Re: Summer Silly Season: Official Thread

[McAgger]

Especially now that Kyrgie left we need Cahill.....

[Guest]

Best of luck to Soto. Always a legend for breaking Fellaini

[BeautifulGame]

I dont think we will sign Cahill.Echo has said we never made an approach for him,Bolton news said the same and even Coyle said last week Kenny has never spoken to him about Cahill despite talking about the Ngog deal.And all are reliable sources too.

Its pretty clear we are not interested in either Cahill or Dann imo.

[Fahim89]

Liverpool plan shock return for Craig Bellamy and eye Sebastián Coates

Now guardian reporting about Coates . .two reliable sources now! This actually makes sense. . young, strong & potential!

but then again this report also talking about Bellamy ! ! The guy is 32 now! ! but if he comes it would be on free. .but still 32! !

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/23/liverpool-craig-bellamy-shock-return

[BeautifulGame]

Liverpool plan shock return for Craig Bellamy and eye Sebastián Coates

• Reds happy to meet Manchester City forward's wages

• Anfield side also interested in Uruguayan defender

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/23/liverpool-craig-bellamy-shock-return

(Guardian Telegraph Times everyone is running with the story .)

Liverpool have moved ahead of Arsenal and Manchester City in pursuit of the towering young Uruguay defender Sebastián Coates and are ready to offer Craig Bellamy a sensational return to Anfield.

The Wales international has been frozen out completely by Roberto Mancini at City but remains at the club on a £95,000- a-week contract. Bellamy's wage has surprisingly not deterred several Premier League clubs and Celtic from trying to prise the 32-year-old from the Etihad Stadium but Liverpool are willing to offer the striker a lucrative contract providing no transfer fee is involved.

Bellamy, a boyhood Liverpool fan, spent one season at Anfield in 2006-07 but struggled to make an impact under Rafael Benítez and was sold to West Ham United for £7.5m after 27 appearances and seven goals. He was an unused substitute in the 2007 Champions League final defeat by Milan and was destined for the Anfield exit from the moment he attacked his then team-mate John Arne Riise with a golf club during a supposed team bonding exercise in Portugal.

The striker could be joined at Anfield by Coates, the 20-year-old centre-half who was named best young player at this summer's Copa América where his performances for the tournament winners Uruguay – in the same team as Liverpool's Luis Suárez – increased interest from several Premier League clubs.

As the Guardian revealed last month, scouts from Arsenal, City and Liverpool all monitored the 6ft 6in Coates in Argentina, with Arsenal also believed to have watched the defender playing for his club side Nacional, the champions of Uruguay, a dozen times last season.

Liverpool, however, with the advantage of the Suárez connection, have emerged as Coates's most likely destination in the Premier League and could cost Fenway Sports Group, the club's owners who have already sanctioned a £110m recruitment drive this year, a fee of around £12m.

Coates was linked with a £3.5m transfer to Porto in June following the collapse of a proposed move to the Brazilian side São Paulo but his rise to prominence at the Copa América has since inflated Nacional's asking price. The central defender is one of the most highly rated young players in the game and, despite his lack of experience at international level, his Spanish and British ancestry is likely to assist any application for a work permit.

Liverpool are keen to strengthen their defence, especially after allowing Sotirios Kyrgiakos to join Wolfsburg on a free transfer. The Greece international could be followed out of Anfield by Alberto Aquilani, a target for Milan.

[BeautifulGame]

I would love to have Bellamy as our backup striker if his injury trouble are over.

As for Coates i havent seen much of him apart from Copa where he looked really good.So hopefully we can pull of both the deals.

[BeautifulGame]

Semms like we have already lodged a bid for him

OliverKayTimes Oliver Kay
But I'll finish by mentioning #LFC bid for Uruguay defender Sebastian Coates and tentative interest in ... Craig Bellamy

Maybe we already have a deal in place thats why we let go of Soto.

