The January Bargain List

Posted on 03. Nov, 2010 by Dominic Campbell in Blog

With the season a quarter of the way through, it could perhaps be seen as too early to be looking at the January transfer window. However, with the club currently sitting in the bottom half of the table and the squad depth being as thin as Peter Crouch’s legs, one could be excused for planning ahead.

The fans are split in terms of who should be purchased in order to strengthen the squad, but the general consensus is that we need five players; one centre-back, one left-back, two wingers and a striker.

So the good news is that Roy Hodgson recently admitted that he will be looking to add at least five new faces, while the new owners have stated that they will back Hodgson financially. The bad news is that it is unclear as to what extent he will be backed. Figures of £30/40M have been quoted by various sources, but it will be a monumental task trying to buy 5 players without selling any.

In terms of players, we have been linked with what feels like an entire phone book. But there are a select few which stand out and could be smart business should the club make a move. Seven of these players are currently on the last year of their contracts and many clubs would rather offload their assets than risk losing them on a bosman.

Taye Taiwo Marseille (Left-back) – £4/6M

The Nigerian defender has gone somewhat unnoticed on the radar, thus failing to attract much interest from scouts and football managerial wannabes. This summers world cup would have been the 25-year- olds chance to showcase his talents had it not been for a series of unfortunate injuries.

Imagine a African born version of John Arne Riise; that is pretty much what you get from Taiwo. A strong hard working defender who possesses a cannon for a left foot.

Taiwo has yet to sign a contract extension, meaning he will become a free agent during the summer of 2011. So rather than lose the player who was keen on a move during the last transfer window, they may well look to off-load him for what would be regarded as pittance.

Other clubs interested: Lyon, Tottenham, Everton.

Philippe Mexès Roma (Defender)- £4/6M

Liverpool are rumoured to be one of many clubs who will battle it out in January for the services of Roma center-back, Philippe Mexes. It is believed that the French international is looking for a move after falling down the pecking order at his current club; with the EPL his preferred destination.

The 28-year-old, who has previously stated his desire to play in England, would be a good asset for any team who are willing to pay the asking price which could be as little as £6M. And with his current boss stating that he will only be used as cover, a move away from Roma looks inevitable.

However, while the defence could do with tweaking, the central positions lay at the bottom of the list in terms of importance. Far more pressing matters surround the acquisition of a striker, two wingers and a left back.

Other teams interested: Arsenal and Juventus

Steven Taylor Newcastle (Defender) – £2/4M

Steven Taylor isn’t the biggest or indeed, most glamorous name to be associated with Liverpool, but there is no doubting that the London born defender gives 100% for the team he plays for. The 23-year-old had been transfer listed during the summer due to a breakdown in contract negotiations in which Taylor wanted £60K a week, with the club only willing to go as high as £40K.

The Englishman then suffered an injury which ruled him out of action. However, despite still not signing a new contract, he is nearing full fitness again.

The fact the Taylor is eligible for the home grown rule could turn Roy’s head, although it is likely that the Liverpool manager will focus his efforts on bolstering his attacking options.

Other clubs interested: Unknown.

Ibrahim Afellay PSV (Attacking Midfielder, Winger)- £6/8M

Ibrahim Afellay has recently made it clear that he wishes to leave his current club, with his ideal destination being Manchester United or Liverpool. Affellay, who is currently contracted with PSV Eindhoven, has been in great form this season but believes that the time has come for him to ply his trade at the very top level.

Having offloaded Alberto Aquilani on loan and turned down the services of Rafael van der Vaart for a cut-price in the summer, Roy Hodgson needs to make a marquee signing to bolster a midfield currently being carried by skipper Steven Gerrard.

Afellay’s contract with PSV expires at the end of the season meaning he could be picked up cheaply in January, or even on a free next summer. Either way, given his quality this is the kind of player we can’t afford to miss out on. Ultimately, though, the player will decide his own future and with a host of top clubs interested it is uncertain whether we can offer him the stage or the wage that he desires.

Other clubs interested: Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Barcelona, Juventus and Atletico Madrid

Steven Pienaar Everton (Midfielder) – £4/6M

Steven Pienaar has rebelled against Everton by refusing to sign a new contract. The South African seems to have had enough of life at Everton and may will be holding out for a move to a bigger club.

This move would no doubt cause great controversy across Merseyside as Pienaar is regarded as one of Everton’s best players, alongside Mikel Arteta and Jack Rodwell.

However, David Moves has stated that he would rather the player leave for free during the summer than sell him to a rival midway through the season.

