Well that didn’t go as planned.
Clint Dempsey? He’s moving across town to Tottenham Hotspur.
Daniel Sturridge? Staying at Chelsea.
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was nursing some bruised fingers Friday night after the transfer window slammed shut on him without the squad making a move to improve.
Liverpool finally cut ties with striker Andy Carroll on Thursday, sending him to West Ham in a season-long loan deal.
The Hammers got Carroll, who Liverpool paid £35 million for in January of 2011, for a £1.5 million loan fee and will have to pay his £80,000 per week wage bill. If they avoid relegation this year, they will owe Liverpool an additional £18 million to make the move permanent.
It’s a fine line between hero and goat in professional sports.
Just ask Liverpool’s Martin Skrtel.
Defending Premier League champs Manchester City were able to get out of Anfield with a point they may not have deserved on Sunday thanks to one errant back pass from Skrtel.
Leading 2-1 off of goals from Skrtel and Luis Suárez, Skrtel tried play the ball back to keeper Pepe Reina, but his blind pass instead set up Carlos Tevez for an easy equalizing goal, denying Liverpool a much-needed three points in the home debut for manager Brendan Rodgers.
“My glass is very nearly full,” Rodgers told ESPN. “I thought it was a brilliant performance. We were asked a lot of questions and I thought the players were incredible. Some times the best team doesn’t win. Let’s remember we were playing a good side.
Another day, another layer added to the saga of Clint Dempsey’s inevitable exit from Fulham.
The latest has the west London club getting its knickers in a twist because Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said he would like the 29-year-old Dempsey in Liverpool red. Fulham has made an official complaint to the Premier League over the matter.
Liverpool kicks off the English Premier League season today at West Bromwich Albion today with plenty of questions surrounding a team that finished an uncharacteristic eighth in the table last season.
Let’s see if we can find some answers.
The Reds take the field today under a new manager in Brendan Rodgers, who is used to challenges after guiding Swansea into the Premier League and leading the Swans to an 11th-place finish, just five points behind Liverpool.
The ongoing saga of Andy Carroll and Liverpool – will he stay? will he go? if so, where and when? – is becoming as tiring as the Cleveland Indians starting rotation.
We’re just a little more than two weeks away from opening weekend of the Premier League season and Carroll is still taking up space at Anfield.
Manager Brendan Rodgers left Carroll off the squad for Liverpool’s trip to Belarus for Thursday’s Europa League qualifier against FC Gomel, which really should signal that the end is here for the 23-year-old striker who has been a disappointment since coming over from Newcastle for £35 million.
So what gives?
Liverpool continued its slow march to acquiring Clint Dempsey on Wednesday, with manager Brendan Rodgers confirming what has been a open secret for quite some time now.
Yes, the squad is interested in bringing the 29-year-old USA international to Anfield.
“Clint is a player we’ve enquired about, it is as simple as that,” Rodgers told The Daily Mail. “Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with (Fulham) to see what the position is. That is where we’re at. Clint is a very talented player but we don’t like to talk about other clubs’ players.”
Fulham wants £10 million Dempsey, who had a career year last season with 23 goals in all competitions, and who has 12 months left on his contract, but as we mentioned yesterday, Liverpool had to do some selling before they can do any buying.
As for Andy Carroll, Rodgers made it clear there will be no loan deal for the striker.
“To consider a loan period for someone the club spent £35 million on isn’t something we’re looking to do,” he said. “Andy will be the same as every other player – if there’s an offer that comes in we’d look at it and see if it’s going to be worthwhile for the club as a whole. People talk about whether he can fit into my style or not, but if you’re a club and you spend £35 million on a player you’d like to think he can fit into whatever style the team plays. He’s a good player. He’ll join the rest of the group next week and we’ll take it from there.”
We are a little worried that Liverpool will be buying high on Dempsey, but The Guardian’s Paul Doyle says that shouldn’t be a concern:
Because although last season was Dempsey’s most productive, he has been an excellent performer in the Premier League for the best part of five years. … Dempsey is a genuine dynamo, the second most prolific tackler among forwards in the Premier League for each of the past three seasons and covering more ground than prize horse manure.
Tenacity and energy are Dempsey’s first two defining traits and also the founding blocks of the style that Rodgers will seek to build, if his old Swansea City side were anything to go by. The drive that has already propelled Dempsey from his relatively disadvantaged roots in a small town in East Texas to the top of the MLS and then the Premier League ensure that he will not be rendered as meek by Anfield expectations as, say, Stewart Downing and young Jordan Henderson appear to have been.
