Other transfer news

[DingDong]

Babbel
Stuttgart coach Matthias Sammer is hoping to add veteran defender Markus Babbel to his squad.

Babbel, 31, is available for transfer from Liverpool and has already attracted interest from Kaiserslautern.

However, Sammer has now joined the chase for the former Bayern Munich and Germany man, who could be a tailor-made replacement for the recently-departed Marcelo Bordon who has moved to Schalke.

"I know about his qualities and so we'll have to see what happens," said Sammer.

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Diao
Espanyol are ready to test Salif Diao's determination to remain at Liverpool in order to prove his worth.

The Senegal international is the latest target for the Barcelona-based outfit, who have already snapped up former Barca hit-man Dani Garcia this summer.

Diao is the latest name in the frame for a possible move to Montjuic and it is believed that talks over a possible loan move have already started with Liverpool.

The African ace was keen to remain at Anfield, as he has three years left on his contract, but Saint Etienne have already showed an interest in his services and a move to the continent cannot be discounted.

New Reds boss Rafa Benitez is set to reshape his squad with a number of comings and goings taking place at Anfield during the close season.

Espanyol have also been trailing Mathieu Berson but Aston Villa are favourites to buy the midfield man if he is allowed to leave Nantes.

Miguel Angel Lotina's side have been making tentative enquiries towards England as they look to bolster their squad ahead of the upcoming Primera Liga campaign.

[DingDong]

Pongolle
Liverpool youngster Florent Sinama-Pongolle could be set for a loan move back to his native France - if he does not feature in the plans of The Reds' new manager Rafa Benitez.

Sinama-Pongolle is still on the fringe at Anfield, but is hoping to make an impression on Benitez in pre-season training.

Should the young striker not fit into Benitez's team, he is open to a return to France - with St Etienne at the front of the queue.

Sinama-Pongolle rose to prominence with Le Havre, and would hope to flourish in Ligue 1 should he return to France.

St Etienne would be hoping to lure the player on a season's loan this year, with Liverpool keeping a close eye on his progress.

Sinama-Pongolle has started just seven times for The Reds, but has made 16 appearances off the bench - notching two goals in the process.

Meanwhile, Liverpool have slammed suggestions that Salif Diao is in talks with Portsmouth.

The club's official website insists that the player has not been granted permission to talk with another club, and has been training with the first team all week.

[DingDong]

Shearer
Liverpool almost signed Newcastle legend Alan Shearer for £3 million at the start of last season, but the transfer fell through at the 11th hour.

Shearer almost became a Liverpool player when former boss Gerard Houllier thought he had lined up a £3 million deal with Sir Bobby Robson's approval.

But the controversial sale was vetoed by chairman Freddy Shepherd and it proved a saving grace for Newcastle's season as Shearer banged in the goals.



damn... it would have been good to have shearer up front instead of heskey...

[DingDong]

Diouf
HUMILIATED El-Hadji Diouf admits he is considering a move to Spain after being axed from the Liverpool squad.

In a ruthless move by new boss Rafael Benitez, the £10million flop is the only senior player not to be assigned a number for the new season.

A Liverpool spokesman said last night: "We can confirm that El-Hadji Diouf no longer has the No.9 shirt and is currently not registered under any other number." But the club refused to say why the player has not been given a number.

Diouf said he is now ready to turn his back on the Premiership. "I would only leave England to play in a league like Spain's which, perhaps next to England's, is the best in the world.

"There are teams that are interested in me but Liverpool have said nothing about it," he added.

The Senegal striker has scored just six goals in 61 starts for the Anfield club. His No.9 shirt has now been given to new £14m capture from French side Auxerre, Djibril Cisse.


the faster he goes, the faster i'd be happy...

[Alessandro10]

Yes i agree!! Get rid of him!! And hurry up about it! He is an embarisment to the club!!

[DingDong]

Sigh, Babbel has gone to stuggart... always liked him... regularly scored important goals and always good at defending...

[DingDong]

Baros
DAVID O'Leary will today ask Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis for his backing to launch a £3million bid for Liverpool striker Milan Baros.

Villa manager O'Leary is still determined to strengthen his squad ahead of the new season and wants Ellis to show his dedication to the team's success by pledging more cash.

