Lies, Rumours & Innuendo - Part 267
Acknowledging that he is in a "lose, lose situation", he added: "I worry a lot about not having enough players for next week.
"These will be two unbelievably difficult games at this stage of the season but it depends where we put the Europa League in the grand scheme of things.
"The sports scientists tell me it would be wrong if I use the World Cup players this early, if we want to use them throughout the season. But if we don't throw them in, then we don't have the players with experience to play these games, so it is a cleft stick.
"It is a balance that I cannot sort out on my own. It will be a decision for the club to take on. Where in the list of priorities does the Europa League come?"
Fulham's magical run to the Europa League final last season came at a price. With the club's emphasis placed on Europe their league form suffered and they finished 12th in the Premier League.
That kind of sacrifice is not an option at Liverpool, but Hodgson may be able to bring in enough reinforcements to do battle on two fronts.
As well as securing the services of Joe Cole earlier this week, Liverpool have signed teenage defender Danny Wilson for £2 million from Rangers, and will not end their transfer dealings there.
"We need to strengthen at both ends and we need to have some very good young players that are really worth working with for the future. Then hopefully we can start producing a few more Gerrards, Carraghers, Owens and Fowlers," said Hodgson.
"But we need to strengthen at the top end as well and someone like Joe Cole is very important in that respect. I hope he won't be the last one and we can get at least a couple more in before the season starts."
________________________
Manchester City will make a take it or leave £24 million offer to Aston Villa for midfielder James Milner. Martin O’Neill yesterday revealed the player wants to leave the club in order to join Premier League title challengers City. (Various)
_____________________
Manchester United will offer Nemanja Vidic a £20,000 a week pay rise in order to stave off interest from Real Madrid, AC Milan and Barcelona. The player’s contract runs out in 2012 and United will offer him a new four year deal. (The Guardian)
___________________________
Manchester City and Chelsea are both vying for Brazilian midfielder Ramires, who will cost £20 million from Benfica. (Daily Mirror)
__________________________
Neymar is being coveted by Manchester City and Chelsea in a £17 million deal, and the player is said to be “torn†over a move to the Premier league this early in his career. Both English suitors are likely to have to pay closer to £30 million in order to land the wonderkid. (Daily Mail)
__________________________
Inter Milan and Manchester City are still in talks regarding Mario Balotelli even though the two aforementioned parties remains someway apart in their negotiations. The 19-year-old has also been linked with Manchester United and Chelsea.
_______________________
West Ham United have dropped their asking price for Carlton Cole amid interest from Fulham, Stoke City, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Sunderland. (The Times)
______________________
Nemanja Vidic is about to sign a bumper contract that will keep him at Old Trafford and Real Madrid at bay. The Serbian will soon have a new team-mate too, as Sir Alex Ferguson and Standard Liège midfielder Steven Defour are finally going to consummate their long-distance love affair.
______________________
Stoke are going to give West Ham 10m reasons why they should let Carlton Cole go, while Aston Villa want to offer a route back into England to former Arsenal midfielder and current Milan employee Mathieu Flamini.
_______________________
Harry Redknapp is off to Lille to try to nab striker Gervinho before Spartak Moscow get there.
______________________
THE future of the Hillsborough panel was today confirmed by the government.
Home secretary Theresa May ended weeks of speculation that the committee formed to probe the hidden files on the tragedy could be under threat. She revealed the work of the panel would continue and not be scaled down in a statement in the House of Commons today.
It ended fears the project was among the schemes being considered for the axe by the new coalition government to save money. Walton MP Steve Rotheram and Garston MP Maria Eagle both previously expressed doubts to the ECHO the new Tory/Lib Dem alliance were as committed to the hidden files project as the previous Labour government.
But, in a statement to Westminster, Mrs May said: “The panel has the government’s full support in achieving maximum possible disclosure of the records, initially to the Hillsborough families and then publicly. “No changes are to be made either to the panel’s terms of reference or to its membership, which both remain as previously published. “My meetings with the Bishop of Liverpool have confirmed to me both the importance of the panel’s work and the diligence and professionalism with which is it carrying out its duty, and I am happy to confirm it will continue with our full support.â€
The bishop, the Right Reverend James Jones, called the announcement “crucial†in the step towards publication of hundreds of thousands of papers.
_______________________
Brukner has crammed an awful lot into – and made a huge success of – his 58 years but now, after initially hesitating about leaving his life Down Under, he cannot wait to get started on revolutionising Liverpool's approach to sports science and sports medicine.
“It's not something I had planned and it came completely out of the blue,†said Brukner, who was appointed to his all-encompassing role in March. “I was contacted by Liverpool and initially I said come back in 18 months time.
