Oliver Kay of the Times said his sources were also telling him a bid has been made—and that the club also had an interest in bringing back Craig Bellamy. Then Tony Evans—who was right about the Mascherano and Torres departures at a time when nobody wanted to hear them—piled on to make it three of the more respectable Liverpool-covering journalists pulling in the same direction. Which either means the club actually has made a bid for the 6′6″, 20-year-old defender who played a starring role in Uruguay’s Copa America triumph over the summer, or—if one is feeling exceptionally paranoid—it means the club really wants people to think they have.

In any case, one issue clouding the chances of a successful transfer of Coates to Liverpool could be that a work permit wouldn’t be an automatic and the club would almost certainly have to lodge a special appeal—after securing his transfer and signature, of course, making the transfer a potential gamble. As he’s only 20 and made his full international debut against Chile in the second game of the summer’s Copa America before going on to start in every subsequent match through the final while being named young player of the tournament, it’s hard to see a permit being denied at the end of the day. Still, it does make his situation slightly less clear than Cahill or Dann’s, and even assuming an eventual work permit was assured, it could still take a not insignificant amount of time to work through the bureaucratic red tape.

Still, if Liverpool’s interest is in fact serious enough that they have made a formal offer to Club Nacional, it suggests that Gary Cahill’s wage demands may have put the club off the Bolton defender. As for Nacional, they seem eager to cash in on their rising star, pulling out of a deal with Brazilian side Sao Paulo when Porto came sniffing around prior to the Copa America only for the defender’s strong showing at the tournament to then move him out of Porto’s price range when Manchester City entered the fray. City, though, settled on snatching up young Montenegrin centre half Stefan Savic earlier in the summer and, with their interest in Coates then cooling, it was beginning to look as though the Uruguayan might remain with Nacional for another season. Now, of course, it could be that he’s heading to England after all.

Unless it’s all smoke and mirrors and an attempt to drive down Gary Cahill’s price or wage demands.

While we all wait to find out, those who want to get caught up dreaming of the next big thing—and maybe even the player to finally fill the void left by Sami Hyypia when he left for Germany at the end of the 2008-09 season—can always spend some time getting to know Nacional’s number 19…

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

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Suarez from the car park...

And now for a comment on the post (backing up JamesW btw).

Aquaman - one word. shame.
Guess he got the hump when Rafa wouldn't play him after he got fit again. Decided he wouldn't put up with another year like that.
And his partner is likely to have had enough aswell if he wasn't happy for a year.

So now he must go it seems. Lfc will get the rear end of the deal. But FSG and Comolli are clear about the end game. He doesn't want to be here, so he needs to be off the wage bill. Price is secondary, but if 'you be gone, you stay gone.......and we cool', in the eternal words of Tarantino (Pulp F).

His agent shows up the worst side of the business. It's an ugly side of the business pimping, and lets face it he's not very good at it.

Part of me wants to be angry with Aqua, but it's not all his fault. A lot of me really hates the agent who is without doubt a wealthy man, but you gotta blame the game, not the player.

Agents are here to stay because players can afford to have their interests looked after, and without them, clubs would look after themselves, not players, as they used to. At the end of the day, it's healthy that footballers can command very high wages.

Most industries reward the company and owners, not the workers. We should celebrate any industry where those doing the work get the rewards, and business owners must exercise skill to stay in business. If you're not happy with it, persuade others to stop buying satellite coverage. 10% loss of customers would transform the football world.

It won't happen, and even if it did, businessmen would simply persuade the govt to end public funded broadcasting to maximise profit again for private broadcasters.

There's a strong argument for abolishing the txfer window, except perhaps for PL clubs buying from lower leagues to protect those teams a bit (cross border so no txfer window exists between each premier league). It surely just distorts transactions.

As for defenders, I'm nearly starting to get transfer fatigue. Never thought I'd say it. Clearly something is in the pipes, so come on Poulsen, Cole, stop clenching the buttocks, an extra heave and we can get it done (are you picturing that? Well that's ruined your day).