Other clubs interested: Tottenham, Inter Milan, Juventus

Niko Kranjcar Tottenham (Attacking Midfielder, Winger)- £7M

Given the precarious position Liverpool currently find themselves in signings like Kranjcar are of minimal risk as the player has a wealth of Premier League experience under his belt and could slot straight into the side where needed. Despite this experience, though, there is no way his value has more than trebled since joining Spurs and Roy Hodgson will be reluctant to part with such a sizeable chunk of his transfer budget for a player that is unlikely to become a fixture in the first team.

Niko was never really going to be anything other than a stop-gap at Spurs until they could find an upgrade, which they did in the form of VDV.

However, if Niko is willing to leave then there is little the club can do but sell him for a lower price; especially when you consider he has failed to hold down a place in the team this term.

Other clubs interested: Unknown

Xherdan Shaqiri Basel (Winger) – £5/7M

Xherdan isn’t exactly an established player but the winger is quickly becoming one of Europe’s hottest prospects.

Despite being born in Yugoslavia, the 19-year-old has risen to fame in Switzerland; plying his trade at FC Basel as well as earning a place in the Swiss national team.

However, this player may not be what we are looking for right now. We need a player who can come in and do the job straight away and Shaqiri is more a player for the future. Besides, how many times have we been fooled into buying a player who is ‘the next big thing’. He could turn out to be more El Zhar than El Nino.

Other clubs interested: Unknown

Ashley Young Aston Villa (Winger) – £14M+

Ashley Young has refused to sign an extension on his contract which expires in June 2012. The 25-year-old is a prospect with bags of ability, but unlike most his age he has already delivered and fulfilled a lot of his potential. His pace and delivery cannot be questioned and he would definitely fit into a Liverpool team that desperately struggles for width.

The purchase of Young would spell the end of Babel. Perhaps a Babel + cash deal would work best for both clubs? Regardless, he has a bright future ahead of him and we can only hope that his future is here.

Other clubs interested: Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham

Of course, there are still players who are unsettled and open to January transfer moves, but they would cost considerably more due to the fact that their club has no obligation to sell.

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28 Responses to “The January Bargain List”

Macca

03. Nov, 2010

Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland) is he the who scored the screamer against England? looks good.
- saad
  
  03. Nov, 2010
  
  I really do not care what players we buy as long as they are young. Roy do not buy players that will stop playing or start losing their form in one or two years
Macca

03. Nov, 2010

Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland) is he the one who scored the screamer against England? looks good.
Decky

03. Nov, 2010

Basel are a swiss team and Shaqiri plays for Switzerland, he scored against engurland recently. Also Young is 25 and his delivery can most definetly be called into question, he’s a hugely over rated player.
rushy

03. Nov, 2010

taiwo yes for the right price, mexes i would take as well although i think hes much more likely to end up elsewhere, i rate stephen taylor and think we could do a lot worse i think hes a better all round player than skrtel. Afellay definatley fits the bill but similar to Ashley Young i think we will find ourselves 3rd or 4th in the queue should psv and villa respectively decide to do business. completely agree with your views of shakiri one for the future but not what we need right now. The other ones that have been banded about on here namely Mata, Turan and llorente will leave us short of cash if we were able to sign either one of them….my first pick right now if there was anything doing would be Roman Pavlyuchenko!
Chunky

03. Nov, 2010

Load of twaddle! Already talk of continuing the buying of bargain basement players. You never learn. This mentality is so in keeping with RH and his mid-table mentality. Other teams flotsam and jetsom are to be LFC’s shining lights? I don’t think so – not in a million years. We have up and coming young bloods that are well able to service these roles. They are able to be groomed NOW whilst we are not challenging for the title so that when next season comes they are ready and more gane experienced.
Any cash should be used SPECIFICALLY for a first class attacker option and some one other than RH to select him!!
Greg woloszyn

03. Nov, 2010

With Roy wanting to bring in 5-6 new players we could really bolster our squad in january which is usually hard to do

——————–Reina—————-
——————————————–
Johnson–Mexes–Agger–Taiwo–
———————————————-
————-Merieles–Gerrard———
Pienaar———-Afelley———Young-
————————————————
———————Torres——————

Looks good to me!
phelim

03. Nov, 2010

Straight up we need to get a £20m striker and play 4-4-2. and then look at others.
Anyone agree.
- Dominic Campbell
  
  04. Nov, 2010
  
  i disagree. I think our wings should be top priority. No point in having 2 strikers if they get no service
Bill

03. Nov, 2010

Woy will now have very little input into what new signings we make. Damien Comolli and King Kenny are now in charge of that department. I wonder if Woy will get the message now, You are the weakest link, Goodbye.
redz

03. Nov, 2010

yes we do need a 20 mill and a 15 -20 mill winger too, get rid of a few crap players, babel and the likes
pmcevoy

