Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Target Prospects, Little Proven Talent

By: Noel | January 17th, 2012

All because Liverpool hasn’t made a move yet in the transfer market doesn’t mean that people aren’t saying they’re about to. So join us for the latest fun-like substance as we run down the latest collection of names being linked into—and out of—the club as the end of the January window edges into sight…

Jermain Defoe

From the folks who brought you last week’s Darren Bent to Liverpool rumour comes the latest fun-filled episode, this time involving diminutive England and Tottenham striker Defoe. With 7 goals in fifteen Premier League appearances so far this season, he’s well ahead of his career average of a goal in every three games though still nowhere near the kind of strike rate that he would need in order to crack the 20 goals in a season mark for the first time at the age of 29.

In news that you already knew he’s English, he’s a striker, he plays for a club rather overstocked up front with a striker for every day of the year, and Damien Comolli was director of football for much of his time at Tottenham. All of which adds up to a fairly easy name to conjure up and, for most fans, another fairly underwhelming “known” quantity. Though given that Comolli spent four years as director of football at the club Defoe plays for, if there is in fact any truth to the rumours—and that seems a quite massive “if” at the moment—then one would imagine Liverpool’s current director of football is certain that Defoe is without question the man to make an instant impact for a Liverpool side struggling to crack the top four.

As for what Defoe would bring to the table, like the last striker Liverpool stole away from Tottenham he’s poacher rather than a playmaker or targetman. He’s often seen as poor when it comes to hold-up play and can at times be selfish to the detriment of the team. Still, while he won’t create goals he’s generally considered a player who can put chances away when they fall to him in spite of having a generally underwhelming return compared to Europe’s top strikers.

Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair

Welcome to the latest flavour of the day of the week of the month, which might sound delicious until you realise that some months you’re as likely to get Japanese ice cream with chunks of raw horse flesh as something that doesn’t invoke an instant gag reflex in 97% of the global population without access to used panty vending machines. In this case, however, there’s at least reason to hope that one or both of 21-year-old Allen and 22-year-old Sinclair might not be the footballing equivalent of bloody chunks of flash-frozen equine meat, even if neither seems an obvious must-have target.

Both play for Swansea, this season’s newly promoted pass-and-move darlings, with Allen a versatile midfielder who while unlikely to wow the fans by singlehandedly dragging his club to victory will keep possession ticking over smartly while popping up with the occasional goal or telling pass. He’s been a Swansea player from the age of nine and is well versed in their possession-based approach, and on the surface he certainly seems like a player who would fit in well playing the sort of football that saw Liverpool finish last season in the league’s second best form. On the other hand, for many there will be obvious echoes of Jordan Henderson and questions as to whether he’s the sort of player—young, tidy, and still developing—that Liverpool really needs right now.

Sinclair on the other hand offers pace and goal threat from the wings, having registered six goals and an assist in 21 games played from wide. On the surface it’s a solid return for a player in his position, though that he’s taken 62 shots to reach that total for a conversion rate below 10% has to be a cause for concern if you’re a Liverpool side in need of clinical finishing. Unlike one-club man Allen, Sinclair’s young career has been transient in the extreme, with the player seeing games with Bristol Rovers before moving to Chelsea, after which he was sent on loan to Plymoth, QPR, Charlton, Crystal Palace, Birmingham, and finally Wigan before landing permanently at Swansea when Chelsea decided there was no future for him at the London club.

Joao Teixeira

Liverpool fans following the academy will remember Teixeira from the NextGen Series, where he supported the striker for Sporting Lisbon’s u19 side, scored at Anfield, and was arguably the man of both matches when the clubs met in the fall. According to the Guardian, Liverpool is now working to steal Teixeira away from the Portuguese club, and as far as names for the future go there’s a great deal to like about the tricky attacking midfielder. However, even if Liverpool is interested in the player, it’s difficult to believe that Sporting would be willing to let him go now when a few years in the first team would almost certainly lead to him commanding a much larger transfer fee. And even if Liverpool were to manage to capture the 18-year-old, he certainly wouldn’t be walking into the first team.

