Liverpool Football Club Thread

[toythatkills]

£49m is incredible business, I've got no idea how you've pulled that off.

[Baring]

Awesome work. He's a proper shit bag.

[DeNeo]

They really didn't want to pay £50m did they.

"£30m?"

"No, we'll only sell for £50m"

"£40m?"

"No, we said £50m."

"£49m?"

"...fine."

[SnoopZakaDaVe]

amazing stuff, would've been funny if we said nah come back when you meet our valuation. though i'd rather not risk that approach, leave the childish antics to city offering £49 to save face or however they look at it

[hmm]

£10m/y at 20... insanity. He'll retire by 25.

That said, I imagine City'll get a lot more value for the £50m fee than Chelsea did from us.

[Mike]

I assume City made the cheque out straight to Southampton to save time on us buying from them.

£49 mil for a poor mans Jordan Ibe though is good going.

[Gabe]

Whilst it's a shame how this has all played out, good luck to him at City.

The only thing the club needs to focus on now is getting our targets in and looking to start the new season well.

[DeNeo]

I worry about the amount of pressure the fans are putting on Ibe thanks to this Sterling saga. They've had very different starts to their careers - Sterling had already played a number of games for the 1st team before Ibe got his chance, mainly thanks to our lack of options.

We've got a lot more players in the attacking positions now, so Ibe is likely to get fewer opportunities to start this season. If we do get another winger with the Sterling cash, I can see Ibe being loaned to a Premiership side.

[ryodi]

It'll only be around £40m for Liverpool, QPR are about to get a very nice £9m sell on fee. No idea who we should buy with the money, if he wasn't injured I'd suggest Fraser Forster, he's had his year at Southampton so I think he's due to move to Liverpool now.

[Oh Danny Boy]

We did do a job on City there.

But the most shocking thing is; £200k a week wages!!! How the hell did he get that??? Puts to bed his argument that it isn't about the money, the motivation definitely was a huge pay day.

Hmmm... time to speculate how the £40m (after QPR have their slice) will be spent. I'm hoping for Pedro....

[Istanbul]

Players of his type do tend to 'burn out' so to speak around 25/26.They become shadows of their former selves. I think Sterling has a lot more about him than say SWP at that age, but I remember players like Lennon and Duff being equally as good,and they too have seen declines. What is certain though, is that for the next 5 years, City have definitely got a player, who might just seem worth every penny of that £49m.

[Chewylegs]

Bye bye Sterling, hello £49m!

Anyone thought though that there is a chance we've already spent that money already and we won't actually splash the cash?!

[Oh Danny Boy]

I just hope we don't do what we did last season but spend that money on just one or two top players who will improve the first team straight away. NO snapping up potential or taking pot shots at any moneyball influenced targets.

[JamesTW]

It'll be Benteke, lots of our fans will roll eyes when he signs, there is prejudice about him because scared of what happened last season, either he'll be Sturridge out injured or Balotelli and won't fit in and after about 12 games he'll get dropped and be playing midfielders as a striker again and hardly ever score more than 2

There will be better strikers who clubs would sell for 40m, just depends if they want to play for us

[gospvg]

That's a lot of money to pay for someone who was off form last season. Good luck to the kid & I hope we spend the money wisely.

[Kelthink]

Good, I'm glad it's done. He should theoretically be good for the team, provided Aguero doesn't suddenly get sold, although I'm sceptical he'll keep performing at those wages. He might think he's made it and not bother any more.

[Azrael]

Good bit of business, shame it had to turn out like this. Knew we should have focussed on Suso instead when they were both starting to break through to the main team.

I agree with whoever it was that suggested getting Berahino and Pedro. Though I see the latter heading Arsenal's way.

[rjpageuk]

I am really sad it has actually happened, I kept hoping that somehow he would apologize and stay with a new contract with a buy out clause like Suarez.

Unlike many others here I think 49M is about right - Sterling is the best 20 year old in the world and given what Shaw cost last summer and the influx of more TV money it sounds about right to me. His wages are completely ludicrous though if it is true - usually you expect a smaller transfer fee in exchange for big wages (e.g. Yaya Toure, Van Persie, Sanchez etc. - players that want to leave but for who the wages are so high that the overall transfer is very expensive) as thats another 50M over a 5 year contract .

I really hope the money can be spent on someone who improves our team as there is going to be a big hole in the team without Sterling.

[Sng]

I think he's massively overrated and just has pace to his name.

Fingers crossed he spends a few years on City's bench before moving to somewhere like Stoke for £4m.

[JohnnyNolan]

Glad to see it looks like this is getting sorted one way or the other. Unlike some here I don't have any ill feeling towards the lad.

In terms of pending we've already been active in signing players, so I'd be surprised if there's more than just one more coming in and that looks like it's likely to be Benteke. That doesn't thrill me, even though he's a good player, as he really doesn't suit our style of play. I guess if we sign him the chances are Origi gets loaned out somewhere too.

Looks like we still plan to shift Mario and Borini too.

[DeNeo]

We haven't spent a crazy amount so far, so I could see us being able to use all the Sterling cash if need be.

[gospvg]

Need a decent striker & centre back.

Also need to sell two out of Borini, Lambert & Balotelli.

[JohnnyNolan]

I'd say striker and another full-back. Full-back looks like an injury away from playing someone out of position again.

I'd imagine Borini will be gone on the cheap, as for Mario I guess that's if anyone is willing to take a chance on him.

[angel]

borini is like a cat clinging onto liverpools legs with his claws out, he just will not leave.

[dam_aks]

Shame about Sterling. He was one of our better players and selling your better players is never good (regardless of the situation). However, he wanted out and we got a load of money. Could be worse.

We need a striker now. A good one.

[Baring]

You know when Sterling got offered 100k in Jan, reckon he knew he could fetch up to 200k instead from the likes of City and that's what he was told at the time?

He's just made an extra 5 million pounds over the next 5 years by holding out til the summer. It isn't bad business from him/his agent really.

I'm not a massive fan of him as he's far too inconsistent but as an England fan I hope he develops into a world class player and he does well for City. I don't think they have over paid for the current market. Statistically he is the best 20 year old around and they could sell him for £50mil during his prime years if he's still a good player.

Good business for all parties I reckon.

Let's hope you spend wisely. I hear Southampton's Rodriguez is fit now.

[SMD]

Yeah but his head completely went after and he was basically given every opportunity by the club to succeed. Will he get that at City?

[Istanbul]

[rjpageuk]

You know when Sterling got offered 100k in Jan, reckon he knew he could fetch up to 200k instead from the likes of City and that's what he was told at the time?

He's just made an extra 5 million pounds over the next 5 years by holding out til the summer. It isn't bad business from him/his agent really.

I genuinely dont believe it is about money. Sterling could have signed that 100k contract back in January with a release clause and still moved just the same now albeit with around £1m more in wages from then to now.

The way Sterling and his agent went about their business cost Sterling a lot in wages and was a big risk that it could have cost him a lot more if Liverpool didnt sell.

Obviously now he can build himself a new house out of £50 notes so its all irrelevant but I think its clear that it wasnt money that was motivating Sterlings actions.

[angel]

is it just me or does rogers look photoshopped on to that.