27 Jul 2015 18:37:21
Hi eds,
Before you say anything I have read the posts as far as I can, and I understand that as much as I would've liked him (I'm very happy with benteke) we won't be getting him, but why before we had paid for benteke, would we have not been able to afford lacazette? I can understand he may not want to come to the club, but after a massive net spend recently,surely we would've had the funds to at least offer a respectable offer for lacazette? The manager/(whoever it was) said 35 mil would do.
I'm mainly asking as a friend of mine was sure we would be able to afford him and I couldn't persuade him otherwise so please could you as succinctly as possible clear this up?
Many Thanks, Josh
{Ed002's Note - I have explained this over and over - even the Lyon president explained.}
27 Jul 2015 19:25:55
What Ed is alluding to is that it is not just about the transfer fee.
Otherwise you could look to people like Toni Kroos who moved to Real Madrid for around £20m last year instead of someone like Adam Lallana for £25m (I'm sure there's dozens more examples).
At the end of the day, a player has got to want to move to a club, otherwise they won't agree.
Sad as it is for me to say, our club doesn't have the pull that it once did when we were winning everything in the 70s and 80s or even when we were doing so well in the CL under Rafa. At that time, on the strength of the manager (initially) and the team performances (thereafter) we were able to sign players like Alonso, Reina and Torres.
Now we are in the position of only having won a league cup in the 9 years. Our mega-stars have left (Torres, Alonso, Suarez and Gerrard are ones I'd class in that bracket, at least at some point in their careers with us), and we have a manager who is not an internationally recognised name (a la Mourinho or Van Gaal) so there's a little less chance of a player moving for the manager. Oh, and we've only qualified for the CL once in the last 6 years.
Lacazette is only going to move to a CL club with a respected manager. I can see either him or Benzema ending up at Arsenal in the next few weeks.
As I said, it's a crying shame, but just don't have the pull any more.
For relatively recent examples of similar situations, look at Man City having to pay £32m for Robinho when they'd just been bought and had Mark Hughes in 2008 - money talks and I reckon he became one of the highest earners in the league as he was joining a team with no recent history of success, but with big spending new owners.
Our owners (quite rightly) won't bankrupt the club for the sake of chasing a megastar who would want ridiculous wages to join a club that does not have a recent history of success, or a manager with a stellar reputation. Therefore, until we get re-established as a top-4 side and start rebuilding our pedigree by winning stuff, players like Lacazette just won't be interested.
27 Jul 2015 19:01:11
The president didn't exactly explain why we couldn't afford him and that is what I was asking for you to briefly explain
{Ed002's Note - The whole thing has been done to death.}
27 Jul 2015 19:37:50
Thank you very much zeddicus
27 Jul 2015 19:45:47
Alonso, Reina and Torres although good players really made their name as megastars at Liverpool. The same with Suarez. Here is a question for anyone. Can you name me the last big name player that we have signed from a top club equal or bigger than Liverpool for a sizeable fee?
27 Jul 2015 20:35:17
Irish Rover, how often do these big clubs like madrid Barca and Munich sell players they want to keep. Rarely at all. I can't even recall any selling a 'superstar' maybe except Kroos or di Maria.
27 Jul 2015 20:50:53
Good point Rover, although I would argue that Torres and Suarez in particular were already reasonably established on the European stage hence the relatively meaty fees 4-8 years ago when we bought them, both >£20m (albeit dwarfed by the international megastar - Andy Carroll, lol!)
Crikey, that's a good question tho, big name player, already established, hmmm. Maybe Litmanen, or Babbel (the original!)?
Paul Stewart (joke!)?
Didi Hamann?
Djibril Cisse?
Luis Garcia?
Fernando Morientes? (albeit he didn't really work out!)
I would include Torres from Atl Madrid
That's about all I can think of of players signed from big European leaders.
Probably Garcia and Torres are the only ones that were really in their prime.
27 Jul 2015 21:29:44
Top club equal or bigger than LFC? Aquilani from Roma? Morientes and Luis Garcia both from RM in 2003/2004? Torres from Atletico? Babel, Suarez from Ajax. Poulsen from Juventus? lol. And don't forget Borini from Roma, Sturridge from Chelsea, Sakho from PSG and Balotelli from AC Milan.
28 Jul 2015 00:00:53
Paul Ince?
Mascherano?
Torres
Suarez
Sakho
That is all.
We are Liverpool, we CREATE superstars!!
28 Jul 2015 00:28:23
I think Sakho is the only fair one there. Pricey for a CB, PSG are now a huge club with serious pull.
Morientes was too cheap for what you're asking, same with Babbel. Luis Garcia wasn't established enough I don't think to be classed a superstar. Ajax are not big enough.
Torres is the only other one I can see from the players mentioned above.
28 Jul 2015 02:08:20
People will probably disagree with me but i would say Emre Can from Bayer Leverkusen last year for in and around 10m. i'm pretty sure bayern had a buy back clause in his leverkusen contract so obviously a lot was expected of him and i think we did well to get him
28 Jul 2015 03:23:37
I don't, Jowens.I am very confident that with the right management, he will be a beast of a player. Bayern don't put a buy back clause in your contract if you suck because they did that with Lahm. Kroos, Alaba and even Hummels. Also, I remember when Bayern won the CL two years ago, there was a certain player I saw in track suits with the name Can on the back. Yep, that would be our very own Emre Can who was part of the group who were registered in that team. Goes to show how highly they thought of him. It's a shame many of us here think he's crap because BR who bought him, has no idea what to do with him.
28 Jul 2015 08:55:16
last top quality superstar player we bought from a major European club?
Pains me to say it, but true top quality European established superstar bracket was when we re-signed Rushie!!
Really, that is right, that is how far back we have to go
28 Jul 2015 09:33:02
Would have to say Litmanen or Morientes.
28 Jul 2015 11:33:11
Complete aside but imo Jari Litmanen would've absolutely rocked in our side of 13/14 in the Coutinho role.