Future Liverpool player Naby Keita produced a brilliant assist for teammate Timo Werner in RB Leipzig’s 2-1 win against Zenit Saint Petersburg in the first leg of their last 16 Europa League tie in Germany on Thursday night, and Reds fans want the striker, rated at €60m (£53.4m) according to Transfermarkt, to follow the Guinea international to Anfield.
The Merseyside outfit have agreed a deal to bring the highly-rated Keita to the Premier League at the end of the season after failing in their bid to bring him to England earlier, and Jurgen Klopp would surely have been impressed with Werner’s showing against the Russian club on Thursday as well.
The 22-year-old, who has 17 goals in 34 appearances in all competitions this season, finished well following Keita’s brilliant mazy run, while he produced a clever back-heel assist himself that was fired home by Bruma.
Liverpool supporters were quick to have their say on Werner’s display via social media, and while one said “Liverpool need to buy Werner next”, another said they “would do anything for Liverpool to sign Timo Werner”.
With memories of their many prior triumphs on the continental scene, including their Champions League title in 2005, there’s been an aura of excitement around Anfield this season as Liverpool welcome back top tier European football for the first time in four years.But Group B has provided a rather rude awakening for the Reds – after sneaking a win against new-boys Ludogorets, losing to FC Basel and receiving an absolute schooling from reigning champions Real Madrid yesterday evening, clearly the Merseysiders aren’t as competitive as they’d like to be in Europe.Thus, being the helpful bunch we are at Football Fancast, here’s FIVE signings that could remedy the situation, providing added quality and perhaps most importantly, experience in the European game.
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PETR CECH
You can hardly hold Simon Mignolet at fault for Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat to Real Madrid yesterday evening, or for that matter, any of their unconvincing performances in the Champions League.
But with the Belgium international, along with centre-back Dejan Lovren and No.3 Alberto Moreno, novices in the competition, some added experience between the sticks could breed a new calmness and organisation in the Reds’ chaotic backline. Brendan Rodgers clearly doesn’t favour free agent Victor Valdes:
So enter Chelsea’s Petr Cech, arguably the greatest goalkeeper in Premier League history but unfortunate enough to find himself overtaken in the pecking order by 22 year-old Thibaut Courtois – a sensational young talent, I think we’d all agree.
The Czech international has vowed to fight for his place at Stamford Bridge and boosting Chelsea’s goalkeeping depth enormously, Jose Mourinho is under no hurry to sell.
But even struggling for game-time in the auxiliary competitions so far this season, it’s likely the 32 year-old can be prized away in January.
Cech has registered 473 appearances for Chelsea, including over 100 in Europe, and his mixture of experience and quality would be a massive boost to Liverpool’s backline.
But whether the Blues would sell to another English side remains to be seen and there’s already a plethora of foreign clubs queuing up for his signature:
NIGEL DE JONG
Liverpool possess more than enough quality on the ball but they’ve lacked balance in Europe this season and, as evident to great extent against Real Madrid, the type of players who can put in a more convicted, attritional and disciplined performance.
5 foot 8 ‘Lawnmower’ Nigel de Jong provides an interesting solution. Despite recently insisting he wants to finish his career with current club AC Milan, the Netherlands international’s contract is set to expire at the end of the season, suggesting the San Siro side could be forced to cash-in when the transfer window reopens.
The 29 year-old’s bone-crushing style may not be pretty…
But it’s proven in the Premier League and internationally, winning the English title with Manchester City back in 2012 whilst also claiming a runner-up and third-place medal at the last two World Cups. Here’s a look at the kind of ball-winning service De Jong provides:
Experienced and proven, including in Europe where he’s made 71 appearances to date, De Jong has a lot to offer Liverpool’s midfield. One can already envisage him providing protection for Steven Gerrard in his new-found quarter-back role.
But any interest from Anfield will undoubtedly be rivalled by Manchester United, who have been tracking the former City midfielder since the summer:
EZEQUIEL LAVEZZI
Liverpool have already been linked with Argentina international Ezequiel Lavezzi ahead of the January window:
A versatile, tenacious, pacey and skilful attacker, he could well prove to be the likeminded Luis Suarez replacement the Reds failed to find during the summer.
The 29 year-old has played an important role for PSG and former club Napoli over the last few years as a scoring and providing influence from the left-hand side, as detailed below:
But it appears his Parisians tenure could be coming to an end, having made just two Ligue 1 starts this season out of a possible eight, with little room for him in Laurent Blanc’s 4-3-3 formation.
