Skirtel - bid rejected

[redhorizon2]

Martin Skrtel: Liverpool dismiss approach from Napoli

By Ben SmithBBC Sport
Liverpool have rejected an approach from Napoli for defender Martin Skrtel.
The Anfield club were contacted on Tuesday about the possibility of allowing the Slovakia defender to move to Italy in a deal worth around £10m.
Napoli manager Rafael Benitez signed Skrtel in 2008 while at Anfield.
Skrtel, 28, faces stiff competition for a starting spot in Liverpool's defence following the arrival of Kolo Toure this summer and his former boss has now enquired about a possible reunion.
Liverpool have refused to comment on the approach, but it is understood the club are wary of selling Skrtel with fellow defender Sebastian Coates on the sidelines with a serious knee injury.
Coates, 22, is surplus to requirements at Anfield but the injury means that he is unlikely to leave the club this summer and means Skrtel's experience will be needed

 

[dantes]

Fuck me.

 

[Modo]

Understandable.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Smart move. We cannot afford to lose a senior defender without replacing Coates AND the senior defender 1st.

 

[Gary25]

Good job. He's a very competent defender.

 

[red_maradona]

Smart move. We cannot afford to lose a senior defender without replacing Coates AND the senior defender 1st.

agree, but what's this about illori for 6m? Sell Skrtel for 10, buy illori for 6 and use the difference to match spurs for Willian.

 

[keniget]

I thought it was going to be another loan offer where we pay the majority of the wages.

Ah well. I'd sell just for the fuck of it.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

agree, but what's this about illori for 6m? Sell Skrtel for 10, buy illori for 6 and use the difference to match spurs for Willian.

illllllllllllllllllorri replaces Coates.

Papa replaces Skittles in Jan

 

[Rosco]

I thought it was going to be another loan offer where we pay the majority of the wages.

Ah well. I'd sell just for the fuck of it.

It wouldn't be vastly different if we sold him.

10m to us, we most likely have to give Skrtel 8m of that over the next four years.

We've got 2m, plus 2m in wages free per year for his replacement.
Awful but I'd still consider it.

I really can't believe people are so relaxed about giving this lad a whopper deal last summer. Then literally a couple of months later Rodgers realises he's not up to it, but only after making the 20m gamble on him.

We're a shambles.

 

[Farkmaster]

I'm actually stunned we didn't replace Skrtel already. Some part of it is down to coaching, but the shitness of our defending last season was incredibly obvious, and Skrtel is really the only first team player who was singled out by Rodgers and ultimately fell out of favor, being held out of a starting role at his physical peak by a player on the verge of retiring.

10M for that player is well worth taking, if we already had a replacement in, and I was expecting that replacement to be THE signing of the summer, and better than all of our other options. Instead we seem to be building the defense, and even our team at large around Agger, who only escaped huge criticism last year because he was marginally better than Skrtel.

We aren't good enough against the bread and butter of the very league we play in. Both Skrtel and Agger are not good in the air. Skrtel is particularly bad at making defensive headers, a useful skill in any league, but especially in ours. With better coaching our set piece defense would be better, and there's no excuse for that, but the individual errors have been consistent enough to point to a glaring deficiency that we just haven't addressed yet. If we are looking for a 3rd place defender, surely we can find one better for 10M, but we really should be having Toure be 3rd place and seriously investing in quality in a hugely important position.

 

[Mersey86]

agree, but what's this about illori for 6m? Sell Skrtel for 10, buy illori for 6 and use the difference to match spurs for Willian.

Sell Skrtel for 10, buy illori for 6, let Spurs have Willian, save another 13m by buying the superior and younger Yarmolenko and you've got an improved team and saved 17m.

 

[Ryan]

SKRTEL IS 28!!!

What the fuck?

 

[Ryan]

It wouldn't be vastly different if we sold him.

10m to us, we most likely have to give Skrtel 8m of that over the next four years.

We've got 2m, plus 2m in wages free per year for his replacement.
Awful but I'd still consider it.

I really can't believe people are so relaxed about giving this lad a whopper deal last summer. Then literally a couple of months later Rodgers realises he's not up to it, but only after making the 20m gamble on him.

We're a shambles.

Yep.

 

[RolandG]

I'd sell Skrtel for 10 and bring in Papa for 13M. Sorted. Use Kelly and Wisdom as cover while giving them game time in the U21.

 

[Whirly]

I'd sell Skrtel for 10 and bring in Papa for 13M. Sorted. Use Kelly and Wisdom as cover while giving them game time in the U21.

Papa is broken for at least a few more months though

 

[RolandG]

Papa is broken for at least a few more months though

BR doesn't rate Skrtel but Coates' injury means he stays. I thought Papa has fully recovered?

 

[Best Believe It]

BR doesn't rate Skrtel but Coates' injury means he stays. I thought Papa has fully recovered?

He's not fit yet but supposedly over his injury. It would be a risk to sign him now because the injury could recur. The wise option is to wait till the next window and sign him if he's had no problems.