Schweini wrote:City have bid 20M for Skrtel

IF they do, and I frankly believe it's a big if, I think we should consider it.

I love Skrtel as a player, and I really hope he stays. That said, 20 mil is a severe over-valuation, and he isn't irreplaceable. He's a very good defender, probably one of the best in the Premier League. However, if they are willing to pay nearly double what he's likely likely worth, we could certainly put the funds to good use. Less than half of that money could be used to secure his replacement (perhaps with Simon Kjaer, Kyriakos Papadopoulos and Matteo Mussachio heading the list...). the other half or so could bolster our other transfer efforts.

I'm still having a hard time seeing Man City swoop for him, though. He would obviously be a replacement for Lescott. However, it's not as though Lescott had a howler of a season. He was actually quite solid at the back for them. It's debatable just how big an improvement Skrtel would be. Additionally, he's only 2 years younger than Lescott. If Man City are going to spend 20 million on a CB, I would expect it to be a younger one that will be at the club for a while to come. That's not to say they won't do it. I just don't think it's as likely as people seem to think after Skrtel's strong season.

All in all, I'd prefer that Skrtel stay. If he's happy at the club, I'm more than happy for him to remain at the back for years to come. However, if he wants to go, I'm merely suggesting it's not the end of the world.

Getting the money is all well and good, and as you said there are some players available that could potentially be brought in to replace Skrtel for a much smaller price, but are any of those players (or even ones at a similar price) as good as he is? And as suited to the PL? I'm not so sure.

We're in a precarious position at the moment where we need to be building and getting back into the Champions League as soon as possible, and selling any of our stars, whether it be Skrtel, Agger, or Reina, even at a big price, would be counter productive to reaching that objective as the players that would be available as replacements simply won't be as good (in all likelihood). Getting money is fine, but at current squad and first team strength need to come first.

Kjaer, for example, had some very sketchy seasons prior to this past one and even when not struggling I don't believe he's shown anything to suggest he could be better than Skrtel is for us. To replace Agger I'd ideally want the club to highjack Tottenham's Vertonghen deal, but that would be extremely unlikely for a number of reasons. And as for Reina... who could replace him at the back? Vorm and Krul had good seasons but each has only had one, and Vorm is basically off limits due to Rodgers' agreement with Swansea's owner.

There's a fair number of fans that suggest we should seriously consider significant offers for Skrtel ("one good season"), Agger ("injuries"), and Reina ("two poor seasons") but I simply don't see any realistic replacements available to us. Unless the players want out they shouldn't be sold except for silly money, and even if they do want the club to consider offers every effort should be made to either change their minds or keep maximum price.


Note this is neither a suggestion that anyone here wants the players gone, nor is it an attack on those that have opinions along the lines of what I've mentioned; it's just my opinion on something I've noticed from fans all over.

Better not sell Skrtel. A player like him could be the difference between making it into the CL or not. Would be too risky to try to replace him.


What comes to Aquilani being a mercenary, I understand him. He is contracted to us, but doesn't really feel wanted at LFC and might not fancy living in Liverpool himself. Has spent the last two seasons on loan at Juventus and Milan but neither have offered to buy him, so he probably feels he is not that wanted over there either. I think these clubs he has played for recently have pushed him to be a bit of mercenary, just wanting to find the best deal for him and seeing if can find a club to stay at.

Don't sell Skrtel would be my view too. It would be difficult to find a replacement to partner Agger would be be as good.

Also with Carra reaching the end of his career we'd really need to sign two CB's.

Keep Martin, *bleep* selling our best players.

Perhaps, I was misunderstood. I think Red understood what I meant, but I want to clarify for everyone. I don't want Skrtel to leave, and it would most certainly set the club back defensively. He is a top-class defender, and a personal favorite of mine. Besides, what would we do without brilliant marketing such as this brilliant picture of Iron Man Skrtel.

My point was merely that we shouldn't cry about the sky falling if City come calling. If (and again, I stress the 'if') the reports are to be believed, they're preparing an offer of £20 million. In such a case, I would ask for 30 and force Skrtel to hand in a written transfer request before accepting anything less than 25. I love Skrtel, but at those prices he is quite over-valued. I'm not saying he's a one-season wonder, or a flop, or even over-the-hill. I'm saying there are comparable defenders to be had for half that price. If City feel like paying so far over the value for his services (and, crucially, Skrtel wants to go), I say we take a page out of Mike Ashley's book (I can't believe I just said that), cash the check, and begin looking for a replacement.

This is, or course, assuming that Skrtel wants to go. If he can be persuaded to stay, or was never truly interested in leaving, then we should kindly tell Man City where they can stick their £20 million.

All this speculation is revolving around quotes from his agent following Kenny's departure. I'm referring to the ones suggesting that Skrtel wanted to meet with the new manager and assess the ambitions of the club. With the guy getting married yesterday, I would venture a guess that these meetings have yet to occur. And, with him on his honeymoon, I would imagine they won't happen for at least a week or so. So the reality is that Skrtel most likely has yet to meet with Rodgers and therefore nothing has really changed since Kenny's departure. Several of the other stars have spoken with Roders or at least spoken of their interest in working with him (Agger, Gerrard, Suarez, etc.). I wouldn't expect anything to happen until Skrtel at least meets the man.