Utilisable up front or out wide, Lavezzi fits Brendan Rodgers’ continued template of ‘multipurpose signings’. He comes with that all important European experience too, having helped PSG reach last year’s quarter-finals where he netted this stunner against Chelsea:
Juan Cuadrado
Football – Colombia v Uruguay – FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 – Second Round – Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 28/6/14Juan Cuadrado – Colombia Mandatory Credit: Action Images / Carl RecineEDITORIAL USE ONLY.
Not a seasoned Champions Leaguer like the aforementioned suggestions on this list, but Fiorentina winger Juan Cuadrado is the man who could inject that pace, intensity and aggression from last season back into Liverpool’s attack.
The 26 year-old, famed for his endless stamina and incredible top speed, wreaked havoc in the Italian top flight last season and brought his form to the World Cup:
In fact, nobody bettered the Colombian international’s four assists at Brazil 2014, including this athletic knock-down to eventual Golden Ball winner, James Rodriguez:
Combining pace, athleticism, trickery and netting prowess, this goal typifies Cuadrado’s game:
And he’s incredible versatile, as shown below:
Allegedly weaving a £27million release clause into his new contract…
…the South American should be within Liverpool’s financial reach. But recent speculation suggests Chelsea are already lining up a January bid:
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FABIAN SCHAR
Football – Argentina v Switzerland – FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 – Second Round – Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil – 1/7/14Argentina’s Lionel Messi in action with Switzerland’s Fabian ScharMandatory Credit: Action Images / Jason CairnduffLivepicEDITORIAL USE ONLY.
It may seem rather counter-intuitive to suggest a 22 year-old defender could rectify the problems of a Liverpool defence that’s already struggling to integrate summer signings, or subsequently, improve their performances in the Champions League.
But statistically speaking, FC Basel prodigy Fabian Schar was the best centre-back in Europe’s top competition last season, as detailed below:
And also produced a Man of the Match performance against the Reds last month, as the Swiss side claimed a surprise 1-0 win in Group B:
The Swiss international comes with an exciting front-footed presence, once netting this wonder-strike during his FC Wil days:
Previously linked to Barcelona, and with his contract entering its final term, Schar looks set to be one of the January window’s most sought-after defenders.
It’s likely Liverpool wouldn’t have to pay more than £10million for his services, but the 6 foot 1 centre-back is known to be on the radars of Borussia Dortmund and Inter Milan, as well as Arsenal and Spurs:
Traitor – a person who is guilty of treason or treachery, in betraying friends, country, a cause or trust.
No football fan likes to see a favoured player leave their club, but they hate it when that player leaves their club only to go down the road to their local rivals, sometimes even worse, their league rivals.
Every club has one, a player who was once a hero, turned villain as he ditches his team in the name of careerism and often for better wages and a chance of glory.
This Traitors XI is filled with footballers branded Judas as they commit the ultimate sin and join their arch-rivals.
Click on Luis Figo for a mix of derby side-swappers, money-grabbing mercenaries and players who are simply disloyal to their team and their fans, who collectively form Judas United FC – A Traitors XI
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Luke Shaw has had to settle for cup appearances in recent weeks for Manchester United, as Jose Mourinho has preferred the experience of Ashley Young ahead of him.
The former Southampton man has endured a complicated relationship with Mourinho since the Portuguese manager arrived at Old Trafford but was introduced from the bench last night with United chasing a winner at Selhurst Park last night.
In the end, Nemanja Matic clinched a late winning goal to see off Crystal Palace, completing a comeback that saw them come from two goals behind early on in the second half and Shaw’s energy down the left certainly helped.
However, United fans noticed that Shaw did not look especially trim. He has struggled with his fitness in the past, even stretching back to the days when Louis van Gaal was in charge at Old Trafford and some fans thought that his old issues may have resurfaced.
After all, there must be a reason that he was dropped just weeks after Mourinho named him among the world’s best left backs.
Not everyone agreed however, and we’ve taken a look at the contrasting opinions on Shaw’s condition as he pushes for a start in Saturday’s crunch clash with arch rivals Liverpool.
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If Rio Ferdinand had retired from football after leaving Manchester United then he would have done so with his head held high and covered in glory.
The former England defender admitted he was ready hang up his boots and to turn to a television career as a pundit after a successful spell with the BBC for the World Cup in the summer. But then Harry Redknapp came calling.
His connection with the Hoops manager goes back a long time to 1996 when Redknapp gave a young Ferdinand his first team debut for West Ham in a 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season. Such a connection has formed a good friendship between the two over the years and would have gone a long way to convincing the 35-year-old to changing his mind about retirement and playing for the London club.