This is a ferocious competitor who has played matches with a broken jaw and gone into challenges hard enough to fracture John Terry’s cheekbone. A seasoned American international, he will be fazed neither by the stature of Liverpool nor the amount of off-the-ball work that Rodgers will demand.
I think that pretty much works to calm our fears.
And so the slow dance continues.
(Photo by Getty Images)
Even though it appears that Andy Carroll no longer has a spot in the Liverpool lineup, the club seems to be in no hurry to have the striker clear out his locker at Anfield.
Of course, the little fact that they paid £35 million for him less than two years ago is playing a key role in the decision.
Newcastle United – Carroll’s previous team and the one that pocketed all that transfer cash – is very interested in having him return. Newcastle originally said they would take Carroll on a season-long loan as long as Liverpool picked up a major portion of Carroll’s weekly £80,000 salary, but Liverpool rightly told them pound salt. Now Newcastle manager Alan Pardew is lobbying the team’s owners to up the bid for Carroll, possibly going as high as a reported £13 million, according to The Daily Mail.
But Liverpool reportedly is looking to get back at least £20 million from selling Carroll, according to The Guardian, and wants that cash to chase some other players, most notably Fulham’s Clint Dempsey.
With West Ham, Fulham and Randy Lerner’s Aston Villa also showing interest, Liverpool may be able to up the price on Carroll, but they still will take a major loss on the England international, who has scored just 11 goals in 59 appearances for the Reds.
But the squad can’t bring in any new players, presumably, until they unload Carroll, so hopefully they don’t overplay their hand and wind up without a chair to sit in once the music stops.
(Photo by Getty Images)
Liverpool welcomed Fabio Borini to Anfield on Friday, bringing the Roma striker on board for a reported transfer fee of around £7.9 million.
The 21-year-old Borini made the Italian squad at Euro 2012 but did not see any action. He will reunite with Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers, who managed Borini last season at Swansea and in Chelsea’s youth squad.
“I felt really good because I wanted to come back to England one day. I knew sooner or later I would be back,” Borini told The Guardian. “Being back with Liverpool is even better because I can show the people what I can do – we’ve got the Europa League and lots of things to play for. It’s a top club that has won a lot of trophies in the past – and will do so in the future we hope as well.”
Borini scored six goals in nine games for Swansea last season before being loaned out to Roma, where he found the back of the net nine times in 24 matches.
“Fabio fits the model of what we’re trying to do in building not only for now, but also for the future,” Rodgers told The Daily Mail. “He’s a big talent, 21 years of age, he scores goals, and his passion, focus and concentration is a very important part of his game – and a big part of what you want from a player.
“I think the supporters will love him. He’s a multi-functional player who can play in a number of positions and someone I believe has got great growth.”
Borini’s arrival should put pressure on Andy Carroll, who hasn’t won many fans since arriving in a £35 million transfer from Newcastle United in January of 2011. He has scored 11 goals in 59 appearances.
Carroll reportedly wants to remain at Anfield and will reject a move to West Ham, which is reportedly interested in him. There are also reports that Liverpool may use Carroll in a deal for Fulham’s Clint Dempsey.
As the Reds welcomed Borini they said goodbye to Maxi Rodríguez, who is joining his former club, Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina. The 31-year-old midfielder joined Liverpool in January 2010 from Atlético Madrid.
Rodríguez scored 17 goals in 73 appearances, including hat-tricks against Birmingham and Fulham in 2011.
(Photo by Getty Images)
With nothing better to do while waiting for the opening of training camps across the NFL, Pro Football Talk decided to release preseason power rankings for the league’s 32 teams.
And, of course, they put the Browns at No. 32.
That’s right, the Browns are supposedly worse than the Colts, who have rookie quarterback Andrew Luck throwing to 33-year-old wide receiver Reggie Wayne and not much else; worse than Jacksonville with Blaine Gabbert and tarps covering thousands of unsold seats; worse than a Miami team that is considering starting David Gerrard at quarterback; worse than the Vikings, Rams and every other crappy team in the league.
It’s so bad, the Browns may as well give up on the season and start focusing on who they will pick with the No. 1 overall selection in the 2013 draft.
Red Right 88 