Downing may not be a world class winger but he is what we exactly need right now. He is an out and out winger who hugs the touch line…has that little bit of pace, the ability to take on defenders and put in an accurate ball into the box. We have been crying out load for a decent winger now for many seasons and he could just be the solution.
To all the people complaining, I think Downing will be a better signing for us than Young. Young might have that extra yard of pace and is more skillful but Downing too has the pace and the ability beat defenders and most importantly he has the final product as well. Downing always gives a 100 percent to the cause which Young lacks at times. It’s not like we missed out on a brilliant young gem and are going for an average player instead, I think they are both equally matched and downing maybe a bit underrated. Both are of at the same level of their career age wise ( downing a year older) and this will probably be their last major transfers of their career. Downing has a great footballing brain and plays for the team whereas Young tries to do all by himself at times. Downing has one hell of a sweet left foot and is one of the best crosser of a football in the premier league. So I’d say both are equally matched.
At this moment in time with no European Football we will certainly fail to attract top class players who want to play in the Champions League. With the premier league experience under his belt Downing will not be a gamble. He can come straight into the team and can instantly adjust to the league which foreign players might find it difficult.
So if we can get him, he will be a great addition to the team. At 26 he may not fit the owner’s plan but we need to balance youth with experience as well or else take the risk of turning into what Arsenal have, where every next season is said to be the season. He is at his highest point of his career also highlighted by the fact that he had his best season at Villa Park and was their player of the season. He will do the job that is needed at present and will be the stepping stone for us to getting the world class players back at Anfield.
We might have to pay a wee bit more for him than we’d like but in today’s inflated market I think it would be reasonable as we will benefit largely by this deal. I think anywhere around £13million will be a reasonable price for him.
I agree Downing is good at this moment in time and he wants to come, we are not begging the kid are we!!!. The foreign mercenaries want silly money but Downing just wants to play for us, that must be a key factor???. He doesn’t come inside to congest the midfield and really is a proper winger with a good crossing ability, why is he not good enough??.
He is proven in the Prem and will adapt immediately as he knows lots of our players from England duty, when KK wants you that says it all about the player. Jordan Henderson was the 5th most creative player in the Prem last season,(chances created), yet we are told he is not worth £16m, oh really???. He created more and scored more than Modric!!!!!!fact………I trust KK but not Comolli…sorry!!!!
Villa seem to think that near 20 million is closer to his value because they don’t want to sell him and he has 2 years left to his contract! Negotiation time perhaps… how long?
With Villa it is often a long time…
I think kenny will spring a little surprise by throwing sterling in on the wing next season!
Downing = mediocrity and we have seen enough of these type of players at lfc for nearly 20 years and its time we signed class and average players or young hopefuls.
Your calling downing mediocre? you really dont have a clue, you expecting ronaldo and messi to join Liverpool BAZA?
Put anyone on the wing but Downing! Make way for Boudebouz…
Downing is good, but $20 mill will certainly be expensive, if we get him for $15-16 mill, I would go for him…, I also like Matt jarvis.. he got the goods and certainly cheaper option..but in regards to sterling he will probably need one more year before bringing him in first team
Downing would be a brilliant signing. He is a natural winger and he has a great delivery. Added to the fact he is not a flashy or brash individual but someone that goes about his job in the right manner. The past 2 seasons he has improved his game so the £15m-£18m qouted is more than realistic. The only time we had a winger in recent years was in 08/09 with Riera. In Riera’s first season he gave the team great balance and Downing is a better player than him. He has 7yrs experience playing Prem football, he knows the league and he would give us proper balance. Andy Carroll needs a consistent crosser of the ball. Downings game is all about taking on the full back and delivering crosses. He destroyed us at Villa Park this year and if Suarez, Carroll and Kuyt got that service then I would see us scoring alot more goals.
It’s easy make a case for Downing over Young as he suits our needs better.
It’s not so easy make a case for Downing over a younger cheaper and still Homegrown N’Zogbia.
Or even Matt Jarvis.
