Wednesday, May 12, 2010
It appears that Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez is set to raid his former club to fill the void left by the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid last summer and it is believed that Banega is fully in favour of a move to Anfield despite the lack of UEFA Champions League football on Merseyside next season.
Sources close to the 21-year-old central midfielder have told Goal.com Spain that the Reds have made an enticing offer, the terms of which Banega is said to be happy with, paving the way for a move which would see him link up with fellow Argentinians Javier Mascherano and Emiliano Insua.
It is understood that Liverpool have made a bid of around €10 million, which is rumoured to match Banega's new buyout clause but is considerably less than the €18 million los Che paid Boca Juniors to take him from the Bombonera two years ago.
Valencia's financial problems are well publicised and despite talk of potential big money departures from the Mestalla, such as David Villa and Juan Mata, the transfer income from such sales would not be sufficient to plug holes in their massive debt and so los Che now seem willing to cash in on Banega, even at a loss.
The Sun claimed Aquilani would be sold as part of a summer clear-out at Anfield, with Juventus being his suitors in a cut-price €11.7 million deal. The Daily Mirror then added that Fiorentina were ready to bid for him.
But agent Franco Zavaglia has bitten back. He is certain the Italian midfielder, who joined Liverpool from Roma last summer, will be staying on Merseyside.
"I think this is just more big talk from the English tabloids," Zavaglia told Tuttomercatoweb.com.
"I don't know anything, because Alberto will be staying at Liverpool.
"I hear about Juventus and Fiorentina, but I think both those clubs need to organise their own structure at club level before they can think about the market.
"In addition, Alberto has recovered from his ankle injury and so I don't think Liverpool will want to sell him."
Monday, May 10, 2010
Dirk Kuyt Believes Rafael Benitez Will Be At Liverpool Next Season
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 5:30 PM
The Dutchman also sees it as vital that the Reds hold on to players such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, both of whom have been linked with big money moves away from Merseyside in recent days.
"The manager has four years left on his contract, so I don’t expect him to leave unless something else happens," the Dutch international told The Liverpool Echo.
"For me, the most important thing is keeping the main players.
"Hopefully then we can buy a few more key players and start winning trophies."
Kuyt also acknowledged that the Reds have made too many mistakes this season and it is vital that they learn from them quickly.
A 0-0 draw at Hull City on the concluding Sunday of the season consigned the Merseysiders to a seventh-placed finish, meaning that they face the ignominy of having to play in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League next season.
Kuyt believes that the players must be honest and take their share of the blame, before lifting themselves to face a new season with resolve and determination to succeed.
"It has been a hard season and we did everything to change things," the Dutchman added.
“Up until 10 days ago, we were fighting for a trophy but it didn’t happen. You can say we have to forget what has happened but, really, we have to learn from the mistakes we made. We’ve got to push next season and be bouncing from the start.
“In football, you can never be sure what is happening and at this time, we know the club looks very bad. We are looking for new owners and you don’t know which players are going to stay or go.
“But Liverpool is a club with a great history and great supporters and we have to stay close together and fight really hard.
“Every player is interested in what is going on but, if I am honest, I can’t blame that side of things for some of our performances.
"We tried to stay focused with things on the pitch – that’s what I did, as did everyone else. We just couldn’t make good things happen for the club."
The draw at Hull also frustrated Kuyt, who wanted to end the season with a victory to cheer the fans.
“We were all hoping to finish the season with a good result so we had some kind of good feeling to finish on but unfortunately that did not happen," he said.
"Stevie [Gerrard] went close and we had a couple of other chances.
"We pushed hard but we didn’t get the result we wanted and that is disappointing."
Jason McAteer: It Wouldn't Surprise Me If Steven Gerrard Left Liverpool This Summer
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 5:27 PM
After a disappointing season, which saw the Anfield club finish seventh in the Premier League table and crash out of the Champions League during the group stages, the Reds will be hoping to hold on to their prize asset.
But amidst all the current financial problems at the club, Liverpool-born McAteer believes the Reds could have a fight on their hands to hang onto Gerrard this summer.
"The club is not secure behind the scenes," McAteer told Sky Sports News. "You're [players] probably not worried if the club is selling a million shirts in Asia or if we're doing TV deals across the world.
"All we want to know as footballers is that there's investment coming into the team, which is going to bring in quality players, which is going to strengthen our team, which is going to help us push for league titles and Champions League football and that's what Steven Gerrard wants to see.
The former Reds star believes the upheaval behind the scenes at Anfield could also have an influence on where Gerrard will be playing his football next season.
He said: "At the moment if you put everything on the table there's not a great deal going forward from the board room, it's a mess at the minute.
"If Steven Gerrard is being enticed away, it wouldn't surprise me if he left now."