03. Nov, 2010

on the top end of those estimate we would need 56 million for all these players.thats not all too bad for a team of quality players seeing as the sheer amount rafa spent on second rate players.we should really be looking for a top class left back and i do think that tawio would be a risse sorta player for us that we really need back in the squad.we really need to sort out cb aswell like carra is getting on so there’s no point structuring a defence around him.taylor would be good he would offer us everything acarra is and maybe a little bit more running than carra could really do.himself and agger would be AMAZING.we should get one of affelly,kranjcar,pineer to replace the gap aqualli was ment to fill.id personally prefer affelly.i think pineer is too much hassel oveer the whole everton thing for a fella nearly hitting 30.Shiquiri would be an immense player i sometimes watch basels highlights and he just seems too good for the league and he’s only young.seems like a quality player and on the cheap id love to have him in the side with shelvey and himself being part of our midfield for the future.we do really need someone who nando can play off but if young was for sale at 14 million we could strenghten up front at summer.id like gomez with torres but i dont think it wil happen so i would settle for pavlyechenco or gilardinio i know he goes against the nesv policy but he’s a quality striker
kopfan23

03. Nov, 2010

i say we give villa 6mil+babel for young, get richards from city, diarra from real, and a striker (keane or carroll for me as i think keane wasn’t given the chance he deserved and carroll could be the future number 7…) and i think we’d be fine…maybe even top 4…YNWA
jamajmus

03. Nov, 2010

bring in Ashley young , wright philips , taylor and taiwo ! and were set !
commonsense

03. Nov, 2010

love Bills comments!get young{use cash from babel sale},affellay&taylor for defo,if we can sell agger,replace him with mexes…taiwo looks wortha punt@that price{wich lucas sale could finance} but would need time to settle in….
Liam Tomkins

03. Nov, 2010

Barcelona have already opened talks with Affellay as they look to strengthen without spending big money. Greedy buggers.
Joe

03. Nov, 2010

————————-riena—————————–
johnson——carra——-mexes——-coentrao
————–miereles——-defour——————-
hazard—————————————a.young—
—————————gerrard—————————-
—————————torres/new striker gomes?
ps3

03. Nov, 2010

poor dirk, ryan, joe, lucas, david and milan must be well upset that y’all want rid of em. well, you’re all right. now if these players go, great. and take roy with you. i dont know who to buy,but we need lb,2 wingers and striker… and nobody could be as crap as what we’ve had for last 2 years.
1ofthejuicys

04. Nov, 2010

I would spend the £30 or £40 million on sacking Roy!!!!! and give the rest to JOSE MOURINHO to cut the wood from the tree, and remember this “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, Because Great men are almost always bad men.”
commonsense

04. Nov, 2010

barca do seem a bit short dont they,maybe we should give them back their money &take mashcarano back then….i know,i wish but it would solve a lot of problems….affelay would be mad to go&sit on their bench….
Dominic Campbell

04. Nov, 2010

The more I look at it, the less I trust Roy in the January window. He missed out on Ben Arfa, Van Der Vaart and Mario Gomez. What a plank. He has a lot to do tic he hopes to win the fans over.
- kopfan23
  
  04. Nov, 2010
  
  agreed with ben arfa and van der vaart but van der vaart was too expensive for the majority of the summer, only on the last day did the price drop to the 8mil that tottenham got him for…unfortunately for us….and we tried to get gomez on loan but bayern weren’t having it and i don’t think we could’ve afforded a 30mil pound signing with the pocket change that was given to us by the yanks…YNWA
Dave

04. Nov, 2010

Reina
Johnson Carra Agger Konchesky
Meireles Gerrard
Marin/Affelay Cole Arda/Mata
Torres
Because of the limited funds, i think signing 2 of the 4 above wingers is one of the only feasable outcomes in January. Yes we need another striker but think of how deadly out attack would be with two quality wingers to supply El Nino. If not this then there is always Pienaar, which would release more money into buying a forward. Players like Taylor, Shawcross, Mexes etc. shouldnt even be considered because we are competent enough at the back for the time being. The real problem lies in the attacking third of the pitch and i so hope that Roy addresses this problem primarily
irw

04. Nov, 2010

…nesv have shown with the boston red sox that they are willing to pay top prices and top wages for players that they believe will significantly improve not only the competitive value but also the financial value of the team…they have vowed to do the same for liverpool with the focus mainly on the bright young things of world football…with that in mind and the recent appointment of comolli…it seems that they would not shy away from spending a tidy fortune on players if they fit the bill…if the prices being bandied around for the likes of taiwo, affelay and defour are accurate then it would make no sense to pass up on them…but still nesv would need a marquee signing that will signal their intent like no other…a signing that is young, talented and whose stock in the game can only go up…a player that would make torrres and reina never again question the ambitions of the club, and make mascherano regret ever leaving…that signing is kun aguero.
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04. Nov, 2010

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