David Texeira

Wild speculation kicked off when Bruce Grobbelaar went on TalkSport over the weekend to reveal that he had first hand knowledge Liverpool was closing in on signing a South American striker plying his trade in Holland. Though Liverpool’s former keeper wouldn’t say exactly who it was, just about everybody agreed that the only name that fit the bill was that of 20-year-old Uruguayan Texeira. The young striker arrived at Groningen over the summer, meaning he’s had little time in European football to prove himself, but the early returns seem promising. Despite that promise, the biggest concern over Texeira might be getting him a work permit since he’s yet to be capped at a senior level for his country.

Amusingly, both he and Suarez come from Salto in the north-west of Uruguay, and both signed with Groningen when they moved to Europe at 19. In Suarez’ case, he moved to Ajax only a year after arriving at the northern club, providing another potential parallel for those interested in piling up coincidences until they seem somehow meaningful should Texeira make a move in the near future. Coincidences aside, in the end he’s a promising talent who’s scored seven times in ten appearances in the Eredivisie since he arrived, but he hardly seems likely to be an instant fix for Liverpool’s woes in front of goal. Like so many of Liverpool’s rumoured targets, then, the more you look at him the more interesting he becomes—while at the same time it becomes less certain he’s the answer to the club’s current problems.

Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez

Along with a slew of mostly young and inexperienced talent rumoured to be on the way in, there are a pair of veteran names frequently mentioned as potential outgoings. In the case of Dirk Kuyt, after the opening weeks of the season saw Liverpool’s leading scorer from the year before nailed to the bench in favour of unproven potential there has been a persistent suspicion that he’s surplus to requirements at Liverpool despite that he still holds down a starting role for the Dutch national side. With Kuyt not scoring and a clear preference for young talent it’s difficult to dismiss out of hand the rumours that he and the club have reached an understanding that it’s best for all parties involved if he moves on in the summer at the latest, though with Liverpool being linked to a number of names in the Dutch league over the past few months there’s a growing feeling that Kuyt could be leaving Anfield before the end of January as makeweight in a deal.

Maxi, meanwhile, has found himself at the head of the rumoured outgoing queue after he didn’t even make the bench for the club’s last two matches. There are conflicting reports that the player may have picked up a shoulder injury in training, yet without any kind of official update as to his status it was inevitable that many would begin to wonder about his future. Given that any time he’s been given the chance he’s seemed Liverpool’s best and most consistent scoring threat so far this season it seems odd that the club would be eager to cast him off in favour of players still years away from their peaks, but with him struggling for significant minutes even while unquestionably fit there’s every sign that like with Kuyt he isn’t seen as a key part of Liverpool’s plans over the rest of this season and the next. Rumours that he has ever agitated for a move away from Anfield, however, are patently untrue, even if some seeking to excuse his potential departure have begun to twist an interview from the summer where he admitted it would be nice to eventually finish his career at his boyhood club into something more.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Rumour Mongering: Ba, Bent, and Any Other Striker You Can Name

Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News

« Man Mismanagement | Home | Video: Martin Skrtel v. Stoke »

Redarmy

Apparently we've signed Joao Teixeira. Great move, i hope :)
Redarmy

Newcastle bought another prolific Bundesliga striker (like Ba). Do we even scout the Bundesliga? Just wondering
Latortillablanca

3 cheers for skrtel saving us the better part of 20mil this summer!! our entire D is set, really.
tony

Can we get some "leftover" from top clubs rather than get "top" players from midtable clubs?
Geoff Twentyman

Meantime, we could be looking at Villereal, for example, and seeing how abysmal they are placed in the league with players like Musacchio, Nilmar and Rossi potentially avavailble because they don't want to be playing in the second tier next year.
PDubz18

In the summer maybe, I don't think they would ever let them go in January or else they'll definitely be in the 2nd tier next season. Just look at Sampdoria in Italy last year.
Geoff Twentyman

Absolutely - tapping them up now in line for a summer move.
Scotty

Listened to an interesting podcast today on Soccer Extra Report by Bobby McMahon and Eoin O'Callaghan who are the pundits for the Fox Soccer Channel in Canada. They discussed Liverpool at length.

