Kops' WORST NIGHTMARE could happen soon...
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CITY SET UP EVERY LIVERPOOL FAN'S WORST NIGHTMARE
Billionaire owners can make £140m double deal happen
MOCK-UP: How duo would look in City kits
WHEN Garry Cook courted Kaka, he became the laughing stock of world football.
But the sniggering has stopped. And now the Manchester City chief executive has turned his attention to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, nobody should take him lightly.
The chase for fourth place in the Premier League won't be decided at Eastlands today.
The clash between City and Liverpool is more a symbol of a seismic shift between a waning power beset by internal and financial problems and a club that knows no limits.
Even a defeat for Roberto Mancini's side does not alter that landscape.
There are those at Anfield only too aware of the threat from City, not least to Liverpool's two biggest stars.
After the false dawn of Thakskin Shinawatra, the pledges of owner Sheikh Mansour are proving to be no mirage.
That sends out a compelling message to both Torres and Gerrard - that they may have to re-evaluate their futures in the summer.
It's not even a secret within the City corridors of power that the hierarchy are plotting a £140million double swoop for both Torres and Gerrard this summer.
City officials are already planning how they can pull off what would be one of the most audacious transfer coups of all time.
Fourth place and Champions League football would inevitably help sugar the pill of an Anfield parting but even without the lure of football at the highest level, City believe they hold more than a few aces.
If the injured Torres chooses to watch the game from the Eastlands stands, he will be taken by the modern facilities and the potential to increase the capacity to 65,000 - while visions of a new state-of-the-art Anfield remain a pipedream.
Then he will look at Emmabuel Adebayor, a striker not remotely in his class, who picks up £140,000 a week, substantially more than the £95,000 a week Torres earns from a four-year deal signed last summer.
Torres might then just to do some calculations not entirely based on money. He will wonder where Liverpool are heading.
That's exactly the question one of Torres's advisors put to the Liverpool hierarchy recently.
As it stands, it is difficult for the club to offer any conclusive answers.
As diligently as chief executive Christian Purslow has been working to stabilise what has become a very rocky ship under the tiller of joint American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the future remains uncertain.
What is certain is that Liverpool's owners must come up with £100million by the end of March to settle loans taken when the Americans bought the club.
Hicks and Gillett could wipe out the problem at one stroke by agreeing the £100m sale of Torres to City during the close season.
Selling Gerrard as well would then give the club an enhanced transfer kitty.
MANCINI: Would love to have duoLast summer, Liverpool rejected an £80m approach by City for their Spanish striker but this time around the club simply may not be in a position to refuse such an offer.
City have moved up another level from the Kaka farce and whatever the wisdom of replacing Mark Hughes with Roberto Mancini there is far greater credibility to the club's aspirations of becoming not only a superpower in England but Europe too.
There is no doubt that should City beat off the challenges of Tottenham and Aston Villa and eject Liverpool from their Big Four status, then Torres could have his head turned.
Even if Torres could be lured, Gerrard would be much more reluctant to follow him down the M62.
Part of Gerrard may still regret not moving to Chelsea five years ago. And while his red-blooded Mersey roots prohibit even the thought of defecting to Manchester United, the prospect of becoming part of City's adventure would not be out of bounds.
The plain fact is, unless things change at Liverpool - and change quickly - Gerrard, 30 in May, might have to resign himself to never winning a Premier League winner's medal, while at City the potential is now palpable.
Those who counsel Gerrard may suggest that if he did opt to leave Liverpool it would only be to play abroad, with Real Madrid a distinct possibility.
Yet why not City?
After all, if the blue half of Manchester roll back the red tide of United's dominance then, in a way it will be a mission well received on Merseyside, for a while at least.
And how much more loyalty does Gerrard owe Liverpool?
To cash in one or either may smack of heresy to the Kop faithful but if it helps finance a complete rebuilding of a tired team, then it may be a sacrifice worth making.
Whatever the outcome of today's game and the race for fourth place, City would seem on the brink of breaking through the glass ceiling and, in the process, ensuring Liverpool's fall from greatness continues.
Perversely, maybe the only way for Liverpool to alter that inevitability is to take the money for their two great talismen before it is too late.
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sure, they can make that happen.
but in the subsequent seasons, there may be a cap on this spending.
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Originally posted by RAFA BEN IS A GAY BASTERD:
hahahaha..morning see news liverpool kana screw again..really makes my day..
oh, you mean it happened already? or just hearsay?your stupidity is premiership level. but ability to comprehend is non-league standard.
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If Liverpool do sell, it is as if they sold away the 4th spot of the Table.
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if i'm the Liverpool boss, i'll sell these 2 and throw in a couple of Rafa's flops for free...........heck, i'll throw in Rafa too..................
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Lolx
gerrard going to 30 lia0
nah torres should stay haha -
he can play till he is 35 leh, so another 5 more seasons of top football left in him.
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liverpool can do a lot with 140 million.
it is a good time to cash in on gerrard anyway.
without gerrard and any funds torres cant do anything as well.
so its not a nightmare at all.
