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Diego to Liverpool?

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doctor_mac

doctor_mac

My cowboy name is Garland Justice
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Liverpool contemplate gamble on £15m nomadic midfielder


Wolfsburg midfielder Diego is never very far from the newspaper headlines, often for as many antics off the pitch as on it.


But the 25-year-old Brazilian international is in the news again, this time the subject of increased transfer speculation linking him with a summer move to Liverpool.

The Reds' Director of Football Strategy Damien Comolli is said to be a big fan of Diego, who began his promising career in South America at the tender age of 16, making his debut for Santos after graduating from their academy alongside fellow Brazilian stars Elano, Robinho and current Chelsea defender Alex.

Moves to Porto and Juventus never worked out for the eccentric Diego, who has commanded in excess of £40m in transfer fees during his short career, but has by and large failed to live up to his billing.

However, Liverpool have expressed an interest in the player who has showed signs of what he is capable of with his most impressive season coming in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen where he scored an impressive 22 goals in 39 games.

That sort of form is exactly what Kop fans will be hoping they will see should a move to Anfield be orchestrated.

However, Diego's off the field antics have tarnished his reputation somewhat and he is seen as a disruptive influence in the dressing room, which may cause Liverpool to approach a potential deal with caution.

Just two weeks ago SkySports.com reported how Diego was suspended by Wolfsburg after defying orders during a recent 1-0 defeat to Hannover when he stepped up, and missed a penalty for his side despite not being the designated taker.

Having said that, he is known for his flair and ability to pull the strings, setting up play for his teammates. A tremendous passer, Diego is also very skillful with the ball at his feet - something that Kenny Dalglish is rumoured to be a huge admirer of.

The Liverpool chief is looking to bring an attacking midfield talent to Anfield to sit behind his newly acquired attacking partnership of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll and the Merseysiders are preparing to table a £15million bid in the summer.
Click to expand...

I always thought this guy looked like a tremendous player.
 
Me too Doc, he could do a Van Der Vaart for us! Didn't realise he was that young, he seems to have been around forever.
 
Some of you may remember me going on about Diego every other week a couple years back. I wanted us to sign him back when everything was good.

I'm surprised things didn't work out for him at Juve... I don't watch Serie A football at all, so not sure what happened. Roopy?

As for signing him now, he's still young, but surely he'd have to come with a big "already flopped at a big club" discount.
 
Is he an AM? Where would he fit in/ would be we be able to accommodate him.

So he had a mare in Portugal and Italy but has been half decent in deutscheland?

Hm, sounds risky, I wouldnt fancy a double figure outlay on hi
.
 
[quote author=keniget link=topic=44400.msg1293323#msg1293323 date=1299053861]
Some of you may remember me going on about Diego every other week a couple years back. I wanted us to sign him back when everything was good.

I'm surprised things didn't work out for him at Juve... I don't watch Serie A football at all, so not sure what happened. Roopy?

As for signing him now, he's still young, but surely he'd have to come with a big "already flopped at a big club" discount.
[/quote]

I too was dreaming of us signing him when he was at Bremen. I thought he was the best player in the Bundesliga and would be a star at any league in the world. As you say it was surprising he didn't really do it for Juve but there are well known examples for top class players not cutting it in Serie A for one reason or another.

Wolfsburg signed him for €15.5m so the fee would probably not be less than that but who knows maybe they'd be willing to cash in as he has had some off the field problems there.
 
[quote author=keniget link=topic=44400.msg1293323#msg1293323 date=1299053861]
Some of you may remember me going on about Diego every other week a couple years back. I wanted us to sign him back when everything was good.

I'm surprised things didn't work out for him at Juve... I don't watch Serie A football at all, so not sure what happened. Roopy?

As for signing him now, he's still young, but surely he'd have to come with a big "already flopped at a big club" discount.
[/quote]

He's a lazy mental case. That's what happened.
 
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=44400.msg1293330#msg1293330 date=1299055474]
He's always looked classy to me, but is an attacking central midfielder really what we need?

WIDTH! PACE!
[/quote]
I tend to agree although I'm not so sure who's our most accomplished AM in the squad these days. Unless we spunk big on a Gerrard-like CM and free the Cpt. for the AM role I struggle to see any clear choices really.