They made a pretty convincing case that without Gerrard playing further forward they lack somebody who can make an incisive pass in the final third of the field. Moreover, there is an over-reliance on getting the ball wide which has led to an over-reliance on crosses.

Of the players listed I really like Joe Allen although I don't know how much he would add especially when Lucas is fit.
purify_the_body

Thx for the podcast mention -- I listened to it and they pretty much echoed what we have said here on this site about the lack of intelligence, cohesion, creativity, and unpredictability we are suffering from in attack.

It was also interesting to listen to the one guy repeatedly talk about us "collecting players." Since we appear so disjointed and unable to get the best out of the ones we have, I guess the idea is that even if we sign more, they might just become more ill-fitting pieces of the puzzle. Hopefully not!
Ryan

From what I've seen of Swansea and how they play (I've watched the Arsenal game, the game vs. us, and Swansea vs. Blackburn), if Allen is the man who makes that happen, then I don't see him bringing anything to Anfield that Henderson can't do. He would look like a good option to me if we were having trouble with possession and passing, but we aren't.

I don't see how they came to that conclusion, because Suarez and Bellamy, especially Suarez, have proved worth in the attacking third even if they aren't scoring. Do you have a link available?
Scotty

http://www.soccerreportextra.c...

Also, this from the Guardian by the very analytical Jonathan Wilson on the same theme:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/foot...
Ryan

oooooh, and now it's up to me to find out if you're being sarcastic or not about him being very analytical...may the games begin.
Scotty

No he is very analytical. A bright spot in the dungheap of Guardian football writers.
fastrail

I think Joe Allen looks good. He seems to have the drive to bring the ball forward when he got the ball. If managed correctly he could be a great player.
Ryan

It's difficult to imagine Liverpool going for someone like Sinclair, but the saddest part about that is it would have looked entirely possible last summer. my opinion is that he would be a great buy, but after spending 20mil on Downing, the chances are slim. Someone young and talented as Sinclair is only free once. He'd cost another 20mil if we tried to get him today. Getting both of them, have them compete for the place? That coulda been lovely.

I assume Sinclair is a rumoured target because of Downing's lack of form this season. Now we have to ask ourselves: why is Stewart Downing, with all of his experience, not capable of doing as well as Sinclair has for Swansea? But even that question has some spin on it: IS Downing capable of doing as well as Sinclair? I think the answer is yes, as he proved last season. The difference between Downing and Sinclair might only be the amount of experience they have, and that might be the only problem Downing has. Sinclair has something to prove, this is his first big shot at the Premier League. Chelsea thought he was worth nothing and they let him go. 'I'll show them" might be the name of the game. Since we are in the transfer window, you can replace Sinclair in this paragraph with any other available winger. Is Downing really not capable of performing like Mr X? Unless Mr. X is someone at a CL club with huge wages and no chance of coming to Liverpool for a season or two, I think not. Afterall, we only really want downing to do half as good as some of the other wingers...That'd be great.

Getting another winger to replace Downing is something I see as "throwing in the towel". The man is not incapable of assisting players and knickin a goal here and there. Downing has the routine perfect-goal-opportunity-straight-at-the-keeper every single game. That shows that Dalglish has tactically set him up so he can score, but the finish is all about Downing. I will not believe for one second he does not have the footballing ability to score those goals. Go to the LFC youtube page, there's a video where Henderson, Skrtel, Shelvey, and Downing are asked to do some target practicing and skill competitions. That video proves that everyone (besides Skrtel..) was capable of hitting the crossbar when asked. It's an entirely different game on the field under pressure, I understand. But maybe a change in cereal, new socks, or take his shower the night before. Whatever it takes to get him out of his gameday rituals he's going through now. This doesn't mean I don't want reinforcements. But throwing in the towel with Downing and Carroll would make us kinda look like Man City or Chelsea. Not good.