Karol Cstonto (Skrtel's agent): "Some changes have been made at the club and he wants to know what the aims and ambitions are."

#twitter

@ DontTreadyReddie
I think both me and Icy S got what you meant about Skrtel, were just telling what we think.

@ Nishy
A little worrying, that :/

Agents always talk, I wouldn't be too concerned unless we hear something from Skrtel himself on the matter.

The worrying thing, for me anyway, about us potentially selling a CB is the fact that we have been consistently linked with a bid for Caulker. He's a solid young player with good potential, but if we were to move for him as a replacement for either started I'd be very concerned.

Again though, this is all meaningless speculation until we hear something from Skrtel himself (or the club).

Seems like we have heard from him....

http://www.kopsource.com/skrtel-quells-departure-rumours/

Lucas Leiva
Hello everyone ! Tomorrow i start my holidays. Only a few days but I am sure it will be very important as I had a difficult period .

Aquilani reportedly wanted by Fenerbahce!!!

I like Aqua and think he could work in Rodgers team.

1 million? forget that, I say keep him, that's not serious.....I don't see why we should sell a player who is a good fit for the style of football the new manager will try to implement for so much below what he's worth.

I don't see a downside , what's he going to do? , cause a issue in the dressing room? refuse to play? Nah, I see alot of possibilities for him here, even if he doesn't like it here.....he loves football, once he gets to play it he'll be alright.

He could easily cause an issue in the dressing room. One unhappy player can cause all sorts of unrest. And if he doesn't want to be here his performances will suffer. There's little reason to pay wages for a player that's not going to perform at his best and who would rather be elsewhere.

RedOranje wrote:He could easily cause an issue in the dressing room. One unhappy player can cause all sorts of unrest. And if he doesn't want to be here his performances will suffer. There's little reason to pay wages for a player that's not going to perform at his best and who would rather be elsewhere.

The AVB/Lampard Saga is a rather obvious example the only difference is Lampard had more power and that really cost us. Aqua could still do something similar, Liverpool would be much better off selling him.

Obviously, if Aquilani is willing to put the past couple of seasons behind him and dedicate himself to the club I'd be happy to see him stay, as he can be a quality player when his head is right. But everything we've seen indicates that he wants a permanent return to Italy and our options are limited if that's the case. Best to get what we can for him now rather than pay his wages for another year while he adds nothing of worth to the side and then leaves on a free.

Hoping for a resolution to the Sigurdsson deal this week. All these rumors flying around are beginning to get on my nerves. Reading is far-fetched, but Spurs seems quite a bit more likely considering they look likely to lose Modric. Hoffenheim's deadline is next Sunday, so I'd expect to hear real news about him sometime this week.

Gylfi to Spurs getting hot now.

Bild reporting that Sigurdsson is off to Spurs.

Nishank wrote:Bild reporting that Sigurdsson is off to Spurs.

Let's wait for something a bit more reliable.

RedOranje wrote:

Nishank wrote:Bild reporting that Sigurdsson is off to Spurs.

Let's wait for something a bit more reliable.

Posted it as RWO rates it i think, Or is it the Kicker. One of the two, Thought it was reliable enough

Anyways Gylfi will move to a manager less club rather than Brendan Rodgers's Liverpool, I doubt it.

If Spurs offer him a better wage package it could certainly happen. It would be a bit odd though, as they are currently without a manager and are in the EL, same as Liverpool.

RedOranje wrote:If Spurs offer him a better wage package it could certainly happen. It would be a bit odd though, as they are currently without a manager and are in the EL, same as Liverpool.

Looks like that is the exact reason Spurs might get the deal done . . . the only solid news were clingy on to has just vaporized

Gylfi Sigurdsson close to joining Tottenham from Hoffenheim - BBC

Bild is reliable. Tottenham it is for Sigurdsson.

I highly doubt Spurs will offer a higher wage packet..... you average a lot higher wages than they do.

Spurs in fact pay similar wages to us, you are in another league in the wages bit.

I'm pretty certain Carroll gets more than Modric for example, theres a reason Spurs have struggled to do a deal for Adebayor.

I personally think he's chosen Tottenham due to the fact they are closer to CL football than you are despite you both playing in the EL.

Spurs dont need a manager to make signings btw, thier signings are made by an independent board not by the manager.

I dont think he's chosen Spurs for money, also London could be a possible reason he's chosen Spurs that is a massive pull for foreign players.

Assuming its all true of course.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:I highly doubt Spurs will offer a higher wage packet..... you average a lot higher wages than they do.

Spurs in fact pay similar wages to us, you are in another league in the wages bit.

I'm pretty certain Carroll gets more than Modric for example, theres a reason Spurs have struggled to do a deal for Adebayor.

I personally think he's chosen Tottenham due to the fact they are closer to CL football than you are despite you both playing in the EL.

Spurs dont need a manager to make signings btw, thier signings are made by an independent board not by the manager.

I dont think he's chosen Spurs for money, also London could be a possible reason he's chosen Spurs that is a massive pull for foreign players.

Assuming its all true of course.

Every report suggesting the Spurs deal is "done" has indicated it's because they offered higher wages. Doesn't make sense to take part of the reports as legitimate and write off the other parts.