Downing will certainly improve our team (but nearly any LW would do that!) but, I can’t see how he fits in the FSG model.
Don’t worry about us turning into Arsenal.
First of all the never miss the CL!
Secondly, we have the experience in the squad. Wenger’s mistake was selling players essential to the system, who’s performance was not tailing off. He also doesn’t follow the money ball principle of overpaying if necessary to fill a gap, eg. GK, CB and Striker. Now he’s gonna pay the price with his best players looking to leave due to lack of success.
It’s worth keeping 1or 2 of those players eg. for us Gerrard, Carra, and Reina as he gets older. We don’t need to buy a lot of older players, we should be buying young and the couple that are essential to the system stay as the rest of squad is turning over.
Maybe big name/time wingers are not kenny’s priority. He may be trying to do what he did at blackburn with unfashionable but effective wide players (ie ripley and wilcox); to that end downing may not be a bad shout for us…
N’Zogbia is a very talented player but he seems to court controversy. I am not sure if his personality would wash with Daglish. However, i would be happy for us to get him as his talent cannot be questioned. Jarvis is slightly different. I believe Wolves wouldn’t sell him for less than £12m and when you factor in his experience and cost compared to Downing’s then I believe there is only one winner.
In my opinion buying both Henderson and Jarvis would be more of a risk than buying Henderson and Downing. Having to bed 2 players in at the same time can be trickier. Downing, in my opinion, would offer us an international quality player that has played at the top level and someone that would hit the ground running. Thus allowing us to gently bring Henderson into the set up.
Regarding FSG’s policy, I feel that Daglish will have the final say on transfers. Commolli wanted Mavreaux but I believe Daglish felt that he would be a grater risk than someone like Downing. The blend is important.
Paolo.
Fair play, You point out the one possible drawback with the N’Zogbia….
However with the huge difference in cost over next 3 years when you factor in wages and depreciation on Downing v Appreciation of N’Zogbia, his attitude rally must seriously stink to swing it for Downing.
Jarvis has just gone 25, Downing is about to turn 27 – again a huge difference in money lost on player value in 3 years, as On average a player halves in value after 29!
So I don’t see it so clear cut at all.
The time to buy Downing was when Boro were relegated, and I shouted for it at the time.
That was a good balanced read, I agree Downing suits our needs far better than Young, remember he’s a right footer on the left, or as a free man behind the striker(s), he cuts inside whereas we need a genuine touchline hugging wide man. Also what are the Mancs up to? £50 million spent, and ok a keeper was a given, but they haven’t addressed their weakness central midfield, they can’t think Young can play there can they? The season could be very interesting, Chelsea and Man City will almost certainly challenge for the title, the mancs may well do so but if De Gea turns out to be like Barthez they could be involved in what I believe will be a battle with Arsenal, Spurs and us for the remaining CL spot(s).
Lets be honest both players ain’t that good
Downing will be a great player for us. But i prefer N’zobia due to his age. They ‘ve the same good left foot, but n’zobia has more pace than him. And he will be cheaper as well.
It’s very important we focus on our main goal for next season that is to get CL for the following season, to achieve that we need to look at players that can make immediate impact regardless their age. Once we reach CL we can “dream” about competing with the likes of Chelsea & Man City in getting top class players. Therefore Downing would be that sort of player we need right now. Personally I think we are doing the right thing, we’re not rushing to buy players because transfer windows is open. That’s why we end up not getting Marveux, coz the owner we have now knows their stuff. It’s still early yet & Kenny even says there will be reinforcement to come. Relax guys things will be ok.
Strong rumour Matt Jarvis was at Anfield today
we have lost clichy to the mancs but we could get adam johnson who is as good as downing younger and 15m should get him weiss at 8m who looked good as 20m rated mcgeady in spl
I know that many trust King Kenny than Comolli in the transfer market. But, with these trend, we are going to miss out on the great foreign talents.
As can you compare, Suarez was buy by Comolli and Carroll was insist by King Kenny. Which one is better? Then, you will know who is better. Commolli even bring Bale, Modric to Spurs, if not, Spurs would not be the team they are.
