RAFA'S £70m SPREE

[Dynamite]

RAFA BENITEZ expects as much as £70million to rebuild his Liverpool squad this summer.

The Spanish boss will get around £20m from his American owners and hopes to raise £50m more in player sales.

Benitez wants £16m for Xabi Alonso, £15m for Peter Crouch, £6m for goalkeeper Scott Carson, £5m each for John Arne Riise and Jermaine Pennant, and £2m for Steve Finnan.

Andriy Voronin can also leave for around £1m after a woeful debut season at Anfield.

Realistically, Liverpool are more likely to raise around £40m if they can offload all those players.

Despite the ongoing feud behind the scenes at the club, there is no indication the levels of spending will be much different from recent years.

Benitez has already spent £18m to make Javier Mascherano's loan deal permanent.

And he has accounted for a chunk of his possible finances with the pursuit of £8m left-back Andrea Dossena from Udinese and Gareth Barry, who could cost £16m from Aston Villa.

Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing is a possible recruit for around £12m. Espanyol's Albert Riera is an alternative.

That will leave Benitez to rely on whatever other funds he can raise for a striker to replace Crouch.

Ideal

In the meantime he sees Steven Gerrard as Fernando Torres' ideal strike partner.

The pursuit of Barry as a central midfielder to replace Alonso reveals Benitez's priority, though the deal remains on ice.

Alonso wants to stay at Anfield, but Juventus are expected to make a formal bid this week.

Gerrard's preference for a more central role is well known, and there are those at the club who believe the captain should be shifted back into his favoured position and a more orthodox striker, such as Dimitar Berbatov, signed with the bulk of the budget.

The Anfield skipper has found himself used in numerous positions throughout his career, sacrificed for the good of the team, but still without the ultimate reward of a sustained title challenge.

His discontent with Liverpool's shabby off-field affairs is unlikely to change if sacrificing his positional preference at the start of next season doesn't lead to an improvement in league form.

Link (http://blogs.notw.co.uk/sport/2008/05/xxxxxx-xxx-rafa.html)

[Grif SA]

He wants 15 for Crouch!? He doesn't even play Crouch and he wants that much? Rafa is delusional. He'll be lucky to get 8 for Crouch I think.

[Skele]

lol..every summer, the same story.....they are kings,realy...lmao:D

[abojodeh]

even 100000000pound wont help lowerpool to be at least a little bit higher pool
:cool: :cool: :cool:
:cool:

[yangch0000]

how desperate are liverpool to get the funds. 16m on alonso and 15m on crouch, rafa is going crazy. are u sure it is 6m for carson? for what i heard, liverpool demands 10m, if barry is not included in the deal.

[Zenitka]

They will buy Spaniards and also will continue to lose :cool:

[sparkic]

15m for Crouch? Even in Euros or Dollars thats a little too much imo..Well to be fair to the article in question, it did say that "Rafa wants"...well I want loads of things but most prob it won't happen lol Like how Rafa wanted Heinze!

[Sir Matt Busby]

Benitez wants £16m for Xabi Alonso = Should get quite abit for Alonso. Excellent player. Won't get in our team though ;)

£15m for Peter Crouch = What?

£6m for goalkeeper Scott Carson = Hmmm, depends if Villa want to buy.

£5m each for John Arne Riise = Possibly. Can still do a job.
and Jermaine Pennant = 5m for Pennant. Possibly. Should get near that.
and £2m for Steve Finnan. = easy money.

Andriy Voronin can also leave for around £1m = Yes he's crap. Should get about a mill.

[Wazza1989]

i realy don't care...what benitez is doing at shiverpool...so..you should do better and post something about United..the Champions of Europe:D

[carlyluvsunited]

True, very true Wazza ...

To be honest I dont worry for one simple reason ...

Rafa Beneathus will always go off to buy second
rate Spaniards, he has a habit of doing this - and
as long as he does that he can have £300 million
for all I care ... he is ineffective and second rate
as a manager !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yangch0000]

i realy don't care...what benitez is doing at shiverpool...so..you should do better and post something about United..the Champions of Europe:D

here is football banter....

u get my point?:D

[Dynamite]

i realy don't care...what benitez is doing at shiverpool...so..you should do better and post something about United..the Champions of Europe:D

Neither do i mate, But your a bit two faced who also has created threads outside united (Inter 1-2 Juve) Keep out of the topic if you feel like that, Football banter discuss outside united

[Dynamite]

here is football banter....

u get my point?:D

Well said mate :)

[ManUtd08]

i realy don't care...what benitez is doing at shiverpool...so..you should do better and post something about United..the Champions of Europe:D
YEAH THAT RITE DUDE LOL WE R THE CHAMPION!! KING OF EUROPEAN

[Forever_United]

True, very true Wazza ...

To be honest I dont worry for one simple reason ...

Rafa Beneathus will always go off to buy second
rate Spaniards, he has a habit of doing this - and
as long as he does that he can have £300 million
for all I care ... he is ineffective and second rate
as a manager !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

beneathus ! hahahah :D y didnt i think of that. ur a star carly :p

[Dynamite]

Rafa Beneathus will always go off to buy second
rate Spaniards

I dont rate torres second class, Top class striker

[fernando torres]

Dynamite lets not be bitter ay iam liverpool fan as you can probaly see and i can admit ronaldo was the best player in the world this season but i cant see how you can be say that about torres hes broke ruud record plus never took a pen and is statically the top scorer in all of europe in open play

[-zuco-]

I think you've misunderstood Dynamite.
He's saying Torres is a world class striker,
not second class. :rolleyes:

[fernando torres]

Oh yes i see sorry my fault totaly agree

[abojodeh]

True, very true Wazza ...