But after winning six Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a Champions League trophy during his stay at Old Trafford, which also saw him capped 81 times for England, wouldn’t it have been more beneficial to his legacy to end on a high? His fitness was regularly called in to question during his final season at Old Trafford as United failed miserably under David Moyes.
His new club face a potential relegation battle and are not likely to win any honours, barring a good cup run and a lot of luck. Not only that but, the club faces potential FFP sanctions following some serious over spending, despite recording debt and losses in the last financial year. In a world where football fans are fickle and tend to only remember you for your latest season, it does not seem very fitting for a player of his calibre to retire on the back of possible relegation and scandal at the football club.
On the flip side, he definitely brings a touch of class and greatness to Loftus Road and it might prove a much needed boost to QPR. His experience will be of great value and he will be a vital player in the team. To be a big fish in a small pond might be just the sort of thing that helped attract Ferdinand to his new club, as it does for quite a lot of former players who end up at smaller clubs towards the last few seasons of their career.
On his own, however, he might not be able to save the club from leaking goals as we saw all too well against his former club at the weekend, where the defence leaked four goals and could have easily conceded a few more but for the outstretched finger tips of Robert Green on a few occasions.
It is hard to see the attraction in being a big player at the end of his career, to go to a smaller club to see out your playing days in footballing obscurity. Look at Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. They retired at the top of their game and recognised that the time was right to hang up their boots and be remembered for the great players they were.
Rio Ferdinand is in the same bracket when it comes to legend status. He is without a shadow of a doubt one of the best English defenders to have played the modern game and he’ll go down in history as one of the greats. But there is no denying how good a player he has been over his career, which is why he should have called it a day when he had the chance to do so.
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“He scores when he wants” has been the chant at Portman Road for a while now and of course those chants have been rightly aimed at in form striker DJ Campbell.
I must admit, at first I was skeptical as to whether he would be the right man for the club. After all, it is usually hard work and grit that gets you away from the relegation zone and Campbell is not a player that I thought had these qualities. However it has been a pleasant surprise to see the man on loan from QPR work his socks off and score some crucial goals.
He has already become a bit of a fans favourite and it is safe to say that everyone at Ipswich would love to see him stay, but I find myself thinking; has Campbell done too well during his loan spell?
The problem with the striker doing so well is that he will have grabbed the attention of his parent club as well as any other clubs that have some cash to spare.
I guess another factor to think about is whether QPR would be happy to let him go and whether the player would be happy to go back to QPR. It seems clear that Campbell would love to go back to QPR if he has a chance of playing Premier League football and before Mark Hughes was sacked it looked certain that the player would be going back there for good. Now his future will depend on whether Harry Redknapp can offer him first team football.
Although QPR are struggling, their main problem is their defence rather than their front line so it seems likely that Redknapp will not be too bothered about letting the 31-year-old forward move on. The London club will no doubt splash the cash on a number of high profile signings in January too so I cannot see Campbell being high up in the pecking order there for very long.
That suggests that Ipswich will have a good chance of keeping him but many other Championship clubs will be relishing the chance to snap up the former Blackpool man.
Unfortunately, if history is anything to go by then the Tractor Boys have very little chance of securing his signature. Over the last few seasons the club has missed out on almost every one of their preferred transfer targets. This summer we saw Sam Baldock and Tomasz Kuszczak chose to move to smaller Championship sides rather than joining Ipswich, but hopefully the same thing will not happen again.
It may not be much to go on but Campbell looks happy at Ipswich and he has obviously fitted in well with the rest of the team. His body language suggests that he gets on well with his teammates and would be happy to stay put. Also, from his point of view it would make sense to join Ipswich because he knows that the team work well around him, whereas if he moved elsewhere he may not have the same success.
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It would be a shame if Ipswich did not sign Campbell as he is a brilliant poacher at Championship level and will always provide at least 15 goals a season. QPR may demand a fairly high fee for him and he may ask for a lot in terms of wages, but you cannot put a price on a consistent goalscorer.
Liverpool have finally welcomed Naby Keita to the club after agreeing to sign the midfielder from RB Leipzig last year.
Another new player has also reportedly joined the club, and he has a very close association with Anfield legend Steven Gerrard.
Numerous media outlets, including The Telegraph, reported on Wednesday that Manchester City youngster Bobby Duncan will become a Liverpool player on July 1.
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It is believed that the Merseyside outfit have paid £200,000 to seal the signature of the 17-year-old, who is Gerrard’s cousin.
The teenager joined City’s academy at 11 years old, but has opted against signing a contract at the North-West outfit.