BREAKING NEWS: Juventus Claim Deal For Liverpool Boss Rafael Benitez Is Dead
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 5:25 PM
Sky Sport Italia have claimed that deal is completely dead in the water while Turin daily Tutto Sport suggest that, following a board meeting, the club are now actively looking into an alternative to the Spaniard.
Initial reports suggest the club will try to pull off an unlikely coup by landing Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger. However, it seems unlikely that the Frenchman would jump ship as he is believed to already be preparing the club for next season.
Juve have been courting Rafa for nearly four months and the Bianconeri directors were said to be confident they would get their man after Liverpool finished a disappointing seventh in the Premier League and were twice knocked out of European competition.
If Chelsea Can Turn It Around, So Can Liverpool - Rafael Benitez
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 5:24 PM
The Anfield club finished seventh in the final Premier League standings, a full 23 points adrift of winners Chelsea. Benitez's future has been under huge scrutiny in recent weeks, with a move to Italian strugglers Juventus strongly linked, but the Spaniard insisted after Sunday's disappointing 0-0 draw with Hull City that he was willing and capable of turning things around.
Benitez won the Champions League and FA Cup in his first two seasons at the club, yet in the past four campaigns has failed to add to his tally. But in the wake of seeing Chelsea grab their first title since 2006, Benitez was quick to draw parallels with the London club.
"For any manager, when you have a bad season, you want to improve and change things and I think it has to be this way," Benitez told reporters.
"I think all the managers, especially when they are in England and are at a club for a long time, will have good moments and bad moments.
"In football every year you cannot win and win and win. You can see Chelsea winning [the Premier League], not winning and now winning again so it can happen."
Asked if he deserved the chance to revitalise Liverpool's fortunes, Benitez phrased his answer to rally against what he perceives to be a negative media campaign against him, with certain outlets using anonymous sources in articles to push their own agenda.
"It depends. 'Senior sources' maybe will say different but it has been the same in the history of football," he said, before outlining what he hopes will be achieved in his latest meeting with the club's chairman, Martin Broughton.
"Every meeting helps, in one way or another, and at this moment we have to talk about everything," said the Reds boss.
"Hopefully the second meeting will be as positive as the first one...but the press continue with the same agenda.
"I think for the stability of the club it is important because we have to move forward on everything.
"Hopefully we can progress with our next meeting."
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Gerrard has seen his beloved Reds suffer a disappointing season, and wants investment to get the former European champions back to challenging for trophies.
A string of Rafael Benitez signings in the last few years have been wided criticised as flops - like Andriy Voronin, Fernando Morientes and Mark Gonzalez - and while the Reds captain knows his team need new faces, they have to be of a sufficient standard.
"There are teams that have grown significantly in recent times, like Chelsea. In addition, Manchester United have been too strong [for us] for many years," Gerrard said, according to The Daily Mail.
"Last year we came close to beating them but it is very difficult to overcome such a powerful team.
"Everyone knows that we must learn from this season. Some players have said we need a stronger squad and the key is to have better players and improve. I do not believe in profound changes or a revolution.
"Three or four quality players should be enough but more quality than quantity."
Gerrard is also keen to see his club make a meaningful challenge for the league title, after over 20 years without a top flight crown to celebrate.
"The Premier League is the food of this club. We haven't won it for such a long time and the crowd demand it," he added.
"They want us to win this more than any other competition. We must continue to fight for this, hopefully finishing fourth this season and having a real go next season.
"After finishing second last year we started this season with the idea of winning the league and the Champions League.
"After a series of bad results we had to change targets. Now the fans are desperate for us to win the Europa League. It's the only trophy left for us to fight for and we want to win it."
Gerrard hasn't quite had the sort of season he'd have wished for, and finds himself at No.91 on the Castrol Rankings, making him the fourth highest Liverpool player, behind Fernando Torres (5), Dirk Kuyt (69) and Pepe Reina (73).
Yossi Benayoun: Liverpool Will Win Europa League For Fernando Torres
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 6:33 PM
The striker is out for the rest of the season but Benayoun, who scored in last night's straighthforward 3-0 win over West Ham United at Anfield, insists that motivation remains high within Rafael Benitez's squad, who take on El Nino's former club Atletico Madrid this week in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.
"We want to win a trophy and we are very close," the Israeli told his club's official website.
"We need to do everything we can to get a result so that we can come back here in good shape for the second leg. I'm sure we can.
"I believe we can cause them problems, even without Fernando. He's the best striker in the world and with him things are much easier. Unfortunately he is injured and can't play.
"I wanted him to play against his old club - he deserves to do it - as it would have been a special moment for him; but we need to try and win the game for him.
