The 2nd biggest spenders since the Prem started?

[Craig_H]

We've sold the following players with a profit or broke even:

Paletta
Sissoko
Gonzalez
Bellamy
Morientes
Josemi
Kronkamp
and there's more ...

Disproving DJS's theory.

Hardly ****e players if we've sold them for more or at the same value eh ?

The league table PROVES my theory, trigger...

[Guest]

The league table PROVES my theory, trigger...

You said we'll be challenging for the league this season.

[peterstannard]

Hardly ****e players if we've sold them for more or at the same value eh ?

Selling them for the same or more hardly proves they're not ****e.

[peterstannard]

Well...

I think our net spend is so high mainly because we've done a horrible job of selling players. Look at United...Ferguson has sold players on for good money, whether it be Ince or Kanchelskis back in the 90s, or more recent examples like Veron, Beckham and Van Nistelrooy. We, on the other hand, have suffered thanks to **** buys like Diouf, Cheyrou, Cisse etc. who we didn't have a prayer of getting any sort of return on.

Moreover, we've just been guilty of bad business, selling Fowler to Leeds for less than he was worth, and letting the likes of Owen and McManaman **** us over--McManaman left on a Bosman, when we could have gotten at least ten million pounds as a transfer fee. Meanwhile, Owen was, at the time, a 20 million-pound striker who we sold for a measly 8 million. That's more than 20 million down the drain on those two.

Give Rafa credit...he has done better selling players on, and we actually made money off the likes of Baros, Bellamy and Sissoko, and we should make some money selling Carson as well.

I also agree with DJS. We have been guilty of buying quantity over quality, and have suffered for it. I think we should have taken more of a long view after winning the CL in 2005, and concentrated our funds on fewer, higher-quality players instead of bringing so many into the squad, many of whom haven't panned out.

Look at the likes of Paletta, Sissoko, Pennant, Gonzalez, Bellamy, Kuyt, and Morientes...at least 40 million spent on that lot. Would we not have been better buying one 15 million pound player during each of the past three offseasons instead? And the players whose transfer negotiations have been drawn out, and eventually collapsed (Alves, Simao for example) have been in that price range.

I'm not saying we need to spend major money on every player who comes in. If a guy with real talent is available at a great price e.g. Hyypia, Agger, Arbeloa then, by all means, buy him. Look at Arsenal...there isn't a player in their squad who we couldn't have paid for when Wenger bought them. But I think we've got enough lads in the Academy who can develop into average players that we don't need to spend money to bring them in from other clubs.

Bought for £30m, sold for £15m. £15m loss. But apart from that good post.

[akjs123]

It's not bollocks, because even though we spent money on the 'areas that needed improving', we DIDNT improve them.

What's the point? Just leave them as they are and ACTUALLY improve one area at a time, if that's what it takes.

Call it bollocks but look at the league table and tell me it's a better method than what i've suggested. We've tried it your way - it's failed.

You said a lot of times that we should have bought 1 world class player instead of 3 average. So I am listing the squad appearances over a season of the players as well as the players brought in for the last two seasons(taken from lfchistory.net). Now you tell me which average players shouldnt have been bought and which quality player was available and should have been bought instead.

2005-2006

Boudewijn Zenden Free Transfer Free
Jose Reina Villareal £6,000,000
Mohamed Sissoko Valencia £5,600,000
Peter Crouch Southampton £7,000,000
Mark Gonzalez Albacete £1,500,000 (work permit prob) Jan Kromkamp Villareal Player Exchange (Jan)
Daniel Agger Brøndby £5,800,000
Robbie Fowler Man City Free (Jan)

Player PL Total
Sami Hyypia 36 59
Jamie Carragher 36 57
Djibril Cissé 33 54
Xabi Alonso 35 53
Steven Gerrard 32 53
Jose Reina 33 53
John Arne Riise 32 52
Steve Finnan 33 52
Luis Garcia 31 50
Peter Crouch 32 49
Fernando Morientes 28 46
Mohamed Sissoko 26 45
Harry Kewell 27 41
Dietmar Hamann 17 32
Stephen Warnock 20 30
Djimi Traore 15 24
Boudewijn Zenden 7 17
Jan Kromkamp 13 17
Robbie Fowler 14 16
Florent S Pongolle 7 16
Josemi Rey 6 12
Jerzy Dudek 6 6
Daniel Agger 4 4



2006-2007

Craig Bellamy Blackburn £6,000,000
Gabriel Paletta Banfield £2,000,000
Fábio Aurélio Valencia Free
Jermaine Pennant Birmingham £6,700,000
Dirk Kuyt Feyenoord £9,000,000
Álvaro Arbeloa Deportivo £2,500,000 (Jan)
Javier Mascherano West Ham On Loan

Player PL Total
Jermaine Pennant 34 52
Jamie Carragher 35 51
Steven Gerrard 36 51
Xabi Alonso 32 51
Jose Reina 35 51
Peter Crouch 32 49
Dirk Kuyt 34 48
John Arne Riise 33 48
Steve Finnan 33 47
Daniel Agger 27 43
Craig Bellamy 27 42
Mark Gonzalez 25 36
Boudewijn Zenden 16 30
Sami Hyypia 23 29
Mohamed Sissoko 16 28
Luis Garcia 17 27
Fábio Aurélio 17 25
Robbie Fowler 16 23
Álvaro Arbeloa 9 14
Javier Mascherano 7 11
Gabriel Paletta 3 8
Danny Guthrie 3 7

So now,tell not only me but to every poster on this site you argue your point with, how would you have done things differently.