[Fahim89]

Coates rumors have hit Twitter like storm! ! a good sign i suppose . . plus reports have come in two reliable sources. .

Now Bellamy is an exciting player no doubt but the his age & salary is confusing & really doesn't go with our policies. .

[Red Alert]

Damn.

Good luck Soto.

Who's Sebastian Coates? And Craig Bellamy would be a great signing. I rate him very highly. He has a lot of controversy moments though. ._.

[BeautifulGame]

Some surprising developments in this, coming from an Uruguayan journo: http://twitter.com/#!/MartinCharquero

"La historia es así. Liverpool hizo una oferta oficial por 7 millones de libras (aprox) por Sebastian Coates." Liverpool's put a 7mil GBP offer for coates

"Hubo votación en la comisión directiva de Nacional. La mayoría acepto la oferta del Liverpool. Pero..." Offer was accepted by Nacional

"Pero el Manchester City avisó que quiere subir su propuesta. Entonces Nacional espera una oferta superior del City." MCFC said they can come up with a higher offer

"A Nacional le entrarían unos 7 millones de dólares por esta transacción. Lo que parece seguro es que es hora de salir a buscar otro central." I believe this one is saying they will entertain another offer higher than 7mil for this transaction. Certain that Coates is looking to leave though. Someone, please help with this translation.

"El padre del jugador,Peter Coates, esta en Europa siguiendo de cerca la oferta del Liverpool y lo que vendrá mañana desde Manchester." Father of Coates is in Europe looking at Liverpool and waiting for MCFC's offer.

Take with a pinch of salt though about City's interest.Because they havent made any bid and also becoz no one knows how reliable this uruguayan journo is.Also City have just signed a CB and have 4 senior CBs in total in Kompany Toure Lescott and Savic.

This City interest could well be to get a better deal from us as with most agents doing these days or maybe they are genuinely interested like with Clichy.

[Art Morte]

Bellamy: No thanks. Has been a very fine player, but there's always the doubt is he that any longer at 32 years of age. I could live with a one or two year contract offer to him with high wages and no transfer fee, but still would turn down this chance if it was up to me.

Coates: If he played in the world cup then I've seen him play but have not paid any greater attention. Would be delighted if we signed him, though, exactly the sort of buy (young, already good and promises of more) that I'd like us to make.

[BeautifulGame]

rorysmith_tel Rory Smith
Questions, questions: no transfer ever definite but Coates signs good. Heard Bellamy few times this summer: file under maybe for now. #LFC
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

I hope Rory is correct for once but signs are certainly looking good.

[BeautifulGame]

Bellamy: No thanks. Has been a very fine player, but there's always the doubt is he that any longer at 32 years of age. I could live with a one or two year contract offer to him with high wages and no transfer fee, but still would turn down this chance if it was up to me.

Bellamy has only one year left on his 90k week contract.So we wont pay him same wages.But will spread his wages over probably 3 year contract to compensate for the wage loss.Like Andreletch did with Jovanovic.

City get rid of a player they dont want without paying compensation,Bellamy gets his final big contract of his career and we get a good backup striker without paying any transfer fee and thus everyone happy.

Thats how i think this deal will pan out if we sign him not on a 90k per week he is now on.

Coates: If he played in the world cup then I've seen him play but have not paid any greater attention. Would be delighted if we signed him, though, exactly the sort of buy (young, already good and promises of more) that I'd like us to make.

Coates played in the copa america and won the best young player award.

[BeautifulGame]

rorysmith_tel Rory Smith
Via (the very highly recommended) @MartinCharquero: Nacional's vice-president has told Uruguayan radio that Coates "will" go to #LFC.
12 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

*bleep* made up if this is true

[Nishankly]

I agree with Art, Bellamy could be called a stop gap, But i wouldn't pay 100k wages to a 32 year stop gap,
Its better to spend a few millions on a young budding striker IMO.