-----------------------------------

As for the other transfer targets, I say go for them, but they probably aren't likely. Well, not Defoe or Allen. I want the Texans. Can't think of any reason why they wouldn't be great for the future, especially if one of them proved he can tear apart our Academy and the other is a carbon copy of Suarez (he's a decent player). If the reason for buying English is down to club loyalty, and we want the skills of an international, best course of action would be to raise up youth internationals.

A quick google search of the second most popular Sporting youth player shows you can get one for 15mil at age 18. It took him about 3 years to grow into a great player, and only 2 years to become a complete ass. 3 years after that, we can sell him for 1,000,000,000,000,000mil. Unless he ends up like Nani. then we're fucked.
Latortillablanca

ya that's fair.

i say the only legitimate transfer targets we have are a cdm and maybe a striker... lucas barrios?
Sbaines1

Downing waste of money should of got Adam Johnson scores and not a 1 trick pony
Ryan

Adam Johnson wasn't available last summer. he was only one season into his contract at Manchester City. When you have the finances of someone like Man City, you don't sell to rival teams. They wouldn't weaken themselves to help us out, just for some cash. Or else, yes, he would have been a possible better option. Too bad that never happened.
RedorSled

Man City wouldn't sell to a rival team....Ahem...Craig Bellamy....for exactly zero English pounds....Bellers for nowt....Chang!!!
Ryan

I can't really understand what you're saying because of the way you've worded it, but if you're suggesting that Craig Bellamy is an example to prove that Manchester City would sell to a rival team, then you're wrong. He was a free agent, meaning Manchester City had no authority over him. That's why he was worth exactly zero English pounds.
RedorSled

Well Ryan (whom I respect greatly), I think i'll have to bow to your greater knowledge as I didn't realise he was a free agent. Although on balance I did read stories such as this in the summer (Daily Mail)...

"Now Liverpool are willing to sign him [Bellamy] either on loan or on a free transfer.However
they will not pay a fee for Bellamy on top of his £80,000-a-week wages
and it remains to be seen if City will accept their proposal."

So maybe he wasn't a free agent, which would back up my point a bit, but either way, I love your comments and have done for a while so well written, never stop.

YNWA myfriend.
Ryan

Well you might be right about that, then. I assumed if he was going for free, his contract was up. I forgot that he was most likely begging on his knees to get out of there.

I'm sure you've figured out that I was only implying that Manchester City wouldn't sell their important players. Bellamy was on the fringes, going out on loan to Championship teams and such. It was no big deal to them whether Bellamy was in the team or not. Adam Johnson is seeing regular minutes, and given that Nasri isn't excelling as much as they expected, he's part of City' future.

Thanks again, I appreciate it. Good to have you around as well!
fastrail

Do you know the term unrealistic? Geez
Ryan

Funny story about being unrealistic. I remember suggesting Liverpool buy Suarez before the World Cup on a generic football website. I got flamed big time for even thinking about it.

But that was foresight, not hindsight.
fastrail

Suarez for me is a realistic target, idk who flamed you about that :P. Adam Johnson is at Man City and looked a great player, plus he's young so I doubt Man City would sell him to a rival team, like you said above.
redtrev73

Aaaaand THAT'S a Ryan post!! Well in fella
poorscouserbobby

Praise God and pass the ammunition.
Gather round lads and lasses gather round. 'tis time for a poorscouserbobby moment of clarity.


