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The unlucky 13 costing Liverpool £30m-a-year that Kenny must somehow ship out

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King Binny

Part of the Furniture
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From Dave Maddock's column

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/David-Maddock-on-Liverpool-Joe-Cole-Alberto-Aquilani-Maxi-Rodriguez-Cristian-Poulsen-Philipp-Degen-and-the-unlucky-13-costing-30m-a-year-that-Kenny-Dalglish-must-somehow-ship-out-before-buying-article746963.html

Kenny Dalglish's summer spending spree will hinge on his ability to cut some serious dead wood at Anfield.

The Liverpool manager is hoping to bring in four or five new faces during the transfer window, at a cost of £50million-plus.

But while the Reds' American owners have sanctioned a bold move by the club in the market in a serious attempt to gatecrash the Premier League top four next season, they have also made clear the axe must be taken to a top-heavy squad.

Dalglish has as many as 13 players who are surplus to requirements at Anfield... at a staggering cost of more than £600,000 a week in wages.

That equates to more than £30m a year being paid to players who were either out on loan last season, or cast to the furthest fringes of the first team squad with barely a hope of seeing some action.


Principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner have already expressed their incredulity at the obscene level of wages paid to players such as Milan Jovanovic and Joe Cole, who were barely able to the make the match day squad last season.

That pair alone command more than £200,000 a week in wages
, and with fringe player Maxi Rodriguez - who will be surplus to requirements when Stewart Downing arrives this summer - also on wages thought to be around £100,000 a week, it means huge sums were spent on three players who were brought in on free transfers.

But it gets worse for Dalglish...

He must also try to persuade more than six players who were sent out on loan last season to leave the club - and their massive wages - behind.

Chief among those is Alberto Aquilani, who arrived two summers ago in a much-trumpeted deal from Roma, but failed spectacularly to justify wages of more than £80,000 a week.

Aquilani has just spent the entire season on loan at Juventus, but the Italian club are baulking at paying his massive salary - and even a fraction of the £20million fee he cost Liverpool.

Another free-transfer signing who consequently commanded big wages was Philipp Degen, who will arrive back at Anfield this summer after a year on loan at Stuttgart.

Nabil El Zhar and Emilano Insua are two more from the Rafa Benitez era who were farmed out on loan last season, but there is more recent dead wood than that duo, with some of Roy Hodgson's more disastrous signings also banished from Anfield.

Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones will be sold this summer, if Dalglish can find buyers, but again their inflated Premier League wages will be a problem as he looks to offload.

The Reds boss also wants to rid himself of the injury-prone duo of Daniel Agger and Fabio Aurelio, neither of whom made any serious contribution to the Liverpool squad last season because of their frailty.

With the club looking to sell striker David Ngog and midfielder Christian Poulsen - who again disappeared from view after arriving in the summer of 2010 - it means Dalglish has a major headache as he looks to strengthen his squad in the summer.

If he can rid himself of the unlucky 13 then he will free up massive funds in wages alone... and also raise perhaps £25m to spend on targets including Downing, Scotland international Charlie Adam, Birmingham's Scott Dann and Ipswich wonder-kid striker Connor Wickham.

He has already captured England international Jordan Henderson from Sunderland for £20m and unsuccessfully bid in excess of that for Blackburn's Phil Jones, so the canny Scot knows he will need to work as effectively in the sales department as the purchasing side if he is to enjoy a successful summer.

So far, there have been few nibbles relating to the 13 players in the shop window, with only Ngog the subject of any bid, from Sunderland, although Agger has attracted some clubs in Spain and Italy and Aurelio could move back to Brazil.

Cole is interesting Tottenham, and Poulsen could move back to his native Denmark, while the Reds are feverishly working to make the loan deals for Aquilani, Degan, El Zhar, Jones, Konchesky and Insua permanent.

Jovanovic is the biggest headache.

His massive salary will not be matched by any club, and it will require a big payment just to get him off the wage bill.

Maxi too, will not find a club at his current wages, but Liverpool will look to sell because they can't justify such a massive salary for a player who will now be a squad member at best.