For Soto, you have to say goodbye and good luck. Great character and loved alabamabob's nickname of 'nick the greek'. Still haven't stopped laughing, they're both great characters.

You can just see Soto shrugging his shoulders after conceding a pen, and Reina starting up

"Do I look like a mug? I look like a mug. And that isn't cool if I look like a mug, is it? So you'd betta get rand there and do somefing abaat it Soto before I look like a mug, an' I don't wanna look like a mug, do I Soto? Cos looking like mug's a game for mugs init Soto? An' I aint a mug, am i Soto? Right, now sorrrt it!" in his best Spanish Cockney (whatever that sounds like).

Thanks for the writes guys. Kept us going through the low season with some style. Well done.
CheekyFellow

Hope we get someone soon, we need some more quality defenders, especially with man city picking up Nasri and Mata at chelsea now
Khaine

Unrelated, but not. Just in case people were thinking the hodge wasn't rewriting history to the best of his abilities:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/...
Suarez from the car park...

it's an awful newspaper blog where they want your inside leg measurement before you can post.
Here's what I wrote in response to it, with some characters added since those idiots seem to want to limit your words.

>>My response to Evening Standard's Hodgson article and the fans/owners not being behind him.

It doesn't matter what the fans think. Your job is to get the team playing, and then fans will accept the results.FSG at liverpoo openly backed Roy and said there was no reason he shouldn't be there same time same day the following year, and they even said that though results weren't great, it wasn't his team (despite summer signings making up a quarter of the squad - he must have run his eye over them) and that it would be unfair to hold him responsible for that - even they bought the anti-rafa media BS about the team.He had all the support he needed, he just needed to get the team playing together with some belief.Once you got 20% of Anfield empty on the new year's holiday game (unheard of), then it was no longer a football problem, it had become a business problem and any business owner would have to act or be accused of irresponsibility (Steve Gibson?).My take on Roy's mistake, or explanation if you like (btw, where is Steve McLaren's explanation?), is that he felt that the football at the club was broken (and that the players were no good as per media bias and the corrosive influence of SAF) so he set about changing the philosophy of the playing (telling the players they had been wrong). Note the contrast with KK who's analysis was that squad depth was the big problem, and that it was his job to get the team playing.Changing the game philosophy is all very well (most mgrs do it), but that takes 2 years minimum to establish a base and he should have made that clear. In fact he shouldn't have been so naive as to expect that kind of allowance with no 'return' in visible progress. Add to that lfc had finished 7th in a poor season - hardly relegation material, so just how 'broken' was the football at the club in any case? Just how bad could the players be, not to mention that 13 of them had gone to the world cup. SAF's corrosive influence on the game must not be under-estimated, especially as his views are propagated through status, other managers and the media, but I digress.'Cultural' changes are notoriously difficult in organisations, and need great commitment and excellent leadership (FSG demonstrate it well). Most organisations do a bad job of it, successful entrepeneurs often don't try to change too much. The good managers succeed (eg rafa). he didn't. You could argue that it is essential to change it in a football team to succeed where it has failed. But you succeed partly because you are clear about where you are going and where your strengths and weaknesses are. The more weaknesses you have, the more you must press home the advantage of your strengths and then clear the path to deal with the weaknesses.At West Brom Roy inherited an excellent team from Dimatteo that scored for fun but leaked goals just as much. He just tightened the defence enough that their impressive style and forwards could score more than the team conceded. They still however have not kept a clean sheet (Roy's strong point?). He could of course claim that it isn't his team!
<<
jamesw.ynwa

Unrelated: I always read the comments on Liverpool stories to gauge the opinion of average fans, but I think I've become too accustomed to the intelligence and humor of the regular contributors on this site. Some of the twats you find commenting on Sky Sports or Soccernet stories are just astounding. So, a special thanks to all of the folks on here who make the Liverpool experience that much better for supporters like me. Keep it up Noel, Ed and everyone else who adds to the blog.