[BeautifulGame]

philmcnulty Phil McNulty
As mentioned elsewhere Liverpool have strong interest in Nacional defender Sebastian Coates & probability now growing that he will sign. #fb
2 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

[BeautifulGame]

Seems like we are really on the verge of completing the singing.Even BBC is reporting it.

Liverpool are hopeful of continuing their summer rebuilding progamme by signing defender Sebastian Coates before the transfer window closes.

Liverpool are currently in advanced negotiations with the 20-year-old Uruguyan's club Nacional over the deal.

The £12m-rated centre-back impressed in Uruguay's Copa America triumph in July and is keen to join international team-mate Luis Suarez at Anfield.

He would be Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish's sixth signing of the summer.

Dalglish is keen to strengthen his defensive resources after Greek defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos left for Wolfsburg on a free transfer and 6ft 6in Coates, 20, is seen not only as another quality addition but also a sound investment for the future.

Manchester City have been strongly linked with Coates but Liverpool are now firm favourites to add Coates to Dalglish's other summer signings Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam, Stewart Dowing and Jose Enrique.

Adding another central defender became Dalglish's top priority after completing deal with Newcastle United for left-back Enrique - and talks are progressing to conclude a move for Coates.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/14637292.stm[quote]

[Fahim89]

i guess if it is on BBC then it would come through . .they normally don't post much before something is pretty concrete . .

[iftikhar]

Do you suppose Agger will be sold (in January)!!! Carragher, Skrtel, Agger & Coats all are starting team material with Wilson as back-up.

[Red Alert]

There's no point selling DAgger, he's our best CB... Jamie is getting old, while Coates and Wilson will be brought in slowly. (Skrtel is just a beast. )

I'd much rather have 20 appearences with DAgger, then getting around 10m.

[Art Morte]

I think Coates will get his first appearance in a Carling Cup match and will be 3rd or 4th choice CB in the league. I believe Skrtel Agger will be our primary CB pairing when they're fit.

Although I wouldn't mind if we try this one in difficult games:

[BeautifulGame]

Do you suppose Agger will be sold (in January)!!! Carragher, Skrtel, Agger & Coats all are starting team material with Wilson as back-up.

Why would we sell our best defender and only have 3 defenders? Every top teams have 4 defenders so i would say no chance.Wilson needs time to develop before being ready to be a regular and with Carragher on the wane we only have 3 regular CBs in Agger Skrtel and Coates.United have 5 first choice Cbs so 4 isnt much.

[BeautifulGame]

Excellent article about Coates from Independent.

Sebastian Coates has been signed, sealed and delivered to Anfield. For a fee of less than half the price of Phil Jones the Merseysiders have bagged themselves twice the player.

Uruguayan heavyweights Nacional received a fax this morning from Liverpool meeting their £7m valuation of the centre-back. The deal concludes a month of intense transfer speculation surrounding the 2011 Copa America Young Player of the Tournament.

Nacional said all along that it would take an “historic” fee to convince them to part ways with the defender who stands just a few blond locks short of six foot six. The fee certainly smashes the previous Uruguayan record of £3.5m to take Nicolás Lodeiro from Nacional to Ajax but still represents a real coup for Liverpool.

On the downside for Nacional they will receive just over half of the cash after selling a portion of Coates’ rights for £100,000 to a third-party investment group while the player was still a trainee.

Liverpool were not the first club to wade in with a concrete offer for 20-year-old. FC Dnipro actually bidded well over the asking price but the player refused a move to the Ukraine.

Manchester City were also sniffing around and even had top Uruguayan businessman Francisco "Paco" Casal doing their bidding for them. Following an injury to Mamadou Sakho it was also reported that Paris Saint-Germain were weighing up a move for El Flaco Coates.

