Ibe - New Contract

[Brizzle]

[article=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/jordon-ibe-sign-new-five-year-9094485]Jordon Ibe will sign a new five-year contract with Liverpool by the end of this week.

The youngster has agreed terms on a long-term deal, which will keep him at Anfield until 2020.

It is reward for the 19-year-old’s impressive development, with Reds boss Brendan Rodgers confident Ibe can become a significant player for the club in the coming years.

Ibe spent the first half of this season on loan at Derby County in the Championship, but returned to Merseyside in January, and has made eight appearances since, including an eye-catching performance in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park.

The news will come as another boost to the Reds, who are close to confirming new contracts for both Jordan Henderson and Martin Skrtel.

Henderson’s deal is set to be announced this week, while Skrtel will also be tied to a long-term extension. Both players had just over a year left to run on their current contracts.

Ibe would have been out of contract in 2017, but will now continue his development at Anfield.

Liverpool are also confident of agreeing a new deal with Jon Flanagan, the defender whose contract expires in June.[/article]

 

[hmmmmm1]

This kid looks like the real deal, good news.

 

[keniget]

Didn't he sign a contract earlier htis year?

 

[Mystic]

Didn't he sign a contract earlier htis year?

Yeh, I'm sure I remember this as well.

 

[Brizzle]

There was another article in Feb about him on the verge of signing so i'm assuming it was put on hold. This is great news though.

 

[white-sox]

There was another article in Feb about him on the verge of signing so i'm assuming it was put on hold. This is great news though.

I think he is holding out for at least 100k....

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Also good to see positive news from the Skrtel camp regarding signing a new contract. That might be the most important of these contract extensions yet, in the short term.

 

[Mors]

I think he is holding out for at least 100k....

If we'd have offered him the 100k in January he'd have signed it. But it's obv not about the money.

 

[Silver Sean]

So we can sell Sterling for £50 million now yeah?

 

[red_maradona]

Let's hope a bumper contract doesn't dull the hunger of the lad.

 

[Zlate]

Rate Ibe as a better player than Sterling. More skillful, gets stuck in, better shot and better at passing a man and getting a cross.

 

[juniormember]

Don't think he's more skillful.
But his physical presence and superior shooting ability/power bodes well for the future.

 

[gkmacca]

I don't think there's much difference between them in terms of skill. Sterling comes with a lot of decoration, in the sense of a repertory of little feints, flicks and stepovers that only rarely seem to achieve anything. Ibe uses his skill more consistently in a functional way. The big difference, I think, is in terms of clarity of purpose: Sterling has always had a tendency to get himself into the area and then get brain freeze (he's improved, of course, but it's still there); Ibe usually seems to have a really sharp vision of what he wants his last touch to achieve.

 

[white-sox]

Is it a serious possibility we will sell Sterling to support the development of Ibe (and others) and increase our transfer kitty? Would people be opposed to this?

Personally after all his shenanigans with his contract I wouldn't be too disheartened to see him go, especially if it contributed to improvements in the 'club'.

 

[gkmacca]

Personally I think we've got an exceptional generation of young attacking players who are very fast, very versatile and very talented - Sterling, Ibe, Sinclair, Kent, Canos and Wilson topping the list. All of them can pretty much swap positions with each other. But I doubt more than two will play together in the same games. So although it will be infuriating if Sterling goes, it won't be a disaster in the long term, IMHO.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

I don't think there's much difference between them in terms of skill. Sterling comes with a lot of decoration, in the sense of a repertory of little feints, flicks and stepovers that only rarely seem to achieve anything. Ibe uses his skill more consistently in a functional way. The big difference, I think, is in terms of clarity of purpose: Sterling has always had a tendency to get himself into the area and then get brain freeze (he's improved, of course, but it's still there); Ibe usually seems to have a really sharp vision of what he wants his last touch to achieve.

Sterling's decision-making is still really inconsistent. Lately, for example, he's taken to constantly wanting to beat two men instead of one, or delaying the ball when he should pass, or making really bad choices in his passes (yesterday was a classic example of all that). I'd easily have brushed all that off as part of his learning curve had he signed his contract, but now that he's turned down a 100K offer, he's getting zero slack from me. Illogical, yes, but I'm vindictive like that.

When Ibe signs his new contract, he's getting double the slack from me for mistakes - his own share plus the share confiscated from Sterling.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Personally I think we've got an exceptional generation of young attacking players who are very fast, very versatile and very talented - Sterling, Ibe, Sinclair, Kent, Canos and Wilson topping the list. All of them can pretty much swap positions with each other. But I doubt more than two will play together in the same games. So although it will be infuriating if Sterling goes, it won't be a disaster in the long term, IMHO.

True. I'm think that Kent at 17/18 last year, was already a more well-rounded player than Sterling was at the same age. That Kent didn't get his chance with the senior team at the same age as Sterling did, is probably down to the fact that he's playing in the position which the senior team is currently well stocked in.