“I've got four kids (Julia, Charlie, Joe and Bill) and my youngest still has 18 months left in school. My wife, Diana, and I vaguely thought about coming over here after that but never did anything specific about it as we had a very good life in Australia. “But Liverpool were persistent and I guess what attracted me was the challenge, the opportunity to oversee the full medical outfit rather than just being the team doctor. I've always felt that the English Premier League was just a little bit behind in its approach.
“By that I mean injury management and injury prevention. It's something I had picked up from the guys at the Socceroos; the reason they always enjoyed coming back was because they knew they were going to get some good treatment.â€
Before accepting Liverpool's offer, Brukner had been the Australian football team's doctor, a role he started in 2006 and ended after the recent World Cup; former Reds winger Harry Kewell is one of many who sing his praises.
__________________________
The future of Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano should become a little clearer on 5th August when the Argentina star returns to training. Despite the best efforts of new Reds boss Roy Hodgson, he has not been able to contact Mascherano, who is known to be keen on heading to Inter to join up with old manager Rafael Benitez.
Reports from Italy suggest Inter are confident of getting their man, believing he will inform Liverpool of his desire to leave Merseyside upon his arrival, however, the European Champions are still planning for another scenario. Mindful of the fact that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are expected to remain with Liverpool, Inter have not discounted the possibility that Hodgson will persuade Mascherano to remain.
In that case Inter have identified Bayern Munich’s midfield dynamo Bastian Schweinsteiger as a possible alternative, and the German is especially interesting to Inter supremo Massimo Moratti.
___________________________ AND MORE
NET SPEND SO FAR THIS TRANSFER WINDOW
___________________________________
Marcell Jansen is the latest left-back to be linked with a move to Liverpool as new manager Roy Hodgson continues the search for Emiliano Insua’s replacement.
The Hamburg ace did not play as much as he would have liked during the World Cup but Hidgson has been tipped off as to his availability.
One plus side to Jansen is that he is versatile and could also provide back=up for holding midfielder Javier Mascherano should he decide to stay.
________________________________
''Wayne Bridge has been told by Manchester City that he is not for sale, that the manager wants two players for every position,'' a City source told Soccernet.
"That's fine by Wayne who is very happy at Manchester City with three years left on his current contract, having been there for one-and-a-half years already.''
However, this could be subject to change if the Blues manage to clinch a deal for Serbian full-back Aleksandar Kolarov – who is believed to be on the verge of a move to Manchester.
This prompted the City source to admit that Bridge could join the Reds if they come in with a substantial offer.
''We all know in football that the situation can change,'' he added.
''If Liverpool are serious, and get some money in by selling one of their big stars, they could make an offer for Wayne, and who knows then if the situation changes."
______________________
Roy Hodgson today exclusively revealed that summer signing Milan Jovanovic will make his debut in Saturday’s pre-season match with newly-promoted Bundesliga outfit Kaiserslautern
________________________
Could we see Jovanovic and Kyrgiakos in action on Saturday or are they still a little bit off a return to action?
They did take part in the World Cup and came back a little later and I think we need to be a bit more careful with them than with some of the younger players. But having said that I think they can play and they will be happy to play. They will start the game and we'll see how long we can keep them on for.
________________________
We know there is a trip to Macedonia next week for the first leg of the Europa League qualifier. Do you have difficult decisions to make in terms of what team you can field in these two games?
Yes, it's a very difficult decision because; one, it's a question of what levels people have reached and two, the effect it will have on the future by putting them into games early when maybe they haven't reached the right level of fitness. These matches are important if you want to continue in the Europa League and we've got to be very careful that we don't therefore use players that the Sports Science team are convinced are not ready to take part. If we did that, then come August 14 or the middle of September or October, we could suddenly find ourselves with a lot of injuries and really struggling to get points in the Barclays Premier League.
Is it case of looking at the bigger picture then and having a lot of dialogue now with your medical team to make these decisions?
Yes. It's a little bit of a fight with them to some extent, in order to try and get them to free up more senior players because their view is very clear that all of these players who are coming back to Melwood just after the World Cup shouldn't play in either of the two games. My point of view is that I want to go through in the competition and I might need some of these players, so there's a lot of compromise. I fully respect their opinion and in an ideal world I wouldn't even for one minute discuss it with them and I would take it at face value. If our first game was on August 15, I'd take it on face value that they don't want me to use these players in any friendly matches, and instead continue working with them and build up their level fitness. But of course we've got official matches now and that's the difference.
__________________________________
One of West Ham's most saleable assets is England international Cole - who enjoyed a good season in 2009/10, even if it was blighted by injury over the Christmas period. And Reds boss Hodgson is keen to shake up his forward ranks, having hinted to current back-up striker David Ngog he can leave the club.
Hodgson, who is said to have a significant transfer pot available, is rumoured to be keen on playing a more traditional 4-4-2 system at Anfield next season to take some of the pressure off star striker Fernando Torres.
