West Ham were the first team to be relegated from the Premier League this season after they threw away a 2-0 lead against Wigan on Sunday to lose the game 3-2. Following West Ham’s loss and relegation, their manager Avram Grant was sacked. I am sure he is not going to be the last person to leave West Ham this summer following the relegation and this is going to spark a number of the West Ham players to leave the club this summer and not play in the Championship next season.
I had a look at the West Ham squad and thought, who out of their players could Liverpool actually look at signing as we should hopefully sign then at a discounted price since they have been relegated.
1) Scott Parker
He has to be the first name on the list if we are to look at signing any players from West Ham. Parker has been the best player this season for West Ham and he was rightfully rewarded for his efforts by winning the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year award this season.
Although Parker is 30 years old, I believe he still has a season or two of good football left in him. His age will be a concern to the FSG’s policy of trying to sign young players. Parker is in essence a holding midfielder and he would be competing with Lucas for a place in the Liverpool starting line-up. Although I do not think he would displace Lucas but he will certainly give the Brazilian a run for his money and hopefully that could force both players to up their game which is beneficial for the team.
Some of you may argue that signing Parker would not be good for the young players in the squad, namely Jay Spearing as his opportunities may be limited by the presence of Parker in the squad. But if Liverpool are to mount a serious title push next season, we will need as much quality depth as possible in the squad and Parker would provide that.
In terms of pricing for Parker, one would be looking at West Ham demanding about £10 million for Parker which I feel is a bit too much with a £7 million price-tag being more realistic.
What would you make of Liverpool pursuing Scott Parker?
I was talking to my friend earlier and I said I think we should go about signing Parker, Hitzlsperger and Robert Green. In my opinion they are 3 top quality players that could occupy the bench or start. My only issue is that for a 3rd striker we could look to Pacheco or buy someone who is well worth it.
My feeling is that yesterday, we lacked the quality in midfield that Meireles and especially Gerrard bring to the team that holds a strong line then attack together, we didn’t have a leader. Hitzlsperger and Parker can do that.
How about we get Dembe Ba he is a much better striker than Cole and at 25 he can give Carroll some good competition to push his game and would be a great player coming off the bench when we need a goal late in the match. I think he shouldn’t cost more than 5 mil. I don’t agree about hitzlesperger or parker since they are both old and I doubt they would like coming off the bench I think they would rather play for a mid-table team and start. If Dembe Ba doesn’t work then I would definitely get Cole.
Kenny said he’ll only sign players good as or better than what we have.So that rules out these 3. Would take Ba as a back up, but prefer Negrado….
damba ba is ok for liverpool because if we ar to provide for carrol then we would spend a big money buy 2 winger both left and right midfield center defender,left back and keeper cos pepe can not catch pk like yesterday l wil catch modric pk,charlies adam from backpool and cahill.
Parker is over-rated, Cole is below average and Hitzlsperger is mediocre at best. Next thing someone will suggest we get Keane back…shudder!
sorry to disagree but none of these targets will ever be seriously considered by kenny or comolli.
parker too old and injury prone, 7m for 2 more good seasons, you must be joking.
the same applies to hitzlsperger. nice distribution of the ball but no premier-league-winner material.
carlton cole – give me a break, i’d rather have n’gog in there, and i really have no positives to say on n’gog whatsoever.
if we are to sign a striker of west ham demba ba can be the ONLY option. but only if we miss out on our top priorities.
Carlton Cole? Are you serious? He was not even a regular in a relegation side. Parker may be OK but Liverpool must look for the future and not sign players who are close to retirement.
Just put Demba ba instead of cole.
What a load of crap.
Lucas has let us all know we don’t need Parker or Hitzelsperger. I was an admirer of Thomas The Hammer when he was back in Stuttgart, but he’s nowhere near good enough to play for LFC after his injuries and his age has slowed him down considerably. Parker will be too expensive and would sit bench, end of discussion. Better to keep Aquilani.
And Charlton Cole? If you’re thinking along those lines, why don’t we just bring Crouch back for all the good he’d do us? There is not a single player on the Wet Hampers that would improve our squad.
Besides all that, we are after youth with potential and solid sell-on value. None of those 3 meet those criteria. Decent writing, but very poor analysis of what LFC need or are looking for. Blah.