There was a time in days gone by when it seemed all was lost, we had hit a streak of bad luck and it wasn't getting any better. It was Afghanistan, winter of
'06, the booger eaters* had been hitting us hard and fast, night
after night. We had seen some hard times with the loss of two good
friends; namely the smoke pit and the giant boiler that gave us hot
water. There we were smoking out in the cold, (because you know a
screened in porch keeps the cold at bay) bitching about how much this
sucked, then wouldn't ya know it, the booger eaters were at it again.
So, "once more into the breach, dear friends!" We go to the wall, cigars
in our mouths SCREAMING obscenities, vowing revenge for our lovely
smoke pit. We repelled the enemy attack, only to discover that a mortar
shell had struck not only the boiler, but the generator that ran it.
Not only were these bastards taking away our conversation spot, now the
assholes had taken away our hot water, there would be hell to pay.

   Due to our location, having a boiler brought out and installed
wasn't exactly an easy project. We showered from water bottles that had
been placed in windows in the sun, we were allowed to not shave, but no
hot water blows. We went 3 weeks without running water, a full month
without hot water.. But I tell you the truth, at the end of the storm,
there's a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of one hundred and
fifty-five millimeter howitzers. The US Army saw fit to install a
battery of 155 guns at our location, now we had something to make the
booger boys run for the hills only to die tired. To top this off I was
sent on a 4 day vacation to a base in Qatar and found some females**
who where willing participants in operation: Take care of
PoorScouserBobby, there was a redhead who... well.. that's a story for
another day. Needless to say, the dire times we faced with cold
showers, beards of legendary repute, and cold nights of smoking in the
cold passed.

Moral:

   I pray that all will take heart! Remember, at the
end of the storm is a golden sky, and either a lark or big guns, take
your pick. We follow the greatest club on the planet! We will again
rule the country like we've always done before! TAKE HEART!

*B.E.- a favorite.. reserved for the scum of the earth, often United fans fall into this category.

** The real number is the subject of myth and legend to this day.

Also I apologize for this, Redtrev asked for it.
redtrev73

Pleased to take credit for that epic rabble-rousing bobby-lad! Love it! Part Deux with the redhead soon please man!
Zach

I used to love it here, and for the most part I still do but the comments from the last couple of posts have been ridiculous. I used to go back and read every comment on every post and I loved it. Now its just more of those trolls that we once chased off and now they're back and in greater numbers. Unfortunately I am not as eloquant with words as I wish to be so I can't say much without being overwhelmed with naysayers and honest to goodness bloody wankers. Peace out.
redtrev73

Heard, agreed and seconded Zach
Ed

Sorry to hear that, Zach. I can tell you that I'm going to start exercising a little more control over the moderating privileges until things get back to normal service. It's tough trying to find the middle ground between letting things go unedited and having more regimented guidelines for posting, and while we've been fortunate to not have to worry about that much over the past year or so, it's clear that the shift over the last few days, as temporary as it might be, needs fixing.

So thanks for continuing to come back despite the surge in idiocy, and for expressing your concern.
Redarmy

Take it easy Zach, we were forced to watch the worst and most boring home game in over a year, so yeah, what do you expect?
Zach

I feel upset at the game too, but its been like that after almost every game lately. People have been showing up and taking things way too far. So sorry but you take it easy.
ejbauer11

Other than DT, not much to get excited about. Do have to say it'd be a shame to see Kuyt gone w/out getting goal # 50. Perhaps that's why Dalglish put him up top against Stoke? One last chance to get that goal before heading back to Holland?

Oh, lest I forget: FIRE DALGLISH BALLS CHICKEN COCK FIRE FIRE DALGLISH FIRE SUCK LIVERPOOL.

There - now that someone's put it up for today's post, can we agree to stop that nonsense?

YNWA.
Ryan

Interesting fact there. Not the heading back to Holland part, that is quite sad to think about. But that could explain why Kuyt got the nod. If Stoke are as shit as we say, what better time to nick a goal for Kuyt, even when out of form? Too bad he was a bit rustier than he thought.

Kuyt is very well settled in Liverpool. I'd much rather see us waste a few million by letting him run out his contract then try to cash in on him. He's as close to Mr. Liverpool as you can get these days without being a local boy. Our champions league final goal scorer. But if he wants one last big contract and is ready to leave, then I'm sure we'd all wish him the best.
justin

lol at that bit right at the end, I hope that puts an end to the knee-jerky nonsense we've seen for awhile.