I know that King Kenny is relied on British talent like he did with Liverpool and Blackburn before, but, that is 20 years ago. That thinking is outdated.
We are not going to win the Premier league if King Kenny have the final say in the transfer market.
Oh Jason,
I thought that Kenny will be outdated cliche was put to bed while he managed the team into being the 2nd best form team in the league after Xmas? It only dropped in last 2 games because we ran out of fit senior players.
Who do you think knew more about the latest football ideas when Kenny won the league titles before – you or him?
And since then who has been involved in football on and off at a top flight clubs professional level since?
And yet you presume to tell us how his ideas will be outdated etc.
Grow up or stick to FIFA 11 or wherever you think you learned more about the modern game than Dalglish.
i am ok with downing too. in our last game, he played so much better than young. between young and downing, we will have a player better suited for us. mancs knew we are going for young or downing, so they grabbed young 1st. whoever is slower pays more, not forgetting we paid 32mil for carroll. also, citehs will NEVER sell adam johnson to us when we are a major threat to them qualifying the top 4.
downing is shit and u r talking shit!!!!!!!!!
juan mata or eden hazard,diego,samir nasri or ezeqiel lavezzi and fabio contraeu…….get rid of ngog,cole ,jovanovic,rodriguez,poulsn,el zhar, deggen,aurelio,kyriagkos,insua and even lucas,as well as aquilani………….spend mney on quality and let youths like flannagan and suso,martin kelly,connor coady and raheem sterling gain abit of experience where we are given the chance..chalie adams and ur downings are never going to challenge ur barcelona’s and madrids..lucky if u can get them to perform against ur evertons and tottenhams!
Downings a great player, would really shine playing alongside Stevie and with a target like Carroll to aim at can’t really go wrong. Can play on either wing or down the middle. Perhaps not worth £20 mill but would be after a season with pool he would be
Lets say we have no more money and are NOT going to get any new players, why on earth are we not getting rid of the deadwood and their MASSIVE wage bill. They collectively are laughing in our faces! Over 110K per week to sit around when the rest of ordinary supporters scrounge around to pay their bills , oh yes beg & borrow to buy tickets to go & watch them MAY BE sit on the bench!! GIVE ME A BREAK.
The owners policy should be to revamp our existing house immediately & hopefully we may have a bit more money in the bank so that in today’s ridiculous market WHEN we are held to ransom we can pay without a nose bleed.
It hurts to see manure with supposedly no money have spent 50mil and will possibly spend a lot more rebuilding for the future- I fear No.19 may not be in the horizon.
YNWA
Yes but at what price?
Liverpool must think about future and Downing, 27 years old is just not worth 18 mil.
30 mil. spent on Hazard is money better spend, at least there is a remote chance he will once be worth 50 mil.
With Downing, in 3 years, will be lucky to get 5 mil.
Why always saying lack of european football,last season Man City can buy top class like silva,toure and more without champions league football,why can,t we do so?Just splash cash for just this season.. Just buy players like Mata,marin,sanchez,cazorla, neymar,pastore with more cash and high salary and put off players like cole,konchesky,jovanovic.poulsen ,dossena,insua maxi,aurelio,kirgiakos,ngog,who earn money without contributing to the club and Kenny pliz trust the starlet like raheem,morgan,bruna and more
nunpunia, let’s look at your arguement. Spend like vulgar cash cow who’ve made a mockery of the game, erm our owners don’t have that sort of money! Lets look at your wish list, Mata (at a CL team), Marin (turned us down), Sanchez (GET A LIFE, he’s off to a mega club), Cazorla (possible but unlikely), Neymar (Madrid and Chavski after him we at this stage have no chance), and Pastore (not a hope). Everyone knew Citeh would throw millions, even billions to buy their way to the top table, we can not, should not and will not whore ourselves like they have. And as for giving the kids a go, what do you want mega stars or the kids? And wake u and smell the coffee KK will give the kids a chance Kelly, Wilson, Shelvey, Robinson and Flannagan all got a go last season.