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it will be sad to see if stevie or fernando leave...
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
he can play till he is 35 leh, so another 5 more seasons of top football left in him.
Not at the same level though... To me, he is already not the same Gerrard of last 2 yrs... and he will only get worse as the season goes by.Chelsea made a mistake when they sign an almost 30 yrs old Shevchenko for $30.8m. I think Roman have learn his lesson and will not make the same mistake again. City are a new rich club and they will learn it the hard way if they pay that much for Gerrard... Anything more than $15m won't be value for money.
Scholes and Giggs can still play at this level is because they are not playing every week... Sometimes play one match then rest 2, 3 matches kind... If you expect Gerrard to continue to do the business as usual week in week out, then you could be in for a disappointment. Not every player can re-invent their game... some manage but a lot don't... And Gerrard unlike Giggs and Scholes is on a high salary at Pool. Probably the highest if you take away Johnson at $139k per week. So Pool not being the richest, may find it not as profitable to keep him if they are only to play him once or twice in a month when he gets older... So better to cash in on him and use the funds for new and younger players... and at the same time, probably pay lower salary too.
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Originally posted by zocoss:
Not at the same level though... To me, he is already not the same Gerrard of last 2 yrs... and he will only get worse as the season goes by.for once or maybe twice, i agree on this.
stevie's passion on e field just isnt like the past anymore
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Originally posted by Poignant:
it will be sad to see if stevie or fernando leave...
Well, eventually they have to leave... Either be sold for squad improvement or retire in time to come...
It was a sad day when Cantona retired, but in time people got over him and a new hero emerged... The same will be the case for Gerrard with Liverpool... The club will move on...
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maybe torres but gerrard dun think he will leave lar. he is liverpool thru and thru. but see how, never say never in football.
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Originally posted by Poignant:
for once or maybe twice, i agree on this.
stevie's passion on e field just isnt like the past anymore
We can't blame him... I think the heart is still willing but the legs may not be able to take it as in the past anymore...Like Carragher said, "I don't want to turn into one of those bitter old b*****ds moaning because he's not playing" If Gerrard leave soon, he will always be remembered fondly as a great player for them... But if he stays and start to play badly in his 34, 35 years of age... The fans will only remember most of his last few years where he could be rubbish...
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Originally posted by zocoss:
We can't blame him... I think the heart is still willing but the legs may not be able to take it as in the past anymore...Like Carragher said, "I don't want to turn into one of those bitter old b*****ds moaning because he's not playing" If Gerrard leave soon, he will always be remembered fondly as a great player for them... But if he stays and start to play badly in his 34, 35 years of age... The fans will only remember most of his last few years where he could be rubbish...
i think the opposite way, legs still able to take it, but the heart seem numb alr.
somehow, when i watch stevie play these days, he just doesnt have the passion and determination anymore.
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Originally posted by Poignant:
i think the opposite way, legs still able to take it, but the heart seem numb alr.
somehow, when i watch stevie play these days, he just doesnt have the passion and determination anymore.
maybe the ordinariness of the players around him killed off his passion. he is thinking, how to win a game with these type of ordinary players, not fit to even wear the liverpool jersey. but the culprit is rafa, it is he who signed all these players.
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
maybe the ordinariness of the players around him killed off his passion. he is thinking, how to win a game with these type of ordinary players, not fit to even wear the liverpool jersey. but the culprit is rafa, it is he who signed all these players.
this could be true.
see behind lucas, see right side dirt kuyt, see left side aurelio, see infront david ngog.
straight sian 1.5
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Originally posted by Poignant:
this could be true.
see behind lucas, see right side dirt kuyt, see left side aurelio, see infront david ngog.
straight sian 1.5
last time got john barnes on the left, right is steve nicol, striker is Ian rush. how times have fallen on liverpool, relying players like lucas, insua, ngog, kuyt, aurelio to win games haiz.
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Somehow, that photoshopped pic looks really well done...
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Originally posted by Rooney9:
last time got john barnes on the left, right is steve nicol, striker is Ian rush. how times have fallen on liverpool, relying players like lucas, insua, ngog, kuyt, aurelio to win games haiz.
woah, that was long time ago...
now liverpool...haizzzzzzzzz
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Originally posted by -Wanderer-:
Somehow, that photoshopped pic looks really well done...
agreed, lol.
but it's saddening if it turns out real..
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money is always enough at man city. man city dont look beyond 2 years in their signing horizon.
for gerrard man city is a better bet than man utd. man utd could be on the decline as their debt will weigh on them on the coming season.
but i would rather he move to real madrid. but at 30 years old, i am not sure whether they would still pounce on him.
for torres, it would be wiser for him to real madrid.
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dun think torres will ever play for real...imagine gary neville playing for liverpool? Possible but very unlikely. First, get rid of rafa...then sell gerrard and those mediocre players, especially lucas and ngog...buy villa to partner with torres, keep mascherano, reina and agger...the rest can go or put as substitute...