Also, have to I'm all impressed and smitten right now with the management and their transfer strategy. As easy as it would be to shell out money for the big names, it seems that FSG has a good sense of the club's history and style, making shrewd deals and investing in the potential of more peripheral players. After the drama at clubs like Arsenal this summer, it's a breath of fresh air to have business carried out professionally and efficiently. Kyrgiakos' departure was kept totally quiet until it was final, and you've gotta figure that Coates' commitment (or Cahill's, or Dann's or...) was already confirmed before he left. As you guys mentioned in a post last week, it's nice to be able to focus on the football instead of all the back-room drama of last season.
Thomas Hoppe

Thank goodness that twat Christian Purslow is gone. I would have payed John Henry to let me fire him.
Dirk Kuyt Industries

Can't remember where I read it, but some article mentioned that Coates has Spanish/English ancestry, which should make it easier to get that permit.

Also, very excited on Coates.. maybe I'm crazy but the only one of the Cahill/Dann/Jones/Mertesacker group I'd take over him is Mertesacker.
mardia

Ben Smith of the Times (and various other people on Twitter) are all insisting that LFC and Nacional have agreed to a fee for Coates. IF this is true, my response is twofold. First, woot, he looks like an excellent prospect. Second, I am still kind of astonished that we've apparently managed to sign a CB before Arsenal did.
Noel

A few are still saying Nacional haven't actually accepted it yet. And don't forget the club agreed a fee with Blackburn for Phil Jones.
mardia

Ugh, good point. Can't set off the fireworks until LFC have it on their website, I suppose. Still, given that the club's just sold off Soto, have to think we have a replacement in the works.
McrRed

Its going back a bit but remember Sammy McIlroy was signed and sitting in the stands watching a match with Shankly when he got the call from docherty...

Still excited though...if it doesn't come off then we can deal with that scenario then...
PDubz18

If any of you have access to LFCTV, there is a great every-touch of Jose Enrique against Arsenal. He had a storming run forward which culminated in winning a dangerous free kick in the corner from Jenkinson. Also, it's really amazing how much of a wall he is on defense; he really never lets anyone past him.
poorscouserbobby

I saw the same video. WIFCOM (wifecommand) was watching over my shoulder and asked "why is his shirt so much smaller than everyone elses?"... before I could answer she just said "oh his arms are just that big, what was his name again?" and begins google-fu. I can't imagine the King letting Nick the Greek go without a replacement for him in the depth chart.
Suarez from the car park...

Hey alabamabob, I've embellished your Nick the Greek label above. Have a read (sorry it's a bit lengthy).
Suarez from the car park...

was that the depth chart or the height chart?

"Nick the Greek...", love it!
Russell

Don't want to jump the gun, but it looks like we have Coates unless someone jumps in at the last moment. It's a shame that we didn't get him two or three days earlier as the game against Exeter would be perfect for him to get started. A game against an English side, but still not a Premier League game.
alcatrazzledazzle

Using the Scottish-sounding "Coates"
is like translating Cervantes,
So put me down as one who votes
He'd be better as "Co-a-tes."
NotTooXabi

I, for one, would welcome Bellamy back to Anfield. Give him a 3-iron and let him loose on agents for Poulsen, Cole & Aqua (nothing personal against Alberto, but his agent gives me the red ass).
JPR

Bellamy? We still have Joe Cole.
Zach

I feel like Agger and a settled in Coates would be beastly at the back.

I also feel like Bellamy would bring back the worst in Carroll. They'd beat the shit outta everyone once they really got mad.
Thomas Hoppe

To be clear. Carroll and Bellamy is a good thing, right?
Zach

Yeah, as long as they're not suspended for the games against ManU and now arsenal... I want them fighting anyone on ManU and now they gotta tear up Frimpong for the next game against arsenal too. lol
Suarez from the car park...

that would be funny, like my 4 yr old nephew and his best mate, who can't stop beating each other up.
Jay Wright

I've managed to convince myself that Cahill would be a very good signing for Liverpool, but still remain excited at the prospect of Coates arriving instead. Either or, and I'm happy anyway. I'm still working on developing an argument that manages to convince that Dann would be a step in the right direction though. Any help out there?