After missing out on a loan deal for Manchester United midfielder Nicky Butt, O'Leary wants some extra star quality to enhance Villa's bid for a European place.

Baros, the top scorer in Euro 2004, is behind Michael Owen and Djibril Cisse in the Anfield pecking order.

He may welcome a move to the Midlands but would face competition from Colombian frontman Juan Pablo Angel, on-loan Carlton Cole and England international Darius Vassell.

Angel signed a new contract last week and will be a permanent fixture in O'Leary's team whenever he is fit - and Cole was promised first team football.

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Diao

Salif Diao'S chances of proving his worth to Rafael Benitez have diminished after Liverpool agreed a deal to loan him to Portsmouth.

The Senegal midfielder insisted last week there had been no contact from Harry Redknapp and that he would prove people wrong for labelling him a £4.5million misfit.

But his club have informed Portsmouth they are willing to sanction a 12-month exit and are now waiting a response from the former Sedan player.

The Fratton Park club have to cover most of Diao's wages for the deal to go through, while the 27-year-old will also have to reconsider his position in the wake of Liverpool's decision.

Anfield officials are desperate to get Diao and compatriot El Hadji Diouf off their wage bill - a factor in their current inactivity in the transfer market.

Portsmouth were also interested in Diouf but he is more likely to accept a move to Spain if one arrives.

Malaga and Real Betis have both been linked with the £10m striker and the latter are expected to make their first official move within the next few days.

Liverpool would prefer a permanent exit for Diouf, who failed to find the net throughout last season, and are willing to take a staggering £7m loss on the player.

But Betis are keen to secure a loan deal with the option of a permanent transfer next summer - an offer Liverpool are unlikely to dismiss.

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Liverpool striker El Hadji Diouf could be on his way out of Anfield after holding talks with new boss Rafa Benitez about his future.

The Senegal international has proved to be a major disappointment at Anfield after joining Liverpool from Lens in a £10 million deal just after the 2002 World Cup.

Diouf failed to hold down a regular place in the side last season and with Benitez assessing his squad after taking over from Gerard Houllier in the summer he could decide to let the striker go.

Benitez is keen to trim to his squad in a bid to raise funds for his own signings and Diouf could follow Markus Babbel out of the exit door.

"I have only spoken to three players about their futures. They were Babbel, (Gregory) Vignal and Diouf. I don't know at the moment what will happen," said Benitez.

Benitez also admitted that he could still bring in a few new players before the start of the season with Djibril Cisse the only fresh arrival so far.

"At this moment I don't know how many players I will sign. It's up to the squad we have at the moment," added Benitez.

"If they train well and show me good things then maybe I'll just sign one or two more players.

"I don't have an exact number in mind right now. I have spoken with Rick Parry about the squad and I said to him that it's not important to spend big money, but that it's important to spend money well.

"If you have a table with four legs and they are good legs then you don't need another leg. If we have a team with good players then we might not need others. We'll see."




once again, i emphasise that i want the two flops of the Ds to go... but definitely not baros.

[The Rule]

Are Villa completely stupid?? Barca have just been told it'd cost at least £10m to get Baros and Villa are going to offer £3m?? thick bastards.

[The Rule]

Josemi is done and dusted. He's going to fly out to America to link up with the rest of the squad.

Collocini is likely to be next to arrive.

And finally, Barcelona have shown that transfer stupidity extends beyond Chelski with possibly the most ludicris transfer move EVER. Thy've asked us to give them Djibril Cisse on loan for a year, with an option to buy him for £10. The is less than 1 month after we signed him for £14million. Laporta says he is very confident of getting him, based on the fact that we've already got Owen and Baros! Cisse is the 4th of our players Barca have tried to sign this summer, and each time they've gotten the same reply. PISS OFF(although i'd have sold them Hyypia)

[Johnson]

also owen is signing a new contract.

who else did barca try and sign?

[The Rule]

They offered £16mil for Owen, £7mil for Baros and £5mil for Hyypia as well as this stupid offer for Cisse.

Owen is signing a new extension(which is the key) of 2 years, which means we have him contracted for 3 years now. £90,000 a week is a lot though. he better have the season of his life.