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Now, the forward will try his luck at Anfield and will aim to find a route to the first team.
Duncan made five appearances for the Under-18s last season, and he has also featured 15 times for the England Under-17s.
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On Reddit, Liverpool fans posted their verdicts on the youngster, who has five international goals to his name.
Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.Comment from discussion Liverpool sign Manchester City’s England youth star Bobby Duncan.
12 months ago, if you were to tell Manchester United fans that Scott McTominay was Jose Mourinho’s preferred midfield choice in a crucial Champions League game over Paul Pogba, you would have been met with laughter and obscenities.However, that is exactly what happened on Wednesday evening, when United earned a draw against Sevilla.The 21-year-old impressed fans and pundits alike with his maturity and confidence. However, Jose Moourinho reserved special praise for the young midfielder, describing his performance as ‘unbelievable’.https://video.footballfancast.com/video-2015/earliest-plwins.mp4With United legend Michael Carrick coming to the end of his career at Old Trafford, debate has been raging among fans as to who could replace the 36-year-old at the end of the season.With money to spend and a multitude of international talent probably desperate to play for United, Mourinho would have an impressive list of players to target.However, many United fans believe that Carrick’s successor is already part of the squad and took to Twitter to express their feelings toward McTominay as a potential replacement for their ageing midfielder…
Steven Gerrard is undoubtably one of the greatest Premier League players – however, can he still compete at the top level?
As a West Ham fan I was delighted when I saw that Gerrard was going to be playing in his new deep position when the two sides met last weekend. Sam Allardyce was happy to concede possession and instead play a fast counter-attacking style of football. The Reds duly delivered their possession style football but so rarely managed to create chances. Gerrard made the fourth most passes but this was more to do with the fact that The Hammers were sitting deep and allowing the passes between the Liverpool defenders – the ex-England captain’s most common pass destinations were Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren – passes which are completely ‘safe’ from a West Ham point of view.
Stevie G’s passing range is still as good as ever and as a result he is still ‘pinging’ long balls across the pitch, which sometimes triggers a Liverpool attack but not as often as the Liverpool fans would like. When Luis Suarez was at Liverpool last year, Gerrard managed to bag 11 assists and the majority were assisting the now Barcelona man. Is the loss of Suarez affecting Gerrard’s performances in terms of assists and overall contribution to attacking play? Of course having a player of Suarez’s quality helps creative midfielders greatly but surely Gerrard could put a goal on a plate for anyone?
In my opinion, there’s no doubting that Gerrard still has the ability to rule the Premier League but Brendan Rodgers is wasting one of the league’s true greats. Steven has been moved into a deeper role – which happens to many ageing midfielders – however, it’s now his role to dictate play from deep and in a team like Liverpool that’s not a particularly tricky role to maintain.
Most football fans would describe Andrea Pirlo as the best example of a deep-lying playmaker. He dictates the tempo for Italy and Juventus at the ripe old age of 35; he generally covers very little distance in this role but does contribute to assists and a few goals here and there.
I still feel that Gerrard would outshine most centre-midfielders in the Premier League if he was allowed to take a more advanced position as he did in his younger years. Despite his fantastic passing range I just don’t think that Gerrard suits the deep role. It keeps the 34-year-old out of the way too much. He has scored 113 Premier League goals – including some of the all-time best – however, he now is relying on set-pieces to affect the match. Out of his last 18 goals, 17 have been either a penalty or a free-kick.
Seeing Gerrard’s name on the team-sheet used to inject fear into the opposition as they desperately tried to stop him from scoring or assisting a mass amount of goals. However, opposition sides know now that he is only really a danger from set-pieces in his new role.
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Aston Villa are locked in a battle with Fiorentina in a bid to sign French U-21 ace Massadio Haidara, according to talkSPORT.
The Nancy left-back has gained the attention of a number of top European clubs after impressing for his club at the age of just 19. It was reoprted that Paul Lambert had lined up a deal for Haidara in the summer but the move never materialised. The Villa boss now hopes to reignite his interest in the player, who has spent his entire career at Nancy. However, the Scotsman may have to do battle with Fiorentina, who have only recently declared their interest in the young Frenchman.
It is thought that Haidara can head to Birmingham or Florence for as little as €2.5 million, a relative bargain considering the supposed talents that the youngster possesses.
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Since making his first professional debut for Nancy in 2010, at the age of just 17, Haidara, who is also eligible to play for Senegal, has made 33 appearances, taking over as first choice left back midway through last season. With Villa performing below standards this season, Lambert keen to invest in new blood in January, With Haidara one of many targets that the former Norwich man is set to bid for.