All those guys you mentioned above should hopefully get a chance to make a splash in this season's preseason games. We're shipping out so many guys in the off season there should be quite a lot of places open for these youngsters to get their chances to impress.

 

[peterhague]

Funny that Ojo isn't deemed worthy of a mention. He's easily the best attacking player coming through, and the only one in the same class as Sterling and Ibe.

 

[Dirkus_Circus]

Rate Ibe as a better player than Sterling. More skillful, gets stuck in, better shot and better at passing a man and getting a cross.

Jordon Ibe has played in 12 matches and hasn't scored a goal yet and you are willing to say you rate him as better than the player that has carried the entire team at times over the past two seasons?

Steady.

 

[Frogfish]

Is it a serious possibility we will sell Sterling to support the development of Ibe (and others) and increase our transfer kitty? Would people be opposed to this?

Personally after all his shenanigans with his contract I wouldn't be too disheartened to see him go, especially if it contributed to improvements in the 'club'.

If we were to get 40-50M for Sterling I'd sell him in a heartbeat because, for me, he lacks an end product far more than he finds one. His shooting is, in general abysmal, and there is no guarantee he is going to take the next step up and become the superstar most are forecasting. I'm another that, as I've said on numerous occasions, rate Ibe's ceiling higher but there's not much between them at present.

Sterling for 40-50M to add to the Striker/CM kitty and bring Wilson or Kent through into the squad would be very nice indeed thank you very much.

 

[cloggypop]

Well, if we just bring youngsters through for a couple of years before selling them to make space for the next crop then Frank de Boer would be perfect for us. It's exactly what Ajax have been doing.

I'd rather keep our good players.

 

[gkmacca]

Funny that Ojo isn't deemed worthy of a mention. He's easily the best attacking player coming through, and the only one in the same class as Sterling and Ibe.

I don't really feel he's on a par yet. Plenty of potential but he still seems very raw and unpredictable at the moment. Hopefully he's doing well on loan but he needs to be more of a team player.

 

[Gary25]

I don't think there's much difference between them in terms of skill. Sterling comes with a lot of decoration, in the sense of a repertory of little feints, flicks and stepovers that only rarely seem to achieve anything. Ibe uses his skill more consistently in a functional way. The big difference, I think, is in terms of clarity of purpose: Sterling has always had a tendency to get himself into the area and then get brain freeze (he's improved, of course, but it's still there); Ibe usually seems to have a really sharp vision of what he wants his last touch to achieve.

True, but Ibe will ultimately need to prove he's capable of racking up a healthy number of assists/goals. If he's good enough he'll do that. Only time will tell. He certainly has the attributes to be a top player.

 

[Ryan]

Personally I think we've got an exceptional generation of young attacking players who are very fast, very versatile and very talented - Sterling, Ibe, Sinclair, Kent, Canos and Wilson topping the list. All of them can pretty much swap positions with each other. But I doubt more than two will play together in the same games. So although it will be infuriating if Sterling goes, it won't be a disaster in the long term, IMHO.

Maybe.

Making that jump though from ressies superstar to first team talent capable of holding down a position is massive though. We've seen it so many times with young players, and young players at other clubs too. History tells us that out of that list of half a dozen kids you mentioned there, that likely only 2 of them will truly make it as a top class footballer. The rest will go by the wayside or dwindle along with sides down the table.

Sterling's shown he can make that jump, which doesn't happen often. And when that does happen, you can't afford to lose them.

 

[Hansern]

If selling Sterling for 50 mill gets us Kondogbia and Depay, you'd seriously have to consider it.
As a team we would be better and Depay can play in Sterlings position.

I'd like all 3 in the team mind.

 

[Dreambeliever]

I really like the look of Ibe but he has a long way to go yet.

 

[mark1975]

He's alot more direct and pisses about alot less than Sterling, he just goes at teams and gets a decent ball across, and as we've seen, if it wasn't for the bar he's have had two goal of the season contenders in the WBA and Everton strikes. A big goal is coming.

It's a shame that we haven't got Stones from across the park, we could do with a quality centre back coming through, all our decent prospects seem to be attackers.

 

[keniget]

As I've said before, I think a lot of people still underestimate what it is that makes Sterling so valuable.

Ibe is powerful and direct, which looks great but he doesn't yet have that same finesse and class that Sterling exhibits - the things that differentiates the best from the rest. Let's give Ibe a year in the first team before deciding that he could potentially replace Sterling with ease.

 

[keniget]

It's a shame that we haven't got Stones from across the park, we could do with a quality centre back coming through, all our decent prospects seem to be attackers.

Good! Quality attackers are harder to buy than defenders in my opinion.

 

[peterhague]

I don't really feel he's on a par yet. Plenty of potential but he still seems very raw and unpredictable at the moment. Hopefully he's doing well on loan but he needs to be more of a team player.

He's not on a par with Ibe or Sterling yet, I agree, but he's better than the rest. And he's the youngest of all.