Raul is not an AM in my mind. He's not good enough on the ball nor quick enough in mind to spray passes around and retain possession. Pacheco and Suso are still very young and Joe Cole hasn't proved anything so far. That leaves us with Gerrard or a different formation.

Diego would be an interesting shout however he's struggled in Juve and now in Wolfsburg too so I wouldn't want us to spend big on him.
 
[quote author=keniget link=topic=44400.msg1293323#msg1293323 date=1299053861]
Some of you may remember me going on about Diego every other week a couple years back. I wanted us to sign him back when everything was good.

I'm surprised things didn't work out for him at Juve... I don't watch Serie A football at all, so not sure what happened. Roopy?

As for signing him now, he's still young, but surely he'd have to come with a big "already flopped at a big club" discount.
[/quote]

I was a passenger of that particular bandwagon, too. I'm also surprised he's flopped so emphatically at Juve. Sounds like he's gone off the rails a bit. I'm also not entirely sure how we'd shuffle things around to accommodate him. He always looked great in a central/free role, but can he play as a wide forward? Presumably something like this in our current (5-3-2/3-5-2) formation...

----------Carrol-----------
--Suarez----------Diego--
---------Gerrard----------
-----------DM------------

?

I would still be like an excitable boy if we signed him, though.
 
[quote author=KHL link=topic=44400.msg1293343#msg1293343 date=1299057740]
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=44400.msg1293330#msg1293330 date=1299055474]
He's always looked classy to me, but is an attacking central midfielder really what we need?

WIDTH! PACE!
[/quote]
I tend to agree although I'm not so sure who's our most accomplished AM in the squad these days. Unless we spunk big on a Gerrard-like CM and free the Cpt. for the AM role I struggle to see any clear choices really.

Raul is not an AM in my mind. He's not good enough on the ball nor quick enough in mind to spray passes around and retain possession. Pacheco and Suso are still very young and Joe Cole hasn't proved anything so far. That leaves us with Gerrard or a different formation.

Diego would be an interesting shout however he's struggled in Juve and now in Wolfsburg too so I wouldn't want us to spend big on him.
[/quote]

I don't agree with that Ming has great feet and is one of our cleverer players.
 
Madness KHL, Raul is beautiful on the ball and I have no problem with his ball retention.

I wanted Diego in the deal that took Aqualani to Juve. Why did we give them Aqualani on loan without asking for Diego in return (who moved to Germany) in the same window?
 
[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=44400.msg1293352#msg1293352 date=1299058434]
Presumably something like this in our current (5-3-2/3-5-2) formation...

----------Carrol-----------
--Suarez----------Diego--
---------Gerrard----------
-----------DM------------

[/quote]

We probably won't play 5-3-2 that much next season so maybe something like this:

----------Carrol-----------
--Suarez---------Winger
------Gerrard-Diego-----
-------------DM------------
 
[quote author=ILD link=topic=44400.msg1293360#msg1293360 date=1299058828]
Madness KHL, Raul is beautiful on the ball and I have no problem with his ball retention.

I wanted Diego in the deal that took Aqualani to Juve. Why did we give them Aqualani on loan without asking for Diego in return (who moved to Germany) in the same window?
[/quote]
I personally believe that he's giving away far to much possession. Perhaps I'm beeing a tad bit hard on him here but whenever played in that AM-role he does the following:

i) Score a beautiful goal

ii) Gives away loads of possession

I'm obviously torn on the issue as I like his goals a lot but I'm not convinced he's the right man for our AM position at all. Diego is much more suited to that role. LIke VdV and others like him.
 
[quote author=Akakabooto link=topic=44400.msg1293365#msg1293365 date=1299059206]
[quote author=Delinquent link=topic=44400.msg1293352#msg1293352 date=1299058434]
Presumably something like this in our current (5-3-2/3-5-2) formation...

----------Carrol-----------
--Suarez----------Diego--
---------Gerrard----------
-----------DM------------

[/quote]

We probably won't play 5-3-2 that much next season so maybe something like this:

----------Carrol-----------
--Suarez---------Winger
------Gerrard-Diego-----
-------------DM------------

[/quote]

Meireles is a big investment, and of course a quality player so if we do get Diego or an equivalent I'd imagine he'd be used behind Carrol, like Suarez.