[Johnson]

i reckon owen will have a great season this year, but 16m for him and 5m for hyypia i would be tempted

[The Rule]

I'd have sold Hyypia, well i'd have tried to get Marquez in a swap. £16mil is a lot but i think the board thought they'd get more for Owen by holding out a bit longer.

[DingDong]

Rafael Benitez said the injury blow to Vladimir Smicer may force him to go into the transfer market and sign a player
With Smicer out for six months after a knee operation Benitez says he may need to go into the transfer market to strengthen his squad ahead of the Champions League qualifier with Austrian champions GAK.

Benitez said: "It's a pity because we had hoped that Vladimir would have only been out for one month but six months is hard. I hope the the player can stay strong and come through and be back with us in six months time."

Asked whether the injury blow will mean Benitez will have to strengthen his squad, the manager said: "We will try and we shall see."




lets hope he really gets out there and gets a creative midfielder, aimar or carlos alberto for instance?

[DingDong]

Vignal
Liverpool defender Gregory Vignal is convinced he will complete a year-long loan deal with Rangers tomorrow, reports Soccernet.

The full-back has impressed Gers manager Alex McLeish in friendlies against Tottenham and Newcastle.

The 23-year-old has failed to break into the first team at Anfield since his £500,000 arrival from Montpellier in 2000.

But now the Frenchman is confident he can resurrect his career at Ibrox once his agent has spoken to Rangers director of football business Martin Bain.

Vignal told Scotland Today: ``I spoke to him (McLeish) this morning and he was happy with me so now he wants to keep me. I am happy as well because this is a big club and I have a chance to play.

``My agent is coming tomorrow morning and he will have a chat with Martin Bain about my contract so we will wait and see tomorrow morning. It is exciting because Rangers are a big club, like Liverpool.

``They have a good team this year so I'm very pleased to be here.''

But, after playing in England, Vignal believes he has the right grounding for life in the Scottish Premier League.

He said: ``You know I think it's similar football, fighting, the people like to go to the ball, to go forward, so it's similar football in Scottish.''

Now Vignal has targeted next week's Champions League qualifier against CSKA Moscow or Neftchi of Azerbaijan as crucial for his - and Rangers' - season.

He added: ``For a club like Rangers, you must play Champions League, because the big [clubs] play Champions League. Everybody is waiting for Champions League, so we must to win the game.'

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Finnan
GRAEME SOUNESS yesterday made his first move to take Steve Finnan to Blackburn Rovers next season as Liverpool's link with a Thailand consortium reappeared again.

Blackburn contacted Anfield officials with a view to signing the Republic of Ireland international, on a one-year loan deal just 12 months after he joined the club for £3.6m from Fulham.

The 28-year-old's future at Liverpool is under threat after the £2m arrival of Malaga full-back Josemi, who will be given his debut tomorrow morning when Rafael Benitez's side face AS Roma in their final pre-season friendly.

Finnan endured a disappointing debut season at Anfield where injury restricted him to just 27 first team appearances.

And his prospects of winning over Benitez will be limited even further if the Liverpool manager grants him permission to discuss Blackburn's offer.

Souness, who yesterday completed the £500,000 transfer of Rangers centre-half Craig Moore, hopes to convince Finnan he can offer more regular first team football when Liverpool return from their tour of North America tomorrow.

Should Finnan accept Blackburn's request he is likely to be joined in the Liverpool departure lounge by Anthony Le Tallec.

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Duff
Chelsea winger Damien Duff has ruled out a move to Liverpool and confirmed his intention to stay and battle for his place at Stamford Bridge.

Rumours the former Blackburn winger is set for a move back to the north west following Chelsea's capture of Dutch international Arjen Robben have refused to go away.

But Duff's agent Pat Devlin shot down those stories, saying: "Damien is very happy at Chelsea and cannot wait to start the season.

"It's nonsense to suggest he wants to go back to the north west, there's no way he wants to leave."

Devlin added: "Damien has just recovered from a bad shoulder injury and isn't thinking about anything but playing for Chelsea."

Liverpool were thought to be interested in Duff after Vladimir Smicer was ruled out for six months and due to long-term concerns over former Leeds wide man Harry Kewell