Xabi Shenanigans over…
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- Posted by pst at 5:18 PM IST
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- Filed under Transfers
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- Tagged with Alberto Aquilani, Barca, Barcelona, Chrisitan Poulsen, Gatwaticos, Jay Spearing, Lee Cattermole, Lucas Leiva, Real Madrid, Serie A, Stephen Defour, Xabi Alonso
So the summers most protracted transfer has come to an end – Xabi Alonso have left Liverpool for Real Madrid, fee undisclosed but believed to be in the region of £30m. I’m sad to see Xabi go – I written before about the qualities he bring to the team but he wants to leave and I should imagine for a Spaniard that the siren call of either Real Madrid or Barcelona would be hard to ignore (I still wish he had joined Barca like – seems a shame that he’s off to join the gatwaticos but then I suppose Barca aren’t massively in need of technical superior Spanish midfielders!).
Liverpool have moved with uncustomary swiftness (he’s reportedly at Melwood this afternoon – an indication that maybe Rafa had a point about Parry holding everything up?) to try to sign Alberto Aquilani from Roma – I’ll admit to not knowing a great deal about the fella but a quick Harry Redknappesque viewing of YouTube suggests that he is maybe a bit more mobile than Alonso but shares his propensity for optimistic shooting. His fitness record does seem to be a problem – in the last three seasons he’s only started 27 Serie A games – but I’m sure the medical team will give him a stringent medical.
Other alternatives that have been floated about are Stephen Defour from Standard Liege (the money being quoted for him was daft considering he’s only ever played in Belgium, no matter how well the silly haired one did at Everton last year), Lee Cattermole (not discussing it, I’m not!), Christian Poulsen (who I believe is more in the Mascherano mould) and then there’s the internal candidates – Lucas and Jay Spearing. Lucas was making progress towards the end of last season – no, honestly he was – but made his name in Brazil playing further up the pitch and does not seem suited to the task and Spearing looks promising but from what I’ve seen again looks more like Masch than a playmaker type. I’ve even seen someone putting Danny Agger forward as an option to replace Xabi – made me laugh when I first heard it but it’s an idea not entirely without merit (if he could stay fit that is…). The speed with which Liverpool have made a move suggest that Rafa views Aquilani as an ideal replacement – the question is how long will it take Aquilani to settle into the English game?
Liverpools first five games are Spurs (away), Stoke then Villa (home) then Bolton and Burnley (away.) Spurs and Villa are more footballing sides but Stoke, Bolton and Burnley are likely to play Liverpool in a direct, combative style, concentrating more on closing down and suppression and so will be a good test of his ability to cope. The first ‘big’ test of the season will come on the 4th October at Stamford Bridge – hopefully he’ll be bedded in and flying by then.
So is that the end of the summer transfer shenanigans at Anfield? Who knows – 3 weeks or so remain untill the transfer window shuts and there should be some change left over from the Xabi deal – it’ll be interesting to see what Rafa does with it….
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