Yes I see what you are getting at, the Bara bid for Macherano I have heard in a few places, that would not surprise, he would be one 3 or 4 departures this Summer

That would surprise me as well, a total London lad moving up North.....not too sure, maybe Arsenal will get rid of Asharvin and buy Cole?

Gossip all through last season reporting the breakdown in the Benitez-Benayoun relationship, to a point where Benayoun now apparently refuses to speak to Benitez.

Mascherano's been angling for a move to Spain for the past 12-18 months and had a poor season, often looking disinterested. But hey, at least we've got Lucas

[weeps quietly to self]

Unless the Yank Muppets sell Liverpool within the next month, we're doomed. And that quick sale just isn't going to happen, even if the greedy tossrags revised the price to a more realistic level. Another seaosn of failure will just drive the pricce down further, make it more likely that the marquee players leave, which worsens our competitiveness, drives the price down, etc, etc, etc.

Just sell, FFS!!!!!

Strange times at the Pool , losing a few players looks likely though

Barca in 'official' talks with Arsenal regarding sale of Fabregas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/8717785.stm

Means nothing

Yet

Sadly you are probably right

Just to make you feel beter, it looks like Arsenal are now favourites to get Joe Cole. If that's the case then I think you will have improved your squad - even with the departure of Fabregas.

Apparently Arsenal have told Barca " NO SALE"

It would appear so.

If the player dont want to be at Arsenal no point in keeping him.. hold out for the right price and take Barca,s money,

I don't think CF is as stroppy as Berbatov though, he might well give Arsenal one more year

Sol Campbell has opened talks with Celtic, might be a good move for him. Alan Thompson has gone to join N Lennon at Celtic.

Looks like Liverpool are likely to part company with their Manager ................and fairly soon.

God forbid, I wasn't aware he is still playing.

LOL As a coach , to help Lennon out

http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylc=X3oDMTJlY2drNGptBF9TAzk3MTgwODM0OARnc3RhdGUDMwRwb3MDMQRzZWMDbndfc3BvcnRzBHNsawN0aXRsZQR0YXIDdWsuZXVyb3Nwb3J0LnlhaG9vLmNvbQ--/SIG=13d16lqou/**http%3A//uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/02062010/58/premier-league-reports-liverpool-offer-benitez-deal-leave.html

Seems as if they really want him out as Gooner said. Wonder who the new manager will be.

Doesn't really matter. The transfer coffers are empty - what top-class manager would come to Liverpool for next to no transfer funds, an unbalanced squad padded out with poor players, and a car crash of an off-field management team? All Liverpool have is their world-famous and prestigious name, and a smattering of top players. That isn't enough in this modern age of money-dominated football.

£220m on 70+ players in 6 years (according to the Mail) just about sums it up.

Ever heard of Godwin Antwi? No I hadn't either.

Benitez's hall of transfer (much of it) shame.

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/sport/football/article-1221975/Rafa-Benitezs-229m-spending-spree-The-76-players-signed-Liverpool-managers-reign.html

That is mental

Antwi was a Ghanaian teenager signed on a free who led the Liverpool Youth Team to the FA Youth Cup back in 2006, but never progressed and was ultimately released. I'd imagine it's a tale that's replicated across all clubs, although the odd thing is that pretty much every single young player fails to make the grade at Liverpool. Either the youth/reserve set up needs ripping up and rebuilding, or Benitez is failing in bringing them through. Anyway, to look at most of the 70 players brought in, the majority have been teenagers on free or nominal transfers, many reflecting the increasingly multi-national nature of the recruitment of youth players, which is prevalent across all top English clubs

The £220m is a gross spend; his net spend is around £90m. Over 5 seasons, that's around £18m per season overall, and in the last 2 seasons has been about £5m per season. I'm not some myopic Benitez supporter here - indeed I think it's time he left - but he did have to rebuild the team after Houllier's even more profligate spending era (with next to no top quality assets to show for it). If we look at it clinically, Benitez could raise over £100m this summer by selling Torres, Gerrad and Mascherano if he so chose.

Yes, Benitez has signed some stinkers, but - and again I find myself in the uncomfortable position of appearing to be defending him - not all the blame for those signings can be wholley attributed to Benitez. The most obvious example is Robbie Keane. Benitez wanted Gareth Barry, for a sum of around £12m. Rick Parry wouldn't authorise the spend, and instead set up a ludicrously overpriced deal for Keane against the wishes of Benitez. Yes, Benitez showed the wors tof his pigheadedness by never giving Keane a proper chance, but the signing wasn't the fault of Benitez. Jermaine Pennant was another crap signing, but wasn't Benitez first, or indeed second, choice. Benitez had wanted either Simao or Daniel Alves - both of whom could have been at Anfield for around £10-12m. Again, the club wouldn't sanction the spend and Benitez had to turn to the bargain bucket to pick up Pennant. Both Simao and Alves went on to roughly double their value in the next couple of years. He also made a loss when he bought Morientes (a purchase rushed into when Owen strung Liverppol along all summer, then flitted off to Madrid at the 11th hour). Yet who could have forseen Morientes being a failure? A strong, proven goalscorer who most pundits thought ideal for the EPL, surely a snip at £6m. Hmmm.

In just a bit longer timescale, the greatest manager of his generation has signed high-cost disappointments like Veron, Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Saha, Alan Smith, Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Nani, Tosic and Berbatov - for a combined cost of around £170m.

I take no pleasure in seeing the back of Benitez but feel we need to if we're to progress. I just can't shake the feeling we may actually end up regretting the decision.

But most of all, we need to get shot of the two twunts who own the club.

As in any business you can get away with recruitment failures if you're bringing home the metaphorical bacon.

You could add Forlan to that list - a failure ot Old Trafford, and yet one of the best now.

The Ferguson trophy cabient allows him to make these cock ups without ever being held to account.

If Benitez goes...I have no idea whatsoever who Liverpool can bring in. Is there a big enough name out there who will come to a club that, as you say, is average in all but its name and reputation?

Stick or twist...

Absolutely. He's also done some other good business (like getting near-£30m for Beckham, then making almost £70m on his replacement)

As for the next manager at Liverpool - and that makes a big assumption that Benitez will actually go - not a name I've heard mentioned recently, but Bilic is a good manager, knows the Premier League, and can speak the lingo. Could he be enticed away from Croatia? Maybe.

But then, given the state of the club's finances, we need to look at someone with a track record of being able to improve existing players and mould a team. That's not always the most high-profile of managers, and people far more knowledgeable about football than I will be able to pinpoint likely candidates.