Dalglish, of course, is not to blame for the current problems at Anfield, but it has fallen to him to sort out the massive headache caused by the distinctly un-Liverpool like situation of having three managers in six months.

There is a silver-lining, though.

If he can ship out the majority of the unlucky 13, Dalglish knows he will have the transfer funds - and, crucially, the wages - to attract some of the exciting young talent he sees as the future of the club alongside his signings, Andy Carroll, Luis Suarez and Henderson.
 
We should sue Benitez and Hodgson for compensation.

God, what tripe they brought in.
 
Bringing in poor players is one thing - all managers will buy lousy players that stink the place out; you can just hope they buy enough successful ones to cover the shit buys.

It's paying them what we're paying that's the issue. Seems like what we save on transfer fees to clubs, we end up giving to the player as wages instead. In some cases, I understand that we've to pay more to attract the player, but looking at the level of these guys, you've to wonder who exactly we were trying to beat to their signatures - 53 other clubs or something?

Reminds me of the urban legend about Leeds United and Seth Johnson:

http://www.onthisfootballday.com/football-history/july-17-the-premiership-is-established.php

Urban legend has it that when Seth Johnson was negotiating personal terms with Leeds United in 2001, Johnson’s agent was hoping to get £13,000 a week for his client.

The story goes that when then Chairman of Leeds Peter Ridsdale walked in he said, “Sorry, all I can offer you is £30,000 a week.” Johnson’s agent apparently choked on his coffee when he heard this, to which Ridsdale responded, “Oh alright, £38,000 then.”
 
Regardless of being a free transfer, who in fuck's name sanctioned a salary of $100k per week to Milan fucking Jovanovic?
 
I think that's massively unfair on Aquilani.

Fantastic player,when fit.

If he wanted to come back to us and if he could stay fit, he'd be a great asset to the team.
 
[quote author=Holle link=topic=45770.msg1350457#msg1350457 date=1308239049]
We should sue Benitez and Hodgson for compensation.

God, what tripe they brought in.
[/quote]

It could've been 14 with £2.5m Luke Young. :-[
 
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
 
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350477#msg1350477 date=1308240829]
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
[/quote]

hed contribute more than jovanovic and poulson though
 
[quote author=Fabio link=topic=45770.msg1350478#msg1350478 date=1308240912]
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350477#msg1350477 date=1308240829]
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
[/quote]

hed contribute more than jovanovic and poulson though
[/quote]

True, but still doesn't warrant lashing £100,000 a week at him. He doesn't warrant that ad that's how your wage bill gets out of control and we have trouble selling this mediocrity on. About £50,000 a week and he should be happy.
 
Re: The unlucky 13 costing Liverpool £30m-a-year that Kenny must somehow ship out

[quote author=Fabio link=topic=45770.msg1350478#msg1350478 date=1308240912]
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350477#msg1350477 date=1308240829]
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
[/quote]

hed contribute more than jovanovic and poulson though
[/quote]

Poulsen's reportedly on £90000/wk btw, with Konchesky on £50000
 
[quote author=Binny link=topic=45770.msg1350481#msg1350481 date=1308241275]
[quote author=Fabio link=topic=45770.msg1350478#msg1350478 date=1308240912]
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350477#msg1350477 date=1308240829]
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
[/quote]

hed contribute more than jovanovic and poulson though
[/quote]

Poulsen's reportedly on £90000/wk btw, with Konchesky on £50000
[/quote]
Fuck off?!
 
Jovanovic made just five league starts last season, costing the Reds £1.2m a game.

Christian Poulsen arrived from Juventus touted as one of the great contemporary Danish stars, yet kicked off only nine times in the league - around £300,000 a match.

The problems hit Liverpool full in the face a week ago when Anderlecht and Bruges - both keen on Jovanovic - did a swift U-turn on learning the size of his wage packet.

Aquilani featured twice for Liverpool before being packed off to Turin and his nine league starts have cost nearly half a million each. Paul Konchesky made 15 league starts but lasted just six months before he was loaned to Nottingham Forest.
 
