As we move toward the January transfer window,
the frenzied speculation in the press continues unabated with player after
player being linked with a move to every Premier League club you can imagine.
Given their poor campaign so far, there has been a lot of speculation surrounding
who might be wearing the Liverpool soccer jersey next year. The names linked
have ranged from the scarcely believable to the potentially viable and today,
we are going to look at some of the names who Liverpool could realistically
target during the transfer window.
The first thing to note at this juncture is that
Liverpool are not in a position to spend vast sums of money on players. Talk of
a move for a player like David Villa are pie in the sky. Despite signing the
most lucrative sponsorship deal in the clubs history a month or so ago,
Liverpool’s financial situation remains dire, with a leaked document suggesting
that Rafa Benitez has £20m maximum per season to spend on players AND wages.
Given that he has already spent more than that in the summer, it seems unlikely
that Rafa, even with the new sponsorship deal in place, will have a great deal
of spare cash to flash in the January sales.
As such loan deals appear to be a more viable
alternative than spending a large sum on one player. Liverpool’s needs, at
present, are many, but top of the list for the club has to be signing a
striker, or possibly two, to help out Fernando Torres and David Ngog.
Three names have been strongly linked over the
past few weeks and all could have a degree of authenticity to the story.
Tottenham’s out of sorts striker Roman Pavlyuchenko was first mooted as a
possible loan deal a few weeks back, but today stories are surfacing of a
possible deal for the Russian hitman involving out of favour Ryan Babel as a
possible swap deal. The second name to
have been linked is Real Madrid’s out of favour Dutchman Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
The former United man is believed to prefer a move to Liverpool over Arsenal
and with Real ready to sell at a knockdown price, Liverpool could possibly
afford the player if his wage demands are not excessive.
The final name to be linked is a little more
untested. Barcelona striker Keirrison has spent the first half of the season on
loan at Benfica, but the Catalan giants are unhappy at his lack of first team
action at the Portuguese side. They seem set to recall him from loan there and
loan him out again to another top flight side in Europe. Liverpool, who were
very keen to land the striker in the summer, would be an excellent choice,
given their need for a striker and the fact that they are now out of the Champions
League.
It may not be all one way traffic at Anfield
either. Ryan Babel is being linked not only with Tottenham, but also with
Bayern Munich and a potential return to Ajax. His outburst, reported in the Sun
a while back, has not endeared him to Rafa Benitez or the Anfield faithful and
the Dutchman is living on borrowed time at Anfield. The same can be said of
Andrea Dossena, who seems set for a cut price return to Italy with AS Roma
being strongly linked with the Italian national soccer team left back.
The big worry for Liverpool fans however has
come in the past 24 hours, where midfielder Javier Mascherano has reportedly
refused to commit his long term future to the club. This will no doubt alert
Real Madrid and Barcelona who could come knocking in January and given that
they are out of the Champions League and struggling financially, could
Liverpool turn down a big money bid in the knowledge the player could agree a
deal to leave for free in 12 months time? Interesting times!
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