James Pearce of the Liverpool Echo has been having his say on all the latest transfer gossip this weekend. Pearce joined Fresh Liverpool’s Luke Robertson in a special podcast interview and we’ve detailed his comments below.
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The highly respected journalist discussed the ongoing rumours linking us with a move for Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke, Raheem Sterling’s possible summer exit and a number of other deals that could happen.
Do you agree with what he had to say? We give our thoughts in the list below.
Christian Benteke & Raheem Sterling
Pearce said: “Liverpool aren’t going to say that they need to sell in order to buy Benteke. But when you look at the balance sheet, and previous windows, you’re looking at a £30m net spend, and I’d be surprised if Liverpool would end up with greater than that.
“If Sterling was sold to Man City and Benteke brought in, you’d be looking at around that figure. I don’t see Raheem Sterling being a Liverpool player at the start of the coming season.
“I’m worried whether he’s [Benteke] worth what Villa want for him, the full £32.5m. I have slight concerns about his fitness record…he had a very strong finish to last season but prior to that he didn’t have a great spell.
“Quite often you see him do his damage when crosses come in from the flanks, and Liverpool don’t really play that way – unless Rodgers is going to change the way he sets the team up.
“But on the other hand, I’ve seen Benteke play when he’s shown he’s a lot more than just a target man. He’s shown that he has got pace, his movement is good…I think there is more to him than that.”
We say: The idea of Sterling being used to fund a bid for Benteke is an intriguing concept and one that certainly makes sense. We’ve already spent £40-£50m this summer (depending on the value of Danny Ings’ compensation) and perhaps we can’t afford to go any further until Sterling is out of the door. However, we would hope that Sterling’s sale won’t mean that we simply agree to pay Benteke’s buyout clause. There’s no way he’s worth that kind of figure and the majority of supports are not going to be impressed if we don’t manage to argue Villa down.
Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini & Mario Balotelli
Pearce said: “They’re all likely to leave.”
We say: If only it were that simple. Fabio Borini has already proved hard to get rid of – he would have gone last summer if we’d had our way – while finding buyers for Lambert and Balotelli isn’t likely to prove all that easy. If Lambert and Borini want to stay in the Premier League then hopefully West Brom and Sunderland will make good on their apparent interest and give us a little bit of money on the side as well. We can’t see Balotelli going to Newcastle or Stoke – as has been rumoured – so perhaps a loan deal to Italy will prove to be the best we can do.
Asier Illarramendi
Pearce said: “[There’s no interest]. Not that I’m aware of. People I’ve spoken to at Liverpool have said that that is not the case.”
We say: Fair enough. We can’t say we were expecting this one to happen. There definitely seem to be midfielders higher up on our wanted list than the Spaniard, who has struggled to make a name for himself during his two-year spell at Real Madrid. He has talent but there would have been no guarantees he’d have taken to the Premier League. I doubt too many Liverpool fans are going to be losing sleep over this one.
Ludwig Augustinsson
Pearce said: “At the moment it’s just gossip. He may well be a player that Liverpool have sent scouts to watch, but at the moment it hasn’t gone any further than that. [Left-back] is one possible area [to strengthen] but I think the focus at the moment is on bringing in a striker.”
We say: This makes sense as well. We do need a left-back, but only as back-up to Alberto Moreno, and that’s ultimately going to be low priority. We still have Jose Enrique, Javier Manquillo and Jon Flanagan on our books as well, so I’m sure if we have to make do without the young Swede then we’ll manage well enough.
Lucas Leiva
Pearce said: “It will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming weeks. I’m sure Rodgers will speak to Lucas like he will all of the players, and assess where they’re at.
“I think with Lucas, you go back to January, and I think he probably was a bit unsettled and hadn’t been particularly happy about the [amount] of football he’d played in the first half of the season.
“But at that time when there was interest from Inter Milan there was no chance that Liverpool were going to sell him. I don’t think anything is cut and dried with Lucas…but it’s certainly one to keep an eye on.”
We say: It’d be sad to see Lucas go. The Brazilian has been a loyal and often underrated player in our midfield. However, with someone likely to make way for Emre Can as he pursues a move from defence into midfield, the experienced man could well be the fall guy. If we bring in another player to go with the addition of James Milner as well this summer, as has been rumoured, then Lucas will be well down the pecking order.