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350480#msg1350480 date=1308241200]
[quote author=Fabio link=topic=45770.msg1350478#msg1350478 date=1308240912]
[quote author=Halmeister link=topic=45770.msg1350477#msg1350477 date=1308240829]
Maybe I got it wrong while skim-reading that, but we're going to offer Stewart Downing £100,000 a week? Fucking hell.
[/quote]

hed contribute more than jovanovic and poulson though
[/quote]

True, but still doesn't warrant lashing £100,000 a week at him. He doesn't warrant that ad that's how your wage bill gets out of control and we have trouble selling this mediocrity on. About £50,000 a week and he should be happy.
[/quote]

Definitely agree its extravagant, esp. considering the asking price too. Alas, Henderson's apparently on £60k and when Villa signed Downing 2 yrs ago, it was a 4 yr deal "in excess of £50,000-a-week".
 
[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=45770.msg1350489#msg1350489 date=1308242183]
babbel aside have we had any success with 'free' transfers? was gary macca free?
[/quote]

i dont think we need to put babbel aside.......
 
[quote author=Lewy link=topic=45770.msg1350490#msg1350490 date=1308242229]
[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=45770.msg1350489#msg1350489 date=1308242183]
babbel aside have we had any success with 'free' transfers? was gary macca free?
[/quote]

i dont think we need to put babbel aside.......
[/quote]

you don't think babbel was a good free transfer?
 
[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=45770.msg1350489#msg1350489 date=1308242183]
babbel aside have we had any success with 'free' transfers? was gary macca free?
[/quote]

Yeah, he was free.

To answer your question, Robbie Fowler.

Poor show Spidey ;D
 
[quote author=Avvy link=topic=45770.msg1350498#msg1350498 date=1308243004]
[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=45770.msg1350489#msg1350489 date=1308242183]
babbel aside have we had any success with 'free' transfers? was gary macca free?
[/quote]

Yeah, he was free.

To answer your question, Robbie Fowler.

Poor show Spidey ;D
[/quote]

ha ha good old robbie 😉
 
[quote author=spider-neil link=topic=45770.msg1350489#msg1350489 date=1308242183]
babbel aside have we had any success with 'free' transfers? was gary macca free?
[/quote]

Its relative and depends what you are looking for from them

Gary Mac and Babbel were certainly successful

Litmanen, Aurelio, Fowler, Maxi and Zenden had their moments.
And in terms of just being a back up keeper then you can't say that Pegguy Arphexad (with more medals than first team appearances!) did a lot wrong!!
 
We bought no money down installment players recently because that's the only thing we could afford. Unsurprisingly, the donkeys have come home to roost.
 
[quote author=Hansern link=topic=45770.msg1350536#msg1350536 date=1308249225]
The worst thing is, there arent many clubs linkes with Them either..
[/quote]

If we can't offload them now we might be able to in January. Teams get desperate then, and any that are half decent will have the added advantage of not being European cup-tied!
 
What are the rules about simply making a player redundant? Is it in their contract that they would have to be payed X amount or what? Surely if a business can get rid of people because they can't afford to keep on staff a football club can do the same thing? I've often thought this.
 
wages are something people forget about, its not all about transfer fees.

Look at UTD, with Scholes and Neville retiring the must of saved about £15 million a year.

I would sell most of them for any fee to get rid of the wages
 
[quote author=Farkmaster link=topic=45770.msg1350537#msg1350537 date=1308249589]
We bought no money down installment players recently because that's the only thing we could afford. Unsurprisingly, the donkeys have come home to roost.
[/quote]

Would have been better to leave the donkeys in the glue actory.
 
[quote author=athensruairi link=topic=45770.msg1350561#msg1350561 date=1308253510]
What are the rules about simply making a player redundant? Is it in their contract that they would have to be payed X amount or what? Surely if a business can get rid of people because they can't afford to keep on staff a football club can do the same thing? I've often thought this.
[/quote]

A company would have to pay redundancy money too though. Paying off a player's contract amounts to the same thing
 
The biggest problem for us when we make mistakes like we have in the past few years is that the levels of pay we're at is way beyond what all but about a dozen clubs around Europe are paying. So if we need to offload an expensive mistake the market is limited, when the player is rubbish none of the top clubs are interested so the player costs us quite a bit to get rid of because we have to settle at least a portion of the contract to get rid.
 
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