To be honest I dont worry for one simple reason ...

Rafa Beneathus will always go off to buy second
rate Spaniards, he has a habit of doing this - and
as long as he does that he can have £300 million
for all I care ... he is ineffective and second rate
as a manager !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hehee :D
he dont buy 2nd spaniards torres is 1st class reina and alonso are 1st class :cool:
:o

[Dynamite]

I think you've misunderstood Dynamite.
He's saying Torres is a world class striker,
not second class. :rolleyes:

Thank you zuco :)

[fernando torres]

Sorry mate i misunderstood and i totaly agree with you

[stretty]

rafas last stand me thinks

[Dynamite]

Sorry mate i misunderstood and i totaly agree with you

No probs mate :)

[akash_reds]

lol....they say one thing they do another.......thats just the pool way i think.......
they say they are after big players and then they go an buy a free RB who i have not even heard of!!!!!!
they would be really a better team if they get bentley and barry and all the players they are linked to.....but i for one say that they wont get many of their intended targets if they look for bargains!!!

[Jazz 16]

Ok Liverpool got a world class striker in Torres but without him they would have
been useless last season. I believe that the very best players would rather
go to one of the 'Top 3' teams if we are being honest:D , unless they are Spanish
of course :rolleyes:

To really challenge for the Prem they need multiple players like Messi, Kaka
and co. to even stand a chance. Pool only have 2 maybe 3 World class players,
(Gerrard, Torres and maybe Masc) and 1 or 2 up and coming, but nothing
special at all. They need to buy big in most areas......and until they do that
properly they wont challenge for the League.........and I believe they will
NEVER do that properly.

[man.utd.singh]

70m to rafa?

Hmm, well rafa does have a tendency to go for the 'next'
Babel = Next Henry
Kyot = Next Van Nistlerooy (ha!)
Sisoko = Next Veira

lets see what flops they get this window to maintain 4th place in the league

[Drew9]

tbh mate fourth place would be a blessing when you look at the progress being made at pompey, villa, and spurs i think if they hang on to fourth it will be a success, villa's football last season was ten fold to liverpools, alright tottenahm were in-consistant but that will change next season imo i think liverpool would take two new full backs, two new wingers and a major clear out, which would then mean buying more players to fill those boots aswell, basically they will continue to be a cup team for the next few seasons atleast :)

[fernando torres]

Ok Liverpool got a world class striker in Torres but without him they would have
been useless last season. I believe that the very best players would rather
go to one of the 'Top 3' teams if we are being honest:D , unless they are Spanish
of course :rolleyes:

To really challenge for the Prem they need multiple players like Messi, Kaka
and co. to even stand a chance. Pool only have 2 maybe 3 World class players,
(Gerrard, Torres and maybe Masc) and 1 or 2 up and coming, but nothing
special at all. They need to buy big in most areas......and until they do that
properly they wont challenge for the League.........and I believe they will
NEVER do that properly. i could say the exact same about man utd that they would have floped this season without ronaldo but lets face it am not bitter like you bet youve never went to see a game in your life you typical arm chair fan the record still stands 18 league and 5 europeans its use that are playing catch up not us

[LewisJH]

Rafa's Just A Fat Spanish Waiter

[BALROG]

liver**** can spend and dream ! wont matter united will eat them up again.

[LewisJH]

^^^^^WOAH, AM I SEEING THINGS, WHATS A SCOUSE DOING ON THIS FORUM? GOTTA BE JOKIN' ME, WOW DO ONE YOU, YOU NUGGET!!!

He said he wants to be a manc torres, torres
We turned him down and signed tevez torres, torres
Now hes playing for the scouse, when hes away theyll rob his house
Fernando torres, liverpools full of crime

[carlyluvsunited]

record still stands 18 league and 5 europeans its you that are playing catch up not us
LMAO ...

Let me re-write this for you !

The record still stands but only just.

We were leading 18-7 and 5-1 in trophies
but now the gap is 18-17 and 5-3.

It's just a matter of time until the record is
gone - and then we have nothing to argue
with, we have nothing to blabber on about
endlessly as we wallow in self pity, 4th in
the league year in and year out winning
nothing.

There you go ...

A bit more accurate I think ... ;)

[fernando torres]

carly your so bitter do you know that people only agree with you because they wana shag yer

and as for you lewis you fruit ill murder you haha

[christianoharleiro]

lmao fernando.

People agree with Carly because she has a brain and is right most of the time.

So, Carly, can I have your number? :D

[SALFORD RED]

carly your so bitter do you know that people only agree with you because they wana shag yer

and as for you lewis you fruit ill murder you haha

ROFLMAO, slapped down good style by Carly FT and had to resort to
little baby boy crap. :D

Yeah, you'll murder Lewis, make sure it's not a chicken that dies. :D
JUSTICE FOR THE 37 !!!!
.

[akash_reds]

why do we even care about FT?????
arguing with scousers when we have better things to do!!!!!

[Big Bird]

3 players from greatest...

as if

deluded.

[Dynamite]

Why is all the bad language not being edited out http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/65.gif

[LewisJH]

Lmaoooo, Right Next Joke, Murder Me Hahaaha, Omg Thats Bin Dippers For Ya Ey...

[sparkic]

LMAO ...

Let me re-write this for you !

The record still stands but only just.

We were leading 18-7 and 5-1 in trophies
but now the gap is 18-17 and 5-3.

It's just a matter of time until the record is
gone - and then we have nothing to argue
with, we have nothing to blabber on about
endlessly as we wallow in self pity, 4th in
the league year in and year out winning
nothing.

There you go ...

A bit more accurate I think ... ;)

And Carly has just read my mind!