Irt the fees being quoted for Aquilani - Wow! Has the guy's agent reeeally been that much of a problem to our club that the player is treated as if he's Poulsen or Cole, i.e. anybody just name your price and take him
Thomas Hoppe

I think the club is conscious of Aquilani's disinterest in LFC becoming a problem. And with his wages that makes the situation untenable for FSG
mardia

The idea of keeping him and having his agent agitating again for a move in January--and probably in the months preceding it--ugh. Do not want at all. If we have to take a loss to bring this saga to a close--and hopefully never hear from Aquilani's agent again, I'm actually fairly okay with that.
VicCapeTown

And Coates even sounds English!
McrRed

Ko-a-te's sounds very Spanish, but given that he had Scottish grandparents perhaps it really is Coates.

Him and Carroll in the air? Him and Agger raiding from the back? Oooh, I've come over all goosebumpy!
chiggin3

Surely if he has scottish grandparents the work permit would be no problem?
McrRed

There's always hope... :-)
Latortillablanca

firstly, good quick work from noel...

Considering the british premium we've been payin during this transfer window, it would be refreshing to make another 'bang-4-ur-buck' type signing (following the highway robbery that enrique was at 6mil). from wat i saw of the copa, coates is lugano's heir as captain of the side and set piece force of nature. similar to cahill, really - not pacy, but naturally astute tactically and technically, big lad, and not afraid to put his face in it when called for. honestly, im more excited about coates at this point than cahill, simply because at 20, he wont be instantly demanding pt from the carra-agger partnership that promises so much, knock on wood (delicately) that #5 holds together... cahill is the more solid, experienced player today, but that comes with a bigger fee, bigger wage packet, more expectation to play immediately, and a lower ceiling. coates has FSG written all over him... if comolli pulls this off for around 10mil, he's an early lock for executive of the year.
Thomas Hoppe

I like Coates as well and hope he is ready for the Premier League because we could need him soon if something were to happen to our centre backs. Dann seemed more of what the squad needs over Cahill because the central defense lacks that ariel dominance and Cahill is not exactly dominant in the air. And Coatesand Dann have that in their games already. I think of Cahill as the Premier League version of Daniel Agger, although obviously more durable. But at this point I would take any of the three because I think we were short a senior centre back before Kyrgiakos left. I totally agree with you on the price issue as the club will still need to strengthen at striker and wide attacking players at some point in the near future.
Suarez from the car park...

you don't think pace is an issue?
Latortillablanca

that's
the gamble in taking him, but maldini played till he was 63 and
mertesacker was best cb at the cup and he's slower than two turtles
strapped together and walkin in opposite directions - question is does
coates have the positional sense to make the lack of pace a non-issue?
Thomas Hoppe

Is he slower than Carragher? Because the only thing I would say about Carragher running is that he sometimes doesn't fall over.
brother jon

ko-a-t'es! (for the win?)

seriously, manu looked good monday but mostly cause spurs let em play. city and chelsea are putting together scary all-star teams, but sometimes those create as many problems as they solve. but with Coates on board, our squad starts to seem kinda deep. and flexible. and attacking. and lethal in the air. (carroll, agger, coates! hugo??)it'll get bumpy trying to settle everyone in but by January this machine could be mowing em down. KD's been saying it all summer (or at least, i've been saying it for him): the whole >> the parts. we might not be top 4 in kit sales this season, but i'm excited by the potential.if commoli plays his cards right and can lighten the payroll in the next 8 days, we might even save enough dosh to go for the kill with Higuain in January.ok. enough happy talk (it was the ko a t'es clip - 'thanks' Noel).and thanks, Soto. YNWA. 3 goals? who knew?
Prad

Fairly sure we will comfortably be top 4 in kit sales. Gerrard and Suarez alone will ensure that! (but i get your point about us signing solid players versus 'hollywood' names)
Jay Wright

If we are going for 'hollywood' names though, surely it has to be The Hulk! One can dream eh...