Rafa and Nando: star-crossed, fates intertwin'd
Are you paying attention, Messrs. Hicks and Gillett? Your beleaguered, under-fire manager, Rafael Benitez, has shown you the blueprints to ousting him from his job without too much drama or blood on your hands. It’s quite simple: sell Torres, and Rafa will leave. “I’m confident it will never happen. If it did, I’d resign,” were his official words… no need to translate what he’s saying there, really.
Talk about killing two birds with one stone: a nice chunk of money towards debt payments, and a nice open manager’s chair for you to fill with whomever you please.
Of course, there’s a third bird lying dead in that exchange: something to do with the hopes and dreams of your club’s rabid fanbase, but we all know that the pains of the scarf-waving proletariat are far removed from the list of things you actually care about.
From there, he launched into yet another explanation of how he’s handicapped by that crippling debt, and how it influences their sales. But no excuses, mind you! “When we have spent big, normally it’s been very good business,” he told The Times. “Torres, [Javier] Mascherano, [Pepe] Reina, [Xabi] Alonso. [Robbie Keane] is a good player but we had to sell him because he was not playing at the level we knew he could play. Ryan [Babel] was signed for the future and we are waiting for his improvement. He has to be more consistent. With the fringe players we needed to take a gamble on Bosmans and one-, two-million pound players. Some of these have not been good enough. It is a risk you have to accept when there is not too much money about.”
To reiterate the usual theme, it’s the debt issue that has led him to make some bad purchases, not his scouting eye or anything.
And so, we sit and wait, wondering if the Americans would dare make such a sale of their limping prize striker, now that it’s completely out in the open as to the knock-on effect. There’s no way LFC could begin the new year without Torres and Benitez, is there?
Martin! Give ‘im a bid! Martin, Martin, give ‘im a bid.
/wishful thinking
//Pyrrhic victory for Pool Supporters?
Never happen. If it does, I’m done with the sport.
There’s a rumor about the Mascherano’s people have already agreed terms with Barca.
I know it won’t happen. But a guy can dream.
Keith I meant just selling him w/o Rafa’s permission, not selling him to Villa. They have already turned down a seventy million pound bid for him, and that was before they locked up a bunch of new sponsorship deals. Even if they miss the knockouts and god help us finish outside of fourth, they’re not going to be in hock for seventy million all of a sudden. Torres has the potential to be the best player to ever play for this team, and I really don’t think they’re stupid enough to do that. They would (and should) sell Gerrard before Torres if it ever came to that, which there is no evidence it might come to that.
Phil that rumor has already been refuted by both clubs, and Barca officials have already said they can’t afford to make moves like that. They spent a ridiculous amount of money, for them, this summer.
But if Mascherano does go, it’s because he’s a petulent little bitch who isn’t happy with his wages when he hasn’t done dick this year to justify an increase. Sorry your agent is an idiot, deal with it. There is a great article on FSC about how that move would make no sense for Barca, because either it means they lose Yaya, or only have Mascherano as a squad player, and either way will cost them Busquets. If they offered us Yaya or Bojan plus 20 million pounds, you make that move. Yaya is a year older and offers more, he’s a better passer and can play in defense if need be, something Mascherano could never do because of his size.
Then we could call ourselves the Yaya Sisterhood!
But yeah, any move for Masch in which Barca are willing to part with Yaya/Bojan/Busquets and a f**kload of cash is a no-brainer. No man is worth that much.
I bet Busquets’s favorite album is Lumpy Gravy.
1. How would a lineup of Ibrahimovic, Messi and Torres work?
2. LFC could be the sisterhood of the traveling pants, since they play like pants.
oh wait, the Torres rumor isn’t to barcelona is it, now. stupid.
I don’t buy the Mascherano to Barca story at all. Perhaps at one time, but as mentioned Yaya and Busquets offer much greater flexibility in midfield than Mascherano. Worringly I think for LFC fans is that Mascherano had his head turned by the Barca talk and cannot get it together again. Looking at the way the Catalan media hound Cesc, it was likely quotes made to stir talk and Mascherano wasn’t/isn’t adult enough to look past tabloid rumours.
And they’re not getting rid of Bojan either. Isn’t he the heir apparent to Henry after he leaves this summer?
Whiz: As great as the tiny Argie is, we’d be fools for turning down a good player + good cash offer.
@JT — oh, I do not disagree at all. Personally though, I don’t see that good player + good cash offer materializing in January from Barca. I was looking at this from Barca’s standpoint, not LFC’s.
No fan of Rafa (altho it seems to be beneficial to the non-Pool nation to have him remain in his post), but I was actually thinking it was great for him to give public show of support to Torres.
It doesn’t seem that he complements his star all that frequently. I vaguely recall Torres having a good game (a typical effort) and when asked by the press, instead of agreeing, Rafa said there are still many things he needs to work on or something to that effect.
I don’t see Masch as having enough depth as a player to play for Barcelona, frankly. He’s limited when it comes to field vision (it’s why we relied on Alonso; Masch ain’t exactly creative) and would replace someone who’s probably more mobile and better at keeping the ball than himself. He fits into Liverpool’s system, but I don’t see him in Barcelona’s.
That said, he’d be fantastic at Real Madrid, who have the money and player surplus to make a cash+player bid for him.