Acknowledging that he is in a "lose, lose situation", he added: "I worry a lot about not having enough players for next week.
"These will be two unbelievably difficult games at this stage of the season but it depends where we put the Europa League in the grand scheme of things.
"The sports scientists tell me it would be wrong if I use the World Cup players this early, if we want to use them throughout the season. But if we don't throw them in, then we don't have the players with experience to play these games, so it is a cleft stick.
"It is a balance that I cannot sort out on my own. It will be a decision for the club to take on. Where in the list of priorities does the Europa League come?"
Fulham's magical run to the Europa League final last season came at a price. With the club's emphasis placed on Europe their league form suffered and they finished 12th in the Premier League.
That kind of sacrifice is not an option at Liverpool, but Hodgson may be able to bring in enough reinforcements to do battle on two fronts.
As well as securing the services of Joe Cole earlier this week, Liverpool have signed teenage defender Danny Wilson for £2 million from Rangers, and will not end their transfer dealings there.
"We need to strengthen at both ends and we need to have some very good young players that are really worth working with for the future. Then hopefully we can start producing a few more Gerrards, Carraghers, Owens and Fowlers," said Hodgson.
"But we need to strengthen at the top end as well and someone like Joe Cole is very important in that respect. I hope he won't be the last one and we can get at least a couple more in before the season starts."
________________________
Manchester City will make a take it or leave £24 million offer to Aston Villa for midfielder James Milner. Martin O’Neill yesterday revealed the player wants to leave the club in order to join Premier League title challengers City. (Various)
_____________________
Manchester United will offer Nemanja Vidic a £20,000 a week pay rise in order to stave off interest from Real Madrid, AC Milan and Barcelona. The player’s contract runs out in 2012 and United will offer him a new four year deal. (The Guardian)
___________________________
Manchester City and Chelsea are both vying for Brazilian midfielder Ramires, who will cost £20 million from Benfica. (Daily Mirror)
__________________________
Neymar is being coveted by Manchester City and Chelsea in a £17 million deal, and the player is said to be “torn†over a move to the Premier league this early in his career. Both English suitors are likely to have to pay closer to £30 million in order to land the wonderkid. (Daily Mail)
__________________________
Inter Milan and Manchester City are still in talks regarding Mario Balotelli even though the two aforementioned parties remains someway apart in their negotiations. The 19-year-old has also been linked with Manchester United and Chelsea.
_______________________
West Ham United have dropped their asking price for Carlton Cole amid interest from Fulham, Stoke City, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa and Sunderland. (The Times)
______________________
Nemanja Vidic is about to sign a bumper contract that will keep him at Old Trafford and Real Madrid at bay. The Serbian will soon have a new team-mate too, as Sir Alex Ferguson and Standard Liège midfielder Steven Defour are finally going to consummate their long-distance love affair.
______________________
Stoke are going to give West Ham 10m reasons why they should let Carlton Cole go, while Aston Villa want to offer a route back into England to former Arsenal midfielder and current Milan employee Mathieu Flamini.
_______________________
Harry Redknapp is off to Lille to try to nab striker Gervinho before Spartak Moscow get there.
______________________
THE future of the Hillsborough panel was today confirmed by the government.
Home secretary Theresa May ended weeks of speculation that the committee formed to probe the hidden files on the tragedy could be under threat. She revealed the work of the panel would continue and not be scaled down in a statement in the House of Commons today.
It ended fears the project was among the schemes being considered for the axe by the new coalition government to save money. Walton MP Steve Rotheram and Garston MP Maria Eagle both previously expressed doubts to the ECHO the new Tory/Lib Dem alliance were as committed to the hidden files project as the previous Labour government.
But, in a statement to Westminster, Mrs May said: “The panel has the government’s full support in achieving maximum possible disclosure of the records, initially to the Hillsborough families and then publicly. “No changes are to be made either to the panel’s terms of reference or to its membership, which both remain as previously published. “My meetings with the Bishop of Liverpool have confirmed to me both the importance of the panel’s work and the diligence and professionalism with which is it carrying out its duty, and I am happy to confirm it will continue with our full support.â€
The bishop, the Right Reverend James Jones, called the announcement “crucial†in the step towards publication of hundreds of thousands of papers.
_______________________
Brukner has crammed an awful lot into – and made a huge success of – his 58 years but now, after initially hesitating about leaving his life Down Under, he cannot wait to get started on revolutionising Liverpool's approach to sports science and sports medicine.
“It's not something I had planned and it came completely out of the blue,†said Brukner, who was appointed to his all-encompassing role in March. “I was contacted by Liverpool and initially I said come back in 18 months time.
“I've got four kids (Julia, Charlie, Joe and Bill) and my youngest still has 18 months left in school. My wife, Diana, and I vaguely thought about coming over here after that but never did anything specific about it as we had a very good life in Australia. “But Liverpool were persistent and I guess what attracted me was the challenge, the opportunity to oversee the full medical outfit rather than just being the team doctor. I've always felt that the English Premier League was just a little bit behind in its approach.
“By that I mean injury management and injury prevention. It's something I had picked up from the guys at the Socceroos; the reason they always enjoyed coming back was because they knew they were going to get some good treatment.â€
Before accepting Liverpool's offer, Brukner had been the Australian football team's doctor, a role he started in 2006 and ended after the recent World Cup; former Reds winger Harry Kewell is one of many who sing his praises.
__________________________
The future of Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano should become a little clearer on 5th August when the Argentina star returns to training. Despite the best efforts of new Reds boss Roy Hodgson, he has not been able to contact Mascherano, who is known to be keen on heading to Inter to join up with old manager Rafael Benitez.
Reports from Italy suggest Inter are confident of getting their man, believing he will inform Liverpool of his desire to leave Merseyside upon his arrival, however, the European Champions are still planning for another scenario. Mindful of the fact that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are expected to remain with Liverpool, Inter have not discounted the possibility that Hodgson will persuade Mascherano to remain.
In that case Inter have identified Bayern Munich’s midfield dynamo Bastian Schweinsteiger as a possible alternative, and the German is especially interesting to Inter supremo Massimo Moratti.
___________________________ AND MORE
NET SPEND SO FAR THIS TRANSFER WINDOW
___________________________________
Marcell Jansen is the latest left-back to be linked with a move to Liverpool as new manager Roy Hodgson continues the search for Emiliano Insua’s replacement.
The Hamburg ace did not play as much as he would have liked during the World Cup but Hidgson has been tipped off as to his availability.
One plus side to Jansen is that he is versatile and could also provide back=up for holding midfielder Javier Mascherano should he decide to stay.
________________________________
''Wayne Bridge has been told by Manchester City that he is not for sale, that the manager wants two players for every position,'' a City source told Soccernet.
"That's fine by Wayne who is very happy at Manchester City with three years left on his current contract, having been there for one-and-a-half years already.''
However, this could be subject to change if the Blues manage to clinch a deal for Serbian full-back Aleksandar Kolarov – who is believed to be on the verge of a move to Manchester.
This prompted the City source to admit that Bridge could join the Reds if they come in with a substantial offer.
''We all know in football that the situation can change,'' he added.
''If Liverpool are serious, and get some money in by selling one of their big stars, they could make an offer for Wayne, and who knows then if the situation changes."
______________________
Roy Hodgson today exclusively revealed that summer signing Milan Jovanovic will make his debut in Saturday’s pre-season match with newly-promoted Bundesliga outfit Kaiserslautern
________________________
Could we see Jovanovic and Kyrgiakos in action on Saturday or are they still a little bit off a return to action?
They did take part in the World Cup and came back a little later and I think we need to be a bit more careful with them than with some of the younger players. But having said that I think they can play and they will be happy to play. They will start the game and we'll see how long we can keep them on for.
________________________
We know there is a trip to Macedonia next week for the first leg of the Europa League qualifier. Do you have difficult decisions to make in terms of what team you can field in these two games?
Yes, it's a very difficult decision because; one, it's a question of what levels people have reached and two, the effect it will have on the future by putting them into games early when maybe they haven't reached the right level of fitness. These matches are important if you want to continue in the Europa League and we've got to be very careful that we don't therefore use players that the Sports Science team are convinced are not ready to take part. If we did that, then come August 14 or the middle of September or October, we could suddenly find ourselves with a lot of injuries and really struggling to get points in the Barclays Premier League.
Is it case of looking at the bigger picture then and having a lot of dialogue now with your medical team to make these decisions?
Yes. It's a little bit of a fight with them to some extent, in order to try and get them to free up more senior players because their view is very clear that all of these players who are coming back to Melwood just after the World Cup shouldn't play in either of the two games. My point of view is that I want to go through in the competition and I might need some of these players, so there's a lot of compromise. I fully respect their opinion and in an ideal world I wouldn't even for one minute discuss it with them and I would take it at face value. If our first game was on August 15, I'd take it on face value that they don't want me to use these players in any friendly matches, and instead continue working with them and build up their level fitness. But of course we've got official matches now and that's the difference.
__________________________________
One of West Ham's most saleable assets is England international Cole - who enjoyed a good season in 2009/10, even if it was blighted by injury over the Christmas period. And Reds boss Hodgson is keen to shake up his forward ranks, having hinted to current back-up striker David Ngog he can leave the club.
Hodgson, who is said to have a significant transfer pot available, is rumoured to be keen on playing a more traditional 4-4-2 system at Anfield next season to take some of the pressure off star striker Fernando Torres.