[Craig_H]

Yawn...

So no top class players were available, there simply werent any in existence...

[akjs123]

Yawn...

So no top class players were available, there simply werent any in existence...

A top player for reasonable fee isnt always available. Atletico have rejected previously 20m+ offers for Torres. But lets say he was available in the previous 2 seasons for 18m. How would you have done transfers?

[oldschool]

One of the alarming things I have seen over the years is buying strikers for around 8-12m. When one fails we go out and buy another one for around the same price, look at Cisse, Kuyt, Douf, Crouch, Heskey etc. This would have to be the first summer where any real cash was spent on bringing in a world class striker, and finally we have 1 reliable striker.

The other problem is we are still yet to splash the cash on a winger, we keep getting the same average wingers, and its time to spend 15+ on one rather then the rubbish 8m or less we keep spending.

I hope this summer is all about bringing in at least one world class winger, instead of the same old defenders and strikers.

[Guest]

Selling them for the same or more hardly proves they're not ****e.

They're not ****e end of. Momo wasn't ****e, he's an excellent player who's lost confidence.

[lfcruleus]

now pay 20m plus for villa or aguero and thats the front two for at least 6 years rather than 8m here and there eventually totaling more then the 50m for 2 world beaters.

As obviously Valancia and Athletico will want to sell thier best players and of course they will want to come to us, despite Villa being priced higher than Torres and he has already stated he doesnt want to play in England.

[Craig_H]

As obviously Valancia and Athletico will want to sell thier best players and of course they will want to come to us, despite Villa being priced higher than Torres and he has already stated he doesnt want to play in England.

Yes and the Real Madrid president once said "We will never ever sign Beckham"...can you guess what happened a few months later?

You're incredibly naive if you read a quote from a couple of years ago and decide it's set in stone for eternity...

As for Valancia and Athletico, i'm not sure who they are, but Valencia and Atletico will sell their best players if the price is right. It's humourous how you state that they wouldnt sell their best players (and that their players wouldnt want to come to us) and then mention Torres a few words later

[lfcruleus]

Yes and the Real Madrid president once said "We will never ever sign Beckham"...can you guess what happened a few months later?

You're incredibly naive if you read a quote from a couple of years ago and decide it's set in stone for eternity...

As for Valancia and Athletico, i'm not sure who they are, but Valencia and Atletico will sell their best players if the price is right. It's humourous how you state that they wouldnt sell their best players (and that their players wouldnt want to come to us) and then mention Torres a few words later

As usual you accept noone else's opinion. I apologise for the spelling mistake obviously i do not possess your extreme intellect. The Torres situation was completely different to Villa as im sure you know, with your supreme intelligence.... He was at the end of a road with Madrid.
Both Villa and Aguero are simply pipedreams at the moment but hey back to fantasy land.

Awaits stereotypical DJS arsey sarcastic response, not that you have a reputation or anything.

[Craig_H]

But you seem to have taken a quip from a Villa interview 2-3 years ago about not liking english weather, and decided that it's set in stone that he'd never possibly consider a move to england. Do you not think that's taking it a bit too literally?

I once again point you in the direction of the Madrid president prior to the signing of beckham...

Football people are foolish if they think most folk believe a word they say to the press half the time. And any people who DO believe it are even more foolish.

Regarding Villa and Torres, how do you decipher what is deemed the 'end of the road' and what isnt? Valencia are doing poorly this season, are unlikely to qualify for the CL and it wouldnt be shocking if they ended up cashing in on Villa, who probably wants to play at the top level.

[lfcruleus]

But you seem to have taken a quip from a Villa interview 2-3 years ago about not liking english weather, and decided that it's set in stone that he'd never possibly consider a move to england. Do you not think that's taking it a bit too literally?

I once again point you in the direction of the Madrid president prior to the signing of beckham...

Football people are foolish if they think most folk believe a word they say to the press half the time. And any people who DO believe it are even more foolish.

Regarding Villa and Torres, how do you decipher what is deemed the 'end of the road' and what isnt? Valencia are doing poorly this season, are unlikely to qualify for the CL and it wouldnt be shocking if they ended up cashing in on Villa, who probably wants to play at the top level.

Torres couldnt really go anywhere else in Spain due to his devotion to Madrid, much like Carra would probably never play for an English club, he also seems to have a previous affection for us (though obviously you never really know how much truth there is).
If I'm brutally honest about Villa if i was him i wouldn't look at LFC as playing at the top level at the moment hard as it is to say, if he does leave Valancia i would say Real would be favourites. Also the transfer fee would be even higher than Torres and i simply do not think we will be in that market for a few years now.
As for Ageuro people make out he is the best player in the world but he and Torres hardly set the world alight at AM last season, again the fee would be out of our reach and i would doubt him coping with the physical aspect of the Prem.
I love the fact on this site people just throw figures around on club spending without any thought of contracts, wages and signing on fees, our wage bill is absolutely enormous compared to our earnings, in any other business steps would be being taken to dramatically reduce it.

[yukpo]

Not 100% accurate but one thing is for sure. We have bought some real **** players!!!! No wonder we cant win the prem! Other thing is Wenger seems to be a transfer genius. Last thing. Ronaldo 12,2 million best buy if the lot.

what he said.