With Coates’ agent Matias Pittini bombarded with a host of enquires from high profile clubs all over Europe credit must be given to Liverpool for stepping up their chase and securing the signature. Just as Luis Suárez convinced Lodeiro to come to Ajax it appears the striker has once again used his significant influence within Uruguay to get Coates to Anfield.

Enough about the off-the-field shenanigans, what exactly has this kid got in his locker? Let’s get the tired clichés out the way now; dominant in the air at both ends of the pitch, tends to stay on his feet but equally adapt at a last gasp lunge, great physicality to usher attackers off the ball, can walk the ball out of defence or ping a long pass off his right boot and he’s definitely not afraid to risk a booking.

Coates joined the Nacional academy at 11-years-old and broke into the first team seven years later. Before making his bow with Nacional the defender helped Uruguay finish third at the 2009 South American under-20 Championships.

Since making his debut for Nacional against Bella Vista on 18 April 2009 the Uruguayan has started every single game for the club, suspensions and national team duty withstanding. Despite only playing three months of the 2008/09 campaign his performances in the title winning team as well as on a run to the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores saw Coates named the 2008/09 Uruguayan Championship Revelation of the Season.

In the close season Coates traveled to Egypt to play at the under-20 World Cup where Uruguay went unbeaten in a group containing eventual champions Ghana. Below Uruguay and Ghana in the group came Uzbekistan and then England.

Although Nacional missed out on the league title the following year Coates’ stock continued to rise. His performance in Buenos Aires against Banfield in the Copa Libertadores was a joy to behold. Coates dictated the play at both ends of the pitch as he scored the opener and set up the second in the 2-0 win over the reigning Argentinian league champions.

Coates then missed out on a trip to South Africa despite being called up to Uruguay’s senior squad for their crucial play-off double header against Costa Rica. The defender would have to wait another year before winning his first cap. His international debut came in a friendly against Estonia just a week shy of the 2011 Copa America.

With injuries dogging both Diego Godín and Mauricio Victorino the door was left ajar for Coates to partner Diego Lugano in the heart of defence at the continental competition. A string of fine displays heralded the arrival of the latest uncompromising Uruguayan centre-back, a fighter for sure and a winner to boot.

Neymar’s name was already etched onto the Young Player of the Tournament award before a ball was even kicked in Argentina, but then Coates kicked Neymar into touch. The achievement may have paled into insignificance against winning Uruguay’s 15th Copa America title but the Young Player award seems now to have tipped the balance for Coates getting a work permit.

There’s been a touch of the Cesc Fabregas and Luka Modric about Coates’ inevitable transfer away from Parque Central but the Nacional youth product remained quiet and respectful throughout. He even answered his manager’s plea to play in the game against Defensor Sporting at the weekend despite still looking jaded following his Copa America exploits.

With this in mind it’s unlikely Kenny Dalglish will want to throw Coates into the fray immediately. Judging by some of Coates’ monstrous performances in el Clásico del fútbol uruguayo against Peñarol the Merseyside Derby seems the right time for Liverpool fans to judge what sort of player they have on their hands.

A week after the Everton game Coates will celebrate his 21st birthday, what a truly fantastic bit of business from the Red Men.

Sebastian Coates’ CV:

2011 Copa America winner

2011 Copa America Young Player of the Tournament

2010/11, 2008/09 Uruguayan Championship winner

2010/11 Uruguayan Championship Player of the Season

2010/11, 2009/10 Uruguayan Championship Defender of the Season

2008/09 Uruguayan Championship Revelation of the Season

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/historic-sebastian-coates-transfer-a-coup-for-liverpool-2342927.html

[poolsupporter]

It's official.

Dani Pacheco going to Atletico Madrid for a season long loan.

[McAgger]

I just read that Dani Pacheco was loaned to Rayo Vacano by Atletico for a year.......I dont get it....can they do that?

[poolsupporter]

I've not seen the Rayo link being official yet. However, the Atletico one was posted on the official website.

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/pacheco-loan-deal-confirmed

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