-------------------Carrol------------------
--------Suarez---------------Diego-------
----------------Gerrard-Ming-------------
-----------------------DM------------------
Johnson------CB----------Carra-----Kelly----
---------------------Reina----------------


And if Aquaman comes back, he could easily interchange with Gerrard/Ming.
We really really need a good defensive midfielder.
 
[quote author=KHL link=topic=44400.msg1293375#msg1293375 date=1299060081]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=44400.msg1293360#msg1293360 date=1299058828]
Madness KHL, Raul is beautiful on the ball and I have no problem with his ball retention.

I wanted Diego in the deal that took Aqualani to Juve. Why did we give them Aqualani on loan without asking for Diego in return (who moved to Germany) in the same window?
[/quote]
I personally believe that he's giving away far to much possession. Perhaps I'm beeing a tad bit hard on him here but whenever played in that AM-role he does the following:

i) Score a beautiful goal

ii) Gives away loads of possession

I'm obviously torn on the issue as I like his goals a lot but I'm not convinced he's the right man for our AM position at all. Diego is much more suited to that role. LIke VdV and others like him.
[/quote]

I don't really think of an AM's job as being to retain possession. Surely he's being asked to make those difficult, risky, final passes which obviously have an impact on his passing percentages? I think Ming's good in that position, and that Gerrard is great. Seems obvious to me that we're going to buy a dominating DM in any case, and - I trust and hope - at least one fast goalscoring winger. I just don't see central attacking midfield as a priority, especially if we end up welcoming Aquilani back to Anfield rather than losing him for a crap fee.
 
[quote author=TheBunnyman link=topic=44400.msg1293426#msg1293426 date=1299065093]
[quote author=KHL link=topic=44400.msg1293375#msg1293375 date=1299060081]
[quote author=ILD link=topic=44400.msg1293360#msg1293360 date=1299058828]
Madness KHL, Raul is beautiful on the ball and I have no problem with his ball retention.

I wanted Diego in the deal that took Aqualani to Juve. Why did we give them Aqualani on loan without asking for Diego in return (who moved to Germany) in the same window?
[/quote]
I personally believe that he's giving away far to much possession. Perhaps I'm beeing a tad bit hard on him here but whenever played in that AM-role he does the following:

i) Score a beautiful goal

ii) Gives away loads of possession

I'm obviously torn on the issue as I like his goals a lot but I'm not convinced he's the right man for our AM position at all. Diego is much more suited to that role. LIke VdV and others like him.
[/quote]

I don't really think of an AM's job as being to retain possession. Surely he's being asked to make those difficult, risky, final passes which obviously have an impact on his passing percentages? I think Ming's good in that position, and that Gerrard is great. Seems obvious to me that we're going to buy a dominating DM in any case, and - I trust and hope - at least one fast goalscoring winger. I just don't see central attacking midfield as a priority, especially if we end up welcoming Aquilani back to Anfield rather than losing him for a crap fee.
[/quote]

Agree with all of that.
 
Diego is ace and scores more that a few from set-pieces. Didn't know that he's only 25.
 
[quote author=KHL link=topic=44400.msg1293343#msg1293343 date=1299057740]


Raul is not an AM in my mind. He's not good enough on the ball nor quick enough in mind to spray passes around and retain possession. Pacheco and Suso are still very young and Joe Cole hasn't proved anything so far. That leaves us with Gerrard or a different formation.

[/quote]

Meireles has scored 5 goals from midfield in his last 7 league games. I'll happily take that kind of 'not good enough' thanks!
 
That's true, Richey.

By all means he should hold the position of AM as long as the ball continues to strike true off his boot - but the real debate is to whether he has enough in his game to be there when the scoring streak finishes.

There's also the question of accommodating Steven Gerrard, who frankly looks a complete mess when asked to play in a deeper role.

I'm not sure about the conundrum above, but I do still think there's a lack of balance in our midfield for the 3 man triangle, and I believe it's time to look towards something like:

------------Lucas--Ming---------
--Gerrard---------------------Cole--
-----------Suarez---Carroll--------
 
Diego does not have what it takes to cut it with the best on a consistent basis. And he's shown this time and time again in his career.

At the Copa America, with Brazil without the likes of Ronaldinho and co., he had the chance to show the world what he's got but was benched after the first game.

Showed occassional flashes of brilliance with Juve, but not consistently enough and never in the big games.

Did well at Bremen, but its easier for playmakers to thrive in Germany as its less tactical (in terms of defence) than Serie A.
 
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