Anyone looking forward to the last day of the transfer window when we can finally hear about Ryan Babel's Helicopter arriving somewhere?
redtrev73

Thanks Edward. (That was actually fuckin' hilarious though!!) Top man, top post as usual. Let's pray to our chosen deity that Dirky is going nowhere.
ejbauer11

Hah - thanks. Thoroughly enjoy you posts as well, RT. Agreed re: Dirk; I still think he has a role to play, though his form is worrying at the moment.

I do know that this weekend can't come soon enough.
Khaine

Forgot asshole.
kenny

I hope in years later to come, we can look back and say Kenny did the right think. Be it playing Henderson and Adam, selling players, buying players, putting them in different positions, different formations, all that. Now there is debate on what he does, but I hope in the future it becomes clear to us what he was trying to do
Khaine

As an aside, 4 of Sinclair's goals are from penalties.
Latortillablanca

ya, if we're gonna take a swansea winger on the cheap, take dyer...
James Tyrrell

Keep Maxi, easily the best player in the world! Texeira would be nice, but saying that any striker would be nice
kenny

Sow?
Adeel

Sow what? haha
kenny

Moussa Sow haha. I can't tell if you were making a joke or really asking hah.
Wizard Of Mojo

Honda, Hamsik, Lucas M., Torres (I know..), Sow, Walcott, Podolski, Hazard.. All great players but without CL it looks like it's got hard to get these kind of players.. I mean, cm'on, who the hell wouldn't want to play at Anfield ffs!
Latortillablanca

none of those names are gonna be our targets... the whole point is to find those type of guys when they are 16, not in the early 20s. that said we need a poacher...
Geoff Twentyman

You're right.

We're competing with the money of Chelsea/City/Real/PSG.
The success (relative & recent) of Utd, Barca, Bayern, Inter and AC Milan.
The 'beautiful' Arsenal style of play.
The rise of Spurs/Napoli...blah blah.

Top 4 is essential this year. Thats why Kenny and Commoli bought the players they bought.

Now its time for them and theplayers to deliver, otherwise attracticting the next Hamsik/Neymar/Hummels/M'Vila etc is going to be a massive problem.
Red2death

Who knows how much money we have though? Or rather how much Henry and co are willing to invest.

As far as we know Kenny and Comolli have never been denied opportunity to chase any transfer target. They've never been told a player they've identified costs too much. And if FSG are used to baseball player fees, then costs of football players in comparison should be far less shocking, even on the order of 35m for Andy Carroll.

Even Mancini has been told he needs to sell in order to buy. But we've not reached that cap yet, so competing with the nouveau riche shouldn't be a primary concern at all (I know, still strange concept for a Liverpool fan).

Yes, some clubs are obnoxiously paying funny money for the big names. I hate those clubs. Stupid Chelskis and oil-money Citys and Mancs with their Glazer debts that'll never be recalled and their huge OT stadium. But hey, maybe this time we're not so different from them. And in the transfer window, that's a good thing.
Ryan

Well, obviously, Torres doesn't. At least thats what he said when he forgot to put lipstick on us when he FUCKED us. oops.

It's going to be hard to catch up with the likes of Chelsea, Manure and Citeh in terms of transfers. For example, look at Juventus. You say who the hell would't want to play at Anfield. The same can be said for Juventus as well internationally, but ever since they were relegated, they've had to deal with Poulsens (literally) and the like. And they still have spent just as much as anybody in the past 5 years without reaping any rewards until recently. I would love to see someone like Hamsik come into the team, but it doesn't look likely this winter. As appealing as Liverpool might be, would you walk away from something like Napoli? Or if you were Napoli, would you let someone like Hamsik leave without getting some cash? Nobody besides Tevez appears to want to leave their club, no top 4 quality players that is.