LFC Transfer Spec @LFCTS
Sunday Times journo @JNorthcroft says #LFC can buy Nuri Sahin for £11m if his loan spell goes well.
LIVERPOOL have moved to mollify Brendan Rodgers after the manager was angered by his club’s failure to sign Clint Dempsey on transfer deadline day.
Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the club's owners, are willing to address Rodgers’ strong desire to sign a forward in the January transfer window with Theo Walcott a possible target. FSG have also reassured Rodgers that the imbalance in his squad left by Liverpool’s summer dealings – he now has just two senior strikers – will be taken into account when this season’s performance is reviewed. They see the problem as a short-term one and maintain that the goal set for Rodgers is a longer term one: delivering Champions League football by 2015.
The owners are fixing transfer policy accordingly. A move for Dempsey on Friday was abandoned after Fulham accepted an offer of £4m plus add-ons from Aston Villa for the American striker but refused to deal with Liverpool on similar terms. They then quoted Spurs a price of £8m before allowing Dempsey to move to Tottenham for £6m.
FSG’s reluctance to bid higher for Dempsey was down to his age – 29. They are prepared to make much higher sums available for younger players and a £15m permanent deal for Daniel Sturridge was lined up on Friday but Rodgers’ preference was to take the Chelsea striker on loan.
Though the failure to sign Dempsey agitated Rodgers, the manager will be placated by the promise of being backed generously in future transfer windows including a bid for Walcott, a player he has long admired. Arsenal blocked Walcott leaving for Manchester City last week but cannot count on extending the attacker’s contract. Walcott has been offered £80,000 per week but, given that Arsenal use him heavily in commercial campaigns, he wants added image rights payments. Come January, Walcott will have just a few months left to run on his present deal and his enthusiasm for staying at Arsenal may be further tested this afternoon with Arsene Wenger planning to drop him for the match at Liverpool.
At 23, Walcott fits the profile of players FSG want to acquire. Despite talk of budget restraints, Liverpool spent £25m (when add-ons are included) on Joe Allen, 22, and Fabio Borini, 21 in summer and more would have been available had buyers been found for Carroll, Jordan Henderson and Stuart Downing.
The trio, and Charlie Adam, who was sold to Stoke for £4m, were bought during a £110m spree by Kenny Dalglish and former director of football, Damien Comolli. Not repeating the mistakes of Comolli and Dalglish - who rushed into paying £35m for Carroll on deadline day in January 2012 - influenced FSG’s decision not to enter an auction for Dempsey simply to address an immediate need.
There is sympathy that this has left Rodgers with only Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini as forwards but confidence that this can be corrected in January – not least because the terms of Carroll’s loan to West Ham would allow Liverpool to recall the striker then. FSG also believe it important to keep funds back to offer the option of making Nuri Sahin’s signing permanent. Acquiring Sahin on loan from Real Madrid – ahead of Arsenal – was a major coup and
Liverpool can buy the former Bundesliga player of the year for around £11m should his loan spell go well.
Ian Ayre, Liverpool’s chief executive, has borne the brunt of supporters’ fury about deadline day but his position is not threatened, despite renewed speculation about his future following reports in Australia that
Gillon McLachlan, chief operating officer of the Australian Football League, had turned down the chance to replace Ayre earlier this year.