"We need to finish what has been a disappointing season with a trophy. We want to give it to everyone, including Fernando. Any trophy you win is great and we want to do it."
The win over the Hammers kept Liverpool in the hunt for a fourth-placed finish and Benayoun maintains that the players have not given up on qualifying for next season's Champions League just yet.
"It is up to the rest of us to step up and give more," he added.
"We need to play for him. He is the one who brought us to this point and won us a lot of games.
"We have the quality to cope without him and the others who have come in will try and make it easier."
EXCLUSIVE: Wigan Athletic Chairman Dave Whelan Admits Stars Hugo Rodallega & Charles N'Zogbia Could Join Arsenal Or Liverpool
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 6:25 PM
Both Rodallega and N’Zogbia have been linked with moves to bigger clubs at the end of this season, and Whelan insists that Wigan’s policy has always been to help players further their careers.
“Wigan is a small club, we accept that,” he told Goal.com UK, “We have to look around and buy players and coach them, and I always tell my players that if a big club comes calling, I will never stand in their way.
“If you look now, we have a lad at Manchester United [Antonio Valencia] and a lad at Tottenham Hotspur [Wilson Palacios], and they are doing fantastically well.
"I think this current team has two or three players – Hugo Rodallega and Charles N’Zogbia for example – who can go on to play for top, top clubs. And I would never stand in the way of those players should that opportunity arise.”
Arsenal have been linked with a £20 million double-swoop for the pair, whilst Liverpool are rumoured to be preparing a summer move for Rodallega in a bid to boost their striking options, and Whelan believes Wigan’s reputation as a solid breeding ground for such players attracts big clubs to the DW Stadium.
“Wigan has earned, correctly, a reputation for being a good club to come to,” he said, “Players know that if they come to Wigan they will be in the first team, they will get good coaching, and they will get a chance to move on to a big, big club if they are good enough.”
Palac-Act | Spurs' Palacios made his name at Wigan
“We are continuing to scout across the globe, but especially in South and Central America,” he revealed, “We have two or three excellent scouts in that region, and they are continuing to turn up players for us.
"We have had great success in that area of course, and we have a couple of other players on the horizon in that region. They will be playing in the World Cup, and we will be looking at them before, during and after that.”
Of more pressing importance to Wigan, of course, is retaining their Premier League status. Sunday’s epic victory over Arsenal looks set to preserve their place amongst English football’s elite, leaving them seven points clear of the relegation zone with three games to play, and Whelan says he expects manager Roberto Martinez to improve next season, having spent this campaign adjusting to the demands of top-flight management.
“We have had some great wins, played some super football, but we have had some really poor days,” he said.
“Our manager Roberto Martinez has come from the Championship, and he has taken a while to settle into the demands and the pace of the Premier League. It is a huge learning curve and he has to learn fast, which he is doing. It is a massive step up both for players and management.”
“I think we will stay in the Premier League, and I truly hope we do because I think next season Roberto will be fully acclimatised to the demands of the league, and I think we will be a lot stronger.”
At the other end of the table, the title race looks set to go to the wire, with Chelsea, Manchester United and Arsenal all competing, but Whelan is in no doubt as to the destination of the Premier League trophy.
“I think Chelsea have already won the league,” he said, “I am sorry for Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool, because I always want Lancashire clubs to win everything, but I think Chelsea will be champions, they are a good team. We play Chelsea on the last day of the season, and I think they will be lifting the trophy when they play against us.”
Liverpool Manager Rafael Benitez Worried About Return Journey Following Europa League Encounter Against Atletico Madrid
0 comments Posted by izzreen at 6:17 PM
The Reds travel to play Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the semi-finals of the European competition on Thursday. And the volcanic ash cloud that has turned a significant part of Europe into a no-fly zone has made it difficult for teams playing on the European stage to commute to their destinations for the first leg of their respective games.
However, the Spaniard maintains that he is more concerned about the return journey, which could have a bearing on the club's domestic aspirations.
"We are assessing things hour by hour," Benitez told the press. "We have two or three options going and at this moment just one coming back but we will see if we can improve that.
"The key point is we can prepare the flight or travel to Madrid but we have to wait.
"We have the organisation for coming back as soon as possible but any way it will be Saturday - which is not the best for the Premier League game [away to Burnley on Sunday]."
"If the airports are open maybe we can fly directly but at this moment it is more difficult to come back than it is to go."
He added: "In these special circumstances it could be better to postpone the game but we have to go.
"We had some time yesterday to rest the players. It will not be ideal but we will try to do the best for the players.
"The news we have is we will go to London and see what can happen. Maybe then the airports will be open and maybe we can fly from there.
"The key point is we can prepare the flight or travel